Experimental Psychology (EXP 3082) Spring 2008

Required Text

Martin, D.W. (2007). Doing psychology experiments (7^th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Thompson Wadsworth.

Sanocki, T. (2001). Student friendly statistics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Course Catalog Description

Scientific method and experimental techniques in psychology. Fundamental assumptions and principles of scientific observation and research design are discussed. Students learn a number of techniques specific to psychological research. Relevant ethical issues are addressed. Students will learn to interpret and evaluate research and to communicate research findings.

This course will cover the basics of conducting and evaluating research in psychology.  The focus of this course is on experimental research, but other research designs will be discussed as well.  We will explore each step in the research process including researching background literature, generating research ideas, designing and conducing experiments, analyzing data, and writing up research results.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students who successfully complete this course should be able to:

Identify and Explain methodologies used for research on psychology.

Evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, and ethics of these various research designs.

Apply this information to improve their own critical evaluation of research encountered

Identify different types of variables and explain the differences between these variables

Identify and Explain different types of reliability and validity.

Critically evaluate, summarize, and integrate research on psychology.

Write research reports using the editorial style of the American Psychological Association.

Design and conduct experimental research on a topic in psychology.

Collect data from participants using appropriate controls and adhering to the ethical

Determine the appropriate statistical test for a dataset and calculate basic statistics.

Interpret statistical results and communicate findings in written and oral formats.

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University of West Florida | Department of Psychology | 11000 University Pkwy. | Pensacola, FL 32514 | (850) 474-2000