Psyc 305 Research Methods -- Spring
semester 2012
Dr. Anne Britt (britt@niu.edu)
Office: 363 PM Phone: (815)-753-7082
Office Hours: Tues 12:30-2; Thurs 3:15-4:45 Website: www.niu.edu/~britt/courses/305syl.htm
Final Grades.
Required texts: (1) Bordens, Kenneth S. & Abbott, Bruce B.
(2011). Research design and methods: A process approach (8th Ed). Mayfield
Publishing Co. (2) Psyc 305 Notes & Workbook
Course Objectives: The goal of scientific psychology is to understand
why people think and act as they do. We rely on a variety of well-developed
techniques to gather information and to develop theoretical explanations. In
this course you will be introduced to scientific thinking in psychology and
will be given an opportunity to practice these skills with an emphasis on
understanding: (1) the logic of scientific inference and the scientific method;
(2) the range of designs to scientifically study psychological phenomena and
the advantages and disadvantages of each design; (3) the reading and evaluation
of research articles; (4) the statistical procedures for analyzing data.
Course Requirements: Exams (75% of grade). Three tests will
be given on the dates shown below. Exams 1 and 2 will each be worth 20% of your
grade and may include a take-home portion to be completed without
assistance. The cumulative final exam will be worth 35% of grade. The exams
will consist of multiple choice, short answer, and short essay (paragraph
length) questions covering material from lectures, activities and readings. To
gain maximum value of this portion of the course you will need to attend
lectures regularly, read the text assignments as they are assigned, and think
in class! Although my lecture material will occasionally overlap with material
covered in the text, my lectures will more frequently cover unique material. I
give you the grade you earn so do the work you need to get the grade you want.
In general, a 3 credit course is equivalent to 9 hours of in and out of class
work. This class demands slightly more than your average class. If you think
you can not put in that much time, you may want to take this class during
another term. If you want to take it this term, make sure to adjust your
schedule so you can do it. Do not come to me at the end of the term saying that
you couldn’t do the work because you took 18 credits or had a job. It is your
responsibility to make sure you can invest the time needed. Make sure to visit www.mhhe.com/bordens7 to get practice
for the test.
Assignments, paper and poster (25% of grade) (QUIZ and ASSIGNMENT
schedule): This is a course in which strict daily attendance is demanded
and missing a class will be costly in terms of your grade. Every classes will
include either a quiz, homework assignment, or an in class activity such as
designing an experiment, creating a survey, summarizing a research article, or
solving a set of problems. Often these activities will include a short
take-home portion but many will be completed within the class period. Obtaining
credit for these activities will require the student’s active presence in
class. No credit will be given if you miss class regardless of the
reason: so do NOT contact me by phone, e-mail, or in person to tell me the reason.
If you miss the class in which a homework assignment is given, you will not be
given extra time to complete it even if it is due at the next class. It is
important to note that 1 point will be deducted for each day an assignment is
late. No assignments will be accepted over e-mail. Throughout the term,
assignment updates and additional practice (with answers) will be posted on the
class web page. Make sure to routinely check this site, especially near exam
dates, or you will be missing helpful materials.
Grading:
The standard grading scale will be applied (90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% =
C, 60-69% = D). Cheating and other forms of academic dishonesty will be
reported to the appropriate academic dean. Be sure to check the syllabus for
the exam dates. Make-up exams will only be given in cases where you have a
valid excuse and associated documentation. Requests for a makeup must be
made, in writing, prior to the test time and, if approved, you can make up
the test during the final exam session after completing the final test. Do not
just skip the test and hope to explain later. It will be a 0.
* Dates subject to change so watch website and attend
class to get updated information.
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Topic |
Assignment |
Chapters |
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17 |
Overview of designs and scientific method |
Ass1. Chpt 1 and 4 explanation quiz |
Chapt 1; Chapt 4 (pages 97-109) |
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Jan |
19 |
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Inclass1. Chpt 1 and 43 explanation quiz, Ass2. Observation |
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24 |
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Ass3. Write a review of paper 1; Ass4. Quiz on Chpt 16; Due2.
