__________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Professor:  Dr. Gary Creasey, Professor

E-Mail: glcrease@ilstu.edu

Office & Phone #:  Degarmo 441/438-8139

Office Hours:  10-10:50 Monday/Wednesday;  or by appointment

Web Page: http://www.psychology.ilstu.edu/glcrease/

You can access the course syllabus and course objectives on my website.

Required Text:  Creasey, G. (2006).  Research Methods in Lifespan Development. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Recommended Resources:

Most current edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

Course Description:

This course focuses upon research methods that have been designed to investigate developmental phenomena from infancy through old age. Ethical, practical, and applied issues in studying development, research designs, and methodology will be covered. Click this link to overview my course objectives.

Prerequisites:

Psy 231 and 138. You should have had some course experience in developmental psychology.

Course Requirements for Undergraduates

1)  Three Examinations (65% of final grade)

a)  Two quarter/midterms (20% each)

b)  Comprehensive Final (25%)

2)  Group Research Project (25% of final grade)

Your task, in a group setting, will be to prepare a complete research project dealing with a developmental or psychological issue.  Although the study conceptualization and data collection will take place in a group format, all students will be required to individually write up their own project description, results, and discussion in APA format. Papers are normally 10-15 pages in length. This grade will be determined by the quality of the paper and peer evaluations regarding effort within the group setting.

3)  Lab Reports (10% of final grade)

You will complete 10 short, 1-2 page lab reports for this class. Among other things, you will participate in two experiments (one lab-based, one Internet-based), attend a Thesis/Disseration proposal/defense, code observational data, complete a personality assessment, and conduct statistical analysis on an existing data set. There is a standard format for these reports that I will provide you. Normally, these reports are graded as pass/fail. Some of these reports will be completed out-of-class, others will be completed or in-class break out sections. If you miss an in-class report, you cannot receive credit unless you have a verifiable excuse (e.g. physician note).

Guidelines on  Class, Assignments, and Exams

This class is a core requirement for graduation, thus, class attendance is absolutely necessary to survive any Psy 331 class.If you have to miss class, get the notes from a reliable classmate.

For a class of this magnitude, it is vital that you keep up with your reading and the lectures or you will be lost. That means if there is anything in the book or lecture that you do not understand, please  come see me during office hours. Occasionally, I will hand out a journal article or hand out that will be discussed the next class period. Make sure that you have this assignment read before the next class period - I randomly call on students to answer questions from such readings.

My policy on exams and assignments is probably familiar to most of you by now - I am a very strict instructor regarding class policy; I do not accept late papers/assignments (a broken/ faulty printer is not a valid excuse). Students who turn in a paper or assignment late will be given a 0, regardless of the excuse provided. A missed exam or assignment due to a medical emergency or family death must be verified in writing by a physician or lawyer, and exams will constitute solely essay questions. A missed exam that is not excused or verified must be taken within 24 hours, will constitue only essay questions, and will result in a 30 point penalty. After 24 hours, I substract 20 more points per 24 hours. If you have to be away the day of the exam please arrange with me to hand in the assignment or take the test early.

Good News!!!

Many students are scared to death of the 331 classes at ISU (At some schools you have to take four of these classes to graduate with a Psy degree!).  Relax, you've picked the right section--promise.You really are going to enjoy this class and learn a lot.  Even though I am pretty strict regarding class policy, you are going to find me to be a very approachable instructor.   In addition, I am a very active researcher, am very familiar with grant writing, publishing etc., and have conducted both field research and laboratory experiments with interesting populations (e.g. preterm infants;  children from high conflict families; etc.).  You will love this class (believe it or not!).
 

Course Schedule

Week	Topic	Reading
Week 1: Jan 17	Introduction	Buy Your Book
Week 2: Jan 22-24	Methods & Validity	Chapter 1
Week 3: Jan 29-Jan 31	Design/Ethics	Chapter 1, 2
Week 4: Feb 5-7	Research Settings/Subjects	Chapter 2

Group Reseach Project Topic Due Feb 7th

Week	Topic	Reading
Week 5 : Feb 12-14	Subjects/Infancy	Chapter 2, 3
Week 6 : Feb 19-21	Infancy continued	Chapter 1
	Feb. 21, Exam #1
Week 7 : Feb. 26-Feb. 28	Infant Learning	Chapter 4
Week 8: March 5-7	Infant Social Development	Chapter 5
Week 9: March 12-16	Spring Break!
Week 10: March 19-21	Assessing Child Cognition	Chapter 6, 7
Week 11: March 25-28	Child Cognition (continued)	Chapter 7
	March 28, Exam #2
Week 12: April 2-4	Assessing Social Development	Chapter 8
Week 13: April 9-11	Social Development (continued)	Chapter 8
Week 14: April 16-18	Working with Adolescents	Chapter 9
Week 15: April 23-25	Adolescents, Adult Issues	Chapter 10, 11
Week 16: April 30-May 2	Adult Issues continued	Chapter 11, 12
	Projects Due, May 2
Week 17	Final Exam, May 8th (Tuesday)	7:50 AM