PSY 255: Method
and Theory in Psychology
Spring 2008, M W
Professor: Sean
Duffy, Ph.D.
Email:
seduffy@camden.rutgers.edu
Course goals:
The goal of this course is to
develop an understanding and appreciation for the methodological and
theoretical aspects of psychological research. You will learn how psychologists
gather information about the mind and behavior, interpret findings, and report
their research. Whether or not you eventually become psychologists, the ability
to understand research is an important skill in almost any line of work, and
this course will help you learn how to think critically about many important
issues in the social sciences. CAVEAT
EMPTOR: This course will be reading and writing intensive. You will be
required to do simple statistics.
Course requirements:
There are 5 requirements in this
course.
1.
2. Two Exams
= 40% (20% each)
3. 1 research paper ( ~7 pages) = 30%
4. Assignments (5 total) = 30% (6%
each)
5. Attendance is mandatory. If you
miss more than 4 classes I reserve the right to give you an F for your final
grade. I also reserve the right to give you whatever grade I think you deserve
based on your classroom behavior – If you text message in class, for instance,
I will lower your final grade anywhere between 10 – 100%. Yes, I fail students
for this. That’s how serious I am about texting in my
class.
1. Text:
Research Methods , 6th or 7th edition by D. McBurney & T. White.
Other readings are available on e-reserve
or will be emailed to you.
2. Exams:
In class exams will be multiple choice. Questions will be drawn from the text, lectures, and
discussions. Make-up exams will not be given, and in the event of an absolute
emergency you should contact me IMMEDIATELY, explaining your situation,
providing evidence for your excuse, (e.g., doctor’s note; the broken side
mirror from your car accident) within 24 hours of the scheduled exam.
3. Paper
There will be one ~7 page research
paper due April 19. Details about the paper will be provided on a handout.
Recycled papers or papers combined with the topic from another course are not
permitted.
4. Assignments
In the first half of the course, I
will be giving 5 assignments that will help you in the course of preparing for
your research paper. Note that I do not accept emailed assignments. Ever. You
will be docked 10% for each day late you hand in your assignments
5. Attendance & Participation
You are expected to attend every
lecture. Attendance will be taken, often in creative ways. This is a course
where you can't afford to miss classes. Believe me.
I
use
When
I email the class, I use the list that the Registrar gives me. I can not change
this list, and it is your responsibility to either use your Rutgers email
account or set up your
Academic
Honesty:
You are
expected to read and understand rules regarding academic misconduct. Ignorance
of these rules will not be accepted as an excuse for academic misconduct. If
you are found cheating on exams or plagiarizing on your paper, you will receive
a failing grade for the paper and I will report you to the Office of Academic
Affairs. Period. I offer no exceptions to this rule, ESPECIALLY ignorance of
what plagiarism is.
http://cat.rutgers.edu/integrity/policy.html
Class
cancellations:
In
the event of a natural disaster (e.g., snow storm, earthquake, tsunami) class
may be cancelled. In the case of bad weather, check your email to be sure that
I have not cancelled class. (See above section on using your
Incompletes /
Pass – No-credit:
Granted
ONLY under unusual situations. Poor performance in the course is not a valid
reason for requesting an incomplete. Those signed up for
pass/no-credit, a final grade of a C or better is required to pass.
Disability
accommodations:
For disability accommodations,
please call the Disability Services Coordinator. Students who require
special accommodations for the course or its assignments or exams (as indicated
by a formal letter/statement from the Disability Services Coordinator) should
also contact the instructor as early as possible.
Missed class:
Get to know someone in this class.
Not only might you make a new friend, you will have someone to borrow notes
from in the rare and unusual circumstance in which you might have to miss
lecture. I will not provide you with lecture notes.
Stapled assignments:
I
discard assignments that are not stapled. I mean, it says a lot about how much
effort you put into your assignment when you toss it to me with the corner
folded over. Find a stapler – in fact, purchase one of those pocket staplers at
the dollar store.
Forbidden excuses:
“You expect me to do all this work…I
have to work all day and then come here…”
Remember…I didn’t force you to work full time and force you to sign you up for
this class. You chose to work full time and signed up for this class.
“Professor Duffy, I’m sick but my assignment is
attached to this email” I’m
sorry you’re sick, but I don’t read papers emailed to me, period. Submitting a
paper to me electronically is the same as not submitting it at all. Emailing it
to me on the due date then handing it in later will result in the same penalty
for being late. Listen, folks, if you tried this kind of shortcuts in your job,
you’d be written up. Treat this class as you treat your job. Get the email of a
friend in this class so that you can email the friend the assignment and will
hand it in for you. I once lost 2 months of work due to a virus sent to me by a
student paper. I simply no longer accept emailed assignments.