Observation |
Chapt 3 (except for pages 70-76), Chapt 16;
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072887648/student_view0/plagiarism.html |
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26 |
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Inclass4. Quiz on Chpt 16 |
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31 |
Variables and measures |
Due3. Write a review of paper 1; Ass5. ID IV, DV, EV, constructs, op
defs |
Chapt 2 (pages 34-36); Chapt 5 |
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2 |
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Ass6. Write a review of group paper |
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7-14 |
Internal validity and control techniques |
Due5. ID IV, DV, EV, constructs, op defs |
Chapt 4 (pages 109-121) |
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16 |
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Review |
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Feb |
21 |
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Exam 1 |
Chapt 2; Chapt 3 (pages 70-76) |
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23 |
Paper review |
Due6. Write a review of group paper; Ass7. Psych info for twist (3 per person/ and 3 distinction topics) |
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28-1 |
Theory and explanation and psychinfo |
Ass9. Flawed designs (explained on March 1)o:p> |
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6-8 |
Designs: bs, ws, and flawed |
Ass9. Flawed designs |
Chapt 9; Chapt 10 (302-311) |
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20 |
Proposal day |
Group work on project |
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Mar |
22 |
Descriptive statistics |
Due7. Psych info for twist; Ass10. Write a review of twist 1 |
Chapt 5 (pages 130-134); Chapt 12 (pages 352-378) |
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27 |
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Inclass 11. descr stats quiz and graphing exercise |
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29 |
Inferential statistics |
Due10. Write a review of twist 1; Ass12 |
Chapt 9 (pages 286-293) |
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3 |
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Ass13. Id inf stat test to do |
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5 |
Factorials graphs |
Ass14. 3X4 Graphs |
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10 |
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Due13. Id inf stat test to do |
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12 |
Review |
Due14. 3X4 Graphs |
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17 |
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Exam 2 |
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April |
19 |
Proposal day |
Group work on project; Due9 |
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24 |
External validity and surveys |
Draft proposal due; Ass15. Flawed designs 2 |
Chapt 6; Chapt 8 |
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26 |
Ethics and the irb |
Inclass 16. Create a survey on your topic; Due15. Flawed designs 2 |
Chapt 6 (pages 160-170) |
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1 |
Presentations and review |
Due 17-18. Presentations; Due 19. Quizzes |
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3 |
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Due 20-24. Proposal due. |
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Tues May 8 10-11:50 |
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Make sure to RELOAD or REFRESH page before concluding
new material is not present :)
You will receive no
credit for take-home assignments if you are not in class on the day the
assignment is due and you will receive no credit for in-class activities if you
miss the class that we do the activity.
Quizzes and Assignments for first exam period. Each is worth 5 points.
QA1. Quiz on explanation
from book.
Quiz will be
in first 5 minutes of the next class period so don=t be late. After 10 minutes
the opportunity to take the quiz will be over.
1. Based on the information in your book, define scientific
explanations. (Note: this would mean listing all the important characteristics
mentioned in your book.)
2. Briefly compare and contrast scientific explanations with common
sense explanations and pseudo_explanations. (Note: As a compare_contrast
question make sure you do more than list the different definitions. You should
note how they are similar and how they are different. Every define question I
ask will require you to go beyond a definition. This should help you in
understanding what I expect.)
QA 2. Going from observation
to a research question (To be done individually)
Part A. Observation. Write a 2-4 sentence description
of an interesting observation about human or animal behavior that you either
noticed in your daily life or that came to you as a result of reading or
listening to news. Your observation must be one that you are willing to tell
the class as a whole. Notice this is to be a description of a behavior or event
and it should be something that you can think over more that a single example
of (i.e., generalizable).
Part B. For your
observation, come up with a topic that summarizes the behavior of interest.
Part C. List of many
possible explanations for behavior.
Part D. Construct a research
question from your observation.
Grading: 1 point for
observation description (Part A), topic statement (Part B) and research
question (Part D); 2 points for explanations (Part D). It must be typed (double-spaced)
with each part labeled.
Example answer.
