Psychology 360-361

Research Experience in Psychology I & II

Spring 2008

 

Course Instructor:    Frank McAndrew              7525              fmcandre   Courses Meet: Psyc 360: Some Tuesdays, 6th period, Room A-107 SMC Psyc 361: Some Thursdays, 6th period, Room A-107 SMC	Other Faculty Mentors:    Heather Hoffman     7267 hhoffman    Tim Kasser 7283 tkasser    Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg7108 kkawasha    Alex Varakin 7334 avarakin

 

This course is a two-term research-based experience in which students conduct an independent research project. Regardless of your career plans, the senior research project you conduct will provide you with concrete proof of your ability to find information, analyze data, and communicate difficult material to other people. These abilities are highly prized by both graduate programs and employers.

 

Most of our efforts during the first term (360) will be geared toward getting you started on your senior research projects, whereas the second term (361) you will be primarily occupied with carrying out the project and analyzing the resulting data.

 

The department has already assigned you to a faculty mentor, with whom you will spend this term and next working on your research project. All work conducted for this class should be turned in to the mentor, and s/he is primarily responsible for guiding you through all of the various steps of this class. The professor running this seminar is only responsible for organizing some of the experiences had by all the senior research project students. Naturally, there will be some variations among what different mentors will expect of you, and they are free both to make assignments in addition to those listed below and to set additional deadlines for the completion of work. All grades will be assigned by your mentor. Despite differences across mentors, all psychology faculty agree on the essential requirements for the class, the minimal methodological requirements for the study, and a general philosophy of grading your work (see Grading Philosophy later in syllabus).

Psychology 360

By the end of this term you will have completed the Introduction & Method sections of your research paper according to the guidelines established by the American Psychological Association Publication Manual (5th Ed.).

 

Psychology 361

By the end of this term, you will have completed the collection and analysis of your data and written a finished, article-length research paper in APA format. Also, at the end of this term, you will make a poster presentation of your work to the psychology department faculty and the other students in the department. It is also expected that you will present the results of your research at the ILLOWA undergraduate psychology conference at the end of April.

These resources are available in the Library and are good resources for students tackling their first research project.

1.     Cone, J. D., & Foster, S. L. (1993). Dissertations and theses from start to finish: Psychology and related fields. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

à 360 students will profit most from chapters 3, 7, and 8

à 361 students will profit most from chapters 10, 11, and 12

2.     American Psychological Association (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5^th ed). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Also see: http://webster.commnet.edu/apa/apa_index.htm

à We encourage students to buy a copy if you are going to graduate school in psychology.

3.     Bem, D. J. (2003). Writing the empirical journal article. In J. M. Darley, M. P. Zanna, & H. L. Roediger III, (Eds.) The compleat academic: A career guide. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

à   Full text article available at: http://www.psych.cornell.edu/dbem/writing_article.html

4. I will also be e-mailing several pdf copies of articles that you will be expected to read.

The Psychology Faculty has agreed that in order for a senior research project to be acceptable, it must meet at least one of the following requirements concerning methodology.

1)    The study is a true experiment in which an independent variable is manipulated to observe its effects on a dependent variable. A study considering race, gender, etc. as the independent variable does not meet this requirement, as such variables are not manipulated by the experimenter.

2)    The study is a quasi-experiment or correlational study that includes a difficult-to-obtain sample, i.e., a sample other than college students or rats. For example, the student may use children, elders, adults receiving mental health services, etc. as subjects.

3)    The study is a quasi-experiment or correlational study in which one of the main variables is operationally defined by using a method that the student has devised. This might involve the construction of a new questionnaire, coding system, etc. The student must also test the reliability of the measurement that s/he has devised.

 

The Psychology Faculty agree that the following variables are involved in assigning grades for Psyc 360/361. Individual mentors may of course put different weight on variables, or may add other requirements for their students.

1)    Working Independently. We expect students to show self-motivation and the ability to engage in the various aspects of the project without the mentor overseeing every detail. Projects in which the mentor finds him/herself doing much of the work will be considered less acceptable. However, note that we expect and encourage you to frequently ask us for help and advice; we just don’t expect to do the work for you.

2)    Ambitiousness and Creativity of the Project. Higher grades will be awarded to projects involving a broader scope, more work in the running of subjects or the design of methodology, or theoretically ambitious projects testing novel ideas via creative means.

3)    Quality of Writing. We expect all work to follow the publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th Ed.) that is on reserve in SMAC library. Further, papers should be grammatically correct, free of typographical errors, well organized, clear, and concise.

4)    Completion of All Assignments. Although some of the assignments and sub-assignments in this class are essentially ungraded, we expect students to complete all requirements. That is, they must: (a) meet all deadlines set by individual faculty mentors, (b) complete required course readings, (c) make a poster presentation (361 only), (d) attend poster presentations on days they are not presenting (all students), and (e) turn in papers at the ends of both terms.

5)    Promptness. We expect students to be on time for meetings with their mentors and for their presentations, and to turn in assignments on the dates set by the mentor.

6)    Effort and Diligence. We expect students to continue to work hard and persist at the project.

7)    Statistical Significance. Finally, one factor that will NOT affect your grade concerns whether your hypotheses are supported. Thus, you will not be graded down if your results are non-significant. Conversely, you will not necessarily receive a good grade if your hypotheses are supported. Note however that projects that are well thought-out and that are well executed methodologically are more likely to yield significant results, and thus may receive higher grades for this reason.

 

During the term, you will meet primarily with your mentor, whom you should contact early in the term to set up meeting times. In addition, we will meet as a class a few times throughout the term. All class meetings will be 6^th hour (2:40-3:50) Tuesday in Room A-107 SMC.

 

Week of (Tuesday):	Meetings	Assignments / Progress Guide
April 1	Class meeting: Introduction to Senior Research	J Meet with faculty mentor about your meeting/task schedule for the term
April 8
April 15
April 22
April 29	Class meeting: Mid-term check-in	þ Give brief presentation on progress
May 6
May 13
May 20	Class meeting: Late-term check-in	þ Give brief presentation on progress
May 27	Class meeting	Attend Poster Session
May 29 (Thursday)	Class meeting	Attend Poster Session
Friday, May 30		¶ Final papers due

Notes:

þ Class presentations will be informal and brief (approximately 5 minutes). For each presentation, you will describe what you have done so far for your project, and let us know your plans for the coming weeks.

During the term, you will meet primarily with your mentor, whom you should contact early in the term to set up meeting times. In addition, we will meet as a class a few times throughout the term. All class meetings will be 6^th hour (2:40-3:50) Thursday in Room A-107 SMC.

 

Week of (Thursday):	Meetings	Assignments / Progress Guide
March 27	Class meeting: Introduction to Senior Research	J    Meet with faculty mentor about your meeting/task schedule for the term
April 3
April 10
April 17
April 24	Class meeting: Mid-term check-in	þ Give brief presentation on progress
May 1
May 8	Class meeting: SPSS Review
May 15	Class meeting: APA Format and Writing Results
May 22	Class meeting	Workshop on Making Posters
Tuesday, May 27 & Thursday, May 29	Class meeting	Attend Poster Sessions on both days
Friday, May 30		Final paper Due

Notes:

þ Class presentations will be informal and brief (approximately 5 minutes). For each presentation, you will describe what you have done so far for your project, and let us know your plans for the coming weeks.