Semester: Fall 2000

Time: 10:50-11:50am MWF (OLRI 270)

Professor Kendrick Brown

Olin-Rice 322

Office Hours: Th 10:30-11:30am, 4:30-5:30pm

Phone: 651-696-6461

(Visit the website because course policies and procedures, as well as my teaching expectations, are described in detail there. You will be expected to adhere to those policies or procedures, so be sure to take a look.)

Research methods, and the statistics used to analyze data collected by those methods, are essential components of the psychological investigation of human functioning and behavior. Statistics, in particular, is so important because it allows for concise summary of what might otherwise be an overwhelming amount of information. This course will further your

• Understanding of the research methods used to conduct many psychological studies
• Comprehension of the research process used in psychology
• Appreciation of the interconnection between research methodology and statistics
• Ability to perform statistical computations necessary for data analysis

In addition, you will gain familiarity with statistical software used by many psychologists to analyze data. You will also meet and interact with psychology department faculty members to learn of their scholarly interests and research experiences.

• Late work: I am sympathetic to the many demands on your time here at Macalester, however, to be fair to those who are able to meet assignment deadlines and encourage time management, I will use the following guideline for late work. For each day an assignment is late, a letter grade will be deducted (i.e., A to B). No assignment will be accepted after 3 days.
• Incompletes: Incompletes will not be given for this course unless the majority of the assigned work has already been completed. Though I will do my best to adhere to this policy, I reserve the right to make exceptions for extenuating circumstances. (Having a lot to do at the end of the semester is not an extenuating circumstance.)

Four exams will be given during the term. They will consist of short essay questions focusing on the statistical concepts from the text book and problem-solving questions requiring you to compute numbers based on the information given in the question. You will be required to answer 6-8 short essay and problem-solving questions on each exam. To receive full credit, step-by-step calculations must be shown for questions that require computation of any sort. You will be allowed to use a calculator during the exam, as well as an 8 _ by 11 inch sheet (one-side only) of formulas. If you have questions about the information that may be written on the formula sheet, see me before the exam.

For each exam, you will have the opportunity to re-take a different version if you are not satisfied with your grade from the first version. The re-take version will have the exact same format and cover the same content as the first version, though the questions will be different. If you decide to re-take an exam, however, be aware that the grade will be determined by both versions, whether your grade improves or declines on the second version. I will take 70% of the grade for the first version and 30% of the grade for the second version to calculate a grade for the exam. This may result in a lower grade than was received on the first version, so be sure to prepare thoroughly for the second version. You may arrange a re-take within 2 days of receiving your grade on a first version. If I do not hear from you within those two days, you will not be able to re-take the exam. (NOTE: Re-taking an exam is not the same as making up an exam! If you miss an exam without notifying me and making proper arrangements, you will NOT be allowed to take the second version of an exam. A failing grade will be recorded for that exam.)

The first exam will cover Chapters 1, 2, 5, and 6 on Friday, September 29^th. The second exam will focus on Chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10 on Wednesday, October 25^th. Exam three will occur on Friday, November 17^th, and test Chapters 3, 4, 11, and 12. The Final Exam, which will not be cumulative, will happen during Finals Week and cover Chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16.

To help you understand the logic and actual calculations involved in the various statistical techniques that you will learn in this course, you will be required to complete homework problems from the problem sets at the end of each chapter. Full credit will only be given for answers that show each step necessary for a problem’s solution! Be aware that the answers for Problem Set I are in the back of the text, so you may check your answers. You will not be able to check your answers in this way for Problem Set II. (I recommend that you find a classmate before the assignment is due and compare answers.)

On Tuesdays, we will meet in OLRI 354 for the lab component of the course. Lab sessions will focus on explaining various aspects of research methodology, acquiring proficiency in using SPSS to conduct statistical analyses, and becoming familiar with the research writing process.

The methods component of lab will entail presentation and discussion of important concepts that underlie psychology research or methodological techniques commonly used to collect data from participants. The SPSS component will require you to work with the 1995 Detroit Area Study data set to calculate various statistics on the computer. I will be present in the lab to help you with SPSS, but you will also have homework assignments based on our Stats Class Questionnaire that will require you to use SPSS without my direct supervision. Lastly, the lab has an Article Assignment component for which you will analyze psychology research writing to understand various conceptual issues that influence studies. These assignments will require you to answer specific questions about recent psychology journal articles.

The lab homework assignments will be due a week after they have been assigned (usually the following Tuesday). For the SPSS homework, you must also turn in a print-out of the work that you completed for the assignment. Full credit will only be given for SPSS homework that is accompanied by a print-out. For the Article Assignments, you need to submit a typed paper with your answers to the questions presented in the assignment. (Check my website for guidelines about writing papers.) If computations are required by any questions, those must be submitted as well. Full credit will only be given for Article Assignments that include all information necessary to see why you answered the questions as you did.

Attendance is an important part of this course. If you are unable to attend class, let me know in advance and try to make arrangements to get the information that we cover in class from one of your fellow classmates. I am willing to meet with you to answer any questions you might have after you have obtained the information that you missed.

The first time that you have an unexcused absence will not result in a deduction from your course grade. (I would appreciate you explaining why you were not in class, but that is at your own discretion.) For each additional unexcused absence beyond the first, I will deduct 1% from your final course grade. If you are ever unable to let me know in advance that you will not be in class because of an emergency, please provide a note from the Dean of Students Office or Health Services documenting what occurred.

Throughout the term, we will be having informal meetings with psychology department faculty to discuss their research interests, on-going projects, and opinions about methodology and statistics. You will have the opportunity to ask any questions related to aspects of psychology research here at Macalester. Early in the term, we will establish days and times when we will be able to meet as a group with faculty. Once we have chosen those times, I expect everyone in class to attend the meetings. If for some reason you are unable to attend a meeting, let me know in advance. I will not penalize you for missing one of these meetings, but reserve the right to deduct 2% from your final course grade for each meeting that you miss beyond the first. Of course, emergencies documented by the Dean of Students Office or Health Services will not result in a penalty to your grade.

WED, Sept. 6 INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE

FRI, Sept. 8 Class Questionnaire Brainstorming Session