Psychology 205: Research Methods in Psychology
Fall, 2016

205, Fall, 2016 Outline
Version of October 30, 2016
Remember to check for revisions!
Send bug reports to revelle@northwestern.edu
Date
Subject
Supplementary Studies or activities
Assignment
Readings to be done before class
Week 1
Sept 21 Introduction and Overview
Statistical and Experimental Inference
A study on memory: data collection Turn in data sheets to my mailbox by Thursday
Week 2

Sept 26
Reasoning in Research
Review of statistical concepts
Basic stats on our data
the basic t.test
A classic example of experimental reasoning
Madsen and McGaugh (1961)
review statistics from 201
Leary: Chapter 1, 2
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
Leary Chapter 3
Roediger and McDermott (1995) (html) or
Roediger and McDermott (1995)

Turn in stats quiz
Solving the homework by using R for statistics
Week 3
October 3 Review of statistics and of the homework Optional readings for your enjoyment
simulating distributions
Why you should not use Excel for statistics (Simonof) or
how to fight spreadsheet addiction (Burns)
stats home work solutions Another approach.
Oct 5 Variables in Experimentation
Overview of designs
Within Subject designs

Between subject designs
Modality effects on false memory results
and the most recent results
Are subjects WEIRD (optional)
Week 4
October 10 Variables in Experimentation
Within Subject designs
Experimental Control and
Between subject designs
Estimating the central tendency/dispersion
Analysis of Variance
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 Mid Term 1 Sample test from 2002
Another sample test with key from 2010
Midterm 1 from 2014 questions and answers
Leary Chapter 11
Week 5
October 17 Writing a research paper
The use of ANOVA and Linear Regression in interaction designs
Old RM results
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 example bib file embedded in the text document.)
Remember the instructions for writing a research paper
Leary Chapter 4, 15
Using Endnote for references
or using BibTex for references
October 19 Artifacts in Experimentation Theory Testing materials used in R & M study (For your paper)
R & M results and analysis
Possible figures to include in your paper may be taken from this results handout.
Leary Chapter , 10
Week 6
October 24 Design in Experimentation
Measurement Issues
Correlational designs (reliability)
Correlation and Regression overview
Problems with inference

Paper 1 is DUE!

Appointments for paper grading
Midterm 1 questions with answers
Midterm 1 distribution of scores
October 26 Correlational designs (continued)
Interaction designs and analysis
subject variables
Anderson and Revelle, 1994 see also Revelle, (1993) which reviews Thayer's results and discusses performance arousal theories Experiment 2: simulation experiment The slides for Experiment 2.
A simulation experiment handout describing the experiment for Paper 2.
Block randomization using R
Experiment-2
You get to choose what to do within the constraints of this web based experiment.
Week 7
October 31 Correlation and Regression
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)


Nov 2
Background on arousal theories
A simulation experiment Revised again
Observational versus randomized trials in field studies
experiments versus field studies: the example of health
Random assignment in field trials (Born et al., 2002)

Using statistics in psychological research
A short guide to R for 205 students
Long guide to R
Detailed handout on data analysis for experiment 2
An even simpler guide to R written by a 205 student
Week 8
November 7 searching the literature
Exploratory and Confirmatory
data analysis
Pitfalls in scientific research
Searching the literature using Google Scholar or Psych Lit Shorter guide to R
An even simpler guide to R
Help on data analysis
Nov 9 Methods in Differential Psychology
Methods in differential psychology Paper 2 is DUE!
Schedule appointments for grading
Week 9
Nov 14 Midterm # 2 Study guide for Midterm 2
Example and answers for Midterm 2 (from 2010)

Nov 16
Ethics in Research

On Being a Scientist (NAS)
Ethical Standards of APA (2010)

Leary Chapters 14, 12, 13
Week 10

Nov 21
Alternatives to Experimentation
Advanced statistical procedures Course Review
Quasi-experimental designs and other kinds of designs Research Proposals for final project due
Nov 23 Oral reports on research proposals (Optional) Other topics
Using Qualtrics to collect data

scoring scales using qualtrics

Week 11
November 28 Reading Week begins appointments for analysis help Analyze study 3
How to use R to score scales
Getting started in R with links to other tutorials)
Finals Week
December 9
course evaluation (CTEC) Paper 3 due
Optional Final Exam
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 17, 2016.