Psychology 323
Research in Psychology II: Research Methods
This course is designed to teach you the basic concepts of
research methods and data analysis used in the study of psychology.
Its goals are to help you think critically in approaching problems,
to give you hands-on experience with a variety of methodological
techniques, to teach you to read and interpret the psychological
literature in your field, to train you to analyze and interpret
the results of a research study, and to enable you to communicate
research findings to an audience of psychologists.
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
• Locate journal articles, edited book chapters, and
books pertinent to your field of interest and comprehend the
contents of these sources.
• Demonstrate proficiency in the methods used in psychological
research, including psychological measurement, major research
strategies, data analysis, and communicating research information.
• Critically evaluate the effectiveness of research methods
and the quality of inferences drawn from the research results
you read about in scholarly journals as well as in the popular
media.
• Demonstrate an awareness of the ethical and social responsibilities
of a practicing scientist.
• Apply the skills gained in this course to any specialty
area.
Prerequisites. Students must have successfully
completed Psy223 (Research in Psychology I: Statistical Methods
and Design) with at least a grade of C and Eng280 (College Writing
II).
Writing in the Discipline (WID). This course
fulfills the WID graduation requirement for the psychology major.
Class Format. The course will include both
a traditional teaching model (i.e., textbook, lectures, and
tests) as well as a strong experiential component (i.e., hands-on
projects). We will have “lab” sessions periodically
during the regularly scheduled class time. Lab will consist
of computer work, participation in demonstrations or activities,
mini-research projects, or time to work on your group project.
Required Texts
Leary, M. R. (2008). Introduction to behavioral research methods
(5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
[ISBN 0-205-54414-2]
American Psychological Association. (2005). Publication manual
of the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC: Author.
[ISBN 1-55798-791-2 for softcover; also available in hardcover
and spiral bound]
Components of the Course
Exams (180 points). There will be three semi-cumulative
exams that cover the course content. Exams include a combination
of multiple-choice, definition, and essay/application questions.
The best way to prepare for the exams is to read the textbook
chapter(s), take the quizzes, attend class regularly, participate
in class discussions and exercises, and spend time outside of
class thinking about how the course material relates to events
that happen to you every day. Each exam is worth 60 points,
for a total of 180 points toward your final grade. Make-up exams
are not offered unless you make prior arrangements with me and
only in cases of genuine and documented health or family emergencies.
Quizzes (100 points). For each topic that
we cover in the course, you will be required to take a quiz
on the course website to test your understanding of the material
presented in the chapter. There will be 10 of these quizzes.
Each quiz will consist of 10 multiple-choice questions and you
will have 10 minutes to complete the quiz. You may use any written
material (but not a person) to help you answer the questions,
but remember you only have 10 minutes to finish the quiz. You
can take each quiz over as many times as you would like, and
your final grade for each quiz will be the grade you have earned
on the due date for the quiz (see course schedule). Late quizzes
will not be accepted unless you make prior arrangements with
me and only in cases of genuine and documented health or family
emergencies. Each quiz will be worth 10 points, for a total
of 100 points toward your final grade.
Research Project (200 points). Students will
work in groups of 3-4 students to conduct an original research
project from beginning to end, including generating an idea
for the project, conducting a literature review, designing the
study, completing the procedure necessary for requesting permission
to use human subjects, collecting and analyzing the data, writing
the final APA-style research report, and presenting your results
in poster presentation format at the Psychology Department’s
Student Research Forum at the end of the semester.
The project has a number of components and intermediate deadlines
that must be met before the final product is turned in. Students
initially submit their work in sections; I give feedback on
each section and students rewrite them for the final paper.
More details about the research project are described in a separate
handout. Although this is a group project, each student will
hand in his/her own report. The research project is worth 200
points toward your final grade.
This is a writing-intensive course, and the research project
is designed to help you acquire technical writing expertise
in the discipline of psychology. Because one goal of this course
is to improve your technical writing skills, you will have the
opportunity to revise and resubmit any of the written assignments
to improve your grade. [Rewrites must be handed in within one
week of receiving feedback on the paper. Include a copy of all
previous versions of your paper with your rewrite.]
