Professor: Dr. Curt Burgess
429F Life Sciences Bldg.
Psychology Wing
Office: 787-2392
email: curt@cassandra.ucr.edu
Web Address: http://locutus.ucr.edu
Office Hours: Tues & Thurs 2:00 to 3:00,
or as arranged

Research Methods is a 6 credit hour course that meets Tuesday and Thursday from 12:40 to 2:00 in Bourns Hall A125. The texts for the course are Martin, D. W. (1996). Doing psychology experiments (4th edition). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole, and the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4th Edition). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.. We will attempt to cover one to two chapters every week from the Martin text. There will be a number of extra readings that will be available at the reserve desk.

Course Objectives
1. To be able to search out appropriate literature to develop hypotheses and theory.
2. To be able to interpret basic statistical analyses and derive meaningful conclusions.
3. To be able to use library reference material effectively especially PsycInfo on Melvyl.
4. To be able to write clear, effective, mature prose using APA style for experimental papers.
5. In other words, to "be able to design, execute, interpret, and report simple psychological experiments." (Martin, 1996, p. xi)
6. To learn this material sufficiently as to be able to integrate it into your daily life.

Attendance and Participation
I strongly encourage all students to attend lecture, although I do not require it. In making the decision to attend, consider that lecture, lab, and text material will be on the tests. Any popquizes given during lecture can not be made up later than when originally given. Attendance at lab is required and is part of your grade. In the event of an absence, make sure that you get notes from a classmate since we will discuss some material that is not covered in the text. Office hours provide a forum to review material that is unclear, however, no one will re-present a day's lecture due to your absence. I also encourage you to ask questions in class. If the class is quiet, I assume (usually incorrectly) that everyone is understanding what I am presenting and that I am not proceeding too quickly. Thus, I rely on you for feedback on the need for further elaboration or to slow the pace a little.

Grading and Exam Policy
There will be a midterm and a comprehensive final that will cover the text, assigned readings, material and experiments from lab and lecture. Exams will be a combination of multiple choice, short answer, and essay.

Course components are weighted as part of the final grade as follows: 15% midterm exam; 15% final exam; 20% lab and homework assignments (lab attendance & participation are included here; popquizes); 10% partial APA paper 1; 10% partial APA paper 2; 30% final full APA paper (~10-15 pgs, APA style).

Make-up exams are given at the discretion of the instructor. I am usually understanding about make-up exams as long as you let me know BEFORE the exam that you have a problem; and that you provide verifiable evidence of your problem. If you miss a test, keep in mind that the make-up exam may be different than the regular in-class exam. Let me know before a test if you have a special need (i.e., learning disability, physical handicap) that requires some special testing consideration. Crucially, if you feel like you are having problems with this course for whatever reason, let me know!

Late Work Policy
APA papers turned in late (without my permission) will have 10% deducted per calendar day late. No work is accepted after the end of the last class period; any work not turned in at that point receives a zero grade. No work will be accepted two weeks after the original due date; two weeks after the original due date, a zero will be entered in to the grade book.

Plagiarism Policy
Any time you turn in work, you must make clear if any number of words are taken from someone else's writing. You must also indicate if you have used another person's ideas. Any use of another's work (whether exact wording, sentence structure, or ideas) that is not clearly and appropriately labeled by the use of quotation marks or parenthetical citations is plagiarism (see APA manual section 4.13). Plagiarized assignments receive a grade of F. Extensive, malicious, or repeated plagiarism results in a course grade of F and is turned over to the campus student discipline coordinator. See APA manual section 6.05 and lab handout on how to avoid plagiarism.

Topics to be covered
Lecture will not perfectly correspond to the material in the text; however, we will attempt to deal with the following information which will also include additional assigned readings. Thus, you will be at a distinct advantage if you read through the chapter prior to class. The coverage described by the following dates should be considered approximate. Any variations will be announced in class or lab.

Jan 8, 13, 15. Chp 1:Orderly Observations, Chp 2: Getting Experimental Ideas

Jan 20, 22. Chp 6: Deciding Which Variables to Manipulate and Measure, Chp 7: W/S vs B/S Designs. In Lab you will be responsible for Chp 5 which will relate to the library research you will be doing. You will also participate in several experiments during this and the next week. These results will be used in the upcoming partial APA papers. Plagiarism will be discussed in great detail and with examples.

Jan 27, 29. Chp 8: Single-Variable Experiments, Chp 9: Multiple-Variable Experiments. In lab, you will start coverage of Chp 13: Reporting Experimental Results (APA writing style using the APA manual). You will also start reviewing the results from one of the experiments you participated in.

Febr 3, 5. Chp 9: Multiple-Variable Experiments (the saga continues!), Chp 12: Interpreting Experimental Results (you will spend time in lab on this chp too).

Febr 10, 12. Statistics Review (correlation, analysis of variance). Appendix A and library reading. In lab you will be evaluating the experimental results with the benefit of what you have reviewed.

Febr 17. Midterm Review and wrap up of experimental interpretation and AOV.

Febr 19. Midterm Exam

Febr 24, 26 Chp 10: Quasi-Experimental Design

March 3, 5. Chp 3: How to Be Fair with Participants

March 10, 12. Chp 11: How to Tell When You Are Ready to Begin; Chp 4: How to Be Fair with Science.

March 17, 19. Chp 13: Reviewing (again) Reporting Experimental Results. APA manual. Discussing issues that arise with your projects.

March 26. Final Exam