PSY 303 –

EXPERIMENTAL

RESEARCH METHODS

Syllabus Fall 2017

Logistics

This class meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

from 11:30-12:50 pm

We meet in BH 111

Instructor

The instructor is Dr. Todd Haskell. There are

three ways you can reach him outside of

class time.

360-650-2720 (voice only)

todd.haskell@wwu.edu

Visit AI 486

M 3-4

W 10-11

Th 2-3

or by appointment

TAs

Kamran Hughes

AI 493

M 10-11

Tu 10:30-11:30

Th 10:30-11:30

Jordan Romager

AI 493

M 1-2

Tu 12:30-1:30

W 1-2

The TAs will also hold office hours.

Textbook

You will need access to the APA Publication

Manual (6th edition), which you hopefully still have

from PSY 301.

Although it is not required, your stats textbook

from PSY 301 or PSY 302 is useful as a

reference.

Canvas

Many aspects of this course are online

• Lecture slides

• Study materials

• Assignment descriptions

• Submitting homework and papers

• Grades

We will use Canvas for this. It is available at

https://wwu.instructure.com.

Announcements

From time to time, I will need to convey

important information to the class outside of

class time. I use the Announcements feature in

Canvas to do this. If I need to reach individual

students, I will use the messaging feature in

Canvas.

You can change the settings in Canvas to

control whether you will be notified of such

announcements and messages, and where they

will be sent (e-mail, text message, etc.). Make

sure you send them someplace where you will

see them.

Goals for the course

By the end of this course, you should improve

your ability to …

Analyze and

interpret the

results Design and

implement an

experiment

Communicate

what you did in

written and oral

forms

Work

collaboratively

to complete a

project

Goals for the course

design and implement

theoretically based

and methodologically

sound research

projects

demonstrate knowledge of

psychological theory across a

broad range of content areas

communicate

effectively

recognize that you are a

product of and participant in

a dynamic sociocultural system

that includes similarities and

differences with others

recognize applicability of

psychological theories and

principles in real world settings

view their education in

psychology as relevant to their

lives post-graduation

Psych Major Goals This Class

Analyze and

interpret the

results

Design and

implement an

experiment

This class connects with 4 of the 8 goals for the

psychology major.

evaluate data and

draw appropriate

conclusions

demonstrate critical

thinking

Communicate

what you did in

written and oral

forms

Goals for the course

Broader Goals This Class

This class also connects with some broader goals

for a liberal arts education in psychology

Refine project

management skills

(APA goal 5.3)

Work

collaboratively

to complete a

project

Work collaboratively

and manage projects

to effective completion

(WWU gen ed

competencies)

Enhance teamwork

capacity

(APA goal 5.4)

Teamwork and

problem solving

(LEAP essential

learning outcomes)

Learning activities

Lecture

Activities and worksheets

Homework assignments

There are several ways you will work

toward these goals

Group research project

Assessment

Quizzes

And there are several ways that your

progress toward those goals will be assessed

Formative Assessment

Project Checkpoints

Mid-term Peer Evaluations

Assessment

Final Exam

And there are several ways that your final

level of mastery will be assessed

Summative Assessment

Homeworks

End-of-term Peer Evaluations

Research Report Research Presentation

About retakes

So… “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try

again”

The goals for the class are broken down

into 20 separate topics (called “skills”).

Most topics are cumulative – success with

later topics requires mastery of earlier

topics.

About retakes

Try 1

In-class quiz

Try 2

Retake during office

hours

Try 3

Review with instructor

and retake again

• Each quiz covers 1-4 skills.

• You need to pass each skill to pass the

class.

• You get three tries to earn a passing

score for each skill.

• Scores from each attempt are

averaged.

You cannot fail this if you

try and end up struggling.

You can only fail by giving

up.

Assessment

Here’s how the different types of assessments

will be weighted when calculating your

course grade

Quizzes 20%

Final exam 20%

Homeworks 20%

Final paper 20%

Presentation 10%

Peer evaluations

10%

Project checkpoints and mid-term peer evaluations

are for feedback only and do not influence grades

Assessment

Scores on all these assessments will be

combined to give you an overall percentage

score for the course. Here are the scores you

need to exceed in order to earn a given

letter grade. For example, to earn a C+,

your score needs to exceed 76%.

D- 60%

D- 63%

D+ 66%

C- 70%

C 73%

C+ 76%

B- 80%

B 83%

B+ 86%

A- 90%

A 93%

Other sources of information

This is not a complete description of this

course. There are several documents

posted on Canvas that supplement this

one:

A class schedule

A set of course policies

Detailed descriptions of each assignment

Make sure you read those documents. You

are responsible for what is in them.

