2820E-001
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 and 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 this course has an antirequisite that you have previously taken, you will lose credit for the earlier course, regardless of the grade achieved in this one.
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 courses 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. Livia Veselka
Office: SSC 7439/7440
Office hours: after lecture and by appointment
Email: lveselka@uwo.ca
Course website:
https://owl.uwo.ca/portal/site/2e782525-cb75-483e-9ee6-f4c1495e6f64
Lectures: Tuesdays, Thursdays
7:00 p.m. (3 hours)
Social Science Centre, room 2024
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
3.1 RECOMMENDED
In order to complete the course successfully, please ensure that you have access to a reliable calculator with a “STAT mode”. All brands of calculator are acceptable. However, the Sharp brand calculator will be used by your instructor in demonstrating how to carry out calculations in this course. As a result, if you are not comfortable using calculator functions, it is recommended that you purchase a Sharp calculator, ideally a D.A.L. model.
3.2 SUGGESTED
Please note that you do not have to purchase the books cited below. They are simply resources that you can consider obtaining if you would like additional information about some of the topics covered in the course.
Jackson, Sherri L. (2016). Research methods and statistics: A critical thinking approach (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Nelson.
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Note that copies of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association are available in a number of the on-campus libraries, including the D.B. Weldon Library. There are also numerous websites online that provide guidelines pertaining to APA style, including our course site on OWL. However, if you do plan on continuing your studies in the area of psychology, this text may prove to be a good investment.
4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES
In this course, we will discuss several methods used to conduct research in psychology. In the first part 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.
4.1 STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the course, the successful student will be able to:
- compare and critique a variety of methods employed in psychological investigations (Exam 1)
- identify the correct statistical procedures that should be used to address specific research questions (Exam 2, Exam 3)
- use a number of mathematical and statistical formulae to compute a variety of statistics and related values (Exam 2, Exam 3)
- articulate clear and concise research hypotheses pertaining to an area of study in psychology (stage 1: introduction)
- integrate findings and theories from academic sources to develop a sound rationale for assessing a set of hypotheses (stage 1: introduction)
- design a feasible and ethical research study that effectively tests a set of hypotheses (stage 2: method)
- apply the correct statistical procedures to a specific research problem, and work out basic statistical procedures by hand (stage 3: results)
- produce a research report that describes and summarizes a research investigation using APA format (stage 4: final paper)
5.0 EVALUATION
There are two major components to this course: the lecture component and the lab component. The lecture component will provide the background information for progressing through the various topics to be covered. The lab component is intended to give students first-hand experience with the research process, including the generation of a sound research idea, literature search in support of that idea, ethics review, data collection and analysis, and writing a research paper suitable for journal submission. The lab component will be incorporated into class sessions. Students will not be required to attend a separate lab or tutorial session outside of class hours.
Additional details regarding the expectations and grading criteria for each of these components of the course will be available on the OWL course website.
5.1 LECTURE COMPONENT (50%)
Student evaluation in the lecture portion of the course will be based on three exams:
|
Exam 1 |
15% |
|
Exam 2 |
15% |
|
Exam 3 |
20% |
Exams in the course may include any of the following formats: multiple-choice, short-answer, long-answer, and calculation/word problems. All exams will be closed-book and non-cumulative in nature, and they will be two hours in length. Each exam will cover the modules leading up to that session, including lecture material and any supplementary readings that may be assigned. Exams will not be returned to students but may be reviewed with the instructor.
5.2 LAB COMPONENT (50%)
Student evaluation in the lab portion of the course will be based on a research project, which each student will complete in stages. For this research project, students will develop a research idea and corresponding hypotheses, carry out a small-scale study to test their hypotheses, and produce a complete research report in APA format describing their rationale, procedure, and findings. The stages of the research project are listed below:
|
Stage 1 |
Introduction |
15% |
|
Stage 2 |
Method |
7.5% |
|
Stage 3 |
Results |
7.5% |
|
Stage 4 |
Final paper |
20% |
In developing their research idea, students must consider the practical and ethical limitations on the type of research that can be conducted. Specifically, students are not allowed to develop any research hypothesis pertaining to sensitive issues (e.g., sexual practices or orientation, history of abuse, illegal drug use, body image issues) or to conduct a study that would require them to engage in any harmful or illegal behaviour. Further, it is not acceptable to conduct studies in preschools, elementary schools, secondary schools, or on individuals less than 16 years of age.
