University
of Minnesota Duluth
PSY
3022 Applied Methods and Measurements
Spring Semester 2002
Instructor: Dr.
Lisa Vogelsang
Time & Place: MWF
10:00 – 10:50 am, Boh 108; Labs: Tu 3 – 3:50 pm/4 – 4:50 pm Cina 22
Office: 322
Bohannon Hall
Phone: (218)
726-8605
E-mail: lvogelsa@d.umn.edu
Office Hours: MonTuWed
9:05 – 9:55, Fri. 11:05 – 11:55 or by appointment
Psy Office: (218) 726-7117
Prerequisite: Psychology
3020/3021 Credits: 4 credit hours
Required Text: Kantowitz, B.
H., Roediger, H. L., and Elmes, D. G. (2001). Experimental psychology:
Understanding psychological research (7th Ed.). Belmont,CA:
Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
St. James, J.
(1997). Mel Labs with 3 Disks Version 1.61. Psychology Software Tools, Inc.
Recommended Resource Text: George, D. and Mallery, P.
(2001). SPSS for Windows step by
step: A simple guide and reference 10.0 update. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Catalog Course Description: Introduction to problems and methods of
experimentation in psychology; logical and scientific basis of experimental
psychology; problems and techniques of designing, conducting, and reporting experiments.
Course Objectives: As an outcome of completing this course, students are expected to be able to:
1.
Demonstrate
the basic concepts related to research design and methodology in psychology.
2.
Develop
and enhance critical thinking skills.
3.
Evaluate
the validity of research reported in the popular media and research published
in professional journals.
4.
Analyze
descriptive statistics, correlation and regression, ANOVA and other parametric
and nonparametric hypothesis-test statistics utilizing SPSS.
5.
Conduct,
analyze, and report their own research study.
Individuals who have any disability, either permanent or
temporary, which may affect their ability to perform in this class, are
requested to inform the instructor at the beginning of the semester. Adaptation of methods, materials, or
testing may be made as required to provide for equitable participation.
“[S]uccessful education can only occur
in an atmosphere of mutual respect, free from racism, sexism, and other forms
of prejudice and intolerance, and from their harmful effects. Educational excellence depends on the
creation and maintenance of environments in which all members of the academic
community can thrive, working up to their full potential.” (“Minnesota’s Commitment to Educational
Excellence” developed by the Presidents Task Force: Strengthening Excellence
through Diversity, June, 1990).
Instructional Methods: Lecture/discussion,
multimedia, class assignments, labs, demonstration/participation, group
work/computer/discussion, computer assignments, texts and other outside
reading.
Assessment Measures:
Exams: There will be four exams covering the second part the text. Each exam will include all text readings and
in-class material, handouts, and web material covered during that section. Each exam is worth 100 points (each representing
approximately 17% of your grade) and will be primarily multiple-choice
questions (Exams may have short answer or essay questions). Exam #4 will be the Final Exam
(non-comprehensive) and will be administered during finals week.
EXAM #1 Chapters
6 & 7
EXAM #2 Chapters
8, 9, & 10
EXAM #3 Chapters
11 & 12
EXAM #4 FINAL EXAM Chapters 13, 14, & 15
All students are expected to take exams at the scheduled
time. There will be NO MAKE-UP EXAMS given. Exceptions
are illness with a doctor’s excuse, or a University – approved campus absence. For
example, if you are an athlete, you must inform me when you will be absent
before the absence.
Labs: The laboratory portion of the class will be conducted in Cina
22. Here you will learn how to use the Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) which is a computer program which allows
you to analyze and graphically display data.
This is the program you will use to analyze your data for your own
research and experiments. There will be
50 points (approximately 8% of your grade in the class) worth of lab activities
spread throughout the semester.
