Psychology 202 - Psychological Research II
Spring, 2005 - Dr. Carpenter
Course Syllabus
Revised 1/12/05
This syllabus is our contract: read this section and the separate sections on Grading and Lab so you know what the rules of the game are, what you can expect of me, what I will expect of you, and how your performance will translate into a course grade. If unclear, ask!
PURPOSE
The purpose of this course is to continue the development of your skills in using the methodologies and statistical tools of the psychological researcher to answer questions about behavior (you are expected to know the skills and concepts from the course prerequisite Psych. 201).
The goal is to enable you to be an effective consumer and producer of psychological research. As a consumer, you should be able to read intelligently and evaluate critically reports of scientific findings about behavior--whether technical journals, in the popular media, or on the lips of your peers. As a producer, you should be able to generate questions that are testable scientifically, design research to answer questions,, conduct the research, and describe and evaluate the outcome with appropriate statistical methods.
Although we still focus on behavioral research, your general critical thinking and problem-solving skills should be enhanced, so you can apply them more effectively in a variety of situations.
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COURSE STRUCTURE
Research methods and statistics will be presented in an integrative fashion throughout the semester, so you can see how they work in the overall research process.
Lectures will be devoted to presentation and explanation of the principles and procedures that underlie psychological research. We will focus on how and when to apply them, using examples, exercises, and computations as time permits, and providing a conceptual basis to help you understand abstract or complex principles. We have limited time to work through procedures and examples in lecture. More extensive opportunities to practice the procedures and skills will come through problem assignments and lab activities (and work that you can do on your own).
Lab time will be devoted to practice in applying your skills--assignment reviews, and lab exercises that are carried out in the lab or planned in lab and carried out on your own. There will be a weekly quiz covering lecture materials in lab.
As you can probably already tell, this course will focus on SKILLS. It is impossible to learn skills (piano-playing, poetry-reading, bird-calling, playing golf, throwing a Frisbee, operating computers, flying a glider, or doing research) without practicing them repeatedly. Thus, you will be given problems, exercises, and assignments galore--from your texts (S & M have questions and problems at the end of each chapter, and S gives answers to some at the back of the book), your workbooks (SW & MW have many exercises, problems, questions and answers at the back), and me (handouts in lab or class).
To make class time and lab time effective, COME PREPARED. Read assigned materials and complete exercises before class. Write down any questions that you have. Also, bring all necessary tools--text, workbooks, calculator, assignments, handouts, questions--to lecture, lab, and exams. Finally, the material may be challenging for some of you, so be sure to take advantage of the vast array of resources and assistance we provide--in class and lab; through problem assignments and lab exercises; and during the lab instructors' and my office hours. Don't fall behind--if you are having difficulty, get (ask for) help!
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WHEN AND WHERE
Lectures
Section 1: MW 9:30 - 10:20 D 24 Section 2: MW 10:30 - 11:20 D 24
Labs
Section 1: W 4:00 - 6:00, D 16 Section 3: Th 1:00 - 3:00, D 20
Section 2: W 6:00 - 8:00, D 24 Section 4: Th 3:00 - 5:00, D 20
Section 5: Th 6:00 - 8:00, D 20
TO REMAIN REGISTERED IN THIS COURSE, YOU MUST SIGN A COPY OF THE ACADEMIC HONESTY FORM THAT WILL BE DISTRIBUTED DURING THE FIRST WEEK.
Register in one lecture section and in one lab section. Shifting labs during the semester is extremely disruptive for the lab instructor and for other students. Attend you ons lab weekly, except under extraordinary circumstances and with appropriate permission.
Consultation and Office Hours
Dr. Carpenter will hold office hours in D 13D on M 2 - 3:30 PM, W 2 - 3:30 PM, and F 9 - 10 AM and 1:30 - 3 PM. You can also sometimes catch his right after class, or you can e-mail him (dcarp@sbu.edu), drop in, or make an appointment for some other time.
Lab Instructors
Lab instructor offices will be in D 16; see the lab syllabus for their office hours.
