Psychology 4991G-001
Special Topics in Psychology: Introduction to Meta-Analysis for Social Science Research
If there is a discrepancy between the outline posted below and the outline posted on the OWL course website, the latter shall prevail.
1.0 CALENDAR DESCRIPTION
Selected topics of current interest in Psychology.
Prerequisites: Psychology 2820E, or both Psychology 2800E and 2810, plus registration in third or fourth year Honours Specialization in Psychology or Honours Specialization in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Other Psychology students and Psychology Special Students who receive 75% in the prerequisite courses may enroll in this course.
3 seminar hours, 0.5 course
Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enroll in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.
2.0 COURSE INFORMATION
Instructor: Martin M. Smith, MSc, PhD candidate
Office and Phone Number: SSC 7316; 519-661-2100
Office Hours: By appointment
Email: msmit454@uwo.ca
Time and Location of Classes 1:30pm – 4:30pm; Somerville House Rm 3355
If you or someone you know is experiencing distress, there are several resources here at Western to assist you. Please visit: http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for more information on these resources and on mental health.
Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you. You may also wish to contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at 519-661-2111 ext 82147 for any specific question regarding an accommodation.
3.0 TEXTBOOK
The course text book is Card, N. A. (2012). Applied meta-analysis for social science research. NY: Guilford. Certain topics will also use the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews. A free copy of the Cochrane handbook is available at the Cochrane website http://handbook.cochrane.org/.
Recommended software: Borenstein, M., Hedges, L. V., Higgins, J. P. T., & Rothstein, H. R. (2005). Comprehensive meta-analysis (version 2) [computer software]. Englewood, NJ: Biostat.
4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course serves as an introduction to meta-analysis. No prior experience with meta-analysis is required. However, experience with basic statistics and the psychometric principals of reliability and construct validity are required.
My overall objective is to help you develop the conceptual and theoretical knowledge to use meta-analysis correctly and effectively. My secondary aim is to help you develop critical and original thinking skills. As such, this course involves a hands-on project in which students conduct their own meta-analytic review. Topics include the foundational concepts of meta-analysis, including literature searches, effect size computation, effect size corrections, exploring heterogeneity, meta-regression, publication bias, and reporting of results. Students will have the opportunity to work on projects tailored to their interest and needs. For in-class demonstrations I will typically use Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA), but students are free to use other programs such as R or excel for their individual project. This course is open to third year undergraduates. Performance expectations and assignment standards will be higher for graduate students. Course work and evaluation consist of an individual paper and four assignments.
Recommended software: Borenstein, M., Hedges, L. V., Higgins, J. P. T., & Rothstein, H. R. (2005). Comprehensive meta-analysis (version 2) [computer software]. Englewood, NJ: Biostat.
4.1 STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
5.0 EVALUATION
Assignments (40%): Four lab assignments will be distributed throughout the course to help you gain hands-on meta-analysis experience. These assignments will involve conducting a literature search and coding study characteristic, running and reporting analyses, interpreting results, and creating a PRISMA diagram. Students will hand in assignments at the start of class.
Individual project (40%): You will be required to perform your own meta-analyses for an individual project. You will need to use real data harvested from a literature review, develop hypotheses/research questions, compute overall effect sizes and related analyses, interpret the results, explore heterogeneity and write a report of the results and your interpretations and conclusions. Students will need to have their topic approved by the instructor no later than January 31. You will need to provide a brief report, summary tables, and a PRISMA diagram by March 7th (worth 20%) and the complete research report (written as an APA research article but with greater emphasis on the Results and Discussion sections) one week after our last class (worth another 20%). Late work. Please inform me ahead of time if you anticipate not meeting a deadline for a legitimate reason. Otherwise, there is a 5% deduction per day for a late assignment (including the project).
Quizzes (10%): You will complete two in-class short multiple choice quizzes. Each quiz is worth 10% and will cover key topics discussed in lectures and readings.
Participation (10%): Participation in this course is defined as attending lectures on time and being engaged and prepared to discuss readings. I will allow one missed lecture. Missing more than one lecture will result in a deduction of 1% out of 10% for each additional missed lecture (i.e., missing 11 lectures in total would results in 0 on class participation). If you have a serious problem preventing you from attending more than two lectures please inform me.
