PSYC 201
Scientific Methods in Behavioral and Social Sciences
Fall 2011
Instructor:
Zeynep Cemalcılar
SOS 209
zcemalcilar@ku.edu.tr
Office hours: M/W 14:00 - 15:00 or by appointment
Teaching Assistants (TAs) :
Elif Gözde İkizer: eikizer@ku.edu.tr
Nur Soylu: nsoylu@ku.edu.tr
Office hours: TBA
This course is designed to accomplish three closely related goals: (1) to introduce students to research
process and basic research concepts in behavioral and social sciences; (2) to provide students with critical
framework to examine problems of social science and to evaluate social science research; (3) to offer the
students opportunities to gain some first-hand experiences in formulating a social science question. At the
end of this course you will acquire basic skills for conducting research by yourself and at the same time for
understanding and critically evaluating others' research.
Text Book: Cozby, C. P. (2009). Methods in behavioral research (10th ed.). Boston: Mc Graw Hill.
Any extra reading or handout will be posted on the course website in KUAIS or distributed in class. It is
your responsibility to check the courseware on KUAIS for class announcements, assignments or any extra
readings. You are expected to come to each class having read all the assigned readings.
Course Requirements:
Assignments and Quizzes (Total of 40 points): There will be a number of assignments (take home or in–
class) and quizzes throughout the semester. The take-home assignments will be due the class after they are
given. You can submit your assignment only if you are present in class. No late assignments will be
accepted. More detail about assignments will be provided with each assignment.
Quizzes:
- Will be announced during the lecture preceding. However you may roughly expect a quiz at the end
of each subject topic (corresponding to one chapter in the book).
- Will consist of short essays
- Will be given at the beginning of the class and will last for 20-30 minutes. No extra time will be
provided for latecomers.
- The lowest quiz grade will be dropped.
- No make-up exams will be given for missed quizzes and the quiz you missed will be counted as your
lowest grade.
Midterm (25 points) and Final (35 points): Exams will consist of multiple choice questions and short
essays and require knowledge about topics covered in lectures, in the texts, and the discussion relevant to
research. The final exam will be cumulative and will on the final date determined by the Registrar’s office.
Note: Make-up for exams can only be given when a medical report approved by the Health Center is
provided. It is your responsibility to notify me/your TAs within 48 hours that you missed an exam,
and follow the announcements regarding the make-ups. There will be only one make-up for each
exam and if you miss it, your grade for that exam will be 0.
Friendly reminder: It is impossible to be successful in this course if you do not attend the lectures. I
strongly urge you to attend all lectures, participate in class discussions and activities, complete exams as
scheduled.
- Class attendance and participation contribute to the course grade at the discretion of the
instructor.
- Based on your in-class performance, you can get up to (Extra) 5-points of participation credits.
Course outline: This is a tentative schedule and may change based on our progress during the semester.
Whenever there is a change, you will be notified in class and the syllabus on the courseware will be updated
accordingly.
Date
Topic
Cozby
Book
September 19 – 26
Introduction to the course & Introduction to scientific
research
Ch 1
September 28 – October 3
What do we do/ how do we do
Ch 2
October 5 –19
Studying human behavior &
Problem identification and hypotheses formulation
Ch 4
October 24 –31
Measurement concepts
Ch 5
November 2
Ethics in behavioral research
Ch 3
November 7- 9: No class (Kurban Bayramı)
November 14 – 16
Research designs & Validity issues
November 21 – 23
Observational methods
Ch 6
November 28 – December 5
Survey research
Ch 7
December 7 – 14
Experimental designs
December 19 – 21
Single case, Quasi experimental and Developmental research
Ch 11
December 26 – 28
Understanding research results: Description and correlation
Ch 12
Chs 4, 14
Chs 8, 9
Note: There will be three supplementary lectures led by your TAs. These will be on (1) how to do literature
search using the library resources; (2) how to read empirical research articles; (3) how to write research
reports. Lecture times will be announced in class. You will be responsible of the contents of these lectures in
the assignments and exams.
Course policies: Please be sure that you are familiar with the University Academic Regulations and the
Regulations for Student Disciplinary Matters. Policies related to excused absences, cheating, plagiarism,
withdrawal, and incompletes can be found in these materials. As students and faculty in the Koç University,
we are all responsible for adhering to these policies.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the act of using another person's ideas or words (phrases, sentences, paragraphs,
or essays) and presenting them as one's own (including your classmates!) . Even when one paraphrases or
summarizes an author's materials, he or she must still give credit to the source. Any wrongdoing in such a
matter will be taken as an offense of the regulations of Koç University and you will get a “0” for that work
with no further opportunity for make-up.