Welcome to Research Methods!

Does everyone have a syllabus ?

Does everyone have “Tips For Printing PowerPoint Lectures” ?

Outline of Today’s Discussion 1.About You (and what’s expected of you) 2.About Me (and what you can expect from me) 3.Checking Our Technology 4.Why Take A Course in Research Methods? 5.Some Themes From Our Course

Part 1 About You (and what’s expected of you)

Part 1: What’s Expected Of You Read Thy Syllabus

Part 1: What’s Expected Of You Dates on the syllabus are firm for exams, quizzes, and assignments. Dates on the syllabus for specific page #’s may change (slightly), depending on class discussions.

What’s Expected Of You Read Thy “Blackboard”

What’s Expected Of You Read Thy “Blackboard” If you don’t already have a User ID and Password for Blackboard, see Computing Services.

Printing PowerPoint Lectures Optional You can print my lecture notes in advance, and bring them to class! Please save paper by printing 3 slides per page. See the hand-out for instructions.

What’s Expected Of You Watch Thy Video Lectures

What’s Expected Of You Read Thy Book “Research Methods in Psychology” by Shaugnessy, Zechmeister, Zechmeister

What’s Expected Of You Thou Shalt Not Be Tempted To Type or Surf During Class

What’s Expected Of You 1.Read before coming to class. 2.Actively participate in class discussions. 3.Hand in all assignments on time. 4.Be considerate of others in class. 5.Be on time for every class (tardiness distracts others). 6.Seek help if you need it.

Part 2 About Me (and what you can expect of me)

About Me Fairleigh Dickinson University, B.A., Psychology, 1993 Brown University, M.Sc., Experimental Psychology, 1995 Brown University, Ph.D., Experimental Psychology, 1997 Columbia University, Postdoctoral Fellow, Denison University, Psychology Faculty, 2001

You Can Expect Me To 1.Hold You To High Standards 2.Ensure Fairness In “Air Time”, Grading, & Punctuality 3.Encourage Your Active Participation 4.Lead & Focus Class Discussions / Activities 5.Make Lecture Notes Available (Blackboard & “S” drive) 6.Meet With You During Office Hours / Appointment

Part 3 Checking Our Technology

1.Let’s first establish that everyone can log into Novell. Please sign on now. 2.We will rely heavily on SPSS software Click the SPSS icon on your monitor.

Checking Our Technology 1.Now let’s minimize SPSS, and go to BlackBoard by using your preferred browser (either Internet Explorer or Netscape). 2.On the address line, either key in or you may find a “bookmark” or “favorite” for BlackBoard.

Checking Our Technology 1.If you get to BlackBoard, log in, and see the announcement on our course page. 2.Next, go to the “Syllabus” tab to read the syllabus. In case there are any changes to the syllabus, the most current version will always be posted there. 3.Next, go to the “Course Documents” to read the sample Lecture notes. 4.Finally, log-out of BlackBoard & close the browser.

Checking Our Technology 1.Now, let’s go to the “S Drive”. This will be a second place where you can download the lecture notes before each class. 2.Using your hand-out entitled “Tips for printing PowerPoint Notes”, navigate to the point where you could print the sample file BUT DO NOT PRINT IT. 3.So, you can get the lecture notes either from BlackBoard or the S Drive.

Checking Our Technology 1.Let’s conclude this portion by opening Excel (i.e., click on the excel icon). Please wait for everyone to reach this point. 2.We will be using excel as our calculator!

Checking Our Technology 1.If you are unable to get to NOVELL, you should go to the I.T. help desk in Fellows Hall. 2.Are there any questions about the technology?

Part 4 Why Take A Course In Research Methods?

Why Take Research Methods? 1.Raise your hand (and keep it up) if you have ever considered becoming a psychologist, psychiatrist, therapist, counselor, or social worker. 2.How many of you would like to be a GOOD one?

Why Take Research Methods? 1.What are your reasons for taking this course? 2.Class exercise: What research topics interest you? Take a few minutes to write down the THREE research topics that interest you the most. 3.I’ll record your responses, and we’ll use your interests as examples during the course!

Why Take Research Methods? 1.Whether you go into psychology or not, this course will greatly enhance your critical reasoning ability. That will help you in whatever you do! 2.Critical reasoning is important when PRODUCING new information (as you may do in grad school). 3.Critical reasoning is important when CONSUMING new information (as you will do everywhere).

Part 5 Some Themes For Our Course

The Research Cycle Real World Research Representation Research Results Research Conclusions Abstraction Data Analysis MethodologyGeneralization

Exercise in the Research Cycle 1.What is your research question? 2.Who will participate in your study? 3.How are the variables operationally defined? 4.Describe how you will obtain data. 5.Describe how you will analyze data. 6.For whom will your findings be important? Based on your own research interests, identify a study that you would like to conduct, and answer the following questions.

Some Themes For Our Course 1.Experimental vs Non-Experimental Designs 2.Independent versus Dependent Variables 3.Similarities (correlations) vs Differences 4.Central Tendency versus Dispersion 5.Significant Effects versus Chance Effects

Some Themes For Our Course 6.Types of Measurement Scales 7.Normal (bell) vs Non-Normal Distributions 8.Descriptive versus Inferential Statistics 9.Type I versus Type II errors (statistical power)

Some Themes For Our Course 10. Between-Subjects versus Within-Subjects Designs 11. Single Factor vs Factorial (Multi-factor) Designs 12. Reliability versus Validity 13. Ratios! Ratios! Ratios!

Acknowledgments Images used in this educational presentation were obtained from Wikimedia Commons, in accordance with regulations regarding copyright, use, and dissemination.