PLEASE NOTE: Because this is an essay course, as per Senate Regulations (http://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/2017/pg108.html), you must pass the essay component to pass the course. That is, the average mark for your written assignments must be at least 50%.
Although the Psychology Department does not require instructors to adjust their course grades to conform to specific targets, the expectation is that course marks will be distributed around the following averages:
70% 1000-level and 2000-level courses
72% 2190-2990 level courses
75% 3000-level courses
80% 4000-level courses
The Psychology Department follows the University of Western Ontario grading guidelines, which are as follows (see http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/general/grades_undergrad.pdf ):
A+ 90-100 One could scarcely expect better from a student at this level
A 80-89 Superior work that is clearly above average
B 70-79 Good work, meeting all requirements, and eminently satisfactory
C 60-69 Competent work, meeting requirements
D 50-59 Fair work, minimally acceptable
F below 50 Fail
6.0 TEST AND EXAMINATION SCHEDULE
7.0 CLASS SCHEDULE
A note on readings. Required readings include the text book by Noel A. Card (2012). Additional sources I use in my lectures include the Cochrane Handbook Version 7 (available as a PDF online) and Borenstein, M., Hedges, L. V., Higgins, J. P. T., & Rothstein, H. R. (2009). Introduction to meta-analysis. England: Wiley. Examples will also be drawn from my own meta-analytic research.
|
Date |
Topic
|
Readings |
Assignments/ Quizzes |
|
Week 1 (January 8) |
Introduction and Overview |
Ch.1 and 2 |
|
|
Week 2 (January 15) |
Searching the Literature |
Ch.3 |
|
|
Week 3 (January 22) |
Coding Study Characteristics |
Ch.4 |
Quiz 1 |
|
Week 4 (January 29) |
Effect Size Computation |
Ch. 5 |
Assignment 1 |
|
Week 5 (February 5) |
Fixed and Random Effects |
Ch.10 |
|
|
Week 6 (February 12) |
Corrections to Effects |
Ch.6 and 7 |
|
|
Week 7 (February 26) |
Exploring Heterogeneity |
Ch.8 |
Assignment 2 |
|
Week 8 (March 5) |
Moderator Analysis |
Ch. 9 |
Quiz 2 |
|
Week 9 (March 12) |
PRISMA Diagrams |
Cochrane 11.2 |
|
|
Week 10 (March 19) |
Meta-Regression |
Ch. 9 |
Assignment 3 |
|
Week 11 (March 26) |
Publication Bias |
Ch.11 |
|
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Week 12 (April 2) |
Writing Meta-Analytic Results |
Ch.12 |
Assignment 4 |
|
Week 13 (April 9) |
Final Paper Help Session |
|
|
8.0 STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC OFFENCES
Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and other scholastic offenses. Plagiarism and cheating are considered very serious offenses because they undermine the integrity of research and education. Actions constituting a scholastic offense are described at the following link: http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf
As of Sept. 1, 2009, the Department of Psychology will take the following steps to detect scholastic offenses. All multiple-choice tests and exams will be checked for similarities in the pattern of responses using reliable software, and records will be made of student seating locations in all tests and exams. All written assignments will be submitted to TurnItIn, a service designed to detect and deter plagiarism by comparing written material to over 5 billion pages of content located on the Internet or in TurnItIn’s databases. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between Western and Turnitin.com http://www.turnitin.com
Possible penalties for a scholastic offense include failure of the assignment, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.
9.0 POLICY ON ACCOMMODATION FOR MEDICAL ILLNESS
Western’s policy on Accommodation for Medical Illness can be found at:
http://westerncalendar.uwo.ca/2017/pg954.html
Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation:
http://counselling.ssc.uwo.ca/procedures/medical_accommodation.html
10.0 OTHER INFORMATION
Office of the Registrar web site: http://registrar.uwo.ca
Student Development Services web site: http://www.sdc.uwo.ca
Please see the Psychology Undergraduate web site for information on the following:
http://psychology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/student_responsibilities/index.html
- Policy on Cheating and Academic Misconduct
- Procedures for Appealing Academic Evaluations
- Policy on Attendance
- Policy Regarding Makeup Exams and Extensions of Deadlines
- Policy for Assignments
- Short Absences
- Extended Absences
- Documentation
- Academic Concerns
- 2017 Calendar References
No electronic devices, including cell phones, will be allowed during exams.
