Instructor: Dr. Sadie K. O'Neill
Office: Remote
Email: soneill1@uwf.edu (preferred method)
Phone: 727-692-3545
Office Hours: Virtually by appointment via WebEx (https://uwf.webex.com/meet/
Course Website: : http://elearning.uwf.edu, http://libguides.uwf.edu/OnlinePSY3213
Required Textbooks:
Morling, B. (2017) Research Methods in Psychology: Evaluating a World of Information (3rd ed). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (EBOOK HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
American Psychological Association (2019). Concise Guide to APA Style (7th ed). American Psychological Association.
• Purchase of eBook or new book will come with access InQuizitive, the required quiz system for this class. If you rent or purchase a used book you will have to purchase access to InQuizitive separately for $25 here: https://digital.wwnorton.com/researchpsych3
• All textbook resources, including InQuizitive Quizzes, can be found here: https://digital.wwnorton.com/researchpsych3
• The textbook for this course is available on Reserve at the Circulation Desk at the John C. Pace Library for a 2-hour loan period (books must stay in the Library). Please take advantage of this resource, but keep in mind that copies of textbooks for each course are limited and may be in use by another student, particularly right before an assignment or reading is due. Plan your textbook use accordingly.
Prerequisites & Corequisites: Students must first successfully complete PSY 2012 (Intro to Psychology). Students must have either completed STA 2023 (Elements of Statistics) or be currently enrolled. Students must be currently enrolled in PSY 2023 (Professional Development in Psychology).
Catalog Course Description: The first course of a two-course sequence designed to expose a student to the research methods and the behavioral statistics that are commonly employed in psychological (behavioral) research. Although the fundamental principles of scientific observation, research design, and research statistics will be discussed, special emphasis will be placed on methodology that provides a basic or descriptive understanding of human behavior. Ethical issues pertaining to both human and nonhuman research will also be introduced and discussed.
Course Overview & Objectives: Most of you have taken psychology classes that tell you the type of research that psychologists conduct. The focus of this course is on how psychologists examine psychological phenomena. What are the methods that psychologists use that allow them to make causal and relational inferences about human behavior? Topics for this will include the ethical treatment of human participants, observational methods, how to create and conduct surveys, experimental methods, descriptive statistics, and inferential statistics. There are two primary objectives for this course: (1) to provide you with the information to critically evaluate psychological claims and research so you can be a good consumer of research; (2) to provide you with a ‘psychologist’s tool belt’ that will allow you to conduct psychological research.
Student Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this course, you should be able to:
1. Identify the major methods that represent the biological, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and/or sociocultural factors that are crucial to understanding psychological research. This will be examined by exams, quizzes, and discussion posts. PSY 3213 – Summer 2020 3
2. Demonstrate effective and efficient application of those methods to critically analyze, evaluate, and/or plan solutions for the problems that are commonly encountered in psychological research. This will be examined by exams, quizzes, a paper, and discussion posts.
3. Identify the principles of ethical conduct in the academic, professional, and/or community environment as it relates to psychological research. This will be assessed by exams, quizzes, and discussion posts.
4. Differentiate scientific and non-scientific methods and claims
5. Apply the scientific method to answer psychological claims
6. Conduct appropriate descriptive and correlational statistical analyses
7. Correctly interpret descriptive and correlational statistical analyses
8. Identify independent and dependent variables in an experimental design
9. Perform appropriate inferential statistical analyses
10.Report experimental results appropriately
11.Summarize empirical journal articles
12.Demonstrate mastery of APA style.
Online Course Format:
This is a fully online course. Although we will not meet face-to-face, we do follow a detailed schedule. Each week there will be numerous readings and assignments/quizzes that have to be completed by the closing date each week. Thus, while we don’t meet face-to-face, allowing some flexibility on when you complete your assignments, you cannot proceed at your own pace. You are responsible for completing all assignments, quizzes, and exams online by the posted deadline. All assignments, quizzes, and exams will be submitted in Canvas. Each week I will post an overview of what we will cover including what you need to do online and what we will do in class. Use this to help you stay on top of online assignments/activities. I’m sure you’ve heard the rule of thumb to plan that for every hour you spend in class, expect to spend 2 hours outside of class studying or working on assignments. In an online class, we don’t have 3 hours in class, but the rule of thumb is the same. And the content of this course is often more challenging for students. And this is a summer term, meaning it’s condensed to finish faster. Expect to spend a minimum of 9-12 hours in this class each week to earn a passing grade
