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Course Outline
Part I
Programme Title: Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology (Schools and Community Settings)
Course Title:
Statistical Methods in Psychological Studies
Course code:
PSY5006
Credit Points:
3
Contact Hours:
39
Pre-requisites:
Basic Principles of Psychology (or Equivalent)
Medium:
English
Level:
3
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Part II
1. Synopsis:
This course is concerned with the concepts and processes of conducting statistically based
investigations in education, psychology and related fields. Students will be introduced to key
concepts necessary for successful data analysis, such as distinguishing between parametric and
non-parametric data analyses, evaluating data for suitability for various types of analysis, selecting
appropriate analyses, analyzing univariate and multivariate data, and drawing inferences from
patterns and relationships among and between variables from both parametric data sets. The course
will focus on the appropriate tools and methods for answering research questions related to the
nature of data, how data are distributed, how means differ, and the nature of relations among and
between variables.
2. Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs)
Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
CILO 1 Understand the key concepts and assumptions of statistical methods in psychological studies
CILO 2 Select and conduct appropriate statistical analyses and interpret results accurately to answer
research questions
CILO3 Report statistical results in accordance with APA standards and conventions
4. Assessment
Assessment Tasks
Weighting
CILO
40 %
CILO1-2
b. Data analysis report (group project).
20%
CILO1-3
Statistical analysis of a large publically-available data set in
order to answer a relevant psychological research question.
Report to demonstrate competence at descriptive and inferential
analysis and interpretation of multivariate data, as well as
reporting in accordance with APA conventions.
c. End of course examination
40%
CILO1-2
a. Home work assignments and statistical analyses using
instructor supplied data sets to answer guided questions.
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Three students as a team conduct analysis on some dataset, and write a final report, covering the
bellowed sections:
 Data Description: Each group is free to collect real data on a specific topic, or select a public
dataset or a dataset given by instructor. A brief introduction of the dataset should be provided,
including its participants, contents, backgrounds and so on.
 Research Questions: Be specific and related to the selected data.
 Statistical Methods: Apply statistical methods taught in the course.
 Results and Conclusions: Summarize results with tables or figures and draw conclusions.
 Style: It is highly recommended to follow the APA format, details could be found in the
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
 Words requirement: Around 1,500 to 3,000 words, not including references, tables or figures.
Use Times New Romans, Font Size 12, 1.5 line spacing.
Final Examination:
 Open-book exam.
 Coverage: Howell’s Chapters 8-11
7. Required Text(s)
Howell, D. C. (2010). Statistical methods for psychology (7th ed.). Wadsworth Cengage
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Recommended Readings
Aron, A., Aron, E., & Coups, E. J. (2009). Statistics for psychology (5th ed.). Pearson.
Blaikie, N. (2003). Analyzing quantitative data. London: Sage.
Coladarci, T., Cobb, C. D., Minium, E. W., & Clarke, R. B. (2008). Fundamentals of statistical
reasoning in education (2nd ed.). Danvers, MA: John Wiley & Sons.
Dretzke, B. J. (2009). Statistics with Microsoft Excel (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson/Prentice Hall.
George, D., & Mallery, P. (2010). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and reference
(10th ed.). Boston, MA; Hong Kong: Allyn & Bacon.
Green, S. B., & Salkind, S. J. (2010). Using SPSS for Windows and Macintosh: Analyzing and
understanding data (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Prentice Hall.
Hair Jr., J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis
(7th ed.). Boston, MA: Prentice Hall.
Hancock, G. R., & Mueller, R. O. (Eds.) (2010). The reviewer's guide to quantitative methods in
the social sciences. New York: Routledge.
Healey, J. F. et al. (2010). Exploring social issues: Using SPSS for Windows (3rd ed.). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
Salkind, N. J. (2011). Excel statistics: A quick guide. Los Angeles, CA : Sage.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th ed.). Allyn & Bacon
Triola, M. F. (2010). Elementary statistics using Excel. Boston, MA: Pearson Addision-Wesley.
Wild, C. J., & Seber, G. A. F. (2000). Chance encounters: A first course in data analysis and
inference. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
王文中（2004）統計學與 Excel資料分析之實習應用。台北：博碩文化。
Related Web Resources
Claremont Graduate University Web Interface for Statistics Education: http://wise.cgu.edu/
Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education:
http://www.causeweb.org/resources/
NIST/SEMATECH e-Handbook of Statistical Methods:
http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/index.htm
StatSoft Electronic Statistics Textbook. http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/
John C. Pezzullo catalogue of online statistical calculators and texts: http://statpages.org/
G. David Garson Statnotes: topics in multivariate analysis:
http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/PA765/statnote.htm
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Daniel Soper Statistics Calculators http://www.danielsoper.com/statcalc/default.aspx
Chinese University of HK, Dept of OBGYN Stats Toolbox
http://department.obg.cuhk.edu.hk/researchsupport/statmenu.asp
VassarStats Website for Statistical Computation: http://faculty.vassar.edu/lowry/VassarStats.html
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Related Journals
American Statistician
Applied Statistics
British Journal of Mathematical & Statistical Psychology
Communications in Statistics-Theory and Methods
Computational Statistics & Data Analysis
Journal of Applied Statistics
Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics
Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics.
Journal of Mathematics and Statistics
Journal of Probability and Statistics
Journal of the American Statistical Association
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B-Statistical Methodology
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C-Applied
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society)
Psychometrika
Statistica Sinica
Statistical Science
Statistics
The Annals of Statistics
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