Psychology 290: Methods

Spring 1999

Instructor: W. Jake Jacobs

 

Class Meetings: Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:30 -1:45 CESL 103

 

Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:30 - 11:50 Psychology 529

 

Telephone(s) 626-4825 (Tucson office, Psychology 529)

626-2422x134 (Sierra Vista office)

(520) 417-9464 (home)

 

Textbook Bordens, K.S. & Abbott, B.B. (1998). Research design and methods: a process approach (4th Edition). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.

 

This course covers the basic methodology of scientific psychology by exploring the theoretical underpinnings of methodology and its practice. That should give you the tools to evaluate scientific claims about the structure of reality.

 

My main concern is that you learn something useful. If you have questions or problems with this course, contact me either at school or at home. Don't call between midnight and five in the morning unless you need immediate help. Those are my sleeping hours. I am usually on campus all day Mondays and Fridays, and in the morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Those are the best times to reach me.

 

Requirements

 

  1. One to two people, chosen at random, summarize the preceding lecture at the beginning of each class. A true summary of the ideas and arguments earns 90 - 100 points (A). Repetition of the words given in the lecture earns 70 - 79.9 points (C). No summary or no response earns a zero (F). This grade will appear as a quiz grade when I calculate the final grade.

    2.  

    You may volunteer to give the summary if you wish. Be warned though! Almost everyone with low quiz grades will be trying to volunteer during the last few weeks of class.

     

  2. You will write a short-answer quiz every other Thursday at the beginning of class. If you miss a quiz, you take a zero. You have one week to make up a quiz -- only if you have made arrangements in advance or have a medical excuse (a signed excuse, written by a physician, with an office telephone number, and permission for me to contact the office to confirm the note).

    3.  

    You will have one week following the return of the quiz to argue the mark. If there is an adding error in your favor, point it out; if it is not in your favor, ignore it. If you receive too few points on a question, come to my office and defend your answer (show the relation between your answer, what is written in the book, or what I said in lecture). I never remove points. I understand the argument in about 80% of the cases and these people get more points. The average score of the quizzes is worth 50% of the final mark.

     

  3. You will write an essay final examination. The exam "question" will consist of two sentences:

 

"Over the course, I have told you a story from one perspective, the labs have told you the same story from another, and the book has told you the same story from a third. Integrate those three sources of information and write an abstract of the whole story."

 

You job will be to organize a group of 3-5 people, get together, write a rough draft of the story, bring it to me, get feedback (and an approximate grade), go away and rewrite in light of the feedback. Keep doing that until you have an A. Then memorize your story, bring a blue book to the final examination classroom (we will collect and redistribute them), and write that story from memory. The grade you receive on the bluebook is worth 50% of the final mark.

 

A Rough Outline of Lecture Topics

 

Section 1: Introduction to Rationality, Laws, Theory, and Causality: Epistemology (the search for truth); The Automaton Theory; the structure and function of theory; formal properties of theory; causality.

 

Section 2: A Traditional Approach to Entities and Events: Defining concepts; the role of observation; functional and structural definitions; the role of measurement; why measure; the relations between events and numbers; measurement as a theoretical system; the properties of numbering systems; scales of measurement using numbers; how to structure a scale; implications.

 

Section 3: The Role of Instruments in Research: Creating concepts; creating measures; problems of instruments; the properties of instruments; instruments can change events; implications.

 

Section 4: Deriving Methods from the Basics of Causality: Observation (the Method of Agreement); Experimentation (the Method of Difference), bivalent, multivalent, and parametric experiments; Design: Random group (difference) matched group (difference); retrospective (agreement); counterbalancing and baselines; sample size and variability; single-subject research.

 

Section 5: Sources of Error and Control of Error: Relevant variables, rotten analysis; bad sampling; experimenter bias; subject bias.

Continued next page

Section 6: How to Control for Error: Why control; Measure and subtract; remove; distribute evenly.

 

Section 7: Analyzing the Data: Why is this both the first and last step? Descriptive and inferential statistics; basic concepts; getting a Z-score; nonparametric statistics; what does your analysis mean (or, inferring causality)?

 

Section 8: Conclusions: Strong Inference: What is it and how to use it.

 

Assignments

 

 

Week of…. ASSIGNED READINGS

 

 

11 January Introduction

18 January Bordens & Abbott Chapter 1: Explaining behavior

25 January Bordens & Abbott Chapter 2: Developing ideas for research

28 January: Quiz 1 B&D Chapters 1&2.

1 February Bordens & Abbott Chapter 15 Using theory

8 February Bordens & Abbott Chapter 16 Making sense of research

11 February: Quiz 2 B&D Chapters 15-16.

15 February Bordens & Abbott Chapter 3: Choosing a research design

22 February Bordens & Abbott Chapter 4: Making systematic

observations

25 February: Quiz 3 B&D Chapters 3&4.

1 March Bordens & Abbott Chapter 5 Choosing and using subjects

8 March Bordens & Abbott Chapter 6: Using nonparametric designs

11 March: Quiz 4 B&D Chapters 5&6.

15 March Spring Break

 

22 March Bordens & Abbott Chapter 7: Using survey research

29 March Bordens & Abbott Chapter 8 Using Between-subjects and

Within-subject experimental designs

1 April: Quiz 5 B&D Chapters 7&8.

April Bordens & Abbott Chapter 9 Using specialized research

designs

12 April Bordens & Abbott Chapter 10 Using single subject designs

15 April: Quiz 6 B&D Chapters 9&10.

19 April Bordens & Abbott Chapter 11: Describing data

26 April Bordens & Abbott Chapter 12 Using inferential statistics

29 April: Quiz 7 B&D Chapters 11&12.

3 May Rough drafts and final thoughts

 

 

GRADING

 

90-100% = A

80-89% = B

70-79% = C

60-69% = D

Below 60% = F