Psychology 210

Spring 2015
Experimental Research Methods & Laboratory

Writing Intensive Course

Class time & location: MW 1:10 p.m. to 4 p.m., Packer 503 & Laboratory work in ChandlerUllmann East Wing undergraduate lab rooms
Instructor: Dr. Debbie Laible
Office: 339 Chandler Ullmann
Office hours: Tuesdays 10-12 noon or by appointment
Phone: (610) 758-5914
Email: del205@lehigh.edu
Teaching assistant: Irmak Okten
Office: 331Chandler Ullmann
Office hours: Wednesdays 11-1 p.m.
Email: iro213@lehigh.edu
TRAC fellow: Carlie Skellington
Email: cns216@lehigh.edu
Course Site: Grades, announcements, and other assignments will be posted on
Course Site. You can access the Course Site class page at
https://coursesite.lehigh.edu. You can logon using your 4-digit Lehigh user ID.
Texts:
Required:
Beins, B. (2013). Research Methods: A tool for life (3rd Edition). Boston, MA:
Pearson.
Rosnow, R. & Rosnow, M. (2012). Writing papers in psychology (9th ed.). Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Optional:
American Psychological Association. (2009). Publication manual of the American
Psychological Association (6th edition). Washington, DC: APA.
**The APA Publication manual is a very useful reference tool for all Psychology
majors, especially those planning to do thesis or other research work and graduate
study. We recommend that you acquire a copy (available in the bookstore) and
keep it until you graduate and beyond. However, the essential material for this
class can be gleaned from the required texts and on-line. Copies are also available
at Fairchild-Martindale for reference if you choose not to purchase your own copy.
Online References: The following websites can help you with APA style.
Doc Scribes APA Style Lite:

http://docstyles.com/apalite.htm

University of Wisconsin Writing Center:

http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/DocAPA.html

Useful Reference: Your Psyc 110 statistics text. Keep it handy!

Description:
This course provides an introduction to the way that psychological experiments are
conceived, designed, implemented, interpreted, and reported. It will give you
experience with design principles that can be applied to many different research
issues. The lab component of this course provides hands-on experience in
conducting experiments. An important part of the course involves designing and
running your own study with a small group of students. This is a writing-intensive
course that provides experience in the kind of scientific writing used in the
psychological literature.
Objectives:

Understanding the scientific method and its relation to psychological issues

Learning the appropriate use of different research designs and their strengths
and limitations
Developing the ability to critically evaluate psychological research from a
methodological standpoint
Gaining experience in conceptualizing, designing, and carrying out research
projects
Gaining experience in the application of statistical analyses to data
Learning to read and write APA-style, scientific research reports
Understanding the ethical issues involved in research.

We hope you enjoy the course and that it helps you become a good researcher,
effective writer, and sophisticated consumer of research.
Attendance: Because this is a laboratory course, it is essential that you ATTEND
ALL CLASSES. When an experiment or other assignment is introduced in class,
you will not be in a position to do the required work if you are absent. It would be
impossible for us to individually repeat the material for those who miss classes.
Therefore, the policy is that help from the instructor or T.A. will only be available to
absentees in cases of compelling and documented justification (e.g., medical
emergency documented by a doctor's note). There is no fixed penalty for failure to
attend, but because you will be unable to properly complete assignments, your
grade is likely to be seriously affected.
Assignments: All assignments should be typed and double-spaced according to
the APA style guidelines we discuss in class. You will need to be able to revise drafts
and combine separate documents into a single paper, so be sure to maintain the
electronic versions of your assignments. Assignments are due in hard copy to the
instructor at the beginning of class on the day they are due.
Backups: Please save your files frequently as you work, and keep backups of all
files separately. Files are often accidentally deleted and jump drives are easy to lose
or damage. It is your responsibility to keep backups of important files on a separate
jump drive. We also strongly recommend keeping a hard copy of all written
assignments you submit. Paper retrieval problems will not be accepted as an
excuse for late assignments.
Written assignments are individual! The final project is a team effort.
However, all written assignments in this course, including for the group

project, are strictly individual. Therefore, although it is appropriate to discuss

ideas, references, results, etc with other students, all writing must be done
individually. You should not share drafts of any papers nor worksheets for the
group project with other group members.
TRAC Writing Fellows: Because writing is a central part of PSYC 210, I have
enlisted the TRAC Writing Fellows Program as a helpful resource. The TRAC fellows
are accomplished undergraduate students who are trained as peer writing tutors.
The goal of the TRAC program is to promote a productive revision process by (1)
providing helpful written feedback on working drafts of written assignments; and (2)
meeting with students individually to discuss these drafts. In doing so, the TRAC
fellows can help boost your performance on specific writing projects for this course,
and help you develop good writing skills and habits that will be valuable to you in all
courses. Additional information about the TRAC Writing Fellows Program is found at:
http://www.lehigh.edu/~intrac/.
We will be using the TRAC fellow (Carlie) for three assignments this semester. For
these assignments, each student will turn in a fully-developed working draft to the
TRAC fellow by the date noted below, approximately three weeks before you turn in
the final paper to me. In this time, the TRAC fellows will read and make comments
on the papers and hold a conference with each student to discuss their comments
and suggestions. After meeting with the TRAC fellow, you will have approximately
one week to revise your paper before turning the final version (along with the draft
commented on by the TRAC fellow) in to me.
Working with the TRAC fellow on these two assignments is A COURSE
REQUIREMENT, NOT AN OPTIONAL ACTIVITY. It is your responsibility to submit
your draft to the TRAC fellow on time, and to schedule and attend a meeting with
the fellows to discuss your draft. Failure to meet either of these obligations will
result in a 15% reduction in your grade for the assignment.
Academic Integrity: Students are expected to uphold the University Code of
Conduct (see the Student Handbook for details). The rule that all writing must be
done individually will be strictly enforced. Any sharing of writing or assignments will
normally lead to a zero grade on that assignment for all of the individuals concerned
and may be referred to the University Committee on Discipline. In addition,
inappropriate behavior in exam-taking or plagiarism (using material from a source
without acknowledging the source) may be referred to the Committee on Discipline.
Late Penalties: Keeping up with assignments is very important in this course.
Late assignments will be penalized 4% per day or part day late, for up to a
week past the due date. (Each weekend day and holiday day counts as a day.)
Late assignments must have the date and time of submission clearly marked on the
front page. Assignments turned in more than a week late will not be accepted.
Responsibilities in Running Your Experiment: When you schedule
participants for an experiment, you will be penalized if you fail to show up
for an appointment or if you show up late. The penalty will be 4% of your final
project grade for each absence. Also, each group is responsible for meeting
any further requirements specified by the instructor such as assigning
credits and penalties for participation in your experiment and turning in a
report of those who did not sign up. Any group that doesnt meet these
responsibilities will be penalized 4% on each group members final project

