Psychology 410
Professor: Claire Murphy, Ph.D.
Fall 2014
Office Hours: By appointment
Dr. Murphy’s email: cmurphy@mail.sdsu.edu
Ms. Zuber’s email: jordan.zuber@mail.sdsu.edu
Office: 6363 Alvarado Ct. Suite 101
San Diego, 92120-4913
Telephone: 594-4559
TA: Jordan Zuber
Textbooks: Myers, A. & Hansen, C. Experimental Psychology, Seventh Edition
APA, Publication Manual, current Edition
Areas in which you may expect to gain competence (Course Learning Objectives):
Searching the literature, reading research reports critically
Writing clear, concise reports in APA style
Using basic Analysis of Variance models correctly
Presenting research orally in a clear, precise manner
Preparing and presenting a Research Poster in a professional manner
Additional Department Level Learning Objectives: In addition to those outlined
above, other learning Goals and Objectives identified as important across the
Psychology Curriculum that overlap with this course are:
GOAL 3 – Students will demonstrate an understanding of the process of psychological
inquiry, including the formulation of hypotheses, the methods and designs used to test
hypotheses, and statistical techniques.
Objectives
1. Formulate scientific questions using operational definitions.
2. Generate appropriate methodological techniques for testing specific
hypotheses.
3. Design a simple experiment involving manipulation of variables.
4. Identify the factors required to make causal inferences about relationships
between variables.
5. Define, explain, and identify appropriate use of reliability and validity.
6. Understand interpret appropriately t, F, r, and r squared. GOAL 5 – Students will demonstrate an understanding of the importance of ethics in
psychological research and/or practice.
Objectives
1. Recognize the necessity of and identify specific ethical behavior in all aspects of
the science of psychology.
2. Be familiar with the rights of human research participants.
3. Describe the concept of informed consent to research.
GOAL 6 – Students will demonstrate an understanding of the importance of
consideration of culture and diversity in psychological research and practice.
7. Understand that research findings may not generalize to all people.
GOAL 7 – Students will demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate empirical behavioral
research.
GOAL 8 – Students will demonstrate the ability to complete independent work in
research and writing according to the standards of the discipline.
Objectives
1. Generate new research questions based on understanding of current research.
3. Plan and execute a project that involves data collection.
4. Prepare a written report based on data they have collected.
5. Demonstrate an ability to articulate, during an oral presentation: strong
knowledge of the research project; the ability to speak clearly, naturally and with
enthusiasm; the ability to use visual aids to enhance the presentation; the ability to
answer difficult questions clearly and succinctly; and the ability to present
information in logical, interesting sequence which audiences can follow
6. Create a poster presentation that demonstrates: the ability to use visual aids to
enhance the presentation; the ability to answer difficult questions clearly and
succinctly; and the ability to present information in logical, interesting sequence
which audiences can follow.
GOAL 9 – Students will demonstrate an ability to express critical thinking and problem
solving both verbally and in writing.
1. Engage in creative thinking by evaluating new ideas with an open but critical
mind.
2. Use reasoning to recognize, develop, defend, and criticize arguments and other
persuasive appeals.
3. Approach problems effectively by defining the problem, generating multiple
possible goals and solutions, evaluating the quality of the possible solutions, and
selecting the optimal solution.
4. Demonstrate effective writing skills and use of APA-style in various formats (e.g.,
essays, technical papers).
5. Demonstrate effective verbal skills in various formats (e.g., oral presentations).
6. Demonstrate the ability to collaborate effectively.
Summary of Work Required:
APA style written presentations of in class experiments
Almost daily quizzes and tests
Analyses of data
Final exam
Final project conducted with a small group
Final Paper written individually
Point Distribution:
Tests
Quizzes 10@20
Mini-Exam
APA quiz
Final Exam
200
40
30
200
Papers
Abstract
Exp I
Exp II
Exp III
20
50
100
100
Final Project
Proposal
Execution
Oral/Poster
Individual Paper
20
50
40
150
Grading:
Your grades will be based on your percentage of total points. The description of precisely
how many points will be assigned to each aspect of your performance is listed above. The
A range is usually 90 to 100 with 90 or 91 receiving an A-. The B range is usually 80-89
with 88 and 89 receiving a B+ and 80 and 81 a B-. You can extrapolate other grades from
the above.
