Psychology 2820E-001
Research Methods and Statistical Analysis in Psychology
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
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.
Antirequisites: Biology 2244A/B, Economics 2122A/B, 2222A/B, Geography 2210A/B, Health Sciences 3801A/B, MOS 2242A/B, Psychology 2800E, 2810, 2830A/B, 2840F/G, 2850A/B, 2851A/B, 2855F/G, 2856F/G, the former 2885, Social Work 2207A/B, the former 2205, Sociology 2205A/B, Statistical Sciences 2035, 2141A/B, 2143A/B, 2244A/B, 2858A/B and the former 2122A/B (and Statistical Sciences 2037A/B if taken before Fall 2010)
Antirequisites are courses that overlap sufficiently in content that only one can be taken for credit. So 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.
Prerequisites: One full course in mathematics plus at least 60% in a 1000-level Psychology course. To fulfill the mathematics requirement, you must complete a full course equivalent by taking 1.0 course from among the following courses: Applied Mathematics 1201A/B or the former Calculus 1201A/B, Mathematics 0110A/B, 1120A/B, 1225A/B, 1228A/B, 1229A/B, 1600A/B, Calculus 1000A/B, 1100A/B, 1301A/B, 1500A/B, 1501A/B, the former Linear Algebra 1600A/B, Statistical Sciences 1024A/B, the former Mathematics 030 and 031.
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/tutorial hours, 1.0 course
Unless you have either the requisites 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: Dr. Riley Hinson
Office and Phone Number: 7308 SSC 519-661-2111 ext 84649
Office Hours: Thursdays 2 PM or by appointment
Email: hinson@uwo.ca
Time and Location of Lectures: 2:30-4:30 Thursdays in Talbot College 141
Labs:
002 Monday 10:30-12:30 UCC54A
003 Wednesday 3:30-5:30 UCC54A
004 Tuesday 11:30-1:30 STVH3101
007 Tuesday 2:30-4:30 UCC59
008 Wednesday 10:30-12:30 UCC63
009 Wednesday 11:30-1:30 TC343
Changing labs is only allowed if you change from a lab with a higher enrollment to one with a lower enrollment. As an example, you may change from a lab with 20 students into a lab with 10 students, but you may not change from a lab with 10 students into a lab with 20 students.
Website address:
There is An OWL site for this course. In order to enter this web site you must enter your password and id, which should be your email name and student number. Important course information will be posted at the website, and this is the main method of communicating information to students. It is the student’s responsibility to check the web site regularly for important course information. If you miss a course component (test, make up test, etc) when the information for that course component has been posted on the web site, then you will receive a grade of zero (0) on that course component.
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
There is a set of lecture notes written specifically for this course. The notes are available at the Graphics Building located at the bottom of the hill across from Saugeen-Maitland residence. IT IS NOT AVAILABLE IN THE BOOK STORE. A limited number have been pre-printed. If these are depleted, copies may be obtained by ordering from the copy center. The copy will be ready in 24-hours. Note that there are right-handed and left-handed versions. Each text page has a blank page to its right (right-handed version) or left (left-handed version). This provides space for you to write notes covered during the lecture and to have it at the exact spot where it is covered in the text. Be sure to specify which version you want (the letter R or L appears in the bottom right of the cover). You are not required to purchase the lecture notes since all test material will be covered in lectures. However, most students report that they find the lecture notes very helpful.
For those who would like a more typical text book, the following book RESEARCH METHODS AND STATISTICS IN PSYCHOLOGY, 2ND EDITION, S. A. HASLAM AND C. MCGARTY is available in the book store. You do not have to purchase this text book since no assignments will be given from it. However, you might like to have some additional practice questions to work.
