Syllabus for PSY 305 Research
Methods in Psychology
Course Description
Prerequisites: PSYC 100 and STAT 225 (or PSYC 200). PSYC305 is an
introductory course in research methodology. The fundamentals of research
design and behavior, scientific writing, APA format, evaluation of research
literature in psychology, and ethical issues in psychological research will
be covered. Students will actively engage in asking research questions,
formulating research hypotheses, designing and conducting a research study,
and presenting results in correct APA format. PSYC305 is REQUIRED for all
psychology majors..
Course Introduction
Welcome to our undergraduate foundation course in psychological
research! In this course you will learn the techniques and tools, along with
the principles and practices that psychologists use to conduct and evaluate
research. You will also develop research and writing skills required to
complete a degree program at UMUC. This course is presented to help students
acquire the requisite research skills to demonstrate APA Undergraduate
Learning Goal 2. You can review this learning goal at the following web
address:
http://www.apa.org/ed/pcue/taskforcereport2.pdf.
Because of the nature of the course, you should expect to allocate more
time in your schedule than you would for a typical psychology course.
Accordingly, we highly recommend that you have prior experience with
WebTycho before participating in PSYC 305. WebTycho will be in face-to-face
sections as well. For a brief review of WebTycho, take Tour 101 at
http://tychousa.umuc.edu/help.nsf/htmlmedia/tour.html or use
WebTycho Help User Guide at
http://tychousa.umuc.edu/help.nsf/htmlmedia/user_guide.html.
Course Goals/Objectives
When you have successfully completed this course, you will be able to:
1. Describe the various research methods used by psychologists.
2. Evaluate psychological research in terms of generalizability and
effective design, including the impact of sociocultural and individual
influences.
3. Design and conduct psychological research studies.
4. Describe the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct as
they apply to the treatment of human participants and nonhuman subjects.
5. Demonstrate the ability to work effectively in research teams.
6. Apply APA style correctly to written reports.
7. Present research findings clearly and effectively in a poster
presentation.
Course Instructor
Name: Dr. Diane Finley
Phone numbers: (240) 582-2850. (Note this is the departmental phone
number. They can get a message to me. However, I cannot return calls from my
home.)
E-mail address(es):
dfinley@pgcc.edu – be sure to put
PSY305 in the subject line. Be sure to spell my name correctly.
Times when students may contact you: You may email at any time.
Please do not send multiple messages, however. I check email at least once a
day. If I have not responded within 48 hours, check your message and make
sure it is labeled with PSY305
How often students can expect you to check your e-mail, or within the
online classroom: Unless otherwise posted in the announcements, I check
email daily. I generally check into the online class once a day. You can
expect a response within 48 hours.
Course Materials
The order form for the required course materials is available online at
http://www.umuc.edu/gen/options.shtml
Required:
Beins, B. C.
(2004). Research methods: A tool for life (2nd ed.).
Boston: Allyn & Bacon Publishers.
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the
American Psychological
Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC:
Recommended:
Morgan, S.E., Reichert, T., Harrison, T.R. (2002). From Numbers to
Words. Boston: Allyn & Bacon
Szuchman, L.T. (2008). Writing with Style: APA Style Made Easy,4th
ed. Belmont CA: Thomson Wadsworth Publishing.
General Grading Information
1. Quizzes will evaluate your ability to describe the various research
methods used by psychologists. This information will be obtained from the
assigned readings and lectures. This assessment strategy applies to course
goal/objective #1.
2 A library activity and a roundtable assignment will assess your ability to
evaluate psychological research in terms of generalizability and effective
design, including the impact of sociocultural and individual influences.
Part of the Library Activity will include completion of UMUC’s VAIL
plagiarism tutorial (completed in Week 1). This tutorial must be completed
for this class even if you have previously completed it. This assessment
strategy applies to course goal/objective #2.
3. You will design and conduct psychological research studies in two
research studies. You will also demonstrate the ability to work effectively
in research teams, apply APA style to written reports and present research
findings clearly and effectively in a poster presentation. This assessment
strategy applies to course goals/objectives #3, 5, 6, and 7.
4. An ethics tutorial will evaluate your ability to describe the Ethical
Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (available at:
http://www.apa.org/ethics/code2002.pdf)
as they apply to the treatment of human participants and nonhuman subjects.
This assessment strategy applies to course goal/objective #4.
