PSY 241

Psychology 241 Methods of Psychological Inquiry MWF 9:40-10:40

Professor: George F. Michel                             Teaching Assistants:
e-mail: gmichel@condor.depaul.edu                   Tina Nguyen
Office: 422 Byrne; Extension: 7887                   Nancy Briggs
Office Hours: M 1:00-3:00                                 Lisa Henkemeyer
Tues. 3:00-5:00                                                   Windel McClure
or by appointment                                                 Kimberly May

Course Requirements
Reading Materials: Graziano, A.M. & Raulin, M.L. (1993). Research Methods: A Process of inquiry (3rd Ed.). New York: Harper Collins.
Plus three assigned research articles (see page 3)

Goals of the Course: 1) To acquaint you with the statistical and design techniques and scientific methods used in psychological research. 2) To sharpen your reading and thinking skills. 3) To provide you with the skills necessary for reading and evaluating psychological research.

Course Requirements: You will be responsible for: 1) All of the information presented during lectures. 2) All of the information presented in the reading assignments as listed in the course outline. 3) Written homework assignments. 4) One midterm exam and the final exam.

Grading: About 55% of your final grade will be determined by your performance on the exams, 45% of the final grade will be determined by your performance on the homework assignments (a grade of "A" represents satisfactory performance on these assignments). The first exam mark will count as 40% of your exam performance, and the final exam mark will count as 60% of your exam performance.

Homework Assignments: Each student will be assigned one of the four groups of three research articles. You will use these three articles to answer the questions on pages 4, 5, 6, & 7. You must write answers, in sentence form, to each of the questions for each one of your three research reports. Your written answers must be handed in, in neat form, on or before the "due date". Late homework assignments will result in a lower mark for your homework grade. Each answer in your homework assignments will be marked as "good" (a relatively rare mark indicating that there was something especially insightful in an answer), "OK" (indicating that you answered satisfactorily), and "rewrite" (indicating that you should use the comments about your answer to rewrite it and try again). Expect to receive mostly rewrites for your answers (especially in the beginning). You are here to learn how to critically evaluate psychological research, an important skill that is transferable to many common aspects of our society. It is not likely that you already have this skill. As with all skills, we do not expect you to become experts after this class; rather, you will become more sophisticated consumers of research information and will have the necessary foundation to allow you to continue to become experts, should you so choose. The comments on you answers are meant to help direct your attention to the information that you need to consider (they will not specify the "correct" answer because an answer can only appropriately address the question for that article). The "due dates" are as follows:
Assignments                               Date Due
1 (6 questions)                            4/14
2 (6 questions)                            4/21
3 (6 questions)                            5/12
4 (7 questions)                            5/23
       Final day to turn anything in is the last day of classes, June 6. Cheating in any form will result in a grade of F.

Course Outline

Date                                   Topic                                           Textbook Reading

3/31-4/4                   Nature of Science                                         Chaps. 1, 2
4/7-4/11                   Hypotheses & Validity                          Chaps 3, 4, Appendix A
4/14-4/18                 More Hypotheses & Validity                          Chaps 8, 9
4/21-4/25                 Research Techniques                                     Chaps 7, 10
4/28-5/2                   Experimental Designs                                     Chaps. 11, 12

5/5 MIDTERM

5/7-5/9                     More Experimental Designs
4/12-4/16                 Measurement and Prediction                           Chap 5
4/19                          Field Research                                                Chap 6
4/28-4/30                 More Field Research                                       Chap 7
6/2-6/4                     Research Ethics & Future                                Chap 15
6/6                            Review

6/12 (Thursday) Final Exam 8:45-11:00am

Attendance Policy: To meet the goals of this course, attendance at all lectures is expected. If at any point during the quarter it becomes evident that an individual has missed too many classes (as determined by my evaluation) both a written and verbal warning will be given to the student. Failure to adhere to the warning will have an effect on the student's final grade. Only absences documented in writing will be accepted.

Late Policy: If it becomes evident (as determined by my evaluation) that an individual arrives late to class too frequently, a written and verbal warning will be given to the student. Failure to adhere to the warning will have an effect on the student's final grade.

Plagiarism Policy: The instructor for this course will adhere absolutely to the University's definition of plagiarism and will apply the appropriate penalty (see page 414 in the Undergraduate Bulletin). "Plagiarism is a major form of academic dishonesty involving the presentation of the work of another as one's own". This includes presenting the work of a fellow student as one's own. "Actions taken by the instructor do not preclude the College or the University taking further punitive action including dismissal from the University". For further information about the University's policies on academic integrity please consult the Student Handbook.

Psy 241 Homework Article Sets

Set # 1:

Darley, J. M. & Latane, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of       responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8, 377-383.
Festinger, L. & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). cognitive consequences of forced compliance. Journal of      Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58, 203-318.
Rubovits, P. C. & Maehr, M. L. (1973). Pygmalion black and white. Journal of Personality and      Social Psychology, 25, 210-218.