You will need a calculator for this course. The calculator should have a “stats mode”. You should choose a calculator that is easy to use, as compared to one that has a lot of functions not needed for this course. Most calculators sufficient for this course cost about $15-35. If you currently have a calculator and are unsure if it is adequate, you may see me or your lab instructor to determine if it is okay. Bring you calculator to all lectures, labs, and tests. The best calculator for this course is probably the Sharp EL-520, one of the D.A.L. models.4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES
In this course, we will discuss several of the methodologies that may be used to conduct research in Psychology—these include descriptive, correlational, experimental, and quasi-experimental methodologies. In the lecture component of the course, we will discuss topics that researchers must consider whenever they design and implement any research project. These topics include generating research ideas, ethical aspects of the research project, issues of validity and reliability, and how to form the sample(s) of participants to be used in the research. Following these general considerations in conducting research, we will consider how each of these issues is involved in individual research designs and describe, with the aid of specific examples, how each of the research designs would be implemented. In order to introduce students to statistical analyses, typical methods of analyzing data collected in each of the individual research designs will be presented during the discussion of each design.
The lab component is designed to give the student first-hand experience in the steps involved in designing and conducting a research project. Labs will involve generating research ideas, searching literature data bases, writing a literature review, conducting an individual research project, and writing a journal style paper.
4.1 STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the course the successful student should be able to
- Memorize (M), describe(D) and apply (A) main concepts and principles of research design, methodology and statistical analysis as occurs in psychological research
- Locate, read, and write about scholarly research that pertains to a research hypothesis
- Formulate and test a research hypothesis by writing about it in a research project
- Conduct research involving recruiting participants and taking measurements
- Apply skills required to conduct research in psychology
- Identify and conduct an appropriate methodology and statistical procedure that should be used to address a specific research question
- Give an oral presentation of research ideas and how to scientifically evaluate research ideas
- Identify, describe, and correct ethical issues in the conduct of research
- Identify and distinguish well conducted research whether presented in scientific publications or popular press
5.0 EVALUATION
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
There will 200 total possible marks for the entire course. One-hundred marks are allotted to the lecture evaluation and 100 marks are allotted to the lab evaluation. You must separately pass both the lecture component and the lab component in order to the pass the course. In other words, you must obtain at least 50 of the lecture marks and 50 of the lab marks. The weighting of the lecture and lab will not be changed under any circumstances, and the requirement that you pass both the lecture and lab separately also will not be changed under any circumstances. If you meet these requirements, then your course grade will be calculated by taking the number of marks you earn and dividing that by 200 to obtain a percentage.
The lecture component grade will involve 4 tests, two of which will be term tests that will take place on Saturdays, one will be a test given during the December exam period, and one will be a test given during the final exam period.
Tests may include any of the following: multiple-choice, true/false (correction factors may be used with multiple-choice and true-false questions), fill-in-the-blank, short-answer essays, long-answer essays, and statistical questions. Material for tests will be taken from the lectures and labs. Although each test will emphasize the most recently covered topics, there will be some cumulative aspect to all tests. A formula sheet will be provided for each test—it will be similar (but not necessarily identical) to the one in the text notes. Not every formula covered in class may be shown so you should know the formulas. You will be allowed to use calculators, with statistical functions, during the tests. You will be provided with statistical tables during tests. Test 1 is worth 18 of the 100 lecture marks. Test 2 (during December exam period) is worth 24 of the 100 lecture marks. Test 3 is worth 28 marks and Test 4 (given during the Final exam period) is worth 30 of the 100 lecture marks, respectively.
Remember, in order to pass the course, you must get at least 50 of the 100 marks allotted to lecture tests.
The evaluation of the lab component will involve several parts: (more details of each component will be provided in labs) The major component of the lab evaluation will involve a research project. This project will be completed in stages. The final stage will be a complete research report submitted in APA format. In total, all aspects of this component will be worth 100 marks. All stages of this component are due during your lab section meeting in the week indicated. Late assignments will not be graded, and will receive a grade of zero. Lab instructors do not have the authority to change this late assignment policy. Although a late assignment will be given a grade of zero, you may ask the TA to provide feedback on the assignment in order to improve your final report. However, the TA is under no obligation to provide any comments on late assignments.
