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Department of Psychology
PSYC 2019H- A: Basic Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology
WI 2015 PTBO
Instructor:
Dr. Kevin Peters, Office: Life and Health Sciences (LHS) Building C115 email: [email protected];
phone: (705) 748-1011 x.7795; Office Hours: Wednesdays, 1:00pm to 3:00pm OR by appointment
Teaching Assistants:
Mr. Rick Toth, Office: LHS C108; email: [email protected]; phone: (705) 748-1011 x.7874;
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00am to 12:00pm OR by appointment
Ms.Linda Ward, Office: LHS C143; email: [email protected]; phone: (705) 748-1011 x.7469;
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 10:00am to 12:00pm OR by appointment
Psychology Department: LHS C104, (705) 748-1011 x.7535
Course Description:
Course Prerequisites:
Provides an introduction to the research and statistical methods that are commonly used in psychology and
other sciences. Topics include descriptive statistics, probability, sampling distributions, hypothesis testing,
confidence intervals, effect size, t-tests, one-way analysis of variance, correlation, and the chi-square test.
Listed on pp. 204-210 of the 2014-15 Academic Calendar http://www.trentu.ca/calendar/
Course Format:
Lecture: Weekly two-hour lectures on Mondays, 9:00am to 10:50am
Labs: Weekly two-hour labs on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays. Students register for their choice of
lab section – see myAcademicRecord. Academic Timetable. For the latest on classroom locations:
https://scheduler.trentu.ca/AcademicTimetable/Peterborough/FallWinter/
Web link to course material on LearningSystem/Blackboard : http://www.trentu.ca/mytrent/
Required
Readings/Materials:
Howell, D.C. (2014). Fundamental statistics for the behavioral sciences (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Cengage Learning.
American Psychological Association (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association
(6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Academic dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism) will not be tolerated and university policies will be strictly enforced.
Please be sure to familiarize yourself with these policies: http://www.trentu.ca/academicintegrity
A calculator must be brought to all lab sessions as well as to quizzes and exams. You do not need to spend
a lot of money on a calculator. Many simple calculators are fine for this class. Just make sure that the
calculator has at least a square root button (√). Students will not be allowed to use any other electronic
devices (e.g., cell phones, iPods, iPads, tablets, or computers) in place of a calculator.
Students successfully completing this course should be able to:
1) Evaluate a simple research scenario, including being able to identify the variables under investigation in a
study
2) Describe data both statistically and in graphical form
3) Describe the concept of sampling distributions and how these distributions relate to hypothesis testing
4) Interpret the results of statistical computations for the following procedures taught in this course:
confidence intervals, effect sizes, t-tests, one-way between-subjects ANOVA, and nonparametric tests
PSYC 2019H WI 2015, Kevin Peters
5) Perform the statistical analyses covered in this course by hand as well as by using computer software
6) Complete a lab report of a simple research study following the format outlined in the APA manual (6th ed.)
Withdrawal Deadline
Evaluation
Explanation of
Assignments
Students will have 36% of their grades by the final date for withdrawal without penalty – March 5, 2015.
Weight
Due Date
1. Quizzes (5 @ 8% each)
40% (3 quizzes or 24% completed by drop date) See Course Schedule
2. Final Exam
30%
T.B.A.
3. Lab Report –Part 1
12% (Full: 12% completed by drop date)
Feb. 9
4. Lab Report – Part 2
14%
Mar. 30
5. Assignment
4%
Mar. 23
It is the responsibility of each student to read and accept the due dates outlined on the syllabus.
Quizzes (40% in total): There will be 5 quizzes, worth 8% each. Quizzes will be completed online through
Blackboard during the Lab sessions. Each quiz will consist of multiple-choice questions that will be randomly
drawn from a question test bank (i.e., each student will receive a different quiz). Quizzes will comprise conceptual
and computational questions based on the assigned readings. You will have approximately 45 minutes to write
each quiz (time may vary for each quiz, depending on the material being assessed). Quizzes will start right at the
beginning of lab, so it is important to be “on time”. Students must attend the lab section that they are officially
registered in; students who try to attend a lab section that they are not registered in will be asked to leave. All
necessary formulas will be provided. Textbooks and notes will not be permitted. A calculator (see above) will be
required for ALL quizzes. There will be no opportunity to make up a missed quiz. If a student is unable to
complete a quiz due to illness or personal crisis (documentation required), their grade for that quiz will be pro-rated
based on their grades for the other quizzes.
Final Exam (30%): The final exam will consist of multiple choice and calculation-based questions and will cover
ALL course material. Students may bring a one-page “cheat-sheet” (double-sided; typed or handwritten) to the
Final exam.