PSY 303 - Research Methods and Statistical Analysis: Experimental Approaches Prof. Todd Haskell

Class Schedule - Fall 2017

Quiz dates and due dates for assignments will be as listed here unless the instructor notifies the class

otherwise. Unless stated otherwise, all assignments are due by 5 pm on the indicated due date.

Week Day Topic Specific Skills

1 Wed

9/27

Introductory Class

Fri

9/29

Working in groups

1.a “Develop a plan for completing a complex

team project, including articulating

expectations, spelling out group processes, and

determining a division of responsibilities”

1.b “Constructively critique the performance of

fellow team members”

2 Mon

10/2

Working in groups (cont.)

Worksheet: 1.a, 1.b

Wed

10/4

Variables and factorial designs

Quiz: 1.a, 1.b

Worksheet: 2.a

2.a “Describe the design of an experiment,

including independent and dependent variables,

levels of independent variables, within/between

subjects, subject/manipulated”

Fri

10/6

Operational definitions and

construct validity

Worksheet: 2.b

2.b “Choose an appropriate means for

measuring a theoretical construct of interest”

2.d “Critique the design of an experiment,

including identifying issues with construct,

internal and external validity, and explaining

why they are a problem in that experiment”

3 Mon

10/9

Internal and external validity

Worksheet: 2.c, 2.d

2.c “Distinguish between correlation and

causation and identify when it is important to

show causation”

2.d “Critique the design of an experiment,

including identifying issues with construct,

internal and external validity, and explaining

why they are a problem in that experiment”

Wed

10/11

Main effects and interactions:

Identifying and describing

Quiz: 2.a, 2.b, 2.c, 2.d

Project Checkpoint 1 (Group

contract) due

4.a “Produce a well-organized graph to depict

the result of an experiment with a factorial

design”

4.b “Describe the results of an experiment in

words”

Fri

10/13

Main effects and interactions:

Identifying and describing (cont.)

Worksheet: 4.a, 4.b

4 Mon

10/16

Main effects and interactions:

Predicting

Worksheet: 2.e

2.e “Describe the predicted outcome for an

experiment according to a particular theory”

Wed

10/18

Experimental design

Worksheet: 2.f

2.f “Choose an appropriate experiment design

for addressing a given research question”

Fri

10/20

Project work day

Quiz: 4.a, 4.b, 2.e, 2.f

Homework 1 (Experimental

Design) due

5 Mon

10/23

Measurement error and hypothesis

testing

3.a “Explain what it means to say that an effect

is statistically significant”

Wed

10/25

Measurement error and hypothesis

testing (cont.)

Worksheet: 3.a

Project Checkpoint 2

(Proposal) due

Fri

10/27

Project work day

Quiz: 3.a

6 Mon

10/30

Between-subjects ANOVA

Mid-term peer evaluations due

3.b “Carry out a one-way or two-way ANOVA

for a between-subjects design”

Wed

11/1

Between-subjects ANOVA (cont.)

Worksheet: 3.b

Project Checkpoint 3 (Method)

due

MEET IN COMPUTER LAB

Fri

11/3

Within-subjects ANOVA

Worksheet: 3.c

MEET IN COMPUTER LAB

3.c “Carry out a one-way or two-way ANOVA

for a within-subjects or mixed design”

7 Mon

11/6

Project work day

Quiz: 3.b, 3.c

Worksheet: 3.d, 3.e

MEET IN COMPUTER LAB

3.d “Choose the appropriate statistical test(s)

for a given experiment”

3.e “Explain how changes to the parameters of

a test will affect the result of that test”

Wed

11/8

Follow-up tests

Worksheet: 3.f

3.f “Carry out post-hoc tests and tests of simple

effects”

Fri

11/10 NO CLASS – VETERANS DAY

8 Mon

11/13

Interpreting ANOVA output

Quiz: 3.d, 3.e, 3.f

Worksheet: 3.g

3.g “Use statistical output to answer a research

question”

Wed

11/15

Identifying limitations

Worksheet: 3.h

3.h “Consider possible limitations when

interpreting data, including identifying

ceiling/floor effects and examining effect size”

Fri

11/17

Project work day

Quiz: 3.g, 3.h

9 Mon

11/20

Doing PowerPoint presentations

Homework 2 (Data Analysis)

due

Worksheet: 4.c

4.c “Create a well-designed PowerPoint

presentation”