Lab attendance is mandatory. TA’s will take attendance and in order to be counted as “in attendance” you must arrive at the beginning of the lab (your TA will specify when you will be counted as late) and stay for the entire lab. Some labs will involve activities that must be submitted at the end of the lab. If you do not submit the activity in an acceptable form you will not be counted as having attended that lab. If you attend (according to the above definition of attend) 80% or more of the labs you will not lose any lab points. If you attend only 70-79.9% of the labs you will lose 5 of the 100 lab points. If you attend only 60-69.9% of the labs you will lose 15 of the 100 lab points. If you attend only 50-59.9% of the labs you will lose 25 of the 100 lab points. If you attend less than 50% of the labs you will lose 40 of the 100 lab marks.
Since you may miss up to 20% of the labs and not lose any marks NO EXCUSES will be accepted for missing labs---i.e., a missed lab will count as missed REGARDLESS OF THE REASON.
The distribution of the 100 labs marks will be:
ONE PAGE SUMMARY—NO MARKS BUT FAILURE TO SUBMIT THE ONE PAGE SUMMARY WILL PREVENT YOU FROM DOING THE PROJECT SO YOU WILL FAIL THE LAB AND FAIL THE COURSE
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY—5 MARKS
QUESTIONNAIRES—3 MARKS
INTRODUCTION—12 MARKS
ETHICS—5 MARKS
METHODS AND RESULTS—20 MARKS
PRESENTATION—10 MARKS
FINAL PROJECT—35 MARKS
PARTICIPATION—10 MARKS
THERE ARE OTHER LAB REQUIRED LAB ACTIVITES THAT WILL DESCRIBED BY YOUR TA
Remember, in order to pass the course, you must get at least 50 of the 100 marks allotted to the lab component.
There will be some opportunities to earn some extra marks to count toward your overall course grade. The extra credit points may be earned in one of two ways. Since this is a course in research design I feel that you would benefit from participating in research studies. You may be able to see some of the principles that we discuss in class in action in studies. You may participate in studies being conducted by any of the researchers in the Psychology Department. These are the same studies that first year students participate in as part of Psychology 1000. In order to participate you will be given access to the SONA sign up system and you may choose any studies that you wish. You will receive marks added to your overall course grade for each study in which you participate, to a maximum of 5.0 marks. However, the bonus marks will only be added if you have achieved a passing course grade without any bonus marks---in other words before bonus marks are added you must get 50% on the lecture tests, and 50% on the lab component. Only if this condition is met will bonus marks be added. Online studies, regardless of length of time, (i.e., ones in which you simply participate via a computer link or it is listed in SONA as on-line) will earn 0.25 marks and you may only participate in 4 such studies (i.e., a maximum of 1 bonus mark may be earned via on-line studies). Other lab-based studies will earn marks as follows: Studies lasting less than 30 Min=0.25; Studies lasting between 31 and 60 Min=0.5; Studies lasting more than 60 Min=1.0 (NOTE: THE MAXIMUM NUMBERS OF MARKS THAT MAY BE EARNED FROM ANY ONE STUDY IS 1.0. YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE MORE THAN 1 MARK FOR ANY ONE STUDY, REGARDLESS OF ITS LENGTH. ALSO YOU SHOULD IGNORE THE “CREDITS” ASSOCIATED WITH STUDIES—THOSE ARE NOT RELEVANT TO PSYCHOLOGY 2820E—THEY ARE FOR PSYCHOLOGY 1000 STUDENTS ONLY) Since the purpose of allowing you to earn bonus marks is for you to gain experience with research as we discuss the principles of research you will only be allowed to earn a maximum of 2.5 marks during the second term (January to end of term). You may earn as many of the 5 marks as you wish during the first term (if that is what you want to do), but if you wait to start participating until the second term the maximum number of marks you may earn (regardless of the number of studies you participate in) will be 2.5. In addition, you will only be allowed to earn 0.5 of those marks during the second term via on-line studies.
