Psych 302: Research Methods in Psychology

Transcription

1 Iowa State University, Summer Psych 302: Research Methods in Psychology Class Location: Gilman 2305 Class Time: MTWRF 12:10-1:30pm, 6/17 8/9 Instructors Joe Hammer Office: 2030 Student Services Building, 2 nd Fl Office Hours: MT 1:30-3:00pm or by appointment. [email protected] Teaches weeks 1-4 Dan Lannin Office: 223 Science I Office Hours: M/T 1:30pm-3pm or by appointment. [email protected] Teaches weeks 5-8 Course Description: This course is designed to extend training in the areas of research methods, experimental designs, data analysis and interpretation, and the reading and writing of research reports. Emphasis will be placed on the critical evaluation of research articles and on using APA writing style to report the results of your own research. This student-driven research will be conducted as part of a required class project, which is designed to provide a "hands on" experience in the entire research process, from the identification of a viable question to the discussion and interpretation of data collected in an effort to answer the question. Some class sessions will be spent practicing data analysis using SPSS software on laptops provided in class. Student Outcomes: At the end of this course, students will be able to: Use relevant databases to locate articles published in scholarly journals Summarize the goals, method, findings, and implications of published articles Generate operationalizable and testable research questions and hypotheses Select and implement the research design appropriate for testing a given hypothesis Ethically collect data from research participants Select and run appropriate descriptive and inferential statistical tests in SPSS Write APA-Style manuscripts describing empirical research they conducted Orally present empirical research they conducted Critique the quality and content of APA-Style manuscript drafts Prerequisites: Statistics 101 and Psychology 301 Textbooks: Effective Writing in Psychology (2008), B. C. Beins & A. M. Beins. (recommended) Publication Manual of the APA, 6th Edition (recommended) Announcements, plus all of the information and materials for this course, will be posted on Blackboard, so please check it every day. Course work: There are no exams or quizzes in Psych 302. Your grade will be based on several assignments and projects that you complete throughout the semester, as well as your participation in class activities. Each of these is described in more detail below:

2 Iowa State University, Summer Assignments 1-6: These assignments are designed to engage you in the type of thinking that research scientists do, and to introduce you to the tools and resources they use for setting up and carrying out experiments. The art of developing good-quality research in psychology requires a lot of careful thought and hard work, and so you may find that some aspects of the assignments are a bit challenging. It s always a good idea to begin the assignments soon after they are given, just to insure that the workload does not become too overwhelming and you have enough time to ask questions if you need to. More information on these assignments will be provided as the course progresses. Replication Project: This project is designed to familiarize you with all of the steps involved in carrying out a research study. We will provide you with an article that has been published in a psychology journal, and as a class we will re-create the experiment that is described in that article. You will be required to write up our experiment in the form of a complete APA-style paper. To help you monitor your own progress and make the workload a bit more manageable, at various points we will require you to hand in rough drafts of different sections of your paper (e.g., Introduction, Methods, etc.) before the final draft is due. The drafts that students hand in will be read and edited by their classmates. Independent Project: For this project you will put into practice the skills that you learned from the Replication Project, but this time the investigation will be one that you design. You will come up with an idea for a research project, and once that idea is approved by the instructors, you will set up your investigation and carry it out. You will be required to write up your experiment in the form of a complete APA-style paper. Just like in the Replication Project, we will require you to hand in rough drafts of different sections of your Independent Project paper (e.g., Introduction, Methods, etc.) before the final draft is due. The drafts that students hand in will be read and edited by their classmates. PowerPoint Presentation: This project is designed to provide you with experience in communicating your research to others. Using PowerPoint, you will prepare a brief presentation of your Independent Project to share with the class. Class Participation: Active participation in class activities is essential if you want to do well in the course. The hands-on nature of this course requires that you attend every class and contribute to the discussions, workshops, and other activities that are intended to provide practice at the skills you will need in order to earn the grade you want. In other words, these activities are designed to make you better at the very things on which you will be graded! Therefore, make the most out of class time and share your thoughts, ask questions, and help out your fellow classmates whenever you can. Attendance: Everyone is expected to attend all classes, as the many hands-on and peer feedback activities that are a part of this course make this necessary. If you cannot attend a given class, please tell us in advance and assume the responsibility of obtaining notes, materials, and assignments that you may have missed. If you are absent when an assignment is presented, discussed, or due, you are still responsible for its timely submission. While absences will be excused on a case-by-case basis, the general rule is that only sickness, medical emergencies, or funerals may be excused. Family vacations, weddings, conferences, emergency study sessions, and the like may not be excused. Each unexcused absence will lower your class participation point total by 5 points.

