Psychology 303B - Experimental Psychology II Fall 2009 T,TH 11:30
Prof. Elizabeth P. Ossoff, Ph.D.
Office: Goulet 3402; X7133
e-mail: eossoff@anselm.edu
Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 9:30-11:30; all other times by appointment
Required Texts:
Critical Thinking About Research by J. Meltzoff
Pocket Guide to APA Style 3rd Ed. by R. Perrin
This course will review some basic terms and methods of experimental psychology as well as introduce you to some more sophisticated techniques and issues in conducting psychological research. Much of the pace of this review is specific to the particular students in the class. If we need more time for review, we will take it, if we can move along more quickly, we will. Therefore the schedule of review chapters is a tentative one and subject to change. However, it will be clear what will be on the Midterm well in advance of the test. The Practice articles will be explored after we cover the review. We will address these articles three at a time, and these will be prepared by the class WITHOUT reading the critiques beforehand. This way we can address the shortcomings of the articles and then look to see how “right” we were. Hopefully this will allow us to explore more complex ways of addressing the issues raised in the practice articles and students will be able to hone their skills in this area as the semester progresses.
There will be a Midterm and a Final exam, which will cover the material presented in the books and in in both a conceptual and applied manner. The Homework/Participation portion of this course involves turning in the assigned drafts on time and involving yourself in the progress report sessions about the theses.
Also, you will be expected to complete your senior thesis during this course. This will represent the bulk of your grade (see grade breakdown at the end of the syllabus). As you already know from the psychology major's handbook (which is still available on-line) and your Experimental Psychology I class, this thesis must be of either an experimental or quasi-experimental nature, or an extensive review of the literature on some topic in psychology. There will be a subject pool from which you may draw your participants from the St. Anselm population, if needed. These are introductory psychology students who are required to participate in 3-4 experiment hours for course credit, or write a short paper in lieu of each participation. The exact number of experiment hours required will be determined by need. Therefore, by the second week of classes (the week of Sept. 8th) you need to turn into me the number of participants you anticipate using from this subject pool. If you underestimate the number, you will be responsible for getting the additional participants needed; you will also be expected to use all the participants you request to be fair to the people volunteering, in other words, USE ALL SUBJECTS REQUESTED! They will be required to sign up for completion of participation in your studies by the week of Nov. 1st (this is a Sun. this year, so plan on Oct. 30th as your cutoff but if you need to collect data into the following week you can), your data pool will therefore not be available after the week of Nov. 1st. It is expected that data completion will therefore be complete by end of this week but keep in mind of when you results are due. You will want to try and gather your data well in advance of this date. This sign-up of participants will take place on the bulletin board in the hallway of the 3rd floor of Goulet. They will be required to receive proof of participation to be given to them at the time of completion of the experiment in the form of a credit slip. They will also be required to receive at the time of completion of the study, adequate written feedback as to the nature of your study and the contribution they have made to your study, as they will have to report on this as part of their course requirement. No sign-up sheets are allowed to be posted until all materials are O.K.’d by me even if you have secured IRB approval for off-campus participants. You will be given the department forms for informed consent, sign-up sheets and credit slips, as they are needed.
You will have ample opportunity to meet and discuss your thesis with me, as well as present your ideas to your peers. Take advantage of your classmates' suggestions and ideas. Work with each other, it will help reduce the inevitable anxiety, as well as make the experience more enjoyable for all.
You will also be asked to compose your own executive summary of your senior thesis. This is a project that can be worked on during class time after the completion of the thesis. These pages will then be posted on the college’s web page via our department. Final adjustments will be able to be made before the page is posted during January as part of Senior Seminar, so students can make use of the feedback given on these pages. If you want or need (for grad schools) your page to be posted sooner, that is possible. This assignment will be worth 10% of your final grade.
T 9/1 Introduction
Th 9/3 Critical Reading– Meltzoff – Chapter 1 - Title and Summary of thesis idea due
T 9/8 Library Research and Writing a research report – Perrin, 1-3; Ethical considerations in Research – Meltzoff - Chapter 9 - Participant Count Due
TH 9/10 Progress Report on Theses
T 9/15 Progress Reports on Theses- Introduction Due
TH 9/17 No Class, professor out of town
T 9/22 The Experimental Process – Meltzoff - Chapters 2-5
TH 9/24 The Experimental Process – Meltzoff - Chapters 6, 7, & 8
T 9/29 The Experimental Process – Meltzoff - Chapters 6, 7, & 8 - Revised Introduction and Method Sections Due
TH 10/1 Progress Reports on Theses
T 10/6 Progress Reports on Theses
TH 10/8 MIDTERM
T 10/13 FALL RECESS– no class
TH 10/15 Data Collection and Analysis - SPSS for Windows/How to write a Results Section - Perrin – sections as needed
T 10/20 Data Collection and Analysis - SPSS for Windows/How to write a Results Section - Perrin – sections as needed
TH 10/22 Critical Evaluation – Practice articles in Meltzoff – 1-3
T 10/27 Progress Reports on Theses
TH 10/29 Progress Reports on Theses - Data Collection Should be Completed by the end of next Week at the latest!
T 11/3 Critical Evaluation – Practice articles in Meltzoff – 4, 6, and 16/ How to write a Discussion Section
TH 11/5 Critical Evaluation – Practice articles in Meltzoff – 4, 6, and 16/ How to write a Discussion Section /Results Due
T 11/10 Critical Evaluation – Practice articles in Meltzoff – 5, 10, and 11
TH 11/12 Critical Evaluation – Practice articles in Meltzoff - 8, 13, and 14
T 11/17 Final Revisions and Progress Reports as needed - Discussion and Abstract Due
TH 11/19 Final Revisions and Progress Reports as needed
T 11/24 THESIS DUE
TH 11/26 Thanksgiving
T 12/1 Informal Presentation of Theses
TH 12/3 Executive Summary Construction
T 12/8 Executive Summary Construction
TH 12/10 Review – Last Class – Executive Summaries Due
Your grade in this course will be calculated as follows:
Midterm - 10%
Final - 10%
Thesis - 60%
Homework/Participation - 10%
Executive Summary – 10%
The thesis grade will be dropped one half letter grade for each unexcused day it is late, e.g. one day late from an A to an A-; next day from an A- to a B+, etc.
The Final for this course is currently scheduled for Thursday Dec. 17th at 9 a.m. in this room.