Fall 2017
Buffalo State College
11:00 – 12:15 M W
CLAS A305 / Dr. Dwight Hennessy
Office Hours: 12:30 – 1:00 MW
11:00 – 11:30 F
C310 Classroom Building
878-5532
Course Web Page:
Texts:
American Psychological Association (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association (6th Edition). Washington, DC.
Heiman, G. W. (2002). Research methods in psychology (3rd Edition). Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
Course Purpose:
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the basic concepts of research methodology in Psychology. Theoretical principles of research design, specific methodological issues, and statistical concepts will be discussed in both class and laboratory settings. In addition, laboratory experience will give the opportunity to apply research skills and write reports to suit APA guidelines.
This course is a writing intensive course that will require more time than the average class, but is an invaluable experience for anyone looking to apply to graduate school or even enter the workforce following graduation. The ability to do research, to critically evaluate the work of others as well as your own ideas, and to clearly communicate (verbally and in writing) your ideas to peers is essential to future success.
Learning Objectives:
- Students will demonstrate a mastery of APA technical report writing.
- Students will be able to select and critically evaluate existing literature in a given topic area of psychology.
- Students will demonstrate the ability to generate a scientific hypothesis in a given area of psychology.
- students will demonstrate the rudimentary skills to design and implement research to test scientific hypotheses.
- students will be able to apply appropriate statistical techniques for a given research design.
- students will demonstrate the ability to apply valid conclusions based on topic area, hypothesis, review of literature and study outcomes.
These learning objectives are standard across all sections of PSY450 and are the underlying principles in the development of all assignments and distribution of grades.
Attendance and Timeliness:
Attendance is essential to success in this course and will be monitored. You will only really understand this material you actually attend the classes (borrowing notes helps but you miss the “feel” of the material). If you absolutely cannot make it to class, get notes from friends or other students. As a rule, I will not summarize the missed classes or give out my notes and tape recording of lectures in not permitted.
Therefore if you have any more than three (3) unexcused absences during the semester you will receive an automatic zero in the course. Further, unexcused absences from our laboratory sessions when we discuss our labs, prepare for our labs or analyze data for our labs (regardless of how many previous absences you have had) will result in a 10% reduction from the final grade of the corresponding laboratory assignment. I will also deduct 10% from your grade if you fail to hand in data for Labs 3 or 4 because it will hinder the class as a whole.
Coming on time is also required. The start time of the class shouldn’t be a surprise – it’s listed when you register for the course. So if our start time is not really convenient for you, you need to find another section. Coming late to a class is unprofessional and discourteous to everyone else. I don’t get to come late, so neither do you. I’m realistic enough to know that things happen every once in a while so I will give you grace and allow 2 lates. Afterwards, I will count lateness as absence (and remember, that after 3 unexcused absences you will receive an automatic zero in the course.
Really in the end this is all about responsibility, and you are expected to come to class on time. I don’t think that is an unreasonable request.
Tests:
There will be three (3) tests, each worth 150 points toward your total grade. Tests will consist of multiple choice and short answer questions and will be based on the material covered since the last test. However, this does not mean that tests will not be cumulative in that some materials will be discussed and used throughout the course. As such, you will be expected to continue to understand and use these key learnings.
The ONLY acceptable reasons for missing an examination are legitimate documented medical reasons or emergencies. If you miss a test you MUST produce such documentation. Otherwise, a missed test will result in a grade of zero. I realize this is harsh, but is essential to ensure fairness and consistency for all students.
IMPRTANT NOTE: If you are more than 15 minutes late to a test I will not let you write the test and you will be considered absent.
Laboratory Reports:
There will also be four (4) laboratory reportsworth a total of 600 points (100 points each for Labs 1 & 2 and 200 points each for Labs 3 & 4). The laboratory sessions are an opportunity for you to apply the concepts taught in class and the text. Lab 1 will require you to research and critique published articles (similar to the process of establishing and “Introduction” section of an APA paper). Lab 2 will introduce APA style. Labs 3 & 4 will introduce data collection and require you to write a complete APA style report. More detail on the laboratory assignments will be provided later. Also, details of the APA format will be covered early in the course. Laboratory reports are due at the beginning of classes listed in the outline. A late report (any time after the beginning of class) will result in a 20% deduction of marks for each day it is late - including weekends (each successive day begins at the time we would normally begin class).
Failure to hand in any lab report will result in an automatic failure of the class.