The instructor must approve all studies via the research topic proposal before the studies are carried out. Failure to submit a research topic proposal or failure to obtain a pass on the research topic proposal will prevent students from conducting a research project, and will result in a failing grade in the course.
Students are expected to meet course deadlines reliably by planning and managing their time effectively. Students who do not submit their work on time will receive a 3% deduction from their final course grade for each day that their work is late. Extensions will only be granted in cases of documented medical or compassionate reasons.
5.3 CALCULATION OF THE FINAL COURSE GRADE
Students must separately pass both the lecture component and the lab component in order to the pass the course. The weighting of the lecture and lab will not be changed under any circumstances, and the requirement that students pass both the lecture and lab separately also will not be changed under any circumstances.
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.
- 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.
2. You fail one of either the lecture or lab, but using the 50/50 lecture/lab split your calculated grade would have been a passing grade.
Given that 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, it has been recommended that all such cases receive a grade of 48%, so as to not unduly lower your overall university average.
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, given that your overall grade would be an F, you will receive the actual calculated average based on your grades. Here, the grades for F could vary from 0-49%.
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
|
Assessment |
Date/Deadline |
|
Lecture |
|
|
Exam 1 |
Tuesday, May 30 |
|
Exam 2 |
Tuesday, June 27 |
|
Exam 3 |
to be scheduled during final exam period (July 31-August 1) |
|
|
|
|
Lab |
|
|
Introduction |
Tuesday, May 23 |
|
Method |
Tuesday, June 13 |
|
Results |
Tuesday, July 13 |
|
Final paper |
Tuesday, July 25 |
7.0 CLASS SCHEDULE
The course format will consist of in-class lectures. In order to assist you in following along with these lectures effectively, a set of abbreviated lecture slides will be posted under the corresponding course tab on OWL prior to the scheduled lecture. Please ensure that you have a copy of these slides available to you during each lecture, either in hard-copy form or on your computer.
In addition to the lecture slides, the course website on OWL will also contain course information, supplementary readings and resources, detailed instructions regarding all lab components and exams, assignments templates, and other helpful information. Therefore, please be sure to refer to the course website regularly
The following schedule is a guideline only and may be subject to change. Please ensure that you attend class and monitor announcements on OWL regularly in order to receive updates about any revisions to the schedule.
|
Component |
Date |
Content |
|
Unit 1 |
Tuesday, May 9 |
Introduction to research in psychology |
|
Unit 2 |
Thursday, May 11 |
Ethical considerations in psychology |
|
Unit 3 |
Tuesday, May 16 |
Research methods in psychology |
|
Unit 4 |
Thursday, May 18 |
Experimental and survey design |
|
Lab deadline |
Tuesday, May 23 |
Introduction due (15%) |
|
|
Thursday, May 25 |
Review Day |
|
|
Tuesday, May 30 |
Exam 1 (15%) |
|
Unit 5 |
Thursday, June 1 |
Qualitative methods |
|
Unit 6 |
Tuesday, June 6 |
Descriptive statistics and principles of statistical inference |
|
Unit 7 |
Thursday, June 8 |
Single-sample hypothesis testing |
|
Lab deadline |
Tuesday, June 13 |
Method due (7.5%) |
|
Unit 8 |
Thursday, June 15 |
Two-sample hypothesis testing (independent) |
|
Unit 9 |
Tuesday, June 20 |
Two-sample hypothesis testing (dependent) |
|
|
Thursday, June 22 |
Review Day |
|
|
Tuesday, June 27 |
Exam 2 (15%) |
|
Unit 10 |
Thursday, June 29 |
Correlation |
|
Unit 11 |
Tuesday, July 4 |
Regression |
|
Unit 12 |
Thursday, July 6 |
Single factor independent groups analysis of variance |
|
Unit 13 |
Tuesday, July 11 |
Single factor repeated measures analysis of variance |
|
Lab deadline |
Thursday, July 13 |
Results due (7.5%) |
|
Unit 14 |
Tuesday, July 18 |
Completely randomized factorial analysis of variance |
|
Unit 15 |
Thursday, July 20 |
Chi-square analysis of frequency data |
|
Lab deadline |
Tuesday, July 25 |
Final paper due (20%) |
|
|
Thursday, July 27 |
Review Day |
|
|
July 31-August 1 |
Exam 3 (20%) |
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.