Lab Report Parts 1 (12%) and 2 (14%): The purpose of the lab reports is to give “hands on” experience in the
application of statistical techniques to real psychological data, to develop lab report writing skills, to demonstrate
the power of the scientific method for the study of diverse psychological questions, and to encourage analytical
thinking with respect to statistical and psychological issues. Students are expected to participate in the data
collection session for the lab reports. Lab reports must represent independent work. Highly similar (or identical)
submissions are unacceptable and will be penalized, as will reports that plagiarize from published works (see
University Policy 1 below). Lab reports are to be submitted during lecture on the day that they are due (see
Course Schedule). Please ensure that you include the following information on your title page (in addition to the
APA-related requirements): the name of the instructor, the name of your TA, the date and time of your lab session
(e.g., Tuesday at 12:00pm).
In this course you will gain experience with writing a lab report, that has been broken down into two parts:
 Lab Report – Part 1: This will be the first part of a full lab report. You will write an introduction that
provides a review of the assigned empirical articles and the background rationale, hypotheses and
predictions for a study based on data collected during one of the lab sessions. The report must also
include a description of the method used for collecting the data. You will need to hand in the following
parts: title page, introduction, method, and references. More details will be presented during class.

Lab Report – Part 2: This will be the second part of the full lab report in which you will analyze the data
and write the following parts of the report: title page, abstract, results and discussion, and references.
More details will be presented during class.
PSYC 2019H WI 2015, Kevin Peters
Assignment (4%): The assignment will be posted on the class Blackboard (BB) website one week before the due
date. The assignment must be handwritten; assignments that are typewritten will receive a grade of zero.
The assignment is to be submitted during lecture on March 23. Please ensure that you include the following
information on your title page (in addition to the APA-related requirements): the name of the instructor, the name of
your TA, the date and time of your lab session (e.g., Wednesday at 9:00am).
Course Policy on
Late Submissions
Requests for extensions must be made PRIOR to the due date and will only be granted due to illness or personal
crisis; supporting documentation is required (see Departmental policy C. below). If an extension has not been
granted, late assignment and lab reports will be penalized 5% per day (excluding weekends). For example,
if an assignment is due on a Monday, and you hand it in on Tuesday, you will be penalized 5% of the total grade.
Late penalties will not be applied for Saturdays and Sundays. For example: if an assignment is due on a Monday,
and you submit it on the following Monday, you will be penalized 25% of the total grade.
If you are handing in an assignment or lab report late please submit it to Rick Toth (Office: C108). Late
assignments or lab reports will not be accepted after on-time assignments/lab reports have been returned to the
class. If you are handing in an assignment or lab report that is late, you will not be allowed to email a version of it
to the course instructor or TA and then submit a hard copy of it the next day in order to avoid losing an additional
late penalty.
Course Policy on
attendance in
class/labs
Students are expected to attend all lectures and labs. With respect to the labs, students must attend the session
for which they are registered in; students who show up for a lab session other than the one that they are registered
in will be asked to leave at the beginning of the session.
Participation in Research - SONA System (up to 4.25% bonus credit)
Most faculty and upper-year students are involved in research for which they require participants. Students are
often preferred for this purpose and will be invited to volunteer as participants during the year. Your cooperation
will be very much appreciated. Universities are as much places of research as they are of teaching and
psychological research cannot be carried out without the cooperation of students who serve as participants.
All research involving human participants is conducted under the ethical guidelines of the Canadian Tri-Council Policy on
Human Research and must be approved by the Ethics Committee at the university
During the year, students will be invited to sign up for research participation at times when it is convenient for them and
the investigator to meet. At that time, students will be informed as to the general nature of the study, what will be expected
of them in the role of participants, and of any possible negative consequences that might result from serving as
participants in that particular study.
You should be aware that no person can be required to serve as a participant in any research project and persons who do
volunteer are free to withdraw from participation at any time before or during a study. In cases of unwillingness to
participate, or withdrawal from a study for personal reasons, there will be no penalty or negative consequences to the
student. Participation is entirely voluntary and students participate on the basis of informed consent. The researcher will
keep a record of each student's hours of participation, which will be submitted to the SONA system for use in calculating
grades in this course. It is your responsibility to register in SONA with the correct course code.
Voluntary participation in departmental research provides an opportunity to earn up to an additional 4% (plus .25% for the
Gateway Survey) to be added to your final grade. All students who register into the system and complete an initial See
details on your class website. Additional information can be referenced on the Psychology Departmental website at:
http://www.trentu.ca/psychology/researchparticipation.php
Through voluntary participation in four hours of research conducted by Psychology faculty and senior students, students in
this course may earn an additional 4% to be added to their final grades. Thus, for example, a grade of C+ (68%) would
become B- (72%) for a student who participated for the maximum of 4 hours, with each hour of participation earning 1%.
