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 Three

Week 3: Ethical Issues in the Conduct of Psychological Research

SHORT DISCUSSION
1.   Distinguish between physical injury, psychological injury, and social injury as sources of risk in psychological research.
2    Identify the conditions under which participants are considered to be “at risk.”
3.   Describe how the use of deception can be justified on methodological grounds and describe the conditions under which the use of deception is always unethical.
4.   Identify two ways in which debriefing benefits the participant and one way in which it benefits the researcher.
5.   Describe how the APA ethical standards for research with animals involve both the use and the care of animals.
6.   Identify three risks associated with Internet research and the procedures researchers might follow to lessen the each risk.

MULTIPLE-CHOICE
7.   Which of the following represents the basic question addressed by the risk/benefit ratio?    
      A.  Are the risks in a study greater than minimal risk?
      B.  Are the benefits gained by individuals greater than the risks posed to society?
      C.  Will the researcher's reputation be enhanced or hurt by the study's findings?
      D.  Are the benefits (to individual participants and society) of a study greater than the risks?

8.   Failure to protect the confidentiality of a participant’s responses may increase the risk in a research study by increasing the possibility of:
      A.  physical injury.
      B.  psychological injury.
      C.  social injury.
      D.  psychosocial injury.

9.   A student conducted a research project in which fake smoke entered the waiting area used by participants. This procedure was used to create a stressful situation and the student then tested participants’ performance on complex reasoning tasks. One student waiting in a wheelchair experienced a panic attack when the smoke appeared. After this incident, the IRB stopped the research. This example demonstrates that:
      A.  IRBs can be unreasonable.
      B.  characteristics of individuals must be considered when determining risk.
      C.  the deception was described fully during the informed consent procedure.
      D.  this research should have been conducted online.

10.   When the probability and magnitude of harm or discomfort anticipated in the research are not greater than those encountered in daily life or during the performance of routine tests, we say that the risk is:
      A.  minor risk.
      B.  minimal risk.
      C.  static risk.
      D.  daily risk.

11.   When there is no way to connect a research participant’s responses with that participant’s identifying information (e.g., name, identification number), the responses are said to be:
      A.  confidential.
      B.  informed.
      C.  anonymous.
      D.  debriefed.

12.   Which of the following is not required of researchers in an informed consent procedure?
      A.  description of the nature of the research
      B.  reasons for why deception is used in the research
      C.  information that might influence participants’ willingness to participate
      D.  All of these are required

13.   Researchers who conduct research with individuals having limited ability to understand the nature of the research and the possible risks:
      A.  must obtain informed consent from the parents or legal guardians and should strive, when feasible, to get assent from the participants themselves.
      B. must obtain informed consent from both the parents or legal gurdian and from the participants themselves.
      C.  must get assent from the participants themselves but need not obtain informed consent from the parents or legal guardians.
      D.  need not obtain informed consent from the parents or legal guardian nor get assent from the participants themselves.

14. Final responsibility for conducting research in an ethical manner rests with the:
      A.  Institutional Review Board (IRB)
      B.  Departmental Review Board
      C.  department chairperson
      D.  investigator

15. In which of the following situations could individuals be vulnerable to excessive inducement or pressure to participate in research?
      A.  paying college students $5 an hour to be in a psychology experiment
      B.  requiring prisoners to participate in a psychology experiment
      C.  asking college students to participate in research to fulfill a class requirement and giving them an alternative method to meet the requirement
      D.  All of these

16. In which of the following situations may it not be necessary for a researcher to obtain informed consent?
      A.  when doing research with children
      B.  when doing research that involves more than minimal risk
      C.  when observing behavior in public settings with no intervention
      D.  when asking participants to complete questionnaires on the Internet

17. Which of the following is not one of the dimensions that Deiner and Crandall suggest a researcher should consider when deciding what information is private and what safeguards should be employed?
      A.  source of the information
      B.  sensitivity of the information
      C.  setting in which behavior is observed
      D.  how the information will be disseminated

18. For a class research project, students conceal themselves in bathroom stalls in order to observe conversational behavior of individuals at sinks in the washroom. They count the number of words spoken by women and men in their respective washrooms. An important ethical issue in this research is:
      A.  debriefing
      B.  deception.
      C.  informed consent.
      D.  privacy.

19. The right of individuals to decide how information about them is to be communicated to others is referred to as:
      A.  confidentiality.
      B.  anonymity.
      C.  self-determination.
      D.  privacy.

20. Which of the following terms describes the ethical issue that arises when information is withheld from research participants or when they are given misinformation?
      A.  plagiarism
      B.  minimal risk
      C.  distortion
      D.  deception

Take home exam for "Final Year Students" due on Friday, 25 February 2011. This activity is worth 10 points.

  1. Why are ethics a concern in psychological research?
  2. What are the criteria that IRB uses to evaluate proposed research?
  3. What limits are put on deception to minimize the contradiction and the principle of informed consent?
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