PSYCHOLOGY 103 - Section 1
Psychological Methods and Analysis II
Fall, 2013
Instructor: Paul Zarnoth
Office: 103 Psychology Center
Phone:
631-4417 (office)
925-798-1179 (home - for emergencies)
E-mail:
pzarnoth@stmarys-ca.edu
Class Time: MWF 10:30 B 11:35
Office Hours: Monday 2:00 B 3:00
Wed 9:30-10:15; 3:00 B 4:00
Thur 10:00 B 12:00
(Or simply stop by my office to see if I am available.)
Course Description: Psychology 103 is part of a sequence of courses designed to introduce
you to research methodology, statistical analysis, and writing within the discipline. These three
skills go hand in hand, so it makes sense to learn them together. The material in this course
builds directly upon the skills and knowledge gained in Psychology 3 and English 5. Therefore,
you must successfully complete these two prerequisites before taking Psychology 103.
I have three general goals for this course. First, I want you to understand statistical methods well
enough to be able to read and interpret the scientific literature more easily and more critically
than you ever have been able to before. Second, I want you to understand information literacy,
methodology, and statistics well enough to carry out your own original research projects. Third, I
want you to develop the skills of writing in APA format, so you will be able to effectively
communicate your research to others.
There are four significant differences between this course and Psychology 3. First, this course
will concentrate on experimental designs while Psychology 3 focuses on non-experimental
designs. Second, this course will explain inferential statistics while Psychology 3 introduces
students to descriptive statistics. Third, you will be expected to carry out a somewhat more
elaborate research project as part of this course. Fourth, you will be expected to write a more
complete and higher quality APA format research paper.
Texts:
Zechmeister, J. S., & Zechmeister, E. B., & Shaughnessy, J. J., (2001). Essentials of research
methods in psychology (1st Edition). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Gravetter, F. J., & Wallnau, L. B. (2011). Essentials of statistics for the behavioral sciences (7th
Edition). Pacific Grove, CA: Wadsworth.
Hubbach, S. M. (2005). Writing research papers across the curriculum (5th Edition).
Boston, MA: Wadsworth.
Learning Outcomes:
Learning Outcomes Related to Research Methodology:
1.
Students will demonstrate an understanding of experimentation and other research
methods used within the field of psychology.
2.
Students will design and carry out research using experimentation as a research
methodology.
3.
Students will evaluate research with an awareness of the strengths and weaknesses
of various empirical methodologies.
4.
Students will examine the ethical issues that arise in psychological research.
Learning Outcomes Related to Statistical Analysis:
1.
Students will demonstrate the ability to interpret statistical analyses described in
the professional psychological literature.
2.
Students will apply systematic, logical reasoning to solve statistical problems.
3.
Students will use inferential statistics to analyze and interpret empirical data that
they have collected through experimentation.
Learning Outcomes Related to Written Communication:
1.
Students will compose clear and carefully organized prose using APA style.
2.
Students will recognize and formulate effective written communication, giving
appropriate consideration to audience, context and format.
3.
Students will construct well reasoned arguments, supported by theory and past
research, in the development of research hypotheses.
4.
Students will use the process of writing (including brainstorming, collaboration,
outlining, drafting, and revising) to enhance intellectual discovery and unravel
complexities of thought.
Learning Outcomes Related to Information Evaluation and Research Practices:
1.
Students will use PsychINFO to find theory and research relevant to an area of
interest.
2.
Students will critically evaluate sources.
3.
Students will integrate and cite evidence following the rules of APA style.
4.
Students will understand the concept of intellectual property and practice
academic honesty.
Requirements:
Points toward your final grade will be earned through a variety of sources.
They include the following:
Exams: Four exams will be given. All exams will consist of both conceptual questions
and problem solving items. The first three exams will be worth 70 points. The final
exam will be cumulative and will be worth 90 points.
Projects: You will be assigned several projects throughout the course. Three projects
will require you to collect and analyze a small number of data on a topic of your
choice. These thee projects will introduce you to components of the SPSS statistical
package. Each of the remaining five projects will ask you to complete one step of a
carefully designed semester-long research experiment and the creation of a complete
manuscript written in APA style. Projects will be worth anywhere between 15 and 40
points.
It is expected that this will be an intensive course. It is also expected that you will
become overwhelmed at some point. For that reason, you are free to skip one of the
following SPSS practice projects: Project 2, Project 4 or Project 7. Or, you may complete
all three, and I will drop the one with the lowest score.
Participation: Get points for something that you were going to do anyway. Because your
active participation is of direct benefit to you and your classmates, I will award up to 30
participation points throughout the semester. In order to earn these points, you must be
fully prepared to engage in discussion every day. This means that you must have
completed the assigned reading before coming to class. You will also need to contribute
to a positive and supportive class atmosphere in which everyone is encouraged to speak
openly. I am particularly happy to see students respond to comments made by one
another.
