Psychology 2820E 650 SU22

Research Methods and Statistical Analysis

If there is a discrepancy between the outline posted below and the outline posted on the OWL course website, the latter shall prevail.

 

WESTERN UNIVERSITY

LONDON               CANADA

Department of Psychology

2021 - 2022

 

Psychology 2820E   Section 650

Research Methods and Statistical Analysis

 

 

  • CALENDAR DESCRIPTION

 

An introduction to the design, conduct, and statistical analyses of psychological research. The intent is to provide students with knowledge of how to implement and evaluate research in both laboratory and applied settings. Design and statistical analysis will be taught in the context of specific studies and data sets from correlational, experimental, quasi-experimental and qualitative research. Written research projects will be required.

 

Antirequisite: Biology 2244A/B, Economics 2122A/B, Economics 2222A/B, Geography 2210A/B, Health Sciences 3801A/B, MOS 2242A/B, Psychology 2800E, Psychology 2810, Psychology 2830A/B, Psychology 2840F/G, Psychology 2850A/B, Psychology 2851A/B, Psychology 2855F/G, Psychology 2856F/G, Social Work 2207A/B, Sociology 2205A/B, Statistical Sciences 2035, Statistical Sciences 2141A/B, Statistical Sciences 2143A/B, Statistical Sciences 2244A/B, Statistical Sciences 2858A/B.

 

Antirequisites are courses that overlap sufficiently in content that only one can be taken for credit. If you take a course that is an antirequisite to a course previously taken, you will lose credit for the earlier course, regardless of the grade achieved in the most recent course.

 

Prerequisite: One full course in mathematics plus a mark of at least 60% in 1.0 credits of Psychology at the 1000 level. To fulfill the mathematics requirement, you must complete a full course equivalent by taking 1.0 courses from among the following courses: Applied Mathematics 1201A/B, Applied Mathematics 1413, Mathematics 0110A/B, Mathematics 1120A/B, Mathematics 1225A/B, Mathematics 1228A/B, Mathematics 1229A/B, Mathematics 1600A/B, Calculus 1000A/B, Calculus 1301A/B, Calculus 1500A/B, Calculus 1501A/B, Statistical Sciences 1024A/B. If Mathematics 0110A/B is selected, then either Statistical Sciences 1024A/B or Mathematics 1228A/B must be taken. The combination of Mathematics 1228A/B and Statistical Sciences 1024A/B is strongly recommended

 

2 lecture hours; 2 laboratory hours

            Course Weight: 1.0

 

Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enrol 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:        Caroline Strang                   

      

Office Hours:    by appointment – virtual through Zoom  

Email:   cstrang@uwo.ca                                              

           

 

       Time and Location of Classes: Asynchronous

       Delivery Method: Virtual – lecture and laboratory materials will be delivered through OWL

 

Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Health and Wellness @Western https://www.uwo.ca/health/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.

 

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 contact Accessible Education at aew@uwo.ca  or 519-661-2147.

 

3.0  TEXTBOOK

 

Text (required): Revel for Introduction to Behavioral Research Methods -- 7th ed. Author: Mark R. Leary REVEL Access ISBN: 9780134416939

 

This is a fully online textbook.

 

4.0  COURSE OBJECTIVES & LEARNING OUTCOMES

 

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

  • analyze the published experiments on a given topic in psychology and communicate methodology
  • critique published experimental work in psychology and formulate new research ideas based on this work
  • recognize and compare experimental and non-experimental designs in psychology and appropriately interpret the findings resulting from those designs
  • demonstrate an understanding of ethical issues surrounding research with humans and animals and how these issues are handled in a research setting
  • Understand and use core statistical techniques within the field
  • Write and present a research proposal
  • Write up a final research paper

 

Learning Outcome

Learning Activity

Assessment

Depth and Breadth of Knowledge.

  • Critique published experimental work
  • Write up original research

Lectures, Labs, and Research project.

Exams, Research project, weekly quizzes

Knowledge of Methodologies.

  • Understand core research methodologies
  • Use core methodologies in original research

Lectures, Labs, and Research project.

Exams, Research project, weekly quizzes

Application of Knowledge.

  • Ability to develop and complete and research project

Research project.

Research project

Communication Skills.

  • Ability to present research

Class presentation

Class presentation

 

 

5.0  EVALUATION

 

Final Exam (30% of final mark): To be completed during the final exam period. The format will be multiple choice, fill in the blank, short answer, and statistical calculations. The exam will be online and completed through OWL. The exam will be open book and not require remote proctoring.