Part A. Last season I
watched 3 teams in which teams overcome seemingly overwhelming deficits to win
a playoff game (Bills-Oilers 35-3, Steelers-Browns 24-7, 49ers-Giants 38_14).
How?
Part B. Motivation under
adversity. Why/How?
Part C. 1. Leading team
lowered intensity because they assumed they had won.
2. Trailing team had a single
dominant member (e.g., coach, quarterback, captain) that kept telling others
that they could win.
3. Trailing team took the comeback one
play at a time. They focused only on what was the next action they needed to
take.
4. The referees were unfair and
switched sides at the point.
5. The weather conditions changed.
6. The trailing team fans (each team was
the home team) became louder and more motivating.
Part D. What factors, of the
individual, group, or situation, motivate a team to overcome a seemingly
overwhelming deficits? Or Does limiting focus of attention a lessened feeling
of hopelessness?
QA3. Abstract of Roediger and Payne article (To be done
individually)
Type a 2 page review the
Roediger and Payne article (see website). The following questions may help
guide your summary.
Introduction: 1. What is the
primary theory proposed by the researchers?
Are any competing theories mentioned, if so what are they? 2. What hypos
are tested and what predictions are made?
Method: 3. How were these
hypotheses tested? What were the stimuli
used? IVs? DVs? Controls?
Results: 4. What were the
main results?
Discussion: 5. What
conclusions did the authors draw?
Note. This is a summary that
is to written in sentences and paragraphs. I will not accept lists or answers
to these questions. The questions are to guide your reading. Use sentences and
paragraphs to connect your thoughts in to a coherent summary. Half the points
will be for what you include and how your write the summary. The other half of
the points are for APA style format. You need to have an intro, method, result
and discussion sections. Finally, you need a reference page which states the
roediger and payne reference. Make sure to cite the paper you are reviewing in
your review. Zero points for any material in quotes and 1 point off for each
quote. A zero for plagiarism and it will be reported to the dean so make sure
you know what plagiarism is (http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072887648/student_view0/plagiarism.htm).
QA4. Pop quiz on
chapter 16 from textbook -- (first 10 mins of class) (To
be done individually)
There will be a
short quiz on what chapter 16. Part one will be closed book and something about
what sections (and subsections) are in an APA style empirical paper. Including
what is the most important thing to include in each section. Perhaps 2 multiple
choice questions as well. Then part 2 will be open book and you will be asked
to find errors in a sample write-ups in terms of format, such as a reference
page and a short segment of introduction.
You will not have time to do it if you have not really read the material
well.
QA5.
Identifying IVs and DVs practice (To be done individually)
Identify
the IVs (and number of levels) in proper form, state if it is real or quasi,
and whether it is between-subjects or within-subjects. Identify the DVs.
Identify two possible EVs to controlled for (other than gender and IQ
which are worth 0 points).
1. This experiment compared how
studying with the radio on or with it off affected a person's grade in the
experimental psychology class. Participants were randomly assigned to either
condition and they found that the radio helped.
2. Reading achievement of pupils who
had received computer-assisted instruction in reading was compared with pupils
who did not. Twenty-two pairs of first-grade boys and girls were matched on
Generic Reading Readiness scores.
Separation of girl and boy matched pairs was maintained to allow
cross-sex comparisons.
3. Both attitudes and behavior of
members of a commune and members of a fraternity and a sorority were compared
on appropriate measurement checklists.
Commune members, as predicted, showed considerably more favorable
attitudes toward nontraditional values, whereas their fraternity/sorority
counterparts viewed traditional concepts more favorably. More commune members chose cooperation rather
than competition on a strategy game test.
4. This research ascertained the
role of motivational style (extrinsic, intrinsic, amotivational) as predictors
of behavioral persistence in a real-life setting. In this case, persistence was
operationalized as number of optional and required activities completed. At the
beginning of the term, 1042 first-term students enrolled in a compulsory course
completed a scale assessing motivation toward academic activities. Results
showed that students who were more intrinsically motivated persisted more than
those who were extrinsically motivated or amotivated.