Reading Assignments, Practice Assignments, and Class Attendance: Reading
assignments and practice assignments should be completed prior to attending class. My
primary objective in class will be to clarify and supplement the material in your books.
An effort will be made to focus on the difficult aspects of the material. I will also bring
in outside examples to elaborate that provided by the text. What you gain from class will
depend, to a large extent, on your own familiarity with the assigned readings.
I do not plan to grade your daily practice assignments. Their primary purpose is to give
you experience to prepare you for the exams. Statistics is truly a subject that you need to
practice in order to learn. I promise to try to avoid busy work in these assignments. You
should bring your assignments with you to class and should feel encouraged to ask about
any difficult parts of the assignments during the class meetings.
It is my intent that your regular attendance, attention, and participation in class will
contribute to your understanding of the concepts, processes, and principles that you will
be expected to know for exams.
Grading: There are 485 points possible in this class.
Final grades will be earned according to
the following scale:
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
= 91% of total (441.5 - 485.0 points)
= 88% of total (427.0 - 441.0 points)
= 85% of total (412.5 - 426.5 points)
= 81% of total (393.0 - 412.0 points)
= 78% of total (378.5 - 392.5 points)
= 75% of total (364.0 - 378.0 points)
= 71% of total (344.5 - 363.5 points)
= 68% of total (330.0 - 344.0 points)
= 65% of total (315.5 - 329.5 points)
= 61% of total (296.0 - 315.0 points)
= 58% of total (281.5 - 295.5 points)
= below 58% (below 281.5 points)
Policy for Late Projects / Absence from Exams: Projects are due at the beginning
of the class listed on the project description. Projects handed in after that time will automatically
lose points. If you know you have a conflict with the due date for a project or for an exam, you
may reschedule them only if (1) you have a legitimate excuse (according to my definition), and
(2) you inform me of it at least one week before the date. Only a documented medical excuse or
similar emergency will be accepted after the one-week deadline has expired. If such an
emergency occurs, you will be expected to speak with me before the exam period unless the
nature of the emergency makes contacting me impossible or extraordinarily difficult.
Academic Integrity: Saint Mary=s College expects every member of its community to
abide by the Academic Honor Code. According to the Code, AAcademic dishonesty is a serious
violation of College policy because, among other things, it undermines the bonds of trust and
honesty between members of the community.@ Violations of the Code include but are not
limited to acts plagiarism. For more information, please consult the Student Handbook at
www.stmarys-ca.edu/your-safety-resources/student-handbook.
Disabilities: Student Disability Services extends reasonable and appropriate
accommodations that take into account the context of the course and its essential
elements for individuals with qualifying disabilities. Students with disabilities are
encouraged to contact the Student Disability Services Office at (925) 631-4358 or
sds@stmarys-ca.edu to arrange a confidential appointment to discuss accommodation
guidelines and available services. Additional information regarding the services available
may be found at the following address on the Saint Mary=s website:
http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/sds
Free Writing Advising at the Center for Writing Across the
Curriculum:
Students are welcome to drop in or make appointments for one-on-one sessions with
CWAC Writing Advisers. Students may request weekly or biweekly sessions with the
same peer student Adviser. The Center, in Dante 202, is open 5-8 p.m. Sunday and 2-8
p.m. Monday through Thursday. The phone number is 925-631-4684. Advisers guide
their peers toward expressing ideas clearly and revising their own papers with an eye
toward audience and purpose. Writers should bring their assignments, texts, and related
material. Writers visit the Center to brainstorm ideas, revise drafts, or work on specific
aspects of writing, such as grammar, citation, thesis development, organization, critical
reading, or research methods.
Assistance from SMC Librarians:
Reference/Information assistance is available at the Reference Desk, by phone (925) 631-4624,
text message or IM. Check the Library=s AAsk Us@ link for details:
http://library.stmarys-ca.edu/ask-us/ Extended assistance by appointment is also available.
Contact the subject librarian for your major or any of the Reference librarians for an
appointment.
Helpful Hints:
1. Keep your attention on the concepts. This course is more like a logic course than a
math class. In class and while reading, you should pay close attention to the principles
underlying the statistical methods. Trust me, there will be far too much information to
simply try to memorize steps for each procedure. You will be vastly better off if you
understand why you are doing something than if you just understand how to do it.
2. Be sure you know each concept before going on to the next. Statistics and research
methodology are cumulative. If you get stuck on a point and decide to just skip it, it will
come back to haunt you later. Even within a chapter, stop when you get stuck. Reread it,
ask me to go over it with you (in class or in my office). Do whatever works for you to
understand every single point.