Research Proposal Paper & Presentation:
Yes, more writing (remember this is a college writing intensive course). The final research proposal will be conducted in groups, which will be formed early in the year. Each group is responsible for designing a research proposal in accordance with APA style. You will formulate a research question and design a research study to test your idea (YOU WILL NOT ACTUALLY CONDUCT THE RESEARCH). The proposal will include a title page, a brief review of literature, a hypothesis (i.e. your question), methodology, proposed statistical techniques, discussion/implications and references (plus appendixes, tables, figures etc. where appropriate). NOTE – each group will hand in ONE proposal (hence the name “group”)…NOT one per person (that wouldn’t make sense!).
Often times, students have difficulty writing proposals because they don’t know how to word their proposed findings. The idea is for you to tell me what you would EXPECT to find (e.g. It would be expected that children sleeping more hours per night would demonstrate elevated anxiety during school.).
In order to make sure you have a viable idea and are on the right track, groups must hand in a typed proposal idea. This is a short description of the idea or topic area you are contemplating (you don’t need to have all the methodological aspects figured out yet, but you should have some notion of the research questions). NOTE: your research idea CANNOT be related to the topic of the labs in class and frankly needs to be more elaborate than a simple two variable correlation study. Keep in mind this is a 400 level class. This is due OCTOBER 11. If it’s late, I will deduct 10% from your final paper for every day it is late.
I realize that sometimes in group projects, you can get “social loafing” among some members while a few people do all the work. In order to help prevent this, each group will hand in a record of who did what in the project to make your work individually identifiable. On the flip side I will also not tolerate “know it all” students either – someone who decides that nobody else could possibly know or do anything of value so they take over and try to do everything. Nope. Not going to happen. If you prevent others from doing their work then I will penalize your grade in the end. You should absolutely help each other – but degrading others and trying to dominate their work will not be tolerated.
The final week of class will be set aside for each group to present their proposal to the class. Your paper will be due DECEMBER 6 at 11:00 AM – after which you will receive a 10% reduction. NOTE – at 11:01 the next day it is considered another day late and will receive another 10% penalty. Again, there will be a 10% deduction for each day it is late.
The final paper is worth 300 points of your final grade, while the presentation will constitute 50 points of your final grade. Late papers will result in a 10% deduction for each day it is late (any time after the beginning of class means it is late) andyour unexcused absence from your presentation will result in course failure.
FORMAT:
Title Page:
Follow APA format to give details about the title, author, affiliation, date, etc.
Introduction:
The first step will be to do some library research to find out about your topic and write a brief APA style introduction to the topic, including a summation of previous research and a critical evaluation of existing theory. This will culminate in a hypothesis or research question on which your research proposal will be based. You will be evaluated on your ability to synthesize current research and clearly communicate how this leads to your hypothesis.
Methodology:
The next step will be to decide on the method you would use to investigate this research question. NOTE—you will not actually be performing this research. It is simply a proposal. The methodology will include all APA aspects, including participants, apparatus, and procedure. NOTE—your design must be ethical and conceivable to conduct. You will be evaluated on your ability to incorporate conceptual issues into your research, foresee possible biases and confounds, and to communicate your method in a manner that would allow anyone to pick up your proposal and replicate your method.
Results:
While you will not be expected to show exact numbers, you should know the type of statistics that would be used to test your data and your hypothesis. You will be evaluated on your ability to anticipate the correct statistical techniques and issues that would be required by your specific design. Also tell what you expect to find according to the statistics (include post hocs/strength of effect if necessary). Tables/figure etc. should be in APA format as well.
Discussion:
You should now be able to interpret and explain in detail what you expect to find – linking to hypotheses/predictions, theory, classic research. You also need to provide “value added” information to tell me you have really thought about the potential outcome (e.g. what are the potential implications and applications of your study, alternate explanations based on previous research, potential shortcomings of your study, future directions etc.).
References:
You will be required to present an APA style reference section for all citations in your paper.
Grades:
Tests (150 points each)450
Labs 1 & 2(100 points each)200
Labs 3 & 4(200 points each)400
Final Paper300
Presentation 50
1400 points
A = 1260 points or greater
A- = 1100 points
B = 980 points
C = 840 points
D = 700 pints
E = Below 700 points
As a general rule I DO NOT “curve across the board”. But depending on the distribution of final scores, the above criteria may be adjusted for those close to the cutoff. As an alternative, “plus” grades may be given to those close to the cutoff points. However, this will NOT be done on an individual test basis.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is using any work, idea, thought, etc. of someone else (from books, articles, television, conversations, the internet etc.) and present it as your own. In essence this represents cheating. I realize that the ideas you will be basing your papers on will be from the work of others. This is common practice in scientific writing. When you do so you must give them credit for their ideas or work by giving them a citation along with their idea. By citing them, you are saying that the idea is theirs and not yours. Your ideas can flow around theirs, but you must give credit where it is due. The most common form of plagiarism at the undergraduate level is REWORDING where you simply rearrange the words. This is plagiarism because you didn’t do any work (cognitive or otherwise) in rewording.