5. Professor Hyde studies the
effects that drugs have on animal activity. She used several types of rats
including white, gray, and silver. She randomly assigned each type of rat to
either 3 cc’s or 6 cc’s of Metacive and one hour later they were asked to run
an exercise wheel and counted the number of revolutions in 10 minutes.
6. Subjects who were high in
dogmatism read a message from either an expert or nonexpert source who
supported his position with either strong or weak arguments. Strong arguments
were more persuasive than weak arguments. Subjects were persuaded by strong
arguments when the source was not an expert, but they were equally persuaded by
strong and weak arguments when the source was an expert.
7. Students in a beginning
statistics class were classified into two groups according to the way they
studied: a logical group and a mnemonic group.
Students in the logical group received significantly higher grades on
several different academic criteria, which included: course grade, examination
grades, class participation, and individual reports. The two groups were statistically equivalent
on six measures of ability. Removal of
these measures from consideration did not reduce performance differences
between the groups. Differences in learning
strategy indicate differences in learning processes. These results suggested that it may be
possible to develop learning techniques to improve learning on some tasks.
8. Systematic desensitization (SD)
was compared with training in efficient study methods for reducing test anxiety
among subjects selected on the basis of two types of self-reported
anxiety. Subjects reporting high levels
of emotion prior to or during examinations were expected to benefit more from
treatment by desensitization. Subjects
reporting high levels of worry but not emotion were expected to profit more
from training. This hypothesis was not supported. SD subjects reported significantly less
anxiety during a final examination than did no-contact control subjects. Control subjects received higher examination
scores than did study-skills subjects.
SD offered more promise as a treatment method for test anxiety than did
training in study skills.
QA6.
Individual article review of group article (To
be done individually)
Type a 2-3 page
review of the article.
Group 1: deWinstanley,
P. A., & Bjork, E. L. (2004). Processing strategies and the generation
effects: Implications for making a better reader. Memory and Cognition, 32(6),
945-955.
Group 2: Rohrer,
D., Taylor, K., Pashler, H., Wixted, J. T., & Cepeda, N. J. (2005). The
effect of overlearning on long-term retention. Applied Cognitive Psychology,
19, 361-374.
Group 3: Roediger, H.L., &
Karpicke, J.D. (2006). Test-enhanced
learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17,
249-255.
Group 4: Roediger,
H.L. & Marsh, E.J. (2005). The positive and negative consequences of
multiple-choice testing. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 31, 1155-1159.
Group 5: Roediger,
H.L. & Marsh, E.J. (2005). The positive and negative consequences of
multiple-choice testing. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 31, 1155-1159.
Group 6: deWinstanley,
P. A., & Bjork, E. L. (2004). Processing strategies and the generation
effects: Implications for making a better reader. Memory and Cognition, 32(6),
945-955.
Group 7: Rohrer,
D., Taylor, K., Pashler, H., Wixted, J. T., & Cepeda, N. J. (2005). The
effect of overlearning on long-term retention. Applied Cognitive Psychology,
19, 361-374.
Group 8: Roediger, H.L., &
Karpicke, J.D. (2006). Test-enhanced
learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17,
249-255.
Group 9: Roediger,
H.L. & Marsh, E.J. (2005). The positive and negative consequences of
multiple-choice testing. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 31, 1155-1159.
The following
questions may help guide your summary. Since it is a summary you will need to
be selective and label all sections including the subsections of the methods
sections. The following list may help you in considering what to focus on. Do
NOT just answer these questions. Make your summary and critique a coherent
essay. I will grade incoherent and plagiarized material very harshly. For
practice, format the methods section of your summary in APA style. See book or
notes for details. No quoting allowed. Zero points for any material in quotes and 1
point off for each quote.
Formatting
points:
1.
APA – 1 inch margin, double space, single sided, typed
2.
Citations (see book pages 12 and 13). Note: only cite papers you have read.
3.
General NOT’s. No quoting, no personal pronouns (e.g., I, we), no abbreviations
(e.g, don’t or IV).
4.
Stats NOT’s. No use of PROVE, no use of word correlation unless referring to a
statistic, no use of significant unless referring to p < .05.
5.