Prerequisites:
As indicated in the Class Schedule, students wishing to enroll in Psychology 410 are
required to have completed the Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement or be
eligible to enroll in an upper division writing course. Additional prerequisites include
Psychology 211 and grades of B or better in both Psychology 270 (or 280 or an
equivalent statistics course) and Psychology 271/281.
Plagiarism:
You will be doing a lot of writing in this course. Be aware that plagiarism is
defined at SDSU as “the act of incorporating ideas, words, or specific substance
of another, whether purchased, borrowed, or otherwise obtained, and submitting
same to the University as one’s own work to fulfill academic requirements without
giving credit to the appropriate source.” Plagiarism constitutes both a violation of
the University Judicial Code and of the APA Ethics Code. Plagiarism in this
course refers to copying and presenting as your own any material from published
or unpublished sources, or any material that is actually the original work of
another student. With the exception of the final project posters and oral reports
(done in teams), it is expected and required that you independently prepare all
other assignments for this course, including your final project paper. If you
plagiarize work from any source, including from another student, you will receive a
grade of 0 (zero) on the assignment and a failing grade for the semester.
Course Requirements:
This class has the reputation of being very time-consuming and difficult. It is. It is
also important in helping you develop competence in experimental design, execution of
experiments, scientific writing and in professional skills for presenting scientific results. If
you spend the time and master the concepts (and it is certainly possible to do this) you will
have every reason to feel very proud of yourself at the end of the semester.
Tests: You will have almost daily quizzes based on the reading that is indicated on
the class schedule and the material that has been covered in class and lab. There are 11
quizzes scheduled to allow you to drop the lowest score. There will be NO MAKE-UP
QUIZZES! The mini-exam will cover everything that you should know at that point in the
semester. It will give us a chance to make sure that every one is caught up at that point.
The final will be comprehensive. It will give you a chance to show that you have learned
how to take experimental data, interpret it and present it in APA style.
Papers:
SOME RULES ABOUT PAPERS.
1. Follow APA format and the guidelines given in class for writing these papers.
2. Papers are due at the time class begins on the day they are due. You must stay
up with the class schedule, because it is almost impossible to catch up if you get behind.
Late papers will lose 5 points and an additional 5 points for each class they are late. Please
don't miss class just because your paper isn't finished, it will put you even further behind.
3. Your analyses must be absolutely correct. If you turn in a paper and your
analyses are not perfectly correct you will receive an F on the results portion of the report.
You will have a week to redo the results and turn it back in for re-grading. The grade on that
section of the paper will be one grade lower if you have to resubmit it.
4. When you include material from another source in one of your papers you must
use quotation marks and/or citations to make the original source clear. Including material
from another source without proper attribution is considered plagiarism. Plagiarism is a
major offense.
ASSIGNED PAPERS.
Abstract: An abstract is the last part of the paper to be written. You will be given an
article without the abstract. Your task is to write one. Assume that you wrote the paper but
be careful not to just lift sentences from other parts of the paper.
Experiment I: We will do the experiment in class. A title page, an abstract, a method
section, a results section, and a reference list are required.
Experiments II and III: We will plan and carry out these experiments as a class. A
full report including title page, abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, references,
Tables and Figures is required.
Final Project: This experiment is designed by a small group of lab partners. Each
group, working in consultation with Dr. Murphy will conduct their own research project. Each
student will be responsible for his/her own data analysis and written report. Together you
will prepare a poster and a short oral report. Individually, you will prepare a written paper in
APA style, with title page, abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, references,
Tables, Figures and acknowledgements.
From the Office of Student Disability Services:
“If you are a student with a disability and believe you will need accommodations
for this class, it is your responsibility to contact Student Disability Services
at (619) 594-6473. To avoid any delay in the receipt of your
accommodations, you should contact Student Disability Services as soon as
possible. Please note that accommodations are not retroactive, and that
accommodations based upon disability cannot be provided until you have
presented your instructor with an accommodation letter from Student Disability
Services. Your cooperation is appreciated.”
Also, a reminder that the last day instructors can drop students from their class is Sept
4, but the last day students can add or drop (Schedule adjustment deadline) for the Fall
2014 semester is Sept 8th at 11:59 p.m.
CLASS SCHEDULE
Note that this is subject to change as needed. Changes will be announced in class.