 

Weekly quizzes (12% of final mark): Quizzes will be completed on OWL. Quizzes will open at 9am on Mondays and close at midnight on Friday. There will be a total of 12 quizzes each worth 1%. The quizzes will be timed open book assessments not requiring online proctoring.

 

Lab activities (8% of final mark): There will be weekly activities that must be completed as part of the weekly laboratory material. These will begin on the second week of class and will end on the second last week of class. There will be 10 in total and they will be marked for completion only.

 

Research Project (50% of final mark):

  1. Research proposal (10%) – This will be a short (500 words or less) proposal of a research project. It must include a research question and hypothesis, brief description of methodology, and a description of the relevance of the project to the field.
  2. Ethics (2%) – An ethics form will be completed and submitted with the research proposal. This will be marked for completion.
  3. Annotated Bibliography (8%) – This is a preliminary bibliography for the research project. It must include 5 primary sources and a description of their relevance to the project.
  4. Presentation (10%) – This will be a 3-5min recorded presentation to be uploaded on OWL.
  5. Final research report (20%) – Students are required to write up their research project in a formal report with a full methods and results section. Each student will generate theoretical data for their project as part of the laboratory component of the course. There will be no data collection during the course.

 

 

 

5.1 POLICY ON MISSING COURSEWORK

 

There will be no makeup opportunities for quizzes or lab activities. If you receive accommodations for these components then other course components will be reweighted. There will be a makeup opportunity for the final exam.

 

There will be a late penalty for each component of the final research report of 2% per day. All components of the final research report must be completed to receive an overall grade for the final report.

 

PLEASE NOTE: Because this is an essay course, as per Senate Regulations, you must pass the essay component to pass the course. That is, the average mark for your written assignments must be at least 50%.

 

 

 

The expectation for course grades within the Psychology Department is that they will be distributed around the following averages:

 

70%     1000-level to 2099-level courses

72%     2100-2999-level courses

75%     3000-level courses

80%     4000-level courses

 

The Psychology Department follows Western’s grading guidelines, which are as follows (see: https://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

 

Note that in the event that course grades are significantly higher or lower than these averages, instructors may be required to make adjustments to course grades. Such adjustment might include the normalization of one or more course components and/or the re-weighting of various course components.

 

Policy on Grade Rounding: Please note that although course grades within the Psychology Department are rounded to the nearest whole number, no further grade rounding will be done. No additional assignments will be offered to enhance a final grade; nor will requests to change a grade because it is needed for a future program be considered. To maximize your grade, do your best on each and every assessment within the course.

 

6.0  ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION SCHEDULE

 

The Final Exam (30% of final mark) will take place during the exam period.

 

Weekly quizzes (12% of final mark) will be available each week 9am on Monday until midnight on Friday

 

Laboratory activities (8% of final mark) will take place as part of the weekly labs done on OWL

 

The Research Report (50% of final mark) will be completed in stages. The due dates for each component are provided in 7.0 Class Schedule.

 

 

7.0  CLASS SCHEDULE

 

Week  

Dates  

Lecture

Laboratory

Readings  

1  

May 9th  

Introduction and Course Overview

 Data input practice

Completion of the Tri-council ethics tutorial

Ch. 1

2  

May 16th  

Basic Experimental Design

Single IV experiments

Measurement of Behaviour

Descriptive Research

Ch. 3 & Ch. 6

   

3  

May 

23rd  

Within and between subjects designs

Behavioural Variability

Basic issues in Experimental Design

Ch.2 & Ch. 9

4  

May  

30th  

Mixed designs and posthoc tests

Introduction to programming for psychology research

 

   

5  

June  

6th 

Selecting Research Participants

Ethics in behavioural research

 

Annotated Bibliography Due

Midnight on June 6th

(submitted on OWL)

How to present research

 

Research Proposal Due

(ethics form included)

Midnight on June 8th

(submitted on OWL)  

   Ch. 5

   Ch. 15

   

6  

June 13th  

Choosing a statistical test

Statistical analysis

Generation of theoretical datasets

Ch. 11&12

7  

June 20th  

Correlational Research

How to write Methods and results sections

Ch. 7 & 8

   

8  

June 27th 

Meta-analysis

Quasi-experimental design

Case studies

Meta-analysis

Quasi-experimental design

Case studies

 

   Ch. 13 &14

 

9  

July  

4th 

   Scientific Writing

Statistical Analysis

Ch. 16   

Ch 11 & 12

10  

July 11th  

Designs for animal research and conducting research “in the field”

Research Project Presentation Due

Midnight on July 13th

(submitted on OWL)

11  

July 18th   

Lessons from the field: Dealing with unexpected research challenges

Final Research Report Due

Midnight on July 20th

(submitted on OWL)

12  

July 25th  

Exam Review and course debrief

Exam Review and course debrief

   

TBD  

Final Exam – during final exam period (August 2nd-August 5th) – The exam will be cumulative with a greater focus on material covered since Test 1. 

