PSYC 52A: Research Methods and Laboratory in Psychology

PSYC 52A-1: Research Methods and Laboratory in Psychology Fall 2016 Time: Mon/Wed 11:00 a.m. - 1:50 p.m. Location: Goldfarb 230 Instructor: Michael Polito, Ph.D. Email: [email protected] Office: Brown 108 Office Hours: Mon/Wed 1-2pm, by appointment. TA: Sonja Krstic ([email protected]) TA Office hours: Thurs 10:30am-12pm, Brown 123 Course Description:

How do psychologists use scientific methods to address research questions about mental processes and behavior? In this course, you will receive “hands on” training on the fundamentals of conducting psychological research. This course will be conducted as a workshop that fully integrates lectures and laboratories in order to give you experience with designing, conducting, analyzing, interpreting, and communicating scientific psychological research. A major emphasis is “learning by doing.” You will actively participate in laboratory tasks that demonstrate the range of activities in experimental research. That is, you will actually do research. Specifically, you will learn to define hypotheses, design and conduct experiments, appropriately analyze and interpret data, and present results in technical reports. This class emphasizes active participation, and making up in-class assignments is not possible, so regular class attendance and participation are very important. Grading will be based on written reports, quizzes, and participation. Psychology 51a (Statistics) is required as a prerequisite. Textbooks: Required: Textbook: Morling, B. Research Methods in Psychology, 2nd edition. W. W. Norton. (comes in paperback, 3 hole punch, and ebook formats).

Articles uploaded to LATTE Course Information:

Participating in Research Methods will enable you to:  think critically about research  thoughtfully design experiments  analyze experimental results using statistical methods (and SPSS)  critically interpret experimental results  communicate your findings to others by technical reports written clearly, concisely, and objectively using APA format

Course Content and Requirements: The course will consist of lectures, lab work, individual and group projects. Four-Credit Course Success in this 4 credit hour course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, discussion sections, preparation for exams, etc.). Writing-Intensive Course This is a writing-intensive course, with three major writing assignments throughout the semester. If you have challenges with writing, please make good use of the Brandeis Writing Center – they have specialized skills that your TA and I do not have! Late papers will be penalized 5%, plus 5% for each full day past the deadline. Experiential Learning Course This course involves hands-on experience in conducting psychological research and is therefore listed as an experiential learning course. For more information about experiential learning, go to http://www.brandeis.edu/experientiallearning/.

Grading: Exams (30% total, 15% each): You will have 2 non-cumulative exams during the semester. These exams will be short answer, multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank format and will be based on lecture content, readings, and lab activities.

Archival study (15%): You will design and conduct an archival study in small groups of 4-5 students. Each group will write an informal report of this study. All members of the group receive the same paper grade, so it is crucial for each member to pull his or her own weight! Each member will grade the other members of the group on their level of participation and this participation score will take up 30% of your final grade on this assignment.

First Research Project Paper (20%): We will conduct a simple experiment in class. We will collect and analyze data in class and each student will write a full APA-style research paper on this experiment. You will have the opportunity to submit a re-write after your initial grade on this assignment. If you choose to re-write, you final grade on this will be a weighted average of the 2 drafts, with 70% of your grade from your initial submission, while the grade on your re-write will make up the other 30%.

Final Research Project Paper (20%): We will conduct a factorial design experiment in class. We will collect and analyze data in class. Each student will again write an APA-style research paper and we will do several writing workshops in class.

Quizzes and class Assignments (15%): There will be low-stakes pop quizzes in class, meaning that each one will not affect your grade much, but they provide valuable feedback and reward those who come to class prepared. You will also have several lab activities across the semester, in class and occasionally for homework. Many of these cannot be made up, so it’s important to come to class.