8/25/14
Introduction to the course, syllabus
Abstracts
M&H 179-186 and Chapter 16,
Abstract assignment
Reading article, writing abstract
8/27/14
Quiz 1 (M&H 179-186, Chapter 16), 10 am
M&H 16, finish Abstract assignment,
draft Method section, analyze data,
Literature Review exercise
Experiment I in LS 117
9/1/14
9/3/14
LABOR DAY-Campus Closed
Quiz 2 (M&H 2), Ethical Principles in
Psychology, Ethical Treatment of Subjects
Abstract due
Methods, results, discussion, Experiment 1
9/8/14
ECRO
Quiz 3 (M&H 2) to follow after training
LIBRARY SEARCH TRAINING
Bruce Harley, Librarian
M&H 1&2, read the Ethical
Principles of psychologists and Code
of Conduct article
M&H 6,7, Review Appendix F as
needed; draft Results and Abstract
Review of SPSS
LIBRARY SEARCH TRAINING
Bruce Harley, Librarian
9/10/14
ECRO
Quiz 4 (M&H 6; 179-186), Experiment I due M&H 8, Review Appendix F as
Conduct your literature search using principles needed; Conduct literature review for
from the presentation on 9/8
experiment II
ONLINE HUMAN SUB TRAINING
Print certificate and turn it in
9/15/14
Quiz 5 (M&H 8), Drafting an introduction e.g., M&H 9, Exp II writing introduction
for Experiment II
9/17/14
Conduct Experiment II
9/22/14
APA Quiz,
M&H 14 , review M&H 16, working
Discuss types of experiments and experimental on Introduction and method, analyze
designs
data, draft results SPSS: JZ
9/24/14
Quiz 6 (M&H 14), Discuss types of
ANOVAS, Discussion for Exp II
Review APA Manual, continue draft
of Introduction and Method, calculate
descriptive statistics Datafiles: JZ
M&H 15, draft discussion
9/29/14
Mini-Exam (M&H 15, review everything),
Review Discussion, Discuss quasiexperiments, Discuss Exp III,
M&H 10, rewrite Experiment II
10/1/14
Quiz 7 (M&H 10),
M&H 4, Lit search, draft Intro Exp
III, prepare for Exp III
Experiment II due at 10 am
Discuss specific comparisons, Surveys, internet
surveys
10/6/14
Quiz 8 (M&H 4), Run Experiment III
Discuss within subjects designs
M&H 11, Experiment III
10/8/14
Quiz 9 (M&H 11), Discuss Exp III
M&H 13, Lit review for 2 min
presentation of research idea next
week
10/13/14 Quiz 10 (M&H 13), Research presentations
Discuss Exp III, analyze data from Exp III
Discuss data interpretation and graphs
Appendix A, draft Method, Results &
Discussion
10/15/14 Quiz 11 (interpretation and graphs, Appendix
A),
Analyze data, draft figures, writing up
Exp III
10/20/14 Experiment III due at 10 am
Discuss final projects & form groups
Form a group and generate ideas, find
relevant literature, references
10/22/14 FINAL EXAM
Groups meet with Dr. Murphy; Sign
up for time slots
Working groups: Meet with group
members: Discuss final projects, set
group meetings, review literature
relevant to topic, review references
and refine topic.
Discuss final projects
10/27/14 Critical elements of a proposal: writing a
research proposal
Meet in groups, Work on project
design and literature review, define
IVs and DVs. Discuss numbers of
and recruitment of subjects, consent
forms. Begin writing proposal.
10/29/14 Working groups: Meet with group members:
Discuss final projects, set group meetings, and
assign responsibilities. Continue to read
literature on the topic. Share key references
with the group. Proposal writing.
Working groups: Discuss logistics of
running subjects, recording and
compiling data, analysis. Prepare
consent forms, data forms, and an
SPSS file for the incoming data.
11/3/13
11/5/13
Proposal writing
Working on final projects
10 am: Proposal due, Groups running subjects Submit proposal by 10 am, by email
and in hard copy; Groups conducting
experiments
11/10-19 Groups continue to run subjects, run analysis, Begin to write final paper, Consider
SFN 9-13 interpret data, prepare figures and graphs
what to include in presentations. Start
with Intro and methods. Hint: You
have a proposal.
11/24/13
11/26/14
12/1/14
12/3/14
Introduction to Poster Presentations
NO CLASS--Happy Thanksgiving!
Introduction to Slide Presentations
Poster Presentations
Working on poster presentations
12/8/14
Oral Presentations
Enjoy each others’ presentations
12/10/14 Final Paper due at 10:00 AM
Happy Holidays!
Working on presentations
Enjoy each others’ presentations
Submit paper by 10 am, by email and
bring in hard copy