No plagiarism
QA7. PsychInfo and formatting
references (To be done individually)
Use
PsychINFO to find three empirical psychology journal articles
(not dissertations, books, book chapters ect) relating to your group topic. You
will use these to learn more about your topic so only pick papers that look
interesting. They must be in English and available to you within two weeks. You
will have a cover sheet and 3 single-sheet attachments (3 points
off if any deviation in format). 0 points if references are not APA style!
Really.
1. Cover sheet.
It must be a single typed sheet (double-spaced) with the following information
in the order below: (Label sections as A, B, C on your assignment)
A.
At the top of sheet clearly state your research question that your group agreed
upon.
B. State the terms
you used for searching.
C. List the full
reference for each article (see Bordens p 474-476 or our notebook for proper
format) that you found possibly useful. Don’t just use the format provided by
PsychINFO since it is wrong and will result in 2 points being deducted.
2. Attachments.
Stapled to the cover sheet the complete abstracts for the three
articles. You can e-mail printouts from the library to yourself and then edit
them (you only get 1 page for each article so make sure to edit the printouts).
Bring in enough copies of the abstracts for each member of your group.
QA8.
In class
QA9. Flawed designs. For each of the following, please describe and explain to any problems with the
experiment, findings, or interpretation. If there are no problems, put “good
experiment”. (To be done individually)
1. Jogging- I'm not ever going to jog because I read
in a health magazine that running increases stress levels. It described an
experiment that showed just that. In this experiment, participants were placed
into either a low stress group or a high stress level group, based on their
pre-existing stress levels. There were five participants in each group. Both
groups were instructed to run three times a week. The result was that the
stress levels in the high stress level group increased even more. They were
really stressed. The stress level in the low stress group stayed about the
same. So you see, doing exercise leads to higher stress, at least for people
with some stress in their lives. However, I think there are some problems with
the experiment and its description.
2. Pounds Off- I just had the strangest
encounter. My friend called to tell me about a new diet that she read about.
You see, she needs to lose some weight. There was a study where subjects took
this new diet pill called 'Pounds Off' and she said that they lost on the
average 10 pounds in the first month of taking it. She told me that she is
going to buy a two-month supply for 40 dollars. I think she is crazy for
spending her money on the basis of that study.
3. Autism- I recently read about facilitated
communication, a procedure some say improves autistic children’s communicating
through writing. Facilitated communication is where a person provides minimal
help by touching or gently holding a person’s hand as they write. They say that
the child responds to the physical contact. In the study that I read, autistic
children were randomly assigned either to an experimental group or to a control
group. In the experimental group, experimenters who were trained in this
procedure slightly held the hands of autistic children as they wrote. In the
control group, the same experimenters merely sat near the children as they
wrote. There were thirty children in each group. The result was that children
in the experimental group wrote more complete and complex sentences than
children in the control group. Therefore, it was concluded that facilitated
communication improves the written communication of autistic children. So, I plan
to pay the extra amount of money so that my sister gets this treatment.
4. Textbook- I do not think I will buy any more
textbooks. I read about this experiment done at a top University where they
showed that students get the same grade regardless of whether they read the
textbook. In the Fall semester, all students in a statistics course were told
that the textbook was optional. In the Spring semester, all students in the
same statistics course were told that reading the textbook was required. The
same professor taught the two statistics courses and gave the same lectures to
each. The researchers found no difference on the final exam scores between the
two classes. So I think the textbook does not matter. And if it does not
matter, why buy textbooks?
5. Heavy Metal- My mom said that listening to
heavy metal music would depress me. But I read about a cool study that says
that it will not. There were two groups formed by random assignment: one that
listened to no music and one that listened to heavy metal for two hours every
day. Groups rated their depression after one month. Participants had the choice
of rating their depression level as either “not depressed” or “depressed”.
Sixty percent of the heavy metal group said they were depressed and fifty-eight
percent in the no music group said they were depressed. The researchers said
the difference was not statistically significant. So, I am going to continue
listening to heavy metal music.
6. Aggression-
I knew it was true. Women are more aggressive than men. I read a study
that asked twenty women and twenty men to rate how angry they feel. They rated
their feelings on a five point scale from not at all angry to very angry. The
study found that on average women felt angrier than men. So, you see it is a
complete myth that men act more aggressively than women.