 

 

 

 

 

8.0  Land Acknowledgement

 

We acknowledge that Western University is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Attawandaron peoples, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum.

 

With this, we respect the longstanding relationships that Indigenous Nations have to this land, as they are the original caretakers. We acknowledge historical and ongoing injustices that Indigenous Peoples (e.g. First Nations, Métis and Inuit) endure in Canada, and we accept responsibility as a public institution to contribute toward revealing and correcting miseducation, as well as renewing respectful relationships with Indigenous communities through our teaching, research and community service.

 

 

9.0  STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC OFFENCES

 

Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and other scholastic offences. Plagiarism and cheating are considered very serious offences because they undermine the integrity of research and education. Actions constituting a scholastic offence are described at the following link: https://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 offences. 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).

 

Computer-marked multiple-choice tests and/or exams will be subject to submission for similarity review by software that will check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns that may indicate cheating.

 

In classes that involve the use of a personal response system (PRS), data collected using the PRS will only be used in a manner consistent to that described in this outline. It is the instructor’s responsibility to make every effort to ensure that data remain confidential. However, students should be aware that as with all forms of electronic communication, privacy is not guaranteed. Your PRS login credentials are for your sole use only. Students attempting to use another student’s credentials to submit data through the PRS may be subject to academic misconduct proceedings.

 

Possible penalties for a scholastic offence include failure of the assignment/exam, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.

 

10.0      POLICY ON THE USE OF EXAM PROCTORING SOFTWARE

 

When examinations and tests cannot be given in person (e.g., in courses coded as Distance Studies; in the event of a lockdown order), they may be conducted using either a monitoring platform such as Zoom or a remote proctoring service, such as Proctortrack. If Zoom is used for exam invigilation, you will be required to keep your camera on for the entire session, hold up your student card for identification purposes, and share your screen with the invigilator if asked to do so at any time during the exam. The exam session using Zoom will not be recorded.*

If a remote proctoring service is used, the service will require you to provide personal information (including some biometric data). The session will be recorded. In the event that in-person exams are unexpectedly canceled, you may only be given notice of the use of a proctoring service a short time in advance. More information about remote proctoring is available in the Online Proctoring Guidelines. Please ensure you are familiar with any proctoring service’s technical requirements before the exam. Additional guidance is available at the following link: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/onlineproctorguidelines.pdf

 

* Please note that Zoom servers are located outside Canada. If you would prefer to use only your first name or a nickname to login to Zoom, please provide this information to the instructor in advance of the test or examination. See this link for technical requirements: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us  

 

11.0 POLICY ON ACCOMMODATION FOR ILLNESS OR OTHER ABSENCES

 

Western’s policy on Accommodation for Medical Illness can be found at:
https://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/PolicyPages.cfm?PolicyCategoryID=1&Command=showCategory&SelectedCalendar=Live&ArchiveID=#Page_12

 

If you experience an extenuating circumstance (e.g., illness, injury) sufficiently significant to temporarily make you unable to meet academic requirements, you may request accommodation through the following routes:

  1. Submitting a Self-Reported Absence form (for circumstances that are expected to resolve within 48 hours);
  2. For medical absences, submitting a Student Medical Certificate (SMC) signed by a licensed medical or mental health practitioner in order to be eligible for Academic Consideration;
  • For non-medical absences, submitting appropriate documentation (e.g., obituary, police report, accident report, court order, etc.) to Academic Counselling in their Faculty of registration in order to be eligible for academic consideration. Students are encouraged to contact their Academic Counselling unit to clarify what documentation is appropriate.

