Syllabus
PSYC 271, Research Methods
Augustana College, Fall 2004

• General information
• Course requirements
• Course policies
• Semester schedule
• List of articles

Texts:    Mook. (2001). Psychological Research. New York: Norton.

               Readings on reserve at Mikkelsen Library.

Course overview:

This course is designed to give students the conceptual knowledge, critical thinking tools, and practical experience necessary to evaluate research articles within psychology and related disciplines. Evaluating research is an important part of--among other things--planning and executing new research, proposing topics for grants, or evaluating possible methods of professional practice. Note that this course will NOT involve actually doing research, that is, collecting and analyzing data. Students will have the opportunity to do research in other Psychology courses that include lab components, or in directed research opportunities with individual professors.

At the end of this course, students should understand basic principles underlying the design of empirical studies; understand the relationship between research design and statistical analysis; show familiarity with a variety of basic research methods; show familiarity with the mechanics and structure of empirical journal articles; to be acquainted with several library search techniques; and evaluate the quality of individual research articles.

Course requirements:

Required courses

Students are required to have taken PSYC 115 (General Psychology), and either to have taken or to be currently enrolled in PSYC 270 (Statistics). It is assumed that all students in this course are comfortably familiar with the common data analytic techniques used in psychology, such as inferential tests based on the normal, t, F, and chi-squared distributions. Hence, there will be little if any review of specific statistical tests, although facility with interpreting those tests is required. Students who feel that a "refresher" on data analysis is in order are encouraged to read the Making Friends with Statistics sections at the end of each chapter in the textbook; most of these sections are not assigned in the course, but they do provide useful explanations of common data analytic techniques.

Attendance and participation

Attendance at every class meeting is required, as is active class participation when called for. Readings should be completed before the first day on which they are assigned.

Mid-term Examinations

Three mid-term exams will test knowledge of conceptual issues in research and basic principles of research design. Tests may include multiple-choice, short answer, and/or essay questions. Raw scores on the exams will be scaled upwards at the instructor's discretion. The third exam will be cover both new topics and those previously tested.

Final exam

A final take-home exam will test skills at evaluating research, as published in psychological journals, based on a set of articles specified by the instructor. This assignment must follow the usual rules of grammar, word usage, punctuation, and spelling. Papers with too many such errors will have their grades reduced. If you have any questions about how to write correctly, please consult the APA Publication Manual or a general style manual (found in the Writing Center--HUM 220--or Mikkelsen Library).

A note on grading

At the end of the course, a final grade will be computed using the following breakdown.

            Class participation:                  25 points

            Mid-term Exams:                    50 points total (15/15/20)

            Final Exam:                             25 points

Out of 100 points possible for the final grade, a score of 93 and above will receive an A; a score of 90 to 93 will receive an A–; a score of 87-90 will receive a B+; a score of 83-87 will receive a B; and so on.

General policies

There are two types of assignments not turned in by the due date: missed assignments (without the instructor’s prior approval) and delayed assignments (with approval). Missed assignments (including class participation) will receive a zero. Prior approval will be given only for documented medical or family emergencies. In the case of sudden illness, leave a message in my office or send me an email. Those students involved in recognized school activities should let me know which days will be missed as soon as they know, so that alternative plans can be made. Note that these students must contact me directly, even if someone else (e.g. a sport team's coach) regularly sends a blanket announcement to faculty. Delayed assignments must be made up as soon as possible after the due date. Unfinished assignments at the end of the term will receive a zero, unless the student has contacted the instructor beforehand. If the instructor agrees, a grade of Incomplete for the course may be given in these cases. Incomplete work must be finished by the middle of the next semester.

Academic dishonesty (e.g. cheating on exams or quizzes, plagiarism) will not be tolerated. Penalties for incidents of academic dishonesty will follow the guidelines listed in the Augustana College General Catalog.

If there is a student in the class who has a need for academic accommodations due to a disability, please discuss this with the instructor as soon as possible. When reasonable accommodation requires a change in evaluation procedures, alternate procedures will evaluate students according to the same criteria used for the rest of the class. Accommodations will be made in consultation with Susan Bies in the Disabilities Office (MC 140).

Numbers refer to chapters in Mook; "MFWS" and several numbers refers to the "Making Friend with Statistics" sections of those chapters. Names refer to authors of specific journal articles. Reading assignments should be completed by the first day on which they are assigned. Chapter reading assignments in Mook do not include "Making Friends with Statistics" sections, although those sections are recommended for students wishing to review data analytic techniques. Note that assignment due dates and exam dates may be subject to change.

Articles for class discussion:

Bedon, B. G., & Howard, D. V. (1992). Memory for the frequency of occurrence of karate techniques: A comparison of experts and novices. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 30(2), 117-119.

Berenbaum, S. A., & Hines, M. (1992). Early androgens are related to childhood sex-typed toy preferences. Psychological Science, 3, 203-206.

Myerson, J., Rank, M. R., Raines, F. Q., & Schnitzler, M. A. (1998). Race and general cognitive ability: The myth of diminishing returns to education. Psychological Science, 9(2), 139-142.

Schellenberg, E. G. (2004). Music lessons enhance IQ. Psychological Science, 15(8), 511-514.

MacDonald, T. K., Zanna, M. P., & Fong, G. T. (1996). Why common sense goes out the window: Effects of alcohol on intentions to use condoms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22(8), 763-775.

Rush, A. J., Beck, A. T., Kovacs, M., & Hollon, S. (1977). Comparative efficacy of cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of depressed outpatients. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 1(1), 17-37.

Last modified August 31, 2004