3 Iowa State University, Summer Letter grades will be decided according to the following criteria: % Total Possible Points Letter Grade Percent Letter Grade A C A C B D B D B D C+ Below 55.5 F Grade Breakdown Homeworks 6 homeworks x 5 points = 30 points Paper drafts: 6 drafts x 5 points = 30 points Feedback to Peers 6 drafts x 5 points = 30 points Replication Project Paper 20 points Individual Project Paper: 20 points Individual Presentation: 10 points Class Participation 60 points Total Points Possible: 200 points Assignment Deadlines and Grading Policy: Assignments are due at the start of class on the date it is due. With the exception of the paper drafts (you must bring 3 printed copies), all assignments will be due via . Any assignment turned in after the start of class on the date it is due will be eligible for up to 80% of the possible points (those who were not able to submit by the deadline due to an excused absence remain eligible for 100% of the possible points). This strikes a balance between treating fairly those students who worked diligently to submit the assignment on time, but also giving students a good reason to complete and turn in assignments even if they missed the deadline. It is unfair for us as your instructors to arbitrarily decide how late an assignment can be submitted before we can no longer pretend it was submitted on time (e.g., we give full credit to a student who submitted their assignment at 12:11pm, but only give 80% credit to another student who submitted at 12:20pm). For this reason, anything that is time-stamped for 12:11 or later will only be eligible for 80% credit. Please make the necessary arrangements to submit your work well before the deadline to avoid any hassles. Professional Etiquette: You are an academic professional, and we will treat you as such. In return, we ask that you extend to us and your fellow classmates the same respect. As your instructors, you can expect that we will: (1) start and end all lectures on time, (2) treat you with respect and honor your point of view, (3) do our best to make the class enjoyable and intellectually stimulating, (4) grade and return your submitted work in a timely manner, (5) respond to your electronic communication within 24 hours, (6) call you by name, and (7) make ourselves available to meet with you one-on-one to answer questions and help you with difficult material. In return, we would like to ask the following of you: (1) be present in the classroom at the start of class, (2) restrict discussion during class to course material, (3) keep your personal electronic devices silenced and pocketed for the duration of class, (4) if you use a laptop, keep closed all applications on your computer with the exception of the program you use for class purposes, (5) keep extraneous reading materials in your backpack during class, and (7) adhere to the following etiquette guidelines: Following these professional etiquette guidelines will help ensure a quality learning experience for your classmates and communicate to us that you respect the work we ve put into making this course as awesome as possible.

4 Iowa State University, Summer Accommodations: Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the Disability Resources Office at or TTY in Room 1076 of the Student Services Building to obtain documentation. You should present the documentation to one of the instructors to privately discuss your specific needs and coordinate necessary and reasonable accommodations. Academic Integrity: Please respect the work of others by giving them the credit they deserve. Plagiarism or cheating of any sort will not be tolerated and will be dealt with on an individual student basis. For more information about ISU s policy on academic integrity, see: Academic Resources: Students desiring extra academic assistance, beyond help from the course instructor, are encouraged to contact ISU s Academic Success Center, which offers academic coaching, supplemental instruction, tutoring, peer education, and other academic resources (see Important Dates: Fee payment deadline (June 20). Last day to drop a Session II course without the drop appearing on the permanent record or counting toward the limit of dropped courses (June 21). Last day to add/drop full semester courses without extenuating circumstances (July 3), End of summer session (August 9).

5 Iowa State University, Summer Tentative Schedule: Any necessary changes will be shared in class and posted on Blackboard. Topic Assignment Due June 17 M Introduction 18 T Hypo's & Operational Def's Student Info Sheets 19 W Hypo's & Operational Def's 20 R Literature Searches Assignment 1 Hypo Oper Def 21 F Parts of a Journal Article Assignment 2 Lit Search 24 M Parts of a Journal Article 25 T Replication Project Introduced 26 W Analyzing Data Assignment 3 Article Summary 27 R Analyzing Data Assignment 4 RP Worksheet 28 F Analyzing Data July 1 M Analyzing Data Assignment 5 Analyzing & Reporting Data 2 T Clarifying Concepts 3 W RP Introduction Peer Review RP Intro w/ Reference Section (3 copies) 4 R No Class 5 F RP Method Peer Review RP Method (3) 8 M RP Results & Discussion Peer Review RP Results & Discussion (3) 9 T Research Ethics RP Complete Rough Draft (optional) 10 W IP Idea Generation 11 R IP Idea Brainstorming 12 F IP Idea Brainstorming RP Complete Final Draft 15 M IP Idea Brainstorming 16 T IP Individual Meetings Bring draft of Assignment W IP Individual Meetings Bring draft of Assignment R Work Day Assignment 6 IP Proposal 19 F Work Day 22 M Work Day 23 T Work Day 24 W IP Method IP Method (3) 25 R Work Day 26 F Work Day 29 M IP Introduction IP Intro (3) 30 T Work Day 31 W IP Results & Discussion IP Results & Discussion (3) Aug 1 R Work Day 2 F How to Present Research IP Complete Rough Draft 5 M Work Day 6 T IP Presentations 7 W IP Presentations 8 R IP Presentations 9 F IP Presentations & Course Wrap-Up IP Complete Final Draft