Psychology 110 Research Methods II: Statistics

Psychology 110
Research Methods II: Statistics
Instructor: Susan Varni
Class Times: 3:30-4:45pm TR, Rowell 103
Office Hours: Wednesday 10:00am-12:00pm
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this course is to provide you with the tools to conduct basic
statistical tests in psychology. Since the discipline of psychology encompasses a variety
of topics, the statistics we learn will be discussed in context. Specifically, as we explore
how statistics are used in psychology, we focus on the application of statistics to
comparative, developmental, social and clinical psychology.
Overview in Brief
The course will begin with an assessment of the skills that you learned in
Psychology 109: Research Methods. This assessment will not be graded. It will instead
be used as an instructor’s tool to see where I may need to spend more or less time on
particular topics that overlap the two courses. Following the assessment, we will review
some basic statistical terms and methods for compiling and displaying data. In
conjunction with this unit, we will also study comparative psychology and conduct an
experiment involving aggressive displays in beta splendens, or Siamese fighting fish.
The next unit will teach you to compare the results of a study to other groups and
extrapolate to populations. At the same time we will learn about language development in
children, and apply these same principles to developing and understanding slang words
(for example, how we know that “wicked” doesn’t always mean bad). Next, we will
study the impact of nonverbal communication in various situations where how much we
like our partner will be assessed. A variety of nonverbal cues will be used, allowing us to
move beyond comparing one group with another to comparing many groups with each
other.
Finally, the course will end with a unit on the use of correlation and regression
models in psychology, particularly with how they apply to research in clinical
psychology. And, time allowing, we will investigate how to assess frequency data as it
appears in the media on topics relating to psychology.
“The syllabus is a contract…”
No doubt you have heard this phrase countless times before in your UVM career.
However, it’s worth repeating. I expect all students to read the syllabus and raise any
questions they have regarding the rules of the course before they will need to use them. I
rarely make modifications to the syllabus (excepting the schedule, usually) and therefore
expect that students will raise questions within the first week of classes. In accordance
with this, students will need to hand in a signed statement stating that they have read and
understand the syllabus in their first lab class.
Code of conduct
The rules that apply to students of the University of Vermont and of the College
of Arts and Sciences in regard to cheating and plagiarism apply in this class as well. To
review these rules in detail, please consult your student handbook.
In addition, classroom courtesy includes speaking one at a time, raising your hand
when appropriate, and remaining in your seat during the lecture. If you know you will be
leaving early for any reason, be sure to sit near the back exit and leave quietly so as not to
disrupt your classmates. Also, I would ask that you do not conduct conversations with
your classmates during lecture. This can be extremely distracting for me, and will do you
a disservice.
COURSE ASSESSMENT
Exams
There will 3 exams during the course of the semester. Each exam is worth 25
points. Each exam will have 20 multiple choice questions, each worth 1 point. The
multiple choice questions will comprise information from both the lab and the lecture.
The can include many different question types, including application questions (e.g.
which of the following statistical tests would be answer a particular question),
definitional questions (e.g. the ____ is the most frequent number in a set of numbers), and
psychology questions (which will refer to the phenomenon we are studying in
conjunction with a particular statistical technique).
There will also be a “practical” problem, worth 5 points. This problem will reflect
those similar to ones we have tackled in class, where we will apply the techniques we
learn to a problem in psychology. This portion of the exam may require you to perform
computations.
The FINAL EXAM is CUMMULATIVE. Statistics is, by nature, cumulative. For
example, you need to learn how to calculate the mean before you can find the difference
between two means. Don’t worry; you will have many opportunities to practice your
statistical technique. On the final exam, there will be 30 multiple choice questions, each
worth one point, and the “practical” problem will be worth 10 points.
