PSYCHOLOGY 3101
(Honors)
Introduction to Statistics in Psychological Research
Table of Contents:
Administrative Matters
Course Goals
Plan of Course
Part I
Making the Mastery Exam Work For You
Part II
Grading Table
Administrative Matters:
Class Meeting:
Section: 880
Time: 12:30-1:45 T,Th and Lab 5:00-6:30 T
Room: ATLAS 104
Instructor: Gary McClelland
D347C Muenzinger, 303-492-8167
Office Hours: 2:00-3:50 Monday and by appointment
email: gary.mcclelland@colorado.edu
WWW URL: http://psych.colorado.edu/~mcclella/
Teaching Assistant: Jane Bowman
email: jane.bowman@colorado.edu
Office Hours: 10-11 Tuesday in ATLAS 109
Textbook:
McClelland, G.H. (1999). Seeing Statistics. Duxbury Press.
Goals of the Course
- To prepare you for the required, upper-division laboratory courses (Cognitive, Learning, Perception, or Social). We will cover thoroughly all the statistical procedures you will be expected to know in those courses.
- To acquaint you with the role of statistics and methodology in psychological research.
- To educate you to be an informed citizen who can critically evaluate statistical arguments that are presented in the news or used in political discourse. You will learn how to evaluate arguments based, for example, on surveys (e.g., political polls) and experiments (e.g., medical research).
- To prepare you to conduct a research project for a Senior Honors Thesis.
The course will acquaint you with all aspects of the research process in psychology: why empirical research is necessary, posing questions, designing experiments or surveys, collecting data, doing statistical analyses, and finally, interpreting the results to answer the original question and to pose new ones. In short, this is not a math course, but is instead about doing research in psychology. I hope that throughout the course you will become acquainted with these aspects in two ways: by reading and hearing about them from the textbooks and lectures and, more importantly, by participating in the research process yourself.
Plan of the Course
Statistics and the research process are best learned by doing it, so the course is organized to give you lots of experience doing statistics and research. In Part I of the course, approximatley the first half of the semester, we will cover basic concepts and statistical techniques. You will master the techniques by using them in laboratory exercises and homework problems. There will be a Mastery Exam at the end of Part I. Part II will then provide you with experience in all phases of the research process and it will allow you the opportunity to follow your own topical interests.
NOTE: All important dates are provided in the schedule available elsewhere on this web site. You are responsible for knowing all due dates.
Part I
- Assignments:
- There will generally be a reading assignment from the textbooks for each class and assigned exercises for each lab meeting. Homework assignments will be distributed Tuesdays in class and are due at the beginning of class on the following Tuesday. Each of the six homework assignments will be worth five points. Your two worst scores will be discarded, so only your four best homework scores will be used.
- Lecture:
- We will review the reading material, consider additional examples and applications, and answer questions you might have. You should read carefully the text assignment before coming to class. The lectures will be interactive, because you will be using your own computer trying the procedures as I talk about them.
- Lab:
- You will learn how to do statistical analyses using R, how to interpret the output, how to make graphs, and how to integrate the computer output into a report.
- Quizzes:
- There will be two short quizzes worth five points each on the dates indicated on the schedule. The primary purpose of these quizzes is to give you feedback on your performance so that any serious problems you may have can be corrected before the Mastery Exam.
- Mastery Exam:
- At the end of Part I (see schedule for dates), there will be a two-day Mastery Exam. The first day will test knowldege of basic concepts and will be closed-book. The second day will test your ability to perform and interpret analyses; it will be done using the computer and is open-book. Each part of the Mastery Exam is worth 60 points. The exam will cover all text assignments, lecture, and lab material.
- Grading:
- You must earn 110 or more points to pass Part I, and you must pass Part I to pass the course. The points come from the following sources:
| Source | Points |
Notes |
| Lab: | 20 |
four best lab scores |
| Quizzes: | 10 |
two quizzes |
| Mastery Exam: | 120 |
closed- and open-book parts |
| Total: | 150 |
possible points |
| Passing: | 110 |
(75%) |
Making the Mastery Exam System Work for You
You may take the Mastery Exam as many times as necessary for you to pass Part I. However, you only have one shot at each Quiz and Homework assignment. This system is designed to put less pressure on you and to let you spend your time on learning rather than on worrying about your grades. Your grade is determined by the amount of work you do in Part II and is not affected by your score on the Mastery Exam, so long as you pass it.