Wed

11/22 NO CLASS – THANKSGIVING

BREAK

Fri

11/24 NO CLASS – THANKSGIVING

BREAK

10 Mon

11/27

Writing a results section

Worksheet: 4.d

4.d “Produce high-quality written work that

reflects both disciplinary conventions (i.e.,

APA style) and principles of good writing”

Wed

11/29

Writing an introduction and

discussion, project work day

Quiz: 4.c, 4.d

Project Checkpoint 4 (Results)

due

4.d “Produce high-quality written work that

reflects both disciplinary conventions (i.e.,

APA style) and principles of good writing”

Fri

12/1

Project work day

11 Mon

12/4 Project Presentations

Wed

12/6 Project Presentations

Fri

12/8

Review & Evaluations

Project Final Paper due

End-of-term peer evaluations

due

12 Fri

12/15 Final Exam 10:30-12:30

PSY 303 - Research Methods and Statistical Analysis: Experimental Approaches Prof. Todd Haskell

Course Policies

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is about what kind of people we are – our character and our respect for both others

and ourselves. And in this class, it is also about respect for the process of science. Cheating on an exam

is like making up data, and plagiarism is like claiming someone else’s discovery as your own.

Because science relies on a free exchange of ideas, students are encouraged to discuss material and

assignments with anyone they wish. However, unless otherwise indicated, the actual assignments must

be the student's own work. Furthermore, student work should clearly distinguish between the student's

own words and/or ideas, and words and/or ideas taken from someone else, using quotation marks and

citations as appropriate. When in doubt, consult the instructor. More information about academic

integrity can be found at http://www.wwu.edu/integrity/.

Policy on Late Assignments

1) Unless otherwise specified, all assignments are due by 5 pm on the date indicated on the

syllabus.

2) Assignments submitted late will receive a late penalty of 10% as soon as the assignment is late,

with an additional 10% penalty for every 24 hour period that passes until it is submitted.

3) A late assignment is considered excused if either of the following applies:

a) You know you will be unable to submit an assignment on time and notify the instructor

in advance

b) You are unable to submit an assignment on time due to an unforeseeable emergency,

and you are able to document this emergency and explain why you couldn’t contact the

instructor in advance

For an excused late assignment, you will typically receive an extension. Provided you are able

to submit the work by the end of that extension, no late penalty will be applied. However, the

instructor reserves the right to determine the appropriate duration of the extension, based on the

nature of the assignment and the circumstances. Extensions can be as short as an hour and as

long as several days.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is about what kind of people we are – our character and our respect for both others

and ourselves. And in this class, it is also about respect for the process of science. Cheating on an exam

is like making up data, and plagiarism is like claiming someone else’s discovery as your own.

Because science relies on a free exchange of ideas, students are encouraged to discuss material and

assignments with anyone they wish. However, unless otherwise indicated, the actual assignments and

exams must be the student's own work. Furthermore, student work should clearly distinguish between

the student's own words and ideas, and words and ideas taken from someone else, using quotation

marks and citations as appropriate. When in doubt, consult the instructor. More information about

academic integrity can be found at http://www.wwu.edu/integrity/.

Students with Disabilities

Students requesting academic accommodations in this class based on a disability should make a

request through disAbility Resources for Students (DRS) no later than the first week of classes. DRS

can be contacted via e-mail at drs@wwu.edu or by phone at (360) 650-3083 and is on the web at

http://www.wwu.edu/drs/.

Dealing with Serious Illnesses, Emergencies, and other Crises

From time to time students experience a serious illness, emergency, or other crisis during the quarter.

Western provides several resources to support students during difficult times, and you are encouraged

to seek out support and assistance as early as possible.

• In the case of a medical concern or question, please contact the Health Center: 650-3400 or

http://www.wwu.edu/chw/student_health

• In the case of an emotional or psychological concern or question, please contact the Counseling

Center: 650-3164 or http://www.wwu.edu/counseling/

• In the case of a non-emergency health and safety concern, please contact the University Police: 650-

3555 or http://www.wwu.edu/ps/police/

• In the case of a family or personal crisis or emergency, please contact the Office of Student Life:

650-3706 or http://www.wwu.edu/dos/office/slo_student_assistance.shtml

• To seek confidential support related to sexual violence, please contact CASAS (650-3700 or

http://www.wwu.edu/pws/about_casas.shtml), the Student Health Center, and/or the Counseling

Center. To report sexual violence, please contact University Police, Bellingham Police, and/or the Title

IX Coordinator in Western’s Equal Opportunity Office (650-3307 or http://www.wwu.edu/eoo/).

Faculty are responsible employees who are required to report sex discrimination, including sexual

violence that they learn about, to the Title IX Coordinator.

Contact information checked and updated 9/20/17