5. A final exam will evaluate your learning on all the course objectives.
This assessment strategy is designed to advise yourself, the instructor, and
the program director of your mastery of the topic and success in
demonstrating APA Learning Goal 2.
GRADING PSY 305
|
Item |
Points |
Point Totals |
Rationale |
|
Activities
Conferences
(This includes the Library conference and ethics tutorial.) |
6
@ 12 points
each
|
72 total |
These
conferences allow for student -to-student interaction. They
also offer options for exploring course topics in more depth
and give the professor an opportunity to monitor your
understanding of course materials. Note that your entries
must be at least 200 words (most require more), on time and
quality work. These are not points for automatically posting
a sentence or two.
The Library activity is designed to assess your ability to
evaluate psychological research in terms of generalizability
and the impact of sociocultural and individual differences. |
|
Roundtables |
1 @ 45
points
lateness not
allowed for this activity. |
45 total
15 - Individ.
summary
10 - team summary and
5 -management of discussion.
Each team member should be assigned a day or two to manage
the discussion. (loss of points for no response to
comments)
(Based on group members' evaluation, points can be lost by
an individual).
15 pts. - individual responses - 5 (3@) |
Research is a
collaborative endeavor. Roundtables provide experience in
working as a team and experience in summarizing scientific
research. Roundtables provide a way to test your
understanding of these materials in supportive environment.
Timeliness of the individual summary is critical. A schedule
for the RT will be posted. |
|
4
tests/quizzes |
20 points @
quiz
late
submission not allowed |
80 points |
To assess your
ongoing understanding of course materials |
|
1 final exam |
135 points
(multiple choice and short answer, closed book/notes) |
135 points |
To evaluate
the breadth of your knowledge of the course material. It is
cumulative and there is a study guide. |
|
2 Labs |
Study 1 -45
points
Study 2 - 85
points
(See breakdown
below) |
130 points |
The research
study reports are the heart of the course. They provide
experience in research and enable to student to develop
skills necessary for future courses and for graduate study.
The first research study will be directed by me and everyone
will do the same research study. The second research study
will be one of the group's design. Again, the team approach
is used since collaboration is a key skill to also learn.
DO NOT ASK
TO DO A PROJECT BY YOURSELF. THESE MUST BE DONE IN THE
ASSIGNED TEAMS.
These
research studies are cooperative efforts. Each student is
expected to collect data for each research study and to post
that data in a common conference so every student can use it
to analyze. |
|
Poster Reviews |
Thoughtful
evaluation of Lab 1 posters of others |
10 points |
To give you
experience in being a "reviewer". You will review research
study 1 posters of other research teams. |
|
Group
Evaluation |
Thoughtful
evaluation of group members
(4 pts @ for RT & for each lab) |
12 points |
To add some
urgency and importance to group participation. To allow
student input into their group members' evaluation. |
|
Week One
Activities |
Completion of
stats review quiz, plagiarism tutorial, demographic
questionnaire, work habits questionnaire |
16 points |
The stats
review quiz is designed to help you review critical concepts
in statistics. It will show you areas you need to review
before we do the first research study. The plagiarism
tutorial is designed to help you review what is and is not
plagiarism. |
|
extra credit |
2 points -
introduction
2 point - Parting Thoughts conference
1 point -
305-to-305 conference |
5 possible -
optional points |
|
|
TOTAL |
|
500 points |
|
|
|
Research Study
ONE |
45 points
total. |
Where to Put
AF = assignment folder
Con = conference area
B = Both |
|
list of
sources |
3 pts.(APA
style) |
B |
|
data results
posted |
5 pts |
Con |
|
introduction/lit review |
7 pts. Must
include at least 8 sources
and be in APA style |
B |
|
Review Board
Form |
3 pts. |
B |
|
methodology |
3 pts. |
B |
|
results |
4 pts |
B |
|
conclusion/discussion |
4 pts |
B |
|
study report |
9 pts. |
AF |
|
poster |
7 pts |
B |
|
|
|
|
|
Research Study
TWO |
85 pts. total |
|
|
RBF form |
10 pts. |
B |
|
data results
posted |
10 pts |
Con |
|
poster |
20 pts. |
AF |
|
study
report |
45 pts. |
AF |
A - 500-450
B - 449-400
C - 399-350
D - 349-300
F - 299 and below
|