QA10. Review of supporting paper. (To be done individually)
Each group member picks a different paper that can be used in
your intro. This paper can support 1. that a problem exists, 2. the proposed
theory is strong, 3. the twist may matter for this problem, or 4. the
materials, tests, or measures are appropriate. Make sure that you each pick a
different paper. Each person must do an independent review of a different paper
(any repeats will both be given a 0). See QA6 for write up
instructions.
QA11. This will be
an inclass quiz that asks you to do the following (different numbers on quiz): (To be done individually)
1. Get a mean, median, stdev, range, and
a descriptive Z for a set of 5 to 10 numbers (showing work and must have a
calculator for full credit unless you can do square roots in your head). E.g.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and get Z for person with score of 2.
2. Given 2 factors (such as drug and counseling), graph the
cell means E.g., Data: drug with counseling (M =140, S= 4.3); drug with
no counseling (M =120, S= 4.1); no drug with counseling (M =80,
S= 3.6); no drug with no counseling (M =100, S= 4.1).
QA12. Review of supporting paper. (To be done individually)
Review an additional paper for the final group
proposal.
QA13. Determine whether you should
conduct a Z, t (one sample, indept, or dept), or ANOVA. (To be done individually)
1. An experimenter investigated
whether amount of prior information about an individual would be related to
ease of memorizing new information about that individual. 25 subjects were given a series of names of a
well-known individual (N. D. Reagan) and then a set of obscure facts about that
individual (e.g., her favorite color) which they were asked to memorize. 25 other subjects were given fictitious names
(e.g., Mark Andrews). The following
results were obtained: Well-known names: mean =42.7, S = 5.6; Fictitious names: mean = 37.3, S = 5.8.
Is there relationship between ease of memorizing and amount of prior
information?
2. Individuals seeking cosmetic
facial surgery (for a very "prominent" nose, receding chin, etc.)
often suffer from low self-confidence and low self-esteem. To determine whether surgery improves
self-concept, a study was conducted in which 12 patients were given a battery
of psychological tests preoperatively (M = 70) and were tested one year
post-operatively (M = 83). Did
the operation have the expected effect on the patient's self esteem?
3.
Hyperactivity in children usually is treated by counseling, or by drugs,
or by both. To test this a researcher
measured the attention span (how long each child was able to concentrate on a
specific task) of children of different ages. They had the children receive
either a drug or no drug and half of each group also received either counseling
or no counseling. Data: drug with counseling (M =140, S= 4.3); drug with
no counseling (M =120, S= 4.1); no drug with counseling (M =80,
S= 3.6); no drug with no counseling (M =100, S= 4.1).
4. A researcher would like to
examine the effects of social interaction on the development of
intelligence. One random sample of rats
is raised in individual cages in isolation.
While another random sample of rates is raised in a large colony. After six months they are tested in a maze
and the number of errors in problem solving is recorded. Can one conclude that social interaction has
a sign effect on the development of problem-solving skills? Alone (M =13,
S=3.85); Colony (M =9.5, S=4.14).
5. A psychologist would like to
know whether the chance in seasons has any consistent effect on people's
mood. In the middle of each of the four
seasons the psychologist selects a random sample of 25 students. Each student
is given a standardized mood questionnaire.
6. Ms. Crocker claims that the
average baking time for her walnut brownies is 50 minutes. A concerned cook believes
that her brownies are overdone when they are overdone for the recommended 50
minutes. She tests 30 batches of brownies and finds that their mean optimal
cooking time is 40 minutes, with a st dev of 7 minutes.
7.Scores on an standardized
aptitude test are available for Civil Service positions. They are distributed
normally with a mean of 134 and a standard deviation of 24. Data from 30
people: mean = 143 and variance = 900.
8. The general relationship between
performance and arousal level is described by the Yerkes-Dobson law. This law states that performance is best at a
moderate level of arousal. When arousal
is too low, people do not care about what they are doing, and performance is
poor. At the other extreme, when arousal
is too high, people become overly anxious, and performance suffers. In addition, the exact form of the
relationship between arousal and performance depends on the difficulty of the
task. To test the law, they manipulated
both task difficulty and arousal level while measuring the task performance.