A note about the Student Research Forum: Posters will be produced
by the group; only one poster will be created for the group’s
project. The poster session will give you a chance to hear about
your colleagues’ research and to obtain feedback from
your colleagues about your research. You can receive bonus points
for great presentations and for providing good ideas to presenters.
You can lose points for giving poor presentations.
Attendance (20 points). This course is challenging,
and attendance is absolutely essential. There is a lot of information
to be covered, and the concepts intertwine and build on each
other. As a result, it is likely that if you miss one or more
class periods, you may be lost for several days. Unlike many
other classes where you can “catch up” by reading
the textbook or other students’ notes, the “hands-on”
nature of this class will make it very difficult for you to
make up missed activities and discussions. Therefore, I expect
students to come to all class periods prepared and on time.
Please be considerate of your classmates and me by not coming
in late. (Thanks! ?) Students who come in late for class will
be counted absent. If you fall ill or miss class for any reason,
please contact me (and your research teammates) to make arrangements.
Attendance points will be calculated as the percentage of days
the student is in class on time. Thus, if a student attends
80% of the class periods, he/she will receive 80% of the available
points.
Online Research Tutorial. Before you will
be allowed to conduct research in this course, you must pass
an online research tutorial that is required by the university.
The tutorial is challenging and takes about 90 minutes to complete.
This tutorial is required of all researchers at the university,
including your instructor. However, once you have successfully
completed it, you will be certified to conduct research at WIU
and other institutions (e.g., if you go on to graduate school).
Be sure to print out your certificate and hand it in by the
due date (keep a copy of it for your records!). Students failing
to complete this tutorial and hand in their completion certificate
by the due date will not be allowed to collect data on their
research projects and thus will receive a zero on the final
research paper.
PsycInfo Skills Test. In order to pass this
course, students must successfully complete a PsycInfo Skills
Test that will be administered during class time. The test is
evaluated as pass/fail. Although there are no points assigned
to this test, students who do not pass the test by the end of
the semester will be assigned a grade of “Incomplete,”
regardless of their performance on other assignments. Students
may re-take the test as many times as necessary. Students wishing
to re-take the test should make arrangements with the teaching
assistant to set up a mutually convenient time.
Policies
Late Assignments and Make-ups. Late assignments are not accepted
and make-up exams are not given unless you make prior arrangements
with me and only in cases of documented and approved absences.
Late Project Coupon. Out of fairness to everyone,
all students are held to the same standard when it comes to
project deadlines. Project papers MUST be typed and stapled
and are due at the beginning of class on the due dates. However,
because I'm a reasonable person and because illness and emergencies
do occasionally happen, I will allow each person one "day
of grace" (i.e., permission to be up to 24 hours late without
penalty). You can use this "one day late - no penalty"
coupon at your discretion (or not use it at all). Simply write
your name on it and attach it to your paper. You can use it
only one time and you can use it only for research project papers
(not exams, quizzes, poster presentation, attendance, etc.).
Academic Integrity. I expect that you, as
honorable scholars, will do your own work and not take credit
for the effort and ideas of others. This includes plagiarism,
cheating, and not contributing to group projects. Any student
caught cheating on a test or plagiarizing any written work or
loafing on group activities will, at the very least, receive
a zero on that assignment. Dishonest students may receive a
failing grade for the course and may be expelled from the university.
Please refer to the student handbook for detailed information
on academic dishonesty.
Extra Credit. You may earn up to 24 points
of extra credit in this class by volunteering to participate
in the studies of other Psy323 students (3 points per study).
The sign-up sheets for available studies are posted on the wall
outside the classroom. In order to facilitate Psy323 students
obtaining participants for their studies, extra credit in this
class will only be given for participating in Psy323 studies
and not the research posted for the psychology general subject
pool.