PSYC 2019H WI 2015, Kevin Peters
As an alternative to participation in research, students can complete one of the following activities to earn the 4.25%
bonus credit to their final mark:
a. Attend two separate Department of Psychology colloquia during the academic year and write a brief report (500
words) on the contents of both invited talks (2.125% credit for colloquium 1; 2.125% credit for colloquium 2).
b. Write a 750 word report on a psychology journal article (supplied by course instructor)
Regardless of which option is chosen, the 4.25% bonus credit can only be earned if the report is submitted to the course
instructor by last day of classes (7 April 2015).
Student may complete any combination of research or assignments to acquire the bonus 4.25% credit.
To find out what research is currently available for you to participate in, please login to the Psychology Research
Participation System at http://trentu.sona-systems.com/
The Student User Guide that explains how to login, sign up for studies, and track credits is available off the Psychology
website http://www.trentu.ca/psychology/ Look for the link entitled “Research Participation Pool”.
When you sign up please note that it is your responsibility to accurately register the correct course code (i.e., registering
with the wrong course code will impede assignment of bonus credits).
Important Additional Course-Related Information
Whom do I contact?
Please follow these steps in order to address any issues or questions that you might have:
1. First, look at the course syllabus – it contains a lot of information.
2. Second, look on BB – Answers to common questions will be posted here
3. Third, contact the person who leads your Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday lab session.
4. Finally, contact the course instructor if your issue or question still has not been addressed.
Email




Students are expected to use their Trent University email address for all email correspondence in this course.
Due to the high number of students in this course, that the TAs and/or course instructor will not always be able to reply to your
email right away – we will do the best we can.
Also please be aware that the TA and/or course instructor will likely not reply to any emails that you send over the weekend or
the night before an assignment/lab report is due.
Finally, depending on the nature of your issue or question, the TA and/or course instructor may suggest that you make a faceto-face appointment to discuss it further (e.g., if you ask a question that will require a response that is more than a few
sentences).
Class Lecture Notes
 Abbreviated lecture notes in outline form are provided on the class Blackboard site prior to each lecture. You are expected to
print out these notes, bring them to lecture, and use them as a basis for your own note taking. Given the difficulties of adding
formulae and solutions to problems to PDFs, students are strongly discouraged from trying to take notes on their laptops – it
will be much easier if you bring a printout with you to lecture so that you can write on it during class.
Drafts of Lab Reports
 It is strongly recommended that you periodically email draft versions of your lab reports to yourself from time-to-time as you
work on them. This will ensure that you will have back up copies in case of a computer problem. It will also help you in case
you need to provide evidence of dates when you had work completed (the emails are dated). In addition, you should always
save your work to a USB stick or back-up hard drive on a regular basis.
PSYC 2019H WI 2015, Kevin Peters
PSYC 2019H-A, WI 2015 Schedule
Week Date: Lecture Topic
Reading
Date: Lab Topic
1
Jan 12: Overview of course; Basic Concepts
Ch.1 and 2
Jan 12, 13 or 14: Displaying data (Ch.3); Data
collection for lab report
2
Jan 19: Measures of central tendency and variability
Ch. 4 and 5
Jan 19, 20, or 21: Central Tendency and
Variability
How to Write a Lab Report
3
Jan 26: The normal distribution and Probability
Ch. 6 and 7
Jan 26, 27, or 28: Quiz 1 (Ch.1, 2, 4 & 5)
4
Feb 2: Sampling distributions and hypothesis testing
Ch. 8
Feb 2, 3, or 4: Normal Distribution, Probability,
Sampling Distributions
5
Feb 9: ***Lab Report #1 is DUE***
Ch. 12
Feb 9, 10, or 11: Quiz 2 (Ch. 6, 7, & 8)
Hypothesis testing: One sample
6
Feb 16: Reading Week – No Classes
No Readings
Reading Week – No Labs
7
Feb 23: Hypothesis testing: Two related samples and
Power
Ch.13 and 15
(pp. 372-382)
Feb 23, 24, or 25: One sample and related
samples t-test, effect size, and confidence
intervals; Power
8
Mar 2: Hypothesis testing: Two independent samples
Ch. 14
Mar 2, 3, or 4: Quiz 3 (Ch. 12, 13, and 15, pp.
