Course Syllabus

Course Description: This course aims to provide an introduction to the different research methods to undertake empirical research in psychology and other disciplines of the behavioral science. Topics include identifying and conceptualizing potential topics into problem statements, articulating research questions and hypotheses, conducting literature reviews, selecting and designing specific research methods and techniques appropriate for answering key research questions, and develop a viable research proposal.

Course Objectives:

1. Encourage students to think critically about the fundamental concepts of the research process and how psychological research conducted

2. Develope information literacy and technology skills to retrieve and synthesize information and critically evaluate published psychological research

3. Provide understanding of the different research designs and data gathering techniques to bring evidence and find answers to the problem

4. Develop students ability on how to prepare a research proposal based and supported by existing research

Course Learning Outcomes: At the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the foundations of empirical research in behavioural science.

2. Develop an ability to think critically about research and critically evaluate empirical research reports.

3. Understand and critically evaluate various research methodologies used by psychologist.

4. Design a research proposal with an appropriate research methods and techniques.

5. Develop skills in research proposal writing

Course Stucture

Class activities include interactive lecture presentations and tutorial sessions with online activities via recommended readings that underscore the research process in behavioral sciences. Evaluation of students' performance include assessment methodologies such as annotated list of bibliographies relevant to their topics and reviews of weekly acitivities and online learning portfolio of each group.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Week 11

Week 11: Complex Designs

SHORT DISCUSSION

1. Distinguish between a main effect and an interaction effect in a complex design.

2. Briefly describe the analyses that are done to interpret the results of complex designs when an interaction effect is present and when an interaction effect is not present.

MULTIPLE-CHOICE

3. An experiment was done in which college students and elderly people were tested on three different cognitive tasks (spatial ability, memory, and vocabulary). Thus, there were six conditions in the experiment. Which of the following best describes the overall design of the experiment?

A. longitudinal design

B. multivariable design

C. survey design

D. complex design

4. Which of the following effects occurs in a complex design when the effect of one independent variable differs depending on the level of a second independent variable?

A. main effect

B. combined effect

C. interaction effect

D. factorial effect

5. In a complex design experiment researchers found that younger and older people performed equally well on a memory task when they were tested in the morning, but the younger people performed better than the older people when they were tested in the afternoon. The different effect of age at the two times of day represents a(n):

A. main effect.

B. correlated effect.

C. comparison effect.

D. interaction effect.

6. In a complex factorial design described as a 2 X 4, there are:

A. two independent variables, each with four levels.

B. one independent variable with two levels and one independent variable with four levels.

C. four independent variables, each with two levels.

D. two independent variables and four dependent variables.

7. A researcher designs a 2 X 2 X 2 complex design in which the first independent variable uses a random groups design, the second independent variable uses a natural groups design, and the third independent variable uses a repeated measures design. The researcher wants to have 20 participants in each independent groups condition. How many participants will she need to recruit?

A. 160

B. 80

C. 40

D. 20

8. The number of conditions in a complex design described as a 2 X 3 is:

A. six.

B. five.

C. three.

D. two.