The SONA system will track the studies and I will be given the information at the end of second term in order to adjust your grade. This is an opportunity to earn extra marks and is not required as part of your normal grade---you will not lose any marks if you do not participate in studies. You may also earn the bonus marks by completing the activities that I will be posting on the OWL site. These activities involve writing papers on a variety of topics relevant to the course, e.g., assessments of research articles, finding data on a web site and analyzing it using a recently discussed statistical procedure, preparing a dossier on a research questionnaires, discussing a specific ethical issue. Each activity will be described when posted on the website. Each activity will be evaluated as PASS/FAIL based on the accuracy, completeness, and quality of the submitted document. If you PASS you will receive 0.5 bonus marks added to your final course grade. You will be allowed to resubmit the project in order to address any shortcomings and thereby potentially change a FAIL to a PASS. Again, you will only be allowed to earn 2.5 bonus marks this way in the second term. You may mix and match the two methods of getting bonus marks (choose some studies, choose some papers) but the maximum number of extra points would be 5.0
The opportunity to earn bonus marks ends the last day of classes in the second term.
CALCULATION OF YOUR FINAL COURSE GRADE. Because you are REQUIRED to separately pass both the lecture and lab component of this course the situation may arise that your overall course grade would be a passing mark, but you fail the course because you fail either the lecture or lab. For this reason, the following section describes how final grades will be determined under three possible situations.
1. You pass both the lecture and the lab. In this case, your course grade will be calculated as the average of lecture and lab components as described above.
2. You fail one of either the lecture or lab, but using the 50/50 lecture/lab split your calculated grade would have been passing. Since you fail one of either the lecture or lab, you automatically fail the course, however, the question arises as to what grade should appear as your course grade. In order to give a grade in this situation (failure of one component leading to automatic failure of the course when the calculated grade would otherwise be above 50%) it has been recommended that all such cases receive a grade of 48 (there are other department that have requirements for passing the final exam in order to pass the course, or passing 2 out of 3 term tests in order to pass the course, and they use this procedure). I am adopting this policy and will be giving a grade of 48 in these situations. However, you should understand that the grade of 48 does not mean that you almost passed the course. Since in this situation one of either the lecture or lab has been failed, the course grade will definitely be an F, but the value of the F will be given as a 48 so as to not unduly lower your overall university average. Also note that if you fail either one or both of the lecture and lab you will not receive any bonus marks—i.e., bonus marks cannot be used to raise a failing grade to a passing grade.
3. You fail one, or both, of the lecture or lab, and your overall course grade using the 50/50 split would be a failing grade. In this case, since your overall grade would be an F, you will receive the actual calculated average based on your grades. In these cases, the grades for F could vary from 0-49. Again note that bonus marks will not be awarded in this situation, and bonus marks cannot be used to raise a failing grade to a passing grade.
Student Learning Outcomes, Activities and Assessment
|
Course Learning Outcome (Corresponding Program UDLE) |
Learning Activities |
How Assessed |
|
Knowledge and Understanding |
||
|
|
|
|
Abilities |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6.0 TEST AND EXAMINATION SCHEDULE
7.0 CLASS SCHEDULE
NOTE: LAB COMPONENTS ARE DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHEDULED LAB TIME ON THE DAY THAT YOUR LAB MEETS DURING THE WEEK CORRESPONDING TO THE INDICATED THURSDAY LECTURE DAY. For example, the one page summary due the week corresponding to the October 29 lecture would be due during your lab meeting on either September 26, 27, or 28.
September 8--THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND PSYCHOLOGY
September 15--REVIEW OF SOME BASIC DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICAL CONCEPTS
September 22--ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH
September 29—CHARACTERISTICS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASURES
************One page summary due in your scheduled lab on either Sept. 26, 27, or 28***********
October 6-- CHARACTERISTICS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASURES CONTINUED
October 13--SAMPLING
October 20--INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL VALIDITY
TEST 1 ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22. THE TEST WILL COVER ALL MATERIAL THAT WE HAVE FINISHED BY THE END OF THE OCTOBER 20 LECTURE.