They found that the easy task with low arousal had a mean of 80 (S = 12.2), the
difficult task with low arousal had a mean of 65 (S = 10.8), the easy task with
high arousal had a mean of 120 (S = 18.4), and the difficult task with high
arousal had a mean of 80 (S = 13.3).
9. A developmental psychologist
would like to determine how much difference there is in the vocabulary skills
of 5-year-old children verse 6-year-old children. A random sample of 10 children is selected
from each age group. Data: 5 yr olds (M
=35, S=4.08); 6yr old (M =45, S=4.83).
10. A researcher would like to
determine if relaxation training will reduce the number of headaches for
chronic headache sufferers. For a week
prior to training, each of the 9 subjects recorded the number of headaches they
had (M = 15). Then they received relaxation training and for the week
following they recorded the number of headaches (M = 12).
11. Handedness may be related to
differences in brain function because different parts of the brain are
specialized for specific behs. If so, left- and right-handed people should show
different skills or talents. A
psychologist tested pitch discrimination for different subjects and found a
mean pitch discrimination scores for each group: 5.0 for left-handed, 3.5 for
right-handed, and 5.5 for ambidextrous subjects.
QA14. Complete the 6 factorial
graphs for Week 10. (To be done individually)
QA15. To be announced. (To be done individually)
QA16. Survey
construction. (1 per group)
Using the
book and the survey pages from your workbook, complete the follow assignment.
Only 1 per group handed in. You will be asked to write a short survey on
something related to your group topic.
Please pay special attention to the wording of your questions (clear and
unambiguous, not involving more than one question embedded in a single item,
short and simple, avoid negative or bias terms)
1. Your research question guiding
survey?
2. List your variables of interest.
Predictor variables are those
you are interested in seeing whether they influence another variable.
Criterion variables are those
that you want to predict.
For instance, you may think that
one’s religious affiliation or attitude towards fairness may influence one’s
attitude toward the death penalty. In this case, the religious affiliation or
attitude towards fairness are the predictor variables and attitude toward the
death penalty is the criterion variable.
2a. Predictor (at least 3)
2b. Criterion (at least 1)
3. Construct your survey (at least 10
questions). For the purposes of learning, please include at least one of each
type: Open-ended, Restricted, Partially open-ended, Rating scale.
4. Administering method. How will
you give your survey?
5. Explain why you chose that one
and make sure to mention the pros of this method and some cons of why you
didn’t use another method.
QA17-18. Presentation handout (1 page
handout) (see notebook for an example) (1 per group)
Intro to topic, good review of
initial paper you are replicating, reason for twist.
Your twist: Problem statement
(research question addressed), Method: include a little information about each
sub-section, Results: present your hypo and predictions
QA19. Presentation quizzes. (1 per
group)
After each presentation, there will
be a 3 min quiz (2 questions). Question 1 will be about the design (e.g., IV,
DV, BS). Question 2 will be about a possible threat to internal validity using
the terms from class (e.g., instrumentation, mortality) and explain why it is a
possible problem with their design.
QA20-25. Proposal presentation. (1 per
group)
1. APA style. This must be in APA
format or it will not be accepted. See notes and book for sections (e.g., title
page, abstract) and formatting instructions. Please review the pages assigned
in your textbook to make sure the margins, sections, headings, etc are correct.
If there are any mistakes in the sections, subsections, or reference page, it
will not be accepted. Also hand in a copy of the paper you are basing your
modification on so I can carefully check for plagiarism (I have a program that
scans papers and looks for similarities so I will catch it). Pay attention to
grammar and spelling also.
2.
Introduction (special considerations)
·
Present general information about the topic of interest
·
Provide sufficient background information to motivate
the proposed experiment (minimum of 4 peer reviewed articles reviewed)
·
Present a detailed description of the main paper that
you are replicating and extending so that someone who hasn’t read it can
understand what they did, why the did it, what they found, and what is missing
(i.e., your proposed change – problem statement)
·
Briefly explain and support your extension (e.g., purpose
of paper and description of method). At least one of your cited papers
has to support your twist.
