Psychology 205: Research Methods in Psychology
Fall, 2011

205, Fall, 2011 Outline
Version of 11/7/11
Remember to check for revisions
Date
Subject
Supplementary Studies* or activities
For readings on the personality-project server, use name=psych, pw=psych
Assignment
Readings to be done before class
Week 1

Sept 21
Introduction and Overview
Statistical and Experimental Inference
A study on memory: data collection review statistics from 201
Take home statistical quiz (try to do all the problems)
Leary: Chapter 1, 2

Turn in data sheets to Cresap 109 by Friday 5 pm.
Week 2
Sept 26
Reasoning in Research
Review of statistical concepts
the basic t.test
Data cleaning and entry
preliminary results are not yet available.
review statistics from 201
Leary: Chapter 1, 2
Turn in stats quiz
Sept 28 Examples of experimental reasoning
Research design as solving a puzzle
Embracing the power of randomness
A short introduction to R
Descriptive statistics using R

Optional readings for your enjoyment
simulating distributions
Why you should not use Excel for statistics (from Jeffrey S. Simonof)
or how to fight spreadsheet addiction.(Patrick Burns) (optional)
Leary Chapter 3
Madsen and McGaugh (1961)
Roediger and McDermott (1995)
stats home work solutions
Week 3 October 3 Overview of Design Experimental approaches to personality Revelle (2007)
Leary: Chapters 8, 9, 10
Notes on using R for statistics (slides)

October 5
Variables in Experimentation
Within Subject designs
Modality effects on false memory results
Week 4 October 10 Variables in Experimentation
Within Subject designs (includes partial RM results)
Writing a research paper
Bem (2003), Writing the empirical journal article
using LaTeX to format an APA style paper
Three output styles: journal, document, manuscript
But one tex file (with an accompanying boxplot and another graphic file as pdfs and an examplebib file to save with the tex file.)
APA Manual of Style
see also the APA style FAQ
as well as the APA tutorial of the basics of APA style
Web based style guides by Dewey or by Plonsky as well as the U.W. writing center's guide

October 12
Experimental Control and
Between subject designs
Leary Chapter 4, 15
Using Endnote for references
or using BibTex for references
Week 5
October 17
Theory Testing materials used in R & M study
R & M results and analysis
Possible figures to include in your paper may be taken from the results handout.
October 19 Mid Term 1
Sample test

Another sample test with key

Leary Chapter , 10
Week 6
October 24
Artifacts in Experimentation
The use of ANOVA and Linear Regression in interaction designs
R & M results and analysis -- Final update OCTOBER 24RD 11 am
Possible figures to include in your paper may be taken from the results handout.
Remember the instructions for writing a research paper
Leary Chapter 11
midterm analysis
Midterm 1 key
October 26 Design in Experimentation
Measurement Issues
Correlational designs (reliability)
Correlation and regression - an overview Paper 1 is DUE!
Appointments for paper grading
Week 7
October 31
Correlational designs (continued)
Interaction designs and analysis
subject variables
Simulations as theory testing
Anderson and Revelle, 1994 see also Revelle, (1993) which reviews Thayer's results and discusses performance
arousal theories Revelle, Humphreys, Simon and Gilliland, 1980 (this gives some of the EPI items to measure impulsivity and
Revelle, Anderson, and Humphreys, 1987 (very large file)
A simulation experiment handout describing the experiment.
Block randomization using R
Experiment-2
You get to choose what to do within the constraints of this web based experiment.
Nov 2 experiments versus field studies: the example of health
Random assignment in field trials (Born et al., 2002)
Long guide to R
Shorter guide to R
An even simpler guide to R
Week 8
November 7
searching the literature
Exploratory and Confirmatory
data analysis
Searching the literature using Google Scholar or Psych Lit
Using statistics in psychological research
A short guide to R for 205 students
Long guide to R
Slightly revised and very detailed handout on how to do the data analysis for experiment 2
An even simpler guide to R written by a 205 student
(use an NU account/VPN or a proxy server)
Psych Lit
and Google Scholar
November 9 Methods in Differential Psychology
Pitfalls in scientific research
Methods in differential psychology Help on data analysis
Week 9
Nov 14
Ethics in Research

On Being a Scientist (NAS)
Ethical Standards of APA (2010)
Paper 2 is DUE!
Nov 16 Alternatives to Experimentation
Advanced statistical procedures
other kinds of designs
Advanced graphics for exploring data
Leary Chapter 14
Leary Chapter 12 , 13
Research Proposals due
Week 10
Nov 21
telemetrics Telemetrics -- collecting data a distance
Course Review
Midterm 2
November 23 Presentation of Research Proposals

November 28
Reading Week begins appointments for analysis help Analyze study 3
How to use R to score scales
Finals Week
December 5
course evaluation (CTEC) Paper 3 due
Optional Final Exam

Key for Midterm 2
The assigned readings are to be read before class so that class discussion can focus on the readings. They are available on the personality-project web server.
William Revelle
September 21, 2011.