Set # 2:

Dutton, D. G. & Aron, A. P. (1974). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under       conditions of high anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 510- 517.
Hess, E. H., Seltzer, A. I. & Shlein, J. M. (1965). Pupil responses of hetero- and homosexual       males to pictures of men and women: A pilot study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 70,      165-168.
Valins, S. (1967). Emotionality and information concerning internal reactions. Journal of      Personality and Social Psychology, 6, 458-463.

Set # 3:

Bandura, A., Ross, D. & Ross, S. A. (1961). Transmission of aggression through imitation of       aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 575-582.
George, C. & Main, M. (1979). Social interactions of young abused children: Approach,       avoidance, and aggression. Child Development, 50, 306-318.
Schachter, S. & Gross, L. (1968). Manipulated time and eating behavior. Journal of Personality       and Social Psychology, 10, 98-106.

Set # 4:

Berkowitz, L. & LePage, A. (1967). Weapons as aggression-eliciting stimuli. Journal of       Personality and Social Psychology, 7, 202-207.
Deci, E. L. (1971). Effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation. Journal of       Personality and Social Psychology, 18, 105-115.
Greenwald, H. J. & Oppenheim, D. B. (1968). Reported magnitude of self- misidentification among       negro children-artifact? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8, 49-52.

Homework Assignment 1

Due April 14, 1997

Write answers to the following questions for each of your three articles.

1. Based on the introduction to the article, restate in your own words what was already known about this topic before this study and who were some of the authors who contributed to this knowledge? Be specific about which authors contributed which information.

2. What kind of information, which was missing in the previous research, is this study supposed to add?

3. Name all of the independent variables in this study.

4. Name all of the dependent variables in this study.

5. In addition to the variables stated in this study, and given other information in this study, can you think of any other variables that might have been extraneous? Justify your answer.

6. Briefly describe the research question that was being investigated in this study (in your own words, tell us what the study was about).

Homework Assignment 2

Due April 21, 1997

Write your answers to the following questions for each of your three articles. Please use the previous homework when answering this assignment.

1. Who were the subjects? Be specific. Consider age, sex, race, educational level, and anything the article highlights.

2. In what kind of situation was the experiment conducted (lab., natural setting)? Be sure to justify your answer.

3. Define the meaning of operational definition.

4. Name each of the independent variables and name their levels. Then state the operational definition either for the whole variable or of each of the levels. If the study had any predictor (non-manipulated or "selected") variables, name them and name their levels and state how they were operationally defined.

5. Tell whether the independent variable was varied between subjects, within subjects, or in some other way. This answer can differ for each independent variable.

6. Name each of the dependent variables in the study AND give the operational definitions for each.

7. What were the hypotheses in your studies? For all of the variables listed in questions 3, 4, or 5, tell what kind of association the authors expected to occur among them (be sure to give hypotheses and not results).

Homework Assignment 3

Due May 12, 1997

Write your answers to the following questions for each of your three articles. Please use previous homework when answering this assignment.

1. For each independent or predictor (nonmanipulated independent or selected) variable, did any extraneous variables confound it? Please refer to your answer in homework one, question 6, to answer this question.

2. Define subject bias and experimenter bias. For each independent or predictor variable, was subject of experimenter bias present? Why or why not?

3. For each within-subject (repeated measures) independent variable: a) Did different subjects receive different orders of the levels of the independent variable? If so, what orders were used?

b) Does it appear that the levels were ordered in such a way that there might be confounds with practice and fatigue?

4. For each between-subject independent variable:

a) How were subjects assigned to groups?

b) Were the groups matched on any variables?

5. For each before-after design (pretest/posttest):

a) Does it appear likely that the results were caused by practice or fatigue?

b) Does it appear likely that the results were caused by novelty effects?

c) Could the change in the dependent variable have occurred without the independent variable?

6. Are the operational definitions adequate? Justify your answer.

Homework Assignment 4

Due May 23, 1997

Write your answers to the following questions for each of your three articles. Please use previous homework when answering this assignment.

1. What type of approach to data analysis was used (minimal statistical, correlational, differences between frequencies, differences between means)? In some studies, there can be more than one approach. Where appropriate, name the statistical tests used.

2. Which differences or relationships are statistically significant? List all the results found to be significant.

3. If the researcher reported some results as significant but did not use conventional decision levels (.05 or .01), did the researcher explain why they considered the nonconventional level to be significant?

4. Which differences or relationships did the researcher indicate were not statistically significant?

5. Do the authors draw causal or correlational conclusions about the relationships between variables? Describe any unwarranted or hidden assumptions of causality in the authors' interpretations of the results?

6. To what larger group might the results of this study be generalized? If you think that the results should not be generalized to any group beyond the subjects in the experiment, give a reason for this. Be sure to justify your answer according to the theories and hypotheses in the study. Refer to homework one, question 6 and homework two, question 1 to answer this question.

7. Indicate to what "real world" situations you think that the results might apply. Justify your answer according to the theories and hypotheses in the study. Refer to homework one, question 6 and homework two, question 1 to answer this question.