October 27--NO CLASS
November 3--SOME SPECIAL FORMS OF RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION
***********Annotated Bibliography due in your scheduled lab on either Oct. 31, Nov. 1 or 2***********
November 10--DIFFERENT TYPES OF RELATIONSHIPS
November 17--RESEARCH DESIGN
November 24--ANALYZING DATA TO ANSWER RESEARCH QUESTIONS
************Questionnaires due in your scheduled lab on either Nov. 21, 22, or 23***********
December 1--SINGLE SAMPLE HYPOTHESIS TESTS AND ESTIMATING THE VALUE OF A POPULATION PARAMETER
The Introduction Final Draft MUST be handed in during your lab time on Dec. 5, 6 or 7 unless your TA makes arrangements for you to hand it in to them at some other time, but it cannot be handed in any later than Dec. 9. If you are handing it in outside of your scheduled lab hours you MUST make arrangements with your TA. It cannot be handed in to a secretary. This is the only time that a project stage is not due at the beginning of the lab period in the week indicated in the course outline.
THERE WILL BE A TEST DURING THE DECEMBER EXAM PERIOD. IT WILL BE EXPLICITLY CUMULATIVE COVERING ALL MATERIAL IN THE FIRST TERM. IT WILL BE 3 HOURS LONG. THE DATE, TIME AND LOCATION WILL BE AVAILABLE IN LATE NOVEMBER.
January 5-- ARE THE MEANS OF TWO POPULATIONS DIFFERENT? INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT DESIGNS
January 12-- ARE THE MEANS OF TWO POPULATIONS DIFFERENT? INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT DESIGNS
January 19-- USING CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS: ARE TWO VARIABLES RELATED?
January 26-- REGRESSION ANALYSIS: OFTEN THE COMPANION OF CORRELATON
************Ethics due in your scheduled lab on either Jan. 23, 24, or 25***********
February 2--ARE THE MEANS OF SEVERAL (MORE THAN 2) GROUPS DIFFERENT? THE ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE (ANOVA) OR F TEST
February 9- ARE THE MEANS OF SEVERAL (MORE THAN 2) GROUPS DIFFERENT? THE ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE (ANOVA) OR F TEST CONTINUED
********** METHODS Rough Draft due in your scheduled lab on either Feb. 6, 7, or 8******************
February 16-- PAIRWISE COMPARISON PROCEDURES
February 23
NO CLASS
March 2—REVIEW
TEST 3 ON MARCH 4. THE TEST WILL COVER ALL MATERIAL THAT WE HAVE FINISHED BY THE END OF THE MARCH 2 LECTURE.
March 9
ARE THE MEANS OF SEVERAL GROUPS DIFFERENT USING A DEPENDENT GROUPS ANOVA
March 16
FACTORIAL DESIGN ANOVA FOR BETWEEN, INDEPENDENT GROUPS
*******Methods and Results due in your scheduled lab on either Mar. 13, 14, 15***********
March 23
FACTORIAL DESIGN ANOVA FOR BETWEEN, INDEPENDENT GROUPS
March 30
ANALYSIS OF COUNT DATA USING CHI SQUARE
April 6
ANALYSIS OF COUNT DATA USING CHI SQUARE AND REVIEW
THE FINAL EXAM WILL BE SCHEDULED BY THE REGISTRAR. IT WILL BE 3 HOURS LONG. IT WILL CUMULATIVE OVER THE ENTIRE YEAR, BUT WILL EMPHASIZE MATERIAL SINCE THE RESTART OF CLASSES IN JANUARY.
THE DUE DATE FOR THE FINAL VERSION OF THE ENTIRE LAB PROJECT WILL BE DETERMINED WHEN THE DATE OF THE FINAL EXAM HAS BEEN SET BY THE REGISTRAR.
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://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/2016/pg117.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
- 2016 Calendar References
No electronic devices, including cell phones, will be allowed during exams.
