Psychology 231
Research Methods in Psychology
Spring 2008
http://www.ilstu.edu/~dmmcbri/231.html
| Instructor: | Dr. Dawn McBride |
| Office: | De Garmo 458 |
| Phone: | 438-7146 |
| e-mail: | dmcbride@ilstu.edu |
| office hours: | Mon 3-4, Tues 2-3 and by appt. |
| TA | OFFICE HOUR | LAB SECTIONS | OFFICE HOUR LOCATION | |
| Allison Bock | M 10:30-11:30 | ambock@ilstu.edu | Sections 08 and 10 | Outside DeG 443 |
| Charles Coey | W 3:00-4:00 | cacoey@ilstu.edu | Sections 07 and 09 | Outside DeG 443 |
| Kayla Weaver | Tu 9:30-10:30 | kbweave@ilstu.edu | Sections 08 and 10 | Outside DeG 458 |
| Cynthia Colman | Th 9:30-10:30 | cpcolma@ilstu.edu | Sections 07 and 09 | Outside DeG 458 |
Lab/Discussion Sections:
This course is designed to introduce you to the scientific methods used in psychological research. In addition, the course will provide a brief discussion of the analysis of data obtained in this research and the methods by which psychologists report results of their research with an emphasis on written journal reports.
Course Objectives: As a result of taking PSY 231 students will have the opportunity to gain an understanding of scientific research methods and to improve basic writing and reasoning skills as they relate to research in the behavioral sciences. Specifically, the course will help students develop the following skills and knowledge:
(1) Understand issues related to the use of various research
methods in the behavioral sciences.
(2) Improve library research skills.
(3) Develop hypotheses on several topics in psychology.
(4) Choose an appropriate method to test specific hypotheses.
(5) Design psychological studies using various research methods.
(6) Increase familiarity with scientific writing and reading
scientific journals.
(7) Improve general writing skills.
To view Psychology Department Course Objectives, click here.
NOTE: PSY 231 is a 3 unit course. There are two hours of lecture and two hours of lab. Each hour of lecture counts for one semester hour and each TWO hours of Lab count as one semester hour.
Assigned Readings:
(1) Cozby (2004). Methods in Behavioral Research , 9th Edition. (MBR)
(2) There will also be assigned readings from articles that will be accessible through the Milner library web page (click on the Find Course Reserves bar and choose this class and my name). More information will be given about these articles in class.
(3) Lab Manual - available at PIP Printing in the Bone Student Center. Remember to take your lab manual with you to each lab meeting during the semester.
OPTIONAL: American Psychological Association (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, (5th Ed.) This book is strongly recommended for PSY majors.
Assignments:
(1) Regular attendance of lecture and lab and completion of
lab assignments. Attendance is your responsibility. Absence is not an
excuse for incomplete assignments. You will not receive full credit for assignments completed in lecture and lab if you are not present on the day they are completed. The late policy (see below) applies to lab assignments.
(2) Three in-class exams:
Exam 1 - MON 2/11
(3) APA Paper with rough draft:
Exam 2 - WEDS 4/2
Exam 3 - TUES 5/6 1:00 pm
Paper Rough Draft due MON 3/24
Paper Final Draft due MON 4/21
(4) A journal article summary:
APA Paper: You will be assigned a research report on the Class Experiment. It will cover each of the major sections of a scientific paper. This paper will include an abstract, introduction, method, results, and discussion section describing an experiment the class will conduct. See the assignment sheet in the Lab Manual for more details. The paper will be written in APA style and will count for 20% of your final grade. You are required to write a rough draft of the paper, which will receive comments and be handed back to you before your completed paper is due. If no rough draft is turned in, your paper grade will be reduced by 10%. More information on how to write the paper will be given in lab and lecture. If your paper is turned in late, the 10% per day late penalty applies.
Journal Article Summary: The article summary will be a written assignment that accompanies a recent journal article that can be obtained from the library web page. The article for the summary will be assigned and appear on the reserve readings section of the Milner library web page. The summary assignment sheet will be posted on the course web page. The assignment is designed to familiarize you with how to read and write scientific papers. The summary should be typed and double-spaced and should be approximately 3-4 pages long. More information on how to complete this assignment will be listed on the web page. The summary will be worth 10% of your final grade.
Lecture Quizzes: Short quizzes will be given at the beginning of some lectures to help you check your learning from class and the text. These quizzes will be worth 10% of your final grade in the course and will include multiple choice questions. Feedback will be given in class after each quiz. Quizzes cannot be made up. If you must miss a quiz, you can replace those points with extra credit.