“I text in class because I, like, need to know what
my friend is up to in her class. Like, Dr. Duffy, you have to understand that I
like have a social life outside of this class.” A student actually said this to me. You really don’t want
to be this student, who ended up with an F.
“I didn’t know that copying and
pasting from wikipedia was plagiarism!” See my excerpt about academic honesty above. Have a nice
meeting with the Dean of Students.
I
reserve the right to make any changes to this syllabus. It is your
responsibility to come to class and be aware of any changes to this syllabus.
Course
Schedule:
The
course schedule provided here is tentative.
WEEK 1:
Wed, 1/24: Introduction to the course
What is science and why was Socrates an idiot?
WEEK 2:
Clark, R. D., & Hatfield, E. (2003) Love in the
afternoon. Psychological Inquiry, Vol 14, 227-231.
Clark, R. D., & Hatfield, E. Gender differences in
receptivity to sexual offers. Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 2, 39
- 55.
Mon, 1/28: Film: The Harmony of the worlds
Wed, 1/30: Developing
YOUR research question (An introduction to your project)
WEEK 3:
Duffy, S. (2007) Psychological Research on Children and
Childhood. To appear in V. Bowman (Ed.) Scholarly Resources in Children and
Childhood Studies, Scarecrow Press.
Mon, 2/4: Ethics
Wed, 2/6: Introduction to the library (Vib
Bowman)
On Wednesday, 2/7, we will have class in the library basement.
WEEK 4:
Zdzior, A. (2005) Effect
on restaurant tipping of writing “thank you” and drawing smiling faces on the
backs of customers’ checks. Unpublished Manuscript:
Monday 2/11: Writing in psychology
Wed, 2/13: Review of Statistics
***Assignment 1 DUE MONDAY 2/11***
WEEK 5:
Levitt, S. & Dubner,
S. (2005) Freakonomics, chapters 5 & Epilogue
Mon, 2/18: Variables and
Wed, 2/20: Theoretical and empirical constructs
***Assignment 2 DUE MONDAY 2/18***
WEEK 6:
Mon 2/25: Discussion of your research topics and projects
Wed 2/27: continued
WEEK 7:
Mon 3/3: Graphs and tables
Wed 3/5: continued
***Assignment 3 DUE MONDAY 3/6***
SPRING BREAK! WHOO HOO!
WEEK 8:
Mon, 3/11: Validity
Wed, 3/13: Control
***Assignment 4 DUE MONDAY 3/11***
WEEK 9:
Mon, 3/24: Discussion and exam review
Wed, 3/26: EXAM 1 (Chapters 1 – 8)
WEEK 10:
Broca, P. (1861) Loss of Speech Bulletin
de la Socete Anthropologique,
2, 235-238.
Gigerenzer, G. (2004). Dread risk, September
11, and fatal traffic accidents. Psychological Science, 15, 286-287
Reid, E., & Novak (1975) Personal Space: An unobtrusive
measures study. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,
5, 265-266.
Mon, 3/31: Non-experimental designs
Wed, 4/2: Survey designs
***Assignment 5 DUE MONDAY 3/31***
WEEK 11:
Additional readings TBA
Mon, 4/7: Single factor experiments
Wed, 4/9: Multiple factor experiments
WEEK 12:
Additional readings TBA
Mon, 4/14: Single participant experiments
Wed, 4/16: Quasi-experimental designs
*******PAPER DUE WEDNESDAY 4/16*******
WEEK 13:
Richard Feynman, Cargo Cult Science
Mon, 4/21: Discussion of results
Wed, 4/23:
WEEK 14:
Mon, 4/28: Limitations of Science
Mon, 4/30: EXAM REVIEW (Chapters 9 – Epilogue)
WEEK 15:
Mon, 4/28: EXAM Chapters 9 – Epilogue)
I have read this syllabus in its entirety and I agree to all
the terms and conditions stated within. Specifically I have read and understand
all the conditions related to the rules of classroom behavior, plagiarism,
attendance and other general rules stated above. I will abide to these rules
and agree to accept the consequences of not abiding by them if I make the
unfortunate decision not to abide by them, specifically in reference to the
consequence my choice not to abide by these rules will have upon my final grade
for the course.
Name:__________________________________________________________
Signature: ______________________________________________________