grade. Details and the due date for any required information will be announced
later in the course.
Peer Evaluation: It is important that all members of the project groups participate
fully in the research. To help ensure that this takes place, we will ask group
members to rate one another at the end of the semester on their contributions to
the group project. Failure to contribute appropriately to the group effort will be
penalized in the final grade.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting accommodations,
please contact both your instructor and the Office of Academic Support Services,
University Center 212 (610-758-4152) as early as possible in the semester. You must
have documentation from the Academic Support Services office before
accommodations can be granted.
Inclusion:
Lehigh University endorses The Principles of Our Equitable Community
(http://www4.lehigh.edu/diversity/principles). We expect each member of this class to
acknowledge and practice these Principles. Respect for each other and for differing
viewpoints is a vital component of the learning environment inside and outside the
classroom.
Course outline:
The following is a tentative course schedule. I expect you to complete the reading
assignment prior to the days that we will be discussing the material in class. I will
attempt to stay on schedule; however, this may not always be possible. Thus, I will
make changes as necessary. Remember that if you miss a class, you are responsible
for finding out about the changes.
DATE
Jan. 19

TOPIC & ASSIGNMENTS

Introduction

READING

Jan. 21

What is research? Research Basics.

Experiment 1 (in class)

Beins: Chapters 1, 11

Jan. 26

Writing a research paper (focus on

introduction). Discuss Experiment
1.
Begin Assignment 1 Analyzing
Introductions
More on experimental methods
(run Experiment 2)
Assignment 1 Due
Begin Assignment 2 (Write up
of first experiment)
Describing data
Repeated measures (discuss
Experiment 2)

Beins: Chapter 12
Rosnow & Rosnow: Chapters 1, 4

Jan. 28

Feb. 2

Feb. 4

More on repeated measures

Beins: Chapters 6 & 7

Rosnow & Rosnow: Chapter 6

Beins: Chapter 9

Assignment 2 due to TRAC

fellow
Design exercises

Feb. 9
Feb. 11
Feb. 16
Feb 18

Feb. 23

Feb. 25

Mar. 2

March 4

Test 1 [all Beins pages indicated

above]
Discuss E1 reports; more on writing
Run Experiment 3 in class (Factorial
design)
Discuss results of Experiment 3.
More on factorial design &
interactions. Form groups & begin
to choose final projects
Project work final project choice
Getting started with research I:
Choosing the research question
On-line searching tutorial
Assignment #2 due to Dr.
Laible with notes from the
TRAC fellow
Begin Assignment #3 (write up
of factorial design)
Getting started with research II:
Designing the study
Factorial design/interaction
exercises
Project work
Ethics issues & IRB forms
Project work
Assignment #3 due to TRAC
fellows
Complete NIH ethics
certification

Rosnow & Rosnow: Chapter 7

Beins: Chapter 8
Rosnow & Rosnow: Chapter 8

Beins: Chapter 3
Rosnow & Rosnow: Chapter 2

Write-up experiment 3

Beins: Chapter 2
Work on IRB forms

Test 2 [all Beins material since Test

1]
Experiment running procedures
Spring Break!! No class. . .

Work on IRB forms

Work on IRB forms

Submit IRB forms
Pilot experiment/participant
scheduling

March 25

Project work
Project work
Project work
Assignment #3 due to Dr.
Laible with comments from the
TRAC fellow
Data collection

March 30

Data collection

April 1

Data collection
Assignment #4 due to TRAC
fellow first draft of
introduction & methods due to
TRAC fellows
Data collection

March
11
March
March
March

April 6

9&
16
18
23

Rest, relax, enjoy life!!

April 8

Data collection

April 13

Last day to collect data

April 15

Data analysis

April 20

April 27
April 29

Data analysis
Assignment #4 due to Dr.
Laible (draft of intro and
methods with TRAC fellow
comments) and draft of
methods & results
Writing
Assignment #5 due to Dr.
Laible (draft of results and
discussion section)
Planning/writing of presentation
Class presentations

May 6th

Final papers DUE by 5 p.m.

April 22

GRADING:
Assignment
Grade
Test 1
Test 2
Assignment
Assignment
Assignment
Assignment
Assignment
Assignment

#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6

Percent of Final

Writing Exercise
Experiment 1 write-up
Experiment 3 write-up
Draft introduction & methods (final project)
Results & discussion
Final project report*

Total

10
10
6
12
12
15
15
20
100

*Note this includes a grade from the group about your contribution to the project
(3% of total grade). It also includes your final project presentation, which is worth
5%
There is no final exam for this course.