Lab Assignments: Lab assignments will be given and turned in during the lab sessions; therefore, attendance at lab sessions is mandatory. The combined lab grade (assignments, participation, and group project - see lab syllabus in Lab Manual) will be worth 15% (90 points) of your final grade. Some lab assignments will be completed during lab sessions, but others may need to be completed as homework assignments. More information on the lab assignments is provided in the lab syllabus in the Lab Manual and will be discussed during lab sessions. Questions regarding lab sessions can be addressed to the TA of your lab session or Dr. McBride.
You will be given the opportunity to earn
a maximum of 20 points of extra credit by two methods:
(a) You may volunteer to participate as a subject in psychological
research. You may earn 4 extra credit points for each hour of
participation if you choose to volunteer, for a maximum of 20 points (5
hours total). You must also complete the form on the course web page for each study you participate in. Be sure to read the questions before you go to the study so that you know what information you will need about the study to complete the assignment. Participation as a research subject is entirely
voluntary.
To sign up for an experiment, go to the basement of DeGarmo Hall and sign
up on the sheets posted on the bulletin board. Please respect the
sign-up process by keeping appointments and only signing up for each
experiment
once. Please read the participation guidelines before signing
up for an experiment. You will receive a blue card with your participation
time circled. Staple the blue card to the form on the web to hand in. Blue cards may be used in one class only to earn extra
credit.
(b) You may do up to five journal article summaries by completing the form on the web (you do not need to write anything extra).
The articles may be on a topic of your choice, but must come from
the journal Psychological Science.
Any summary handed in on an article from a different journal will receive no credit.
You must use the form on the web to complete your summary. The article must accompany each summary you hand in to receive credit. Each summary may
earn a maximum of 4 pts of extra credit. You will not earn any extra
credit
points for summaries written on articles that are not from the journal Psychological Science.
For research participation and article summaries, you must complete the extra credit form on the course web page. No credit will be given if you do not complete the form. Extra credit will be added to exam scores. Therefore, extra credit that you'd like to add to an exam score must be handed in the day of the exam. Extra credit is due in lecture on 2/11, 4/2, and 5/6. You may add a maximum of 10 points of extra credit (i.e., half of the total points available) to any exam. Your grade will not be affected if you do not choose to participate in one of the extra credit options. You may only earn a total of 20 extra credit points by these activities, no matter which option you choose. Extra credit assignments will be held to academic dishonesty standards like any other assignment. If you plagiarize an article for extra credit, you will not earn any points for that summary (and I check them carefully so be sure to complete summary assignments in your own words).
Grading will be based on the following distribution:
| Exam 1 | 15% | 90 pts |
| Exam 2 | 15% | 90 pts |
| Exam 3 | 15% | 90 pts |
| APA Paper | 20% | 120 pts |
| Journal Article Summary | 10% | 60 pts |
| Class Quizzes | 10% | 60 pts |
| Lab Assignments | 15% | 90 pts |
| Total | 100% | 600 pts |
You must earn at least the lowest point total in these ranges to earn a particular grade. Your final grade in the course will be based on your point total, not the percentage. No extra points will be added to your grade after the end of the semester. Extra credit is available if you wish to help boost your point total (see the extra credit section for important information), but all extra credit must be turned in on the day of exams (see above).
Grade records for this course will be kept on a secure web server that you may access during and after the semester to check your grade progress. You can log in to the grade server with your ULID and your password to access your grade. The grade server may be accessed from the course web page throughout and after the end of the semester.
Any assignment turned in after the scheduled time it is due, will be counted late and the grade you receive will be adjusted according to the number of days the assignment is tardy. For written assignments (APA paper, journal article summary, lab assignments), 10% of the total possible points will be deducted for each day it is late. Weekends count as one late day. Computer mishaps (e.g., failure to successfully save work, printer problems) are not acceptable excuses for late assignments. It is your responsibility to back up your work and print assignments in time for them to be turned in. To turn an assignment in late, take your paper to DeGarmo 435 and ask the staff to put the time and date on your paper before it goes into my box. The 435 office is open M-F 8:30-4:30 pm. You will not be able to turn in papers after 4:30 pm on weekdays or on the weekends. No make-up exams will be given unless you contact me BEFORE the date and time of the exam and provide WRITTEN documentation of an emergency. Make-ups will only be given in the case of a documented emergency. Therefore, unless you make special arrangements with me before the due date, any late assignment will have points deducted and no make-up exam will be given! Your lab TA will give you more information about late lab assignments, but the same late penalty will be applied to those assignments as well.
