Psychology 331.07 Syllabi
Laboratory in Research Methods in Psychology

ISU Dept. of Psychology

Dr. Cutting's Pages:

Teaching

Psycholinguistics Lab

Course Catalog description

PSY 331 LABORATORY IN RESEARCH METHODS FOR PSYCHOLOGY

PSY 231 and ECO/GEO/POL/PSY 138, or consent of instructor required. PSY majors only. May be repeated if content different. Formerly STUDIES IN EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY.

Advanced research course focusing on particular content areas. Sections concentrate in different areas: .01 Developmental, .03 Operant Behavior, .04 Perceptual, .05 Social, .07 Cognitive Processes, .09 Physiological, .11 Personality.

Course Description & Objective.

This course is an individualized advanced research course focusing on the area of cognitive processes. Students are expected to have completed Research Methods in Psycholgoy (PSY 231) and a basic Statistics course (PSY 138 or 240) and thus have proficiency with the basics of experimental design and statistical analysis. It is strongly suggested that you have taken (or are currently enrolled in) at least one of the following psychology courses: learning (PSY 360), perception (PSY 361), or cognitive (PSY 366).

The main course objectives include: reviewing the literature, ethical guidelines, specification of a (testable) research idea, the development and execution of a research plan (including collecting data within the limits imposed by the class format), analysis and presentation of the results (including both a verbal and written presentation).

Roughly the first half of the course covers the "nuts and bolts" of putting together a research project. In addition to reviewing basic issues in research methodology, each student group (roughly two to three students in each group) will design a research project relating to an issue within the domain of cognitive science. Classes for this portion of the course will consist of discussions and/or exercises related to the assigned readings. So it is critical that students read the assigned chapters prior to class. Occasionally, homework maybe assigned to facilitate in-class discussions.

The second half of the course consists of conducting the research projects, analyzing the results, and presentation of the results (in an oral conference style talk and as a written APA style manuscript). Classes for this portion of the course will be largely geared to assist the groups with their research projects. This includes a large chunk of classes that have been set aside for data collection.