Another method of avoiding plagiarism is to quote the original sources. Quotes are used when the wording of the source is reported verbatim. HOWEVER….for any assignment in this course I don’t want you to use quotes. I would rather you tell in your words what you think the author meant – and then give them a citation. Don’t be confused, however, into thinking that if you aren’t using a direct quote that the idea is yours. If you paraphrase or summarize the ideas of someone else, it is still their idea and you must give them a proper citation.
You might be surprised, but it is typically evident when plagiarism has occurred. Avoid the temptation because I will deal with such dishonesty harshly and assign a grade of zero and report your actions to the chair.
Lecture Schedule
Topic / Start Date / Chapter / DeadlinesCourse Introduction & Scientific Method
Conceptual Issues
Design Issues / Aug 28 / 1&2
PsychNET / Sept 11
Reliability and Validity Issues / Sept 11 / 3
Lab 1: Critical Review of Research
The “Introduction Section” /
SEPT 13
/ LAB 1 DUE OCT 2Research Ethics / Sept 20 / 5
Test #1 / SEPT 27 / Chpts 1, 2, 3, 5
Organizing and Communicating Research / Oct 2 / APA Manual & Appendix A
Lab 2: APA Method Sections
/ OCT 2 /LAB 2 DUE OCT 16
Statistics & SPSS / Oct 4 / 7GROUP RESEARCH TOPICS IDEA DUE / Oct 11
Correlational Research Instrument Design / Oct 16 / 9
Lab 3: Correlational Design / OCT 16 / LAB 3 DUE OCT 30
Independent & Dependent Variables / Oct 25 / 4
Test #2 / NOV 1 / Chpts. 4, 7, 9, Appendix A
Single Factor Experimental Research / Nov 6 / 6
Lab 4: Experimental Design
/ NOV 6 /LAB 4 DUENOV 20
Multifactor Experiments / Nov 13 / 8Field Research / Nov 20 / 10
Quasi Experiments / Single Subjects / Nov 29 / 11
Class Presentations of Group Project / DEC 6 /
FINAL PAPER DUE DEC 6
Test #3 / TBD DURING CEP WEEK / Chpts. 6, 8, 10, 11EMERGENCY CEP (if test is cancelled because of weather or other emergency) is scheduled for Friday
DEC 15 in our classroom. NOTE: This is NOT a makeup test. It is the date for Test 4 in the case of some college-wide emergency (e.g. snowstorm, flood) where our regularly scheduled Test #3 is CANCELLED.
Avoiding Plagiarism, Lazy Writing and the Grey Area In Between
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association defines plagiarism as presenting “substantial portions or elements of another’s work or data as their own, even if the other work or data source is cited occasionally”. Clearly, you must indicate the source of ideas included in your paper with proper citations. Not to do so would be plagiarism, for which the penalties can be severe – including failure of this course and possible expulsion from the college.
Another problem that is sometimes encountered with student papers is what has been called Lazy Writing (Rosnow & Rosnow, 1986). Students utilizing this approach simply lift paragraphs from a source(s) and string them together as quotations. If proper citations and quotations are included, this is not technically plagiarism, but it is still a form of academic dishonesty when the overall idea is being presented as your own (HENCE I WANT NO QUOTATIONS WHATSOEVER – YOU MUST SUMMARIZE THINGS INTO YOUR OWN WORDS WITH CITATIONS). Further, the result is almost always an unacceptably weak paper. There is no evidence of student creativity and the student actually wrote very little, so the grade is usually very poor (typically a failure).
There is also another form of academic dishonesty in which students submit papers that include or even totally consist of a string of sentences, entire paragraphs, or abstracts lifted from sources in the literature, but the student modifies the wording slightly (THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS SUMMARIZING IN YOUR OWN WORDS). Clearly, if the sources are not indicated, this is plagiarism, because the ideas in the paper are not the student’s. However, even if the citations are included, this may still be plagiarism! Roig (1999) defined plagiarism as the “appropriation of strings of 5 consecutive words or longer” taken directly from a source. Thus, modifying a word here and there (or worse yet, a passage word for word without adjustment) but including the citation at the end or beginning of a sentence/paragraph is still plagiarism (see APA’s definition in the first paragraph here)! The student is still claiming that the wording is their own, which is not the case.
The bottom line is that there should be no reason to “borrow” even a single sentence (whether verbatim or changing a few words). Don’t risk it!
In order to prevent any misunderstandings, please sign below that you have read the above and that your paper properly attributes authorship of both ideas and strings of words. If you don’t understand, then speak with me.
I have read the above and my signature indicates that I understand what plagiarism and academic dishonesty are regarding my final paper.
NameSignature