However, don't treat the Mastery Exam like a typical midterm or final. Cramming the night before by studying your notes and the text book will not work. The focus of this course is on learning by doing. The Exam will evaluate your ability to do statistics. The homework assignments and the quizzes are designed to give you feedback on your progress and to give you practice on the kinds of questions you will be expected to answer on the Mastery Exam.
If you are getting low quiz or homework scores, or are not understanding the lab or class material, or are feeling lost in any way, see your instructors IMMEDIATELY!! The material we cover in Part I is usually covered in a full semester in an old-style statistics course. Don't let yourself fall behind.
Part II
The purpose of Part II is to give you experience in applying the statistical concepts and tools you learned in Part I. You will be able to get practical experience in all phases of the research process: posing questions, designing experiments or surveys, collecting data, doing statistical analyses, interpreting results, and reviewing other's research. Your grade will be determined by how many of the activities you complete. All activities will be graded pass/fail. If you fail an activity, you will have another opportunity to redo it. Below is a brief description of the various activities; more details will be provided in a subsequent syllabus for Part II.
- Lectures:
- I will present the details of each of the activities described below, discuss other aspects of the research process such as publication, and hold workshops on the various activities.
- ExperSim:
- is the name of a collection of computer programs that will enable you to carry out simulated research programs on several different topics including motivation, imprinting, social facilitation, and schizophrenia. Also, you can explore a number of survey datasets that have already been collected. You will gain practical experience in design, analysis and interpretation of a series of reserach studies. (For a C, only one ExperSim study is required, rather than a series of three.) You will give a short, in-class presentation about your project in the style of presentations at scientific conventions.
- Peer Review:
- An important part of scientific research is peer review. Other scientists evaluate the quality of articles submitted for publication. We will simulate the publication process by having you be a journal reviewer of other student researchers' ExperSim projects.
- Library Activity:
- An important initial phase of any research program is learning about previous work that has been done on a topic. This activity will enable you to develop skills in library research and in understanding the research of others. You will learn how to utilize library resources and construct an annotated bibliography of journal articles on one topic. There will be a special emphasis on how to do computer searches of published research articles.
- Data Collection Activity:
- Simulated experiments are a good training device but real research involves collecting data from real subjects. In this activity you will collect data from real subjects, analyze the pooled data from all class members, and write a brief report.
- Evaluation Activity:
- This actiivity will be conducted during the last two days of class. No advance preparation is necessary for this activity, but attendance is mandatory! Forgetting to attend the evaluation activity is equivalent to NOT taking a final exam.
Grading Table
| Grade | Required Elements |
| D | Part I Evaluation Activity |
| C | Part I Evaluation Activity ExperSim (only 1 experiment and not a series of three) |
| B | Part I Evaluation Activity ExperSim any one of: Peer Review, Library, Data Collection |
| A | Part I Evaluation Activity ExperSim Peer Review Library Data Collection |
Disabilities, Learning Difficulties, and Related Problems
The flexible structure and small size of this course makes it easy to accomodate a wide range of learning-related difficulties. Please send me email or talk to me in office hours about any special problems you may have.
Religious and Other Absences
Similalry, the flexible structure and small size of this course makes it easy to accomodate absences for religous observances or similar needs. Please send me email or talk to me in office hours about any absences you will need and we will make arrangements.
Students are expected to know and comply with University policies described by these links:
- Responsible Computer Use
- Classroom and Course-related Behavior
- Honor Code
- Index of all University Policies
NOTE: The materials developed for this course were produced in collaborabtion by Gary McClelland and Peter Polson, with help from many teaching assistants over the years.
Comments to: Gary.McClelland@Colorado.edu
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