372-382)
9
Mar 9: One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)
Ch. 16
Mar 9, 10, or 11: Independent samples t-test,
effect size, and confidence intervals
One-way ANOVA, post-hoc tests, and effect sizes
10
Mar 16: Correlation
Ch. 9
Mar 16, 17, or 18: Quiz 4 (Ch. 14 & 16)
11
Mar 23: ***Assignment is DUE***
Ch. 10
Mar 23, 24, or 25: Correlation and Regression
Regression
12
Mar 30: ***Lab Report #2 is DUE***
Chi-square
Ch. 19
Mar 30, 31, or Apr 1: Quiz 5 (Ch. 9, 10 & 19)
13
Apr 6:
Ch. 20
No Labs
Nonparametric statistics
***FINAL EXAM – To be scheduled during Final Exam Period (April 10 to 24, 2015)***
PSYC 2019H WI 2015, Kevin Peters
University Policies
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
Academic dishonesty, which includes plagiarism and cheating, is an extremely serious academic offence and carries penalties varying from a 0 grade
on an assignment to expulsion from the University. Definitions, penalties, and procedures for dealing with plagiarism and cheating are set out in Trent
University’s Academic Integrity Policy. You have a responsibility to educate yourself – unfamiliarity with the policy is not an excuse. You are strongly
encouraged to visit Trent’s Academic Integrity website to learn more – www.trentu.ca/academicintegrity.
ACCESS TO INSTRUCTION:
It is Trent University’s intent to create an inclusive learning environment. If a student has a disability and/or health consideration and feels that he/she
may need accommodations to succeed in this course, the student should contact the Accessibility Services Office as soon as possible – in
Peterborough ([email protected], BH Suite 132, 748-1281) or in Oshawa (Student Accessibility Services Office Room 111,
[email protected], (905) 435-5102, ext. 5024).
A.
Departmental Policy on Tests, Exams, and Assignments
MIDTERMS & FINAL EXAMINATIONS
Midterm examinations for half courses within the Psychology Department are scheduled by the instructor of the course. Midterm examinations
for full courses and final examination for all courses are scheduled by the Registrar’s Office. Students are strongly urged NOT to make any
commitments (i.e., vacation, job related, or other travel plans) during either the term as a whole or the final examination period. Students are
required to be available for all examinations during the periods for which they are scheduled (as published in course syllabi).
B.
DEFERRAL OF MIDTERM / FINAL EXAMINATIONS and/or TERM WORK
Extensions of deadlines for completion of assignments or writing of midterms/final examinations may be granted to students on the basis of
illness, accident, or other extreme and legitimate circumstances beyond their control. Consideration for deferrals will not normally be granted
on the basis of vacation/travel plans or job-related obligations.
C.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Students should expect that supporting documentation will be required and must be submitted before a deferral is approved. For illness or
accident, supporting documentation will take the form of: (1) the Trent University Medical Certificate from Health Services:
(http://www.trentu.ca/healthservices/medical.html), or (2) a certificate or letter from the attending physician clearly indicating the start and end
dates of the illness and the student’s inability to write an examination, complete assignments, and/or attend classes, as relevant to the
particular request. For other circumstances, students should consult the individual Psychology faculty member about acceptable forms of
documentation.
1.
Notes
Academic Integrity:
For the purpose of interpreting and applying the University policy on academic dishonesty, the Department of Psychology has adopted the
following:
When a student submits a piece of written work in fulfillment of an assignment, he/she implicitly acknowledges the following: a) that
she/he is the sole author of the work; b) that the wording and organization of the work, apart from acknowledged quotations, is her/his
own; and c) that she/he has not and will not submit this work, either as a whole or in part, to satisfy another course requirement.
These basic assumptions will be reasonably interpreted. They do not preclude collaboration between students upon a single project,
by prior arrangement with the instructor, for shared academic credit (either for written or oral presentation).
For an elaboration of the Department’s policy on, and for specific examples of, plagiarism, students should consult p. 178 in the APA (2010)
and the sections on academic honesty (pp. 6-8), and appropriate citing and referencing (pp. 135-137, 169) in Mitchell et at. (2010) on reserve in
the library. Students who have doubts about what might be considered academic dishonesty are urged to consult the instructor of the course.
Ignorance of the University or Department policy does not excuse academic dishonesty. Submissions that fail to meet one or more of these
considerations will be subject to procedures laid down in the policy on academic dishonesty as stated in the University calendar.
2.
It is the policy of the Department NOT to accept faxed assignments.
3.
The same assignment cannot be submitted in more than one course without the prior written permission of all instructors concerned. The
written approval must be attached to the work when it is submitted.
4.
Students are required to use American Psychological Association style (6th edition).
5.
Please see the Trent University academic calendar for University Diary dates, Academic Information and Regulations, and University and
departmental degree requirements.
6.
Last date to withdraw without academic penalty March 5, 2015 for WI half courses and Feb. 5, 2015 for FA/WI full year courses.