Academic dishonesty such as cheating or plagiarism will not be tolerated. Cheating or plagiarism will result in an F and referral to the Community Rights and Responsibilities (CR&R) Office for disciplinary action. Cheating INCLUDES (but is not limited to): plagiarism of both published and unpublished written work, having another individual take or assist you with an exam, taking an exam for or assisting another individual with an exam, performing or completing a class assignment or quiz for another individual or having another individual perform or complete a class assignment or quiz for you. Cheating is thus defined generally as representing work that is NOT your own as your work or allowing your work to be represented as another's so that individual receives academic credit. You are responsible for understanding what is and isn't plagiarism. More information about plagiarism will be discussed in class and is included in the assignment sheets for written assignments. Violators of this policy will receive a failing grade on that assignment, a possible failing grade for the course, and referral to the CR&R Office for disciplinary action. Your work on assignments must be your own. If you discuss material in written assignments found in another source, you must use your own words. You may NOT lift wording from published works for any assignment in this course.
If you have any questions about the syllabus, course, or your progress in the course, please feel free to come talk to me. Your grades are available during the semester on the secure web server so to check your current grade in the course, you should log in there. My office hours are listed above and I am also available for appointments. You should also feel free to stop by my office anytime my door is open. Attendance is your responsibility. You are still responsible for knowing what occurs during a class, even if you miss it. If you miss a lecture, you should get notes from someone in the class, but I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Any student in need of a special accommodation should contact 438-5853 (voice) or 438-8620 (TDD).
The following is a listing of the class meetings and the tentative topic that will be covered on those days. Please note the due dates of all assignments and exams.
WEEK |
DATE |
TOPIC |
READING |
ASSIGNMENT DUE |
LAB TOPIC |
| WK1 | M 1/14 | Syllabus Day | Syllabus | Introductions Plagiarism |
|
| W 1/16 | Scientific Method | MBR: CH 1 | |||
| WK2 | M 1/21 | MARTIN LUTHER KING JR HOLIDAY | Research with Surveys | ||
| W 1/23 | Scientific Method | MBR: CH 6, pp. 123-137 | |||
| WK3 | M 1/28 | Hypothesis Development | MBR: CH 2 | Library Research | |
| W 1/30 | Reading Journal Articles | Lab Manual: Reading Journal Articles section MBR: CH 5 |
|||
| WK4 | M 2/4 |
Great Cookie Experiment & Classification of Experiments |
MBR: CH 8, 9 | Reading Journal Articles | |
| W 2/6 | Review for Exam 1 | ||||
| WK5 | M 2/11 | EXAM 1 | Extra Credit for Exam 1 | Ethics | |
| W 2/13 | Ethics | MBR: Ch 3 | |||
| WK6 | M 2/18 | Subject Sampling | MBR: pp. 138-146, Ch 14 | Class Experiment | |
| W 2/20 | Class Experiment: Effects of Age and Delay on Prospective Memory | Bring lab manual to lecture | Article Summary | ||
| WK7 | M 2/25 | No Class Meeting - Run Class Experiment | Lab Manual-Class Experiment Materials | Writing Reports - APA Style | |
| W 2/27 | Readings for Class Experiment | Reserve articles | |||
| WK8 | M 3/3 | Reporting Research | MBR: Appendix A, sample APA Paper in Lab Manual | Class Experiment Data | Results of Class Experiment |
| W 3/5 | Results of Class Experiment | MBR: CH 14 | |||
| WK9 | M 3/10 | SPRING BREAK | |||
| W 3/12 | |||||
| WK10 | M 3/17 | Descriptive Statistics | MBR: CH 12 | Statistics | |
| W 3/19 | Inferential Statistics | MBR: CH 13, Appendix B | |||
| WK11 | M 3/24 | APA Paper Draft | Statistics | ||
| W 3/26 | |||||
| WK12 | M 3/31 | Review for Exam 2 | Group Projects | ||
| W 4/2 | EXAM 2 | Extra Credit for Exam 2 | |||
| WK13 | M 4/7 | Factorial Designs | MBR: CH 10 | Run Group Projects | |
| W 4/9 | |||||
| WK14 | M 4/14 | Bias & Control | MBR: re-read CH 9, Appendix D | NO LABS - Writing Help | |
| W 4/16 | |||||
| WK15 | M 4/21 | Specialized Designs | CH 11 | APA Paper Final Draft | Factorial Designs/Bias & Control |
| W 4/23 | |||||
| WK16 | M 4/28 | Overview of Research Design | Group Presentations | ||
| W 4/30 | Review for Exam 3 | ||||
| FINALS | TUES 5/6 | EXAM 3 - 1:00 pm | Extra Credit for Exam 3 | Finals Week - No labs | |