·
State your hypothesis(es) clearly
Many groups
will miss points because they fail to put in hypotheses (theory) and
predictions (design), but most will lose points on including a brief
description of the method before the hypos and predictions.
3.
Methods (special considerations)
·
Participants (as much detail as needed)
·
Materials (describe and attach actual tests, surveys,
texts etc in the appendix)
·
Procedures (make sure to describe subject’s
experience, including tasks, setting, instructions)
·
Design (make sure reader understands that IVs, DVs,
type of design, any controls)
For the
method (1-2 pages): Make sure to include everything that is important in your
proposed design (see page 20 and the textbook). Be specific and complete.
Again, do not plagiarize. Need to have the 4 subsections.
4.
Results (special considerations)
·
State your predicted results for each DV.
·
Include a figure showing the most important predicted
result and make sure to refer to the figure in the results section
·
State what statistical test will be conducted
We are not
actually doing this experiment so it is a proposal. You will not be making up
data but you will be making up predictions and stating what stats you will be
doing.
5. Creativity of the experiment
6.
References (4-5 in APA style format)
List the
references you mentioned in the paper. You can only site a paper if you read
it. Format is critical here so triple check every italics, capital, and &.
SCORING
RUBRIC
Points Item
for paper (also see instructions in workbook for QA20-25).
2 Intro to
topic to get reader into topic (1 paragraph)
10 Describe the
paper you are replicating (several paragraphs)
10 Support for
twist (several paragraphs)
2 Problem
statement
5 Brief
overview of methods (1 paragraph)
5 Hypothesis:
Why you think what you think, explanation
5 Predictions:
What you think will happen
2 Participants
(If not intro psych students, give details)
10 Materials (need a lot of details, put
what you can in the appendix, refer to tables or appendix)
2 Procedure
(make sure to mention order of tasks, timing, and instructions)
5 Design
(variables, levels, ws/bs, etc)
5 Results (State your predicted results
for each DV in a paragraph, figure of predictions -- make sure to refer to it
in paper, statistical test to use)
2 Reference
page with 4 refs minimum
5 Appendix
(must include a couple items -- tests, materials)
30 APA format (see sample paper in workbook)
Paper due last day of class
Extra
practice. A problem just like this will be on the final:
#8 from assignment 10. The general relationship between
performance and arousal level is described by the Yerkes‑Dodson law. This law states that performance is best at a
moderate level of arousal. When arousal
is too low, people do not care about what they are doing, and performance is
poor. At the other extreme, when arousal
is too high, people become overly anxious, and performance suffers. In addition, the exact form of the
relationship between arousal and performance depends on the difficulty of the
task. To test the Yerkes-Dodson law, a
researcher manipulated both task difficulty and arousal level while measuring
the number of problems correctly solved in 20 minutes. They found that the easy
task with low arousal had a mean of 80 (st dev = 12.2), the difficult task with
low arousal had a mean of 65 (st dev = 10.8), the easy task with high arousal
had a mean of 120 (st dev = 18.4), and the difficult task with high arousal had
a mean of 80 (st dev = 13.3).
Graph the cell means, interpret the graph using technical
terms learned in class. Make sure to state the results you think will be
significant based on the graph and then put the trend into real words (that
means interpret).
A researcher did an experiment
investigating the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction on enhancing
first-grader’s reading level. Half of
the students received reading instruction using the new game-style instruction
on the computer while half received the standard method not on the computer. He
thought that any enhancement effects may differ dependent upon the student’s
gender so he separately randomize a set of first grade girls to the two
different conditions and a group of boys two conditions. Here are the cell
means for the learning task.
|
|
|
Reading
instruction method |
|
|
|
Gender |
Computer |
Standard |
|
|
Boys |
33 |
20 |
|
|
Girls |
42 |
39 |
Graph the data then interpret the
graph using technical terms learned in class. Make sure to state the
results you think will be significant based on the graph and then put the trend
into real words.