Grading scale: I do not curve assignments or tests, I do not round up final scores at the end of the semester, and I do not give extra credit planned. A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D 93< 90-92.9 87-89.9 83-86.9 80-82.9 77-79.9 73-76.9 70-72.9 <69.9 Data Collection. Please note that your final project must be approved by the instructor, i.e., you must receive prior written approval from me before you can begin any data collection on your research project. This is to ensure that human subjects ethical guidelines are followed, and that the research is conducted in line with the expectations of Brandeis University’s Institutional Review Board. Failure to abide by these guidelines could result in a failing grade on the assignment. Academic integrity. Honesty is one of the most valuable assets that a member of an academic community possesses. You are expected to be honest in all of your academic work (see http://www.brandeis.edu/studentaffairs/srcs/ai/index.html). Academic dishonesty in any form, e.g., cheating or plagiarism, will not be tolerated and instances of alleged dishonesty will be forwarded to the Office of Campus Life for possible referral to the Student Judicial System as required by University policy (see section 5 of the Rights and Responsibilities handbook for the university policies in this area). Potential sanctions include failure in the course and suspension from the University. If you have any questions about my expectations, please ask. Plagiarism means presenting the opinion or the work of others as your own work. This can occur in a number of ways, some more obvious than others. For example, if you simply take someone else’s researched and written report and present it as your own, that is a clear-cut case of plagiarism. Also, if you use the exact language of someone else without placing the words in quotation marks and naming the original author, you are clearly committing plagiarism. You are also committing plagiarism, however, if you take someone else’s arrangement of material or pattern of thought and present it as your own without referencing it, even if you express it in your own words. In summary, do not submit work that presents the ideas of others as your own ideas, fails to properly cite sources, and/or lifts sentences or ideas from the works of others. If you are uncertain as to whether something you are doing would count as cheating, ask me before you turn it in. Accommodations for students with disabilities. If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately. Any information you share will be kept in confidence. Keep in mind that reasonable accommodations are not provided retroactively.

Comments: This is a demanding course that requires significant effort. It includes extending the statistical skills you learned in Statistics. The material on inferential statistics is quite demanding and you will probably have to go over it several times in several different ways before you fully understand it. There is also a great deal of work involved, particularly in completing the writing portion. However, students who do complete all of this work are likely to master the necessary skills and make good grades. You may also find that conducting and reporting the research is interesting and rewarding. This course is based on active participation. Thus, your comments and suggestions are welcome at any time. Also, if you experience any difficulties, do not hesitate to contact me early on. We’ve all needed help in something at some point in our lives. If you find yourself not understanding the assigned readings, lectures, or assignments, please set up an appointment with me or drop by during office hours. Please remember that active participation is the key to successfully mastering this course! The course schedule is subject to change. Listen in class for due dates and exam dates. You can also look on LATTE for the most updated version of the syllabus.

Textbook Reading Due (additional articles will Week # Date Topic be posted to LATTE) Week 1 1 M 29-Aug Welcome 2 W 31-Aug Psych as a Way of Thinking Ch. 1 Week 2 M 5-Sep NO CLASS - Labor Day 3 W 7-Sep Sources of Information Ch. 2 T 4 h 8-Sep Brandeis Monday, 3 Claims, 4 Validities Ch. 3 Week 3 5 M 12-Sep 3 claims cont’d 6 W 14-Sep APA Reference section, Summarizing articles Week 4 7 M 19-Sep Measurement Ch. 5 8 W 21-Sep Surveys and Observations Ch. 6 Week 5 9 M 26-Sep Exam 1 10 W 28-Sep Sampling, Archival Project Ch. 7 Week 6 M 3-Oct NO CLASS - Rosh Hashanah 11 W 5-Oct Sampling, Archival Project Week 7 12 M 10-Oct Archival Project Peer Review, Archival Due W 12-Oct NO CLASS - Yom Kippur Week 8 M 17-Oct NO CLASS - Sukkot 13 W 19-Oct Simple Experiments, Data Collection Ch. 10 Week 9 M 24-Oct NO CLASS - Shmini Atzeret T 14 u 25-Oct Brandeis Monday, Simple Experiments, Stat Review pp. 441-486 15 W 26-Oct APA style cont'd, Work on Simple Exper. Paper Week 10 16 M 31-Oct Confounds Ch. 11 17 W 2-Nov Ethics, Simple Experiment Paper Due Ch. 4 Week 11 18 M 7-Nov Ethics, cont’d 19 W 9-Nov Final Project Meetings Week 12 20 M 14-Nov Factorial Designs, Project Plan Due Ch. 12 21 W 16-Nov Exam 2 Week 13 22 M 21-Nov Factorial Designs, Project Plan Revision Due W 23-Nov NO CLASS - Thanksgiving Week 14 23 M 28-Nov Final Project Data Collection 24 W 30-Nov Final Project Data Input/Analysis Week 15 25 M 5-Dec Final Project Presentation Prep 26 W 7-Dec Project Presentations