3. Read slowly. The material in your statistics text requires slower reading and more
careful reading than the average text book.
4. Keep up. Because the material is cumulative, if you fall behind in your reading or
miss lectures, the later information or classes will be almost meaningless to you And it
will become harder and harder to catch up.
5. Work especially intensely during the first half of the course. Another implication of
the cumulative nature of this material is that by working hard at the beginning, you not
only do better on the next exam but on all the exams in the class.
6. Help each other. I want you to ask me a lot of questions. But when I am not around,
it will benefit you all to help one another. There is no better way to learn this information
than to have to explain it to someone else. Remember, I am not grading practice
assignments. There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing them in groups C as long as
each person contributes and is learning the concepts.
7. Ask a lot of questions. It is always hard to predict exactly what topics a person will
have difficulties with. If you take the initiative and ask a lot of questions, the class (or
office hour) will become ideally structured to helping you to understand statistics. Never
let me move on to a new topic before you thoroughly understand the first.
Tentative Outline
Dates and topics on this outline are subject to change. Dates for projects to be turned in will be announced in
class.
Part 1: Testing Hypotheses
Date
Topic
Sept 4
Sept 6
Sept 9
Sept 11
Sept 13
Sept 16
Sept 18
Sept 20
Sept 23
Sept 25
Sept 27
Welcome B Drawing Inferences
Review of Probability and Descriptive Statistics
Sampling Distributions
Hypothesis Testing (A Step-by-Step Guide)
Hypothesis Testing Using the One-Sample z Test
The One-Sample z Test - final notes / Library Day
Type I and Type II Errors / Work Time
Increasing the Power of Statistical Tests
The One-Sample t Test
The p Value Approach
Exam 1
Reading Assignment
GW Ch. 7
GW Ch. 8 (pp. 203 B 213)
GW Ch. 8 (pp. 217 B 227)
GW Ch. 8 (pp. 213 B 217)
GW Ch. 8 (pp. 232 B 244)
GW Ch. 9 (pp. 249 B 260; 267 B 278)
Part 2: Experimentation Using Independent Groups Designs
Sept 30
Oct 2
Oct 4
Oct 7
Oct 9
Oct 11
Oct 14
Oct 16
Oct 18
Why Conduct Experiments?
Experimental Designs
Independent Samples t Test
Hypothesis Testing Using Ind. Samples t Test
Effect Size
Lab Versus Field Research / External Validity
Internal Validity
Quasi-Experiments
Exam 2
SZZ Ch. 6 (pp. 148 B 153)
SZZ Ch. 6 (pp. 155 B 156; 170 B 175)
GW Ch. 10 (pp. 279 B 288)
GW Ch. 10 (pp. 288 B 291)
GW Ch. 10 (pp. 291 B 312)
SZZ Ch. 6 (pp. 161 B 163)
SZZ Ch. 9 (pp. 238 B 244)
SZZ Ch. 9 (pp. 244 B 255)
Part 3: Dependent Measures Designs and the One-Way ANOVA
Oct 21
Oct 23
Oct 25
Oct 28
Oct 30
Nov 1
Nov 4
Nov 6
Nov 8
Nov 11
Nov 13
Types of Dependent Measures Designs
Issues for Dependent Measures Designs
Fall Break
The Repeated Measures t Test
Biases in Research
Introduction to the Analysis of Variance
Hyp. Testing Using the Between Subjects ANOVA
Practice with the ANOVA / Work Time
Multiple Comparison Procedures and the
One-Way Repeated Measures ANOVA
Review for the Exam
Exam 3
SZZ Ch. 6 (pp. 152 B 161)
GW Ch. 11
GW Ch. 12 (pp. 345 B 354)
GW Ch. 12 (pp. 354 B 374)
GW Ch. 12 (pp. 375 B 391),
GW Ch. 13 (pp. 393 B 399)
Part 4: Complex Designs
Date
Topic
Reading Assignment
Nov 15
Nov 18
Nov 20
Nov 22
Nov 25
Nov 27-28
Dec 2
Dec 4
Dec 6
Designs with More than One Independent Variable
The Two-Way ANOVA
Interpreting Interactions
Interpreting Interactions
The Chi-Square
Thanksgiving Break
The Chi-Square Test of Independence
Discussion of Projects
Review for Final Exam
ZZS Ch. 9 (pp. 182 B 193)
GW Ch. 13 (pp. 409 B 428)
GW Ch. 13 (pp. 428 B 443)
ZZS Ch. 9 (pp. 198 B 207)
GW Ch. 15 (pp. 509 B 511)
GW Ch. 15 (pp. 521B 531, 534 B 546)