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TOOLS
Texts (as promised, the same 2 texts & 2 workbooks as were used ion Psychology 201)
Gravetter, F. J., & Wallnau, L. B. (2004). Statistics for the behavioral sciences (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. (To be abbreviated as S for Statistics text) ( Required)
Gravetter, F. J. (2004). Study guide to accompany: Statistics for the behavioral sciences (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. (To be abbreviated as SG for Statistics Study Guide) ( Optional--for you to do additional exercises on your own)
Shaughnessy, J. J., Zechmeister, E. B., & Zechmeister, J. S. (2003). Research methods in psychology (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. (To be abbreviated as M for Methods text) (Required)
Zechmeister, E. B., & Shaughnessy, J. J. (1997). A practical introduction to research methods in psychology (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. (To be abbreviated as MW for Methods Workbook) (Required)
Calculators
Provide your own calculator, capable of arithmetic and statistical operations (including summing squares of a set of numbers), and BECOME AN EXPERT IN USING IT.
Computer
New this semester: You will need to purchase an access code for WebCT at the bookstore. (Required) WebCT will provide online support for this course including practice quizzes, examples, discussion questions, and more.
We will continue to use SYSTAT on the Academic Computer System. Save your SYSTAT handouts from Psych 201 and keep them accessible; there are more handouts and exercises coming. Again, you will be using My SBU for individual online storage of your data files. (I hope that you kept the DAT20103.sys file)
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LECTURE SCHEDULE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
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EXAM NOTE: Exams #1 - 3: Monday evenings, as listed in the exam schedule below; in P 200 - 201
Conflict: see Dr. Carpenter
Exam #4 (Final Exam): see end of schedule; resolve any conflicts!
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UNIT #1
DATES TOPIC S M
Jan. 17, 19 (Re)Orientation and Review: Question-Method-Data
Design & Control 1 7
Simple True Experiment 1 7
Scientific Process: theory - hypothesis - observation 1 2
Research ethics, revisited 3
Jan. 24 Comparing Means: 1 Sample (sigma known)--review 8
Statistical Inference 8 7, 13*
*M, p. 402 - 405
Directionality 8.2 & 8.4
Comparing Means: 1 sample (sigma unknown) 9
Jan. 26; 31 Comparing Means (sigma unknown)
t test for one sample 9
t test for Two Independent Samples 1 7, 13*
*M, p. 408 - 409
Feb. 2 Related Observations: Matched & Within 8
Comparing Means from Two Related Samples 11 8, 13*
t test for related pairs *M, p. 410 - 413
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Feb. 14 EXAM #1: 7 PM in P 200 (9:30 class) and P 201 (10:30 class)
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UNIT #2
DATES TOPIC S M
Feb. 7 Complex Designs: Multilevel & Multifactor 7
Feb. 9 ANOVA 13 7, 13*
*M, p. 414 - 415
Feb. 14, 16 ANOVA: Testing K Independent Means 13 7, 13*
Post Hoc Comparison 13.6 *M, p. 415 - 420
Feb. 21, 23 Within-Subject Designs: 8
Practice Effects & Counterbalancing
March 7 ANOVA: Testing K Related Means 14 8, 13*
*M, p. 427 - 431
March 9 Sensitivity & Research Design 8.7 8, 13*
Statistical Power *M, p. 405 - 408
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March 21 EXAM #2 7 PM in P 200 (9:30 class) and P 201 (10:30 class)
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UNIT #3
DATES TOPIC S M
March 14, 16 Factorial Designs: Basics & Concepts; Interactions 9
March 21, 23 Factorial Designs: Interactions, Graphs 9
March 30, 2-Factor ANOVA 15 9, 13*
April 4 *M, p. 432 - 432
*M, p. 437 - 440
April 6, 11 Post Hoc Comparisons 15.4
(NOTE: No lab meetings on March 23 or 24. Labs will resume March 30 and 31.)
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April 18 EXAM #3 7 PM in P 200 (9:30 class) and P 201 (10:30 class)
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UNIT #4
DATES TOPIC S M
April 18, 20 Applications of Factorial Designs 9
Thinking Factorially
Interaction Questions
Generalizability - External Validity
Contradictory Findings
Person X Situation
Similarity
Theory Testing
Other?
April 25, 27 Nonparametric Statistics:
Frequency Data: Chi-Square Tests 17
Goodness of Fit; Independence
Research examples
Ordinal Data: Mann-Whitney U-Test; others 19
May 2 Single Case Research Designs 10
May 4 Quasi-Experimental Designs 11
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FINALS WEEK EXAM #4, both sections: Tuesday, May 10, 10:35 AM
in P 200 (9:30 class) and P 201 (10:30 class)
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