PSYCHOLOGY 3010

Psychological Research Methods II

Autumn 1998

Dr. Thomas E. Malloy

Office: Social and Behavioral Science 714

Phone: 581-7865

Office hours: Wednesday Noon - 1:00 p.m. & by appt.

Teaching Fellow: Kelly Smith

Office: Social and Behavioral Science 634

Phone: 585-9175

Office hours: TO BE ANNOUNCED

Teaching Fellow: Michelle Guyton

Office: Social and Behavioral Science 634

Phone: 585-9175

Office hours: TO BE ANNOUNCED

Prerequisites: PSYCH 1010, PSYCH 3000, WRTG 1010

Texts:

Maps for knowing and Explore and know by Tom Malloy are available at the University Bookstore.

General Expectations: Research Methods in Psychology will be taught at an upper division level. The course assumes as a minimum that you have a general academic knowledge of psychology and an introductory knowledge of statistical thinking. This course will be writing intensive; you will writing weekly short papers each week and longer integrated paper at the end of the term. You will also be asked make class presentations in lab. The lab is an integrated part of the course where you will apply the lecture knowledge to the focus issues of the discipline of psychology. We will weave together alternating foci on large epistemological frames about the nature of knowing with critical thinking skills as they apply to psychology.

Grading Policies:

Your grade will be based upon exams (midterm and final), lab work and homework. The two exams will account for 35 percent of your grade each. The lab work and home work will account for the remaining 30 percent. The lab work will include writing an APA style research article. Your grade will be determined by the percentage of total points that you earn: 90 to 100 percent will be an A, 80 to 89 percent will be a B, 70-79 percent will be a C, 60-69 percent will be a D.

This course is "writing intensive." Primarily you will write and rewrite an APA style research article based on your lab work. You will also write a series of short homeworks (usually one to two pages) throughout the quarter. There will about twenty such papers, so expect to read and write on a regular basis. The midterm and final exams will be short answer essay exams.

Two forms of both the midterm and final exams will be offered, about one week apart. The purpose of this multiple testing procedure is, as much as possible within practical constraints, to turn testing into learning. If you are unsatisfied with your grade on the first form of the midterm, you will be able to take a second form of the midterm. This takes advantage of your motivation for good grades to induce you to learn the material which you missed on the first form in order to do better on the second form. This changes the framework for interpreting first form performance away from success/failure toward feedback, which is a crucial aspect of learning. A second purpose of multiple testing is to increase the validity of the testing procedure.

All exams are open-book and open-note. The exams will focus on your problem solving ability around research issues and will be in a short-answer essay format.

Introductory remarks, grading, etc.

Initial Research Project: Evaluating Utah's DUI law

EPISTEMOLOGY: How do we know what we know?

Diverse Frames for knowledge

Classical: Plato's Cave & Map/Territory distinctions

How do social scientists know what they know?

Biological Nature of knowledge

Ecological Models of knowledge

Pattern and the Web of Relationship

Read "The Pattern which Connects"

Models of Mind

Linear vs Circular causality

Read "Circles"

CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS

Validity Frames for arguments and knowledge

Theoretical Construct Validity

Variables, Scientific Hypotheses, Plausible Competing Hypotheses

Operational Definitions

Internal Validity (e.g., Psychotherapy Outcome studies)

Quasi- and True-Experiments

Threats to Internal Validity

Static groups

Mortality

Correlational vs. Experimental Research

Criteria of Causal Inference

Single Subject Designs (e.g. DUI laws)

Interrupted Time Series

Equivalent Time Series

Multiple Time Series

Multiple Lagged Time Series

EPISTEMOLOGY: Some basic presuppositions of science

Induction: Science never proves...

Polya: The inductive pattern

Theories and facts

Description and Explanation

Multiple Versions of the world

Induction, Deduction, and Abduction

Reliability and Validity

Interactive effects of multiple IV's on DV's

CRITICAL THINKING: External Validity (e.g., TV violence)

Selection X Treatment Interaction

Sampling

Non-probability sampling

Haphazard

Quota sampling

Deliberate sampling for heterogeniety

Impressionistic modal instance sampling

Probability sampling

Simple random sample

Stratified random sample

Cluster sampling

Context X Treatment Interaction

Lab studies vs in vivo studies

Demand Characteristics

History X Treatment Interaction

Generalizability of IV and DV

Replication and increased validity

Information Theory and the nature of knowledge

EPISTEMOLOGY: Dynamic Systems and knowledge

Iteration in circular chains of causality

Deterministic Chaos

Sensitive Dependence

Mixing

Attractor states

Phase Transitions

Chaos and Prediction in science

Epistemology: Implications for knowledge in a Dynamic Systems paradigm

Difference, pattern, and information

Paradox and Knowledge

Emergent knowing in dynamic relationship

Versus Knowledge as a static "thing" outside observer

Levels of Analysis

Dynamic networks in levels

Solutions to the Paradox of Knowledge

"Creole-Porpoises"

Read: "Difference," "Moire," & "Levels"

Pure Exploration and basic research

The Journey out of Plato's Cave

The infinite game of knowledge creation

CRITICAL THINKING: Theoretical Construct Validity

Examples where two or more theories compete

Memory

Intelligence

Effects of TV violence on behavior

Threats to Theoretical Construct Validity

Inadequate pre-operational explication

Mono operation bias

Mono-method bias (memory, intelligence)

Experimenter Expectancies

Inappropriate range of variation of constructs

Strengthening Theoretical Construct Validity

Convergent operations for the same construct

IV checks

Divergent operations for different constructs

THE NATURE OF KNOWING:

Levels of knowledge

Fundamental

Generative

Paradigm Shift

Getting to the edge of what is known

and conjectures about what to do next

Mind and Nature: A necessary unity

Other topics may be added as we explore how much breadth and depth we can get into a semester format

Finals Week