DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY & COUNSELING
College of Education
Pittsburg State University
Spring, 2010
Course Number: PSYCH 891
Title: Research Methods in Psychology & Counseling
Credit Hours: 3
Course Time Schedule: Th 6:30-9:20pm
Instructor: David P. Hurford, Ph.D.
dhurford@pittstate.edu
Office Phone: (620) 235-4534
Office: 207-C, Whitesitt
Office Hours: M & W 10:00-1:00, Tu & Th 10:45-12:30,
other times by appointment.
I.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The major goals of the course are to stimulate interest in and to develop and demonstrate such skills as
the planning, proposing, conducting and writing of research in an area of professional interest. Content
will include such topics as the exploration and evaluation of research, research design, statistical
decision-making, computer applications, the ethical conduct of research and issues in conducting
research dealing with psychological variables. This course will emphasize both quantitative and
qualitative research strategies.
II.
PREREQUISITES
PSYCH 392 or permission of instructor.
III. PURPOSE OF THE COURSE
Psychology is a science. Before students can become successful psychologists or counselors,
regardless of the subfield, they must be able to critically evaluate and understand the knowledge base
that defines the science of psychology. Research methodology is the vehicle in which scientific data are
gathered. An adequate understanding of the methods used to gather the knowledge precedes an
adequate understanding of the knowledge. To be a successful psychologist or counselor, it is
imperative that you understand the methods psychologists and counselors use to gather information.
You must do your best to learn as much as possible about research methods before you are asked to
make decisions about research studies. Later, as practicing psychologists and counselors, you will need
to keep abreast of the developments in your specialty. If you are unable to critically evaluate research
studies, you will not be able to keep abreast of your field. You may not be able to decide with type of
therapy is most appropriate for certain clients, or determine which training program is most effective
for individuals with developmental disabilities, etc. Understanding research methodology is a skill that
every psychologist and counselor must possess, not just the psychologists and counselors who are
doing research. Your ability to perform in this course is a litmus tests of your adequacy as a future
psychologist, counselor, and professional. As such, it is expected that you do your best in this course.
This is a demanding course that ill require a fair amount of your time. The more you learn about
research methods, computer applications, statistics and scientific writing, the more likely that you will
become a successful psychologist or counselor.
IV. COURSE OBJECTIVES
1. To introduce the student to scientific writing.
2. To introduce the student to methodological issues relevant to psychological research. These
include:
a. Various methods of quantitative designs and their analysis.
b. Various methods of qualitative designs, including case studies, ethnographies, and their
analysis.
c. Exposure to quasi-experimental and single-case designs and their analysis.
d. Program evaluation and assessment.
e. Qualitative approaches and their evaluation (e.g., ethnographies, etc.).
f. Other non-quantitative approaches and their evaluation (e.g., open-ended questionnaires,
Q-Sorts, Semantic Differentials, etc).
3. To continue the development of statistical skills.
a. A brief review of statistical procedures up to the analysis of variance.
b. In depth coverage of analysis of variance, correlation, and regression with some exposure to
the analysis of covariance, factor analysis, and discriminant analysis.
4. To introduce the student to the application of computers in psychology.
a. Word processing, internet applications, and statistical packages (SAS).
V. REQUIRED TEXT AND MATERIALS
Text
American Psychological Association (2001). Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, D. C.: Author.
Hurford, D. P. (in preparation). Selected chapters from A primer of statistics.
Phillips, J. L. (1996). How to think about statistics (5th ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman.
Articles
Anderson, N. H. (1961). Scales and statistics: parametric and nonparametric. Psychological
Bulletin, 58, 305-316.
Anscombe, F. J. (1973). Graphs in statistical analysis. The American Statistician, 27, 17-21.
Cattell, R. B. (1966). Psychological theory and scientific method. In R. B. Cattell (ed.),
Handbook of multivariate experimental psychology pp 1-18. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Christensen, T. M., & Kline, W. B. (2000). A qualitative investigation of the process of
group supervision with group counselors. Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 45, 376393.
Cook, T. D., & Campbell, D. T. (1979). The design and conduct of quasi-experiments and
true experiments in field settings. In Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology
(Ed. M. D. Dunnette), pp 223-326. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Gaito, J. (1980). Measurement scales and statistics: resurgence of an old misconception.
Psychological Bulletin, 87, 564-567.
Gould, S. J. (1992). Dinosaurs in the haystack. Natural History, 105 10-14.
Keith, J. M. (1988). Florence Nightingale: Statistician and consultant epidemiologist.
International Nursing Review, 35, 147-150.
Stevens, S. S. (1946). On the theory of scales of measurement. Science, 103, 677-680.