 

Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation. The self-reported absence form must be submitted before the exam/coursework deadline in order to be valid. It may NOT be used for absences longer than 48 hours; coursework/tests/exams/etc., worth more than 30% of the final grade; or exams scheduled in the December or April final-exam periods:

 

https://www.registrar.uwo.ca/faculty_academic_counselling.html

 

Students seeking academic consideration:

  • are advised to consider carefully the implications of postponing tests or midterm exams or delaying handing in work;  
  • are encouraged to make appropriate decisions based on their specific circumstances, recognizing that minor ailments (upset stomach) or upsets (argument with a friend) are not normally an appropriate basis for a self-reported absence;
  • must communicate with their instructors no later than 24 hoursafter the end of the period covered by either the self-reported absence or SMC, or immediately upon their return following a documented absence

 

Students seeking accommodation for religious purposes are advised to contact Academic Counselling at least three weeks prior to the religious event and as soon as possible after the start of the term.

 

12.0      Contingency Plan for Return to Lockdown: IN-Person & Blended classes

 

In the event of a COVID-19 resurgence or any other event that necessitates the course delivery moving away from face-to-face interaction, all remaining course content will be delivered entirely online, either synchronously (i.e., at the times indicated in the timetable) or asynchronously (e.g., posted on OWL for students to view at their convenience). The grading scheme will not change. Any remaining assessments will also be conducted online, as determined by the course instructor.

 

13.0      STATEMENTS CONCERNING ONLINE ETIQUETTE

 

In courses involving online interactions, the Psychology Department expects students to honour the following rules of etiquette:

  • please “arrive” to class on time
  • please use your computer and/or laptop if possible (as opposed to a cell phone or tablet)
  • please ensure that you are in a private location to protect the confidentiality of discussions in the event that a class discussion deals with sensitive or personal material
  • to minimize background noise, kindly mute your microphone for the entire class until you are invited to speak, unless directed otherwise
  • In classes larger than 30 participants please turn off your video camera for the entire class unless you are invited to speak
  • In classes of 30 students or fewer, where video chat procedures are being used, please be prepared to turn your video camera off at the instructor’s request if the internet connection becomes unstable
  • Unless invited by your instructor, do not share your screen in the meeting

 

The course instructor will act as moderator for the class and will deal with any questions from participants. To participate please consider the following:

  • If you wish to speak, use the “raise hand” function and wait for the instructor to acknowledge you before beginning your comment or question.
  • Please remember to unmute your microphone and turn on your video camera before speaking.
  • Self-identify when speaking.
  • Please remember to mute your mic and turn off your video camera after speaking (unless directed otherwise).

 

General considerations of “netiquette”:

  • Keep in mind the different cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the students in the course.
  • Be courteous toward the instructor, your colleagues, and authors whose work you are discussing.
  • Be respectful of the diversity of viewpoints that you will encounter in the class and in your readings. The exchange of diverse ideas and opinions is part of the scholarly environment. “Flaming” is never appropriate.
  • Be professional and scholarly in all online postings. Use proper grammar and spelling. Cite the ideas of others appropriately.

 

Note that disruptive behaviour of any type during online classes, including inappropriate use of the chat function, is unacceptable. Students found guilty of Zoom-bombing a class or of other serious online offenses may be subject to disciplinary measures under the Code of Student Conduct.

 

14.0 OTHER INFORMATION

 

Office of the Registrar: https://registrar.uwo.ca 

 

Student Development Services: www.sdc.uwo.ca

 

Please see the Psychology Undergraduate web site/Current Student Information for information on the following:

 

- 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

- Calendar References

 

If you wish to appeal a grade, please read the policy documentation at: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/appealsundergrad.pdf

Please first contact the course instructor. If your issue is not resolved, you may make your appeal to the Undergraduate Chair in Psychology (psyugrd@uwo.ca).

 

Copyright Statement: Lectures and course materials, including power point presentations, outlines, videos and similar materials, are protected by copyright. You may take notes and make copies of course materials for your own educational use. You may not record lectures, reproduce (or allow others to reproduce), post or distribute any course materials publicly and/or for commercial purposes without the instructor’s written consent.

 

Policy on the Recording of Synchronous Sessions: Some or all of the remote learning sessions for this course (if scheduled) may be recorded. The data captured during these recordings may include your image, voice recordings, chat logs and personal identifiers (name displayed on the screen). The recordings will be used for educational purposes related to this course, including evaluations. The recordings may be disclosed to other individuals participating in the course for their private or group study purposes. Please contact the instructor if you have any concerns related to session recordings. Participants in this course are not permitted to privately record the sessions, except where recording is an approved accommodation, or the student has the prior written permission of the instructor.