Psychology 300 Research Methods in Psychology Fall, 2010 Instructor: C. Stangor (Room BP3123C; Email: [email protected]) Lab Instructors: John Jackson Say Young Kim ([email protected]) Kenneth Romaine More information about this course, including class handouts, can be found on Blackboard: elms.umd.edu. Required Textbooks: Stangor, C. (2011). Research Methods for the Behavioral Sciences, Fourth Edition. Thousand Oaks CA: Cengage. Recommended Textbook: American Psychological Association. (2009). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th Ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Learning Objectives: - An understanding of how to design valid psychological research - An appreciation for the relative strengths and weaknesses of a variety of research designs - The capacity to think critically about psychological research findings - The capability to carry out data collection, analyze data, and write up results in APA format Assignments: Possible Points and Due Dates: Assignment Possible points Exam 1 75 First research report 100 Exam 2 (includes take home) 100 Second research report 100 Final Exam 100 Lab and lecture attendance and participation 25 ____ Total Possible Points 500Please note carefully: Research Methods in Psychology is a hands-on course that involves a large amount of work outside of class. Because it is an advanced course, you must make many of your own decisions. Do not expect your instructors to tell you how to write your research report. Points will be deducted from papers that are late. More points will be deducted for each subsequent school day that the paper is late. Any queries about paper or exam grades must be initiated with your lab instructor within one week of the day the paper is returned to the class or the exam scores are posted. In no case may any grade queries be initiated after the first day of classes of the academic semester following this one. Grading The final grade in this class will be based on the sum of a possible 500 points accumulated from 2 midterm exams, one final exam, two research projects, and a class participation grade. Grading scale: A 90-100% (450 points or more) B 80-89% (400 – 449 points) C 70-79% (350 - 399 points) D 60-69% (300 - 349 points) F below 60% (less than 300 points) No plus or minus grades are assigned in this class Be on time for all exams. If you arrive late and any students have already completed the exam, you will not be allowed to take the exam. Makeups are not granted for midterm exams. If you miss one of the three midterms with a valid excuse, then your grade for the midterms will be calculated on the basis of the two exams that you have taken. If you miss one of the three midterms without a valid excuse, then your grade on the missed exam will be a zero. Only one missed exam per semester is allowed. Please refer to the university guidelines regarding missed exams: http://www.umd.edu/catalog/index.cfm/show/content.section/c/27/ss/1584/s/1540 The final exam is, in part, cumulative. Except for illness, all students must take the final exam at the time that it is has been scheduled by the University. Academic dishonesty Your exams and all written work must represent your own knowledge and ideas in your own words. Acts of academic dishonesty may be turned over for possible action to the University Judicial Board.Disability Support DSS students should immediately contact the instructor to indicate their DSS status and to get information about disability services. Course Evaluation As a member of our academic community, you as a student have a number of important responsibilities. One of these responsibilities is to submit your course evaluations each term though CourseEvalUM in order to help faculty and administrators improve teaching and learning at Maryland (www.courseevalum.umd.edu). More information is at: https://www.irpa.umd.edu/Assessment/CourseEval/stdt_faq.shtmlCLASS SCHEDULE Day Class Discussion Assigned Reading 8/30 Introduction to the course Chapter 1 9/1 Research methods Chapter 2 9/8 Ethics in research Chapter 3 9/13 Measures and measurement Chapter 4 9/15 Reliability Chapter 5 9/20 Likert measures due 9/22 Construct Validity Chapter 5 9/27 Exam Review 9/29 Exam 1 (covers chapters 1 through 5, Appendix A, and assigned research articles) 10/4 Hypothesis Testing Chapter 8 10/6 Observational Research Chapter 7 10/11 Survey Research Chapter 6 10/13 First Research Report Due 10/18 Correlational Research Chapter 9 10/20 One-way Experimental Designs Chapter 10 10/25 Exam 2 (covers chapter 6 through 10 and assigned research articles) 10/27 Factorial Experiments Chapter 11 11/1 Factorial Experiments (continued) 11/3 Internal Validity Chapter 12 11/8 Project 2 Ideas (Thursday labs only) 11/10 Project 2 Ideas (Friday labs only) 11/15 External Validity Chapter 13 11/17 Quasi-experimental designs Chapter 14 11/22 Research Identification 11/24 TBA 11/29 TBA 12/1 TBA 12/6 TBA 12/8 Second Research Report Due 12/14