Walker, H. M. (1934). Bi-centenary of the normal curve. American Statistical Association,
72-75.
VI. EXPECTATIONS
It is expected that the student will spend a considerable amount of time outside of class reading
the textual material and preparing for class. It will take diligence on the part of the student to
accomplish the four objectives of this course. Several of the objectives refer to skills that must be
developed. To do this will require a fair amount of time outside of class to master.
VII. REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION
A. ATTENDANCE
Attendance will be taken on a regular basis, but does not contribute toward the student's
grade. However, at random intervals throughout the semester, the student will be given
attendance points for attendance on that particular day and will act as extra credit added to
the student's final point total.
B. EXAMINATIONS
There will be a midterm and a final exam covering both the readings and lecture material.
Exams will consist of definitions, short essay and essay questions.
Students are expected to take the exams at the regularly scheduled times. In the event that
a legitimate and unavoidable circumstance forces missing an exam, the instructor must be
notified before the time of the exam. All missed exams that have been legitimately missed
can be made up, but they will be taken during finals week.
C. RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Each student will write a research proposal (Abstract, Introduction, Method, Anticipated
Analyses). The research proposal will be organized into three separate sections and can
include quantitative or qualitative designs. Section 1 will consist of the research proposal
content area. Students should begin thinking about the topic of the proposal immediately. The
second section will consist of the student presenting his or her research proposal to the class.
After a brief presentation of the topic and methodology (5 - 10 min.) the entire class will
critique and evaluate the proposal. The presentation should be given in PowerPoint. The
nature of the class discussion will be to give the student feedback concerning his or her project.
The student will use this feedback to modify his or her proposal. The final written proposal
will be submitted to the instructor at the end of the semester. The proposal will be graded for
the content (idea, methodology, appropriate analysis, etc.) and APA style.
Research Proposal
Proposal Idea
Proposal Presentations
Written Proposals
Due Date
February 18
April 1, 8, 15
April 29
The papers are strictly due on the dates above. Students who have legitimate excuses (a
medical excuse or death of oneself or family member) may discuss alternatives with the
instructor. Otherwise, 5% points for each day late will be subtracted from the final grade
on that paper. Poor planning on your part is not a valid excuse. Plagiarism will result in
an F FOR THE COURSE.
D. ARTICLE REVIEWS
Each student be required to perform a brief literature review and find three articles in their field
of study that generated data using a research methodology and used a statistical procedure to
analyze those data. Each review must be typed APA style and include a brief synopsis of the
article, the design used with criticism, and the type of statistical procedure used with criticism.
If the methods and statistical procedures seem to be appropriate, that can be stated as well. The
article reviews should be brief and less than two pages per article review (Due date: April 22).
F. GRADING
The total points will be equal to 302 (midterm-122, final-100, Article Reviews-30,
Presentation/Paper-50).
Grading scale based on 302 points:
A
B
C
D
F
272-302
242-271
211-241
181-210
<181
G. ACCOMMODATIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL STUDENT DIFFERENCES
Accommodations for individual student differences can be made. Please contact me or visit
the University Student Learning Center.
VIII. COURSE CONTENT/SCHEDULE/SUGGESTED READING ASSIGNMENT
Class Date
January 14
January 21
January 28
February 4
February 11
February 18
February 25
March 4
March 11
March 18
March 25
April 1
April 8
April 15
April 22/29
May 6
Readings
Phillips Ch #1 - #3, Gould
Phillips Ch #4 - #6, Keith, Christensen
Phillips Ch #7 - #9, Cattell
Phillips Ch #10 - #11, Walker
The One Way Analysis of Variance
The Two Way Analysis of Variance
Regression and Prediction
Analysis of Regression, Anscombe
Cook & Campbell
Midterm
Spring Break
The Analysis of Covariance
Presentations, Stevens
Presentations, Gaito
Presentations, Anderson
Catch up, Article Reviews & Paper Due
Final
Content
Science, models, scientific method
Measurement, qualitative designs
Intro to quantitative designs
Statistical models, normal curve
Validity/reliability, t-test
One-way ANOVA, Error
Correlation and regression
Computer packages
Design issues
Analysis of covariance, advanced designs
Analysis of designs-quantitative/qualitative
APA-style writing
Critical thinking, design critique
Spring 2010
Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Enrollment
Classes
Begin
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Sat./Sun.
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MLK, Jr.
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Week
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Proposal Ideas
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Midterm
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Presentations
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Finals Week
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Article
Reviews Due
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Papers Due
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Final
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Commencement
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COE/COT
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CAS/COB
(10:00)
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