Research
Report: The research report will
serve as the major project and major written assignment for the course. It is worth 150 points (approximately 25% of
your grade). It is the culmination of
your research project. You will also
fill out the Human Subjects Approval Form and it may be sent to the Twin Cities
campus in Minneapolis for approval. The
study must be one that would qualify for administrative review (as opposed to
research that must be reviewed by a single member of or by the entire human
subjects committee on the Twin Cities campus).This information and guidelines
will be supplied to you during the course of the term.
You will run your experiments this
semester, input the data into SPSS, analyze, and interpret the data. You will write up these results in
manuscript form using the format given in class and presented in your text.
Your report should begin with the title
page, then abstract and follow with the introduction which reviews what others
in the literature have found concerning this topic, specifies a formal theory,
and ends with a formal hypothesis (including a rationale for your predictions
made in the hypothesis). Next, there
should be a methods section which describes the population to be sampled, the
procedures to be followed (including apparatus and/or materials), and the
statistical analysis to be used (including the design). Remember, someone
reading this section alone should be able to conduct the same experiment. The next section will be the results section
in which you will use your data, compute statistical assessments of the results
of your experiment, and construct graphical representations of these results. The next section of your paper will be the
discussion section, in which you explain what your results mean, in relation to
what’s already been reported in the literature. The last section of your paper will be the references
section. As an appendix, you will turn
in a copy of your raw data in the form of a spread sheet. You will need to use APA style for the
manuscript and references.
To facilitate the development of your
report, I suggest that you use the following guidelines for each of the relevant
studies you acquire in the process of completing your review of the literature
for the project (you may choose to add additional resources since your Psy 3021
proposal):
1.
a complete citation of the article (APA style)
2.
synopsis of research hypothesis and predictions
3.
a summary of the methodology used to test the hypothesis (es)
including descriptions of:
a. participants
b. design
c. independent and
dependent variables
d. procedure
4.
a brief description of the findings
5.
a statement describing the study’s specific relationship to the
proposed research (i.e., how has the research influenced the hypothesis,
design, manipulations, measures, and/or stimulus materials of your proposed
study?).
Attendance:
Attendance is expected. Significant
learning occurs through student participation in class lecture-discussion,
multimedia, class activities, and group discussion. Failure to attend class regularly may result in the lowering of
the course grade.
Evaluation:
Exams: (4@ 100 points each) 400 Points
Labs 50 Points
Research Proposal 150 Points
__________________________________________
TOTAL POINTS 600 Points
Grading: Final grade will
be based on the following scale with 600 points max.
A = 90
- 100% C = 70
- 74%
A- = 88
– 89% C- = 68
– 69%
B+ = 85
– 87% D+ = 65
– 67%
B = 80
- 84% D = 58
- 64%
B- = 78
– 79% F = <
57.5%
C+ = 75
– 77%
Incompletes will not be given without
extraordinary circumstances and prior discussion and permission of the instructor.
DATE READINGS/CHAPTERS COURSE TOPIC
2
Jan28-Feb 1 6-7 Psychophysics,
Perception
3
Feb 4-8 7 Perception/EXAM #1
4
Feb 11-15 8 Attention and Reaction
Time
5
Feb 18-22 8-9 Attn & React
Time/Conditioning & Learning
6
Feb25-Mar1 9 Conditioning
& Learning 7 Mar 4-8 9-10 Cond
& Learning/Remembering & Forgetting 8 Mar 11-15 10 Remembering
& Forgetting/EXAM #2
Week 9
Mar 18-22 Spring Break
DATE READINGS/CHAPTERS COURSE TOPIC
Week
10
Mar 25-29 11 Thinking
and Problem Solving
11
Apr 1-5 11-12 Think
& Prob Solv/Indiv Differences & Dev
12
Apr 8-12 12 Individual
Differences & Dev/ EXAM #3
13
Apr 15-19 13 Social
Influence
14
Apr 22-26 13-14 Social
Influence/Environmental Psychology
15
Ap29-May3 14-15 Environmental
Psychology/Human Factors
16
May 6-10 15/ Final Review Human Factors
May
15 (Wed) FINAL EXAM EXAM #4 8:00 – 9:55 am