Quizzes
There will be five quizzes for you to complete throughout the course of the
semester. They will be available on-line for a limited amount of time. When the quiz
become available, you will only have two (2) days to complete it. In other words, you
cannot go back and do all of the quizzes you missed at the end of the semester. It is your
responsibility to complete the quizzes when they are due. They are short exercises, each
worth 5 points, which will be cumulative.
Laboratory Assignments
There will be four laboratory assignments to be completed in lab. Each
assignment will be worth 10 points. These will be used to assess your participation in lab,
your ability to apply an understanding of lecture material to the lab context, and you
ability to quickly summarize your data.
Writing Assignments
Each laboratory experience will be followed by an APA write-up of the results. At
the next lab meeting, you will work with your TA on an element of proper APA
technique, and have the opportunity to begin writing. As the course progresses, this
assignment will also involve the use of SPSS. Each write-up will be worth 10 points.
Homework Assignments
Homework assignments will be posted on the website. The will be example
“practical” problems to give you practice for the exams. Each homework assignment will
be worth 10 points.
Extra Credit
Extra credit will be available through two types of projects. One is to participate
in an approved psychology study by obtaining proof of participation and writing a one
page paper about the purpose of the study and what type of statistical test could be used
to answer their question. The other way to earn extra credit is to design an extension of
one of the labs. By extension, I am referring to conducting a similar experiment that is
modified to answer a slightly different question. In order to earn credit for this
assignment, you will need to do a full literature review, describe the design of the
experiment, and describe the statistics that will be used to answer your question. This
must be done in APA format, and be a minimum of 10, double-spaced, pages.
Grading
Your performance in this class will be evaluated through two major components: lecture
and lab. It is essential that you understand that you cannot earn a high grade in this course
without attending both lecture and lab, as well as handing in assignments when they are
due.
Total Course: 250 pts
Lecture: 140 pts
Exam 1: 25 pts
Exam 2: 25 pts
Exam 3: 25 pts
Final Exam: 40 pts
Quiz Grades: 25 pts
Laboratory: 110 pts
Lab Assignments: 40 pts
Writing Assignments: 40 pts
Homework Assignments: 30 pts
Optional Extra Credit
Study Participation in approved study with write-up: 5pts (1 per student)
Posted Study Topics: 10pts (1 per student)
Grade Breakdown
233-250 A
215-232 A197-214 B+
179-196 B
161-178
143-160
125-142
107-124
89-106
71-88
53-70
0-52
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
The grades will be rounded according to exact (or real) limits (see p. 24-26 of your text).
Lecture Schedule
As much as possible, we will adhere to the following schedule. You will notice that there
are some blank areas. These time-slots have been “protected” so that I could build in
some flexibility around the topics. This way, we can move at a student-dictated pace.
Therefore, some lectures and assignments may shift if we need to spend more time on a
particular topic. Extra reading assignments may be added to these spaces to increase
comprehension of a topic.
Date
1/18
1/20
1/25
1/27
2/1
2/3
2/8
2/10
2/15
2/17
2/22
2/25
3/1
3/3
3/8
3/10
3/15
3/17
3/22-3/31
4/5
4/7
4/12
4/14
4/19
4/21
4/26
4/28
5/3
Class
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19-20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
Topic
Reading for class*
Introductions
Assessment
Frequency Distribution
Chps 1&2
Mean, Median, Mode
Chps 3&4
Variability
Chp 5
Sampling Distributions and Normal Scores Chps 10&6
continued
EXAM
Z test
Chp 11
Continued
One sample t-test
Chp 13
Continued
Independent t-test
Chp 14
Paired t-test
Chp 15
Continued
EXAM
One-way ANOVA
Chp 18
Continued
Factorial ANOVA
Chp 19
SPRING BREAK
ANOVA Refresher
Review Chps 18&19
EXAM
Correlation
Chp 7
Regression
Chp 8
Continued
Chi-square
Chp 20
Continued
Continued
Continued
FINAL EXAM
*Reading associated with a lecture should be completed when you attend the lecture