Content, Part I

I. Course Overview

One of your tasks as a graduate student is to conduct an original research project. That task has three formal components: (a) present a proposal to your thesis committee, (b) collect and analyze the data, and (c) defend the final thesis before your thesis committee.

The statistics course (Psy 585) provides a conceptual framework for thinking about experimental research designs (e.g., a 2 x 2 factorial analysis of variance is a experimental research design) and how to analyze those designs. The SPSS course (Psy 580) provides a tool to analyze your data. The research practicum (Psy 603) is an opportunity to work with your mentor in a specific research area.

The focus of the course is on 
(a) design issues, 
(b) research ethics, 
(c) the analysis of  quasi-experimental designs,  and 
(c) the presentation of scientific research.

The Research Proposal

II. Psychology Resources

A. Psychology on the WWW

B. Research Toolbox

Homework:

(1) Spend at least a couple of hours learning how to to use Ovid to search published literature. If you have a proposal topic or area, then use this time to begin the literature search for your proposal. Explore the resources on the web that are relevant to your research interests.

(2) Browse the web and find two scientific sites that are relevant to your research area that are not already listed in Psych-Link.  E-mail the cites to me at lbecker@mail.uccs.edu with a sentence or two of comments about the site.  I'll add them to the specialty areas section.

Favorite web sites, 2000

Favorite web sites, 1999

Hits from the past

III. Scientific Writing

Readings:

American Psychological Association. (1994). Content and organization of a manuscript. In Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed., pp. 1-22). Washington, DC: Author.

Bem, D. J. (1987). Writing the empirical journal article. In M. P. Zanna & J. M. Darley (Eds.), The complete academic (pp. 171-201). New York: Random House.

Sternberg, R. J. (1992). How to win acceptance by psychology journals: 21 tips for better writing. APS Observer, 5(5), 12-13, 18.

Whitley, B. E., Jr. (1996). Writing research reports. In Principles of research in behavioral science (pp. 569-611). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.

Links:

     American Psychological Association. (1996).Pub manual FAQ: Frequently asked questions about the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.) [On-line].Available:
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/faq.aspx

There have been several changes in the recommendations for citing electronic media, including web pages.  See the new APA guidelines at: http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html

Also Recommended:

    Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (1979). The elements of style (3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan.

Lecture Notes:

Critique Guidelines
An example of a critique
Examples of Opening Paragraphs

IV. Ethical Issues in Research

Research must be conducted in an ethical manner. We will discuss the APA Ethical Guidelines and the procedures for obtaining approval of the approval of the Colorado University - Colorado Springs Institutional Review Board (IRB). You will be required to hand in the IRB approval form with your research proposal.

Discussion Notes

Readings:

American Psychological Association. (1992). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. American Psychologist, 47, 1597-1611. (An online version is available, see APA below in "Links."

Whitley, B. E., Jr. (1996). The ethical treatment of research participants. In Principles of research in behavioral science (pp. 169-202). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.

Whitley, B. E., Jr. (1996). The professional and social responsibilities of scientists. In Principles of research in behavioral science (pp. 613-643 ). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) 

Policies and Procedures:

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Office of Sponsored Programs: Policies and Procedures on Research Involving Human Subjects

Forms:

Note: You can download/save these files and then edit them using a word processor that can read .html files (e.g., MS Word 95).  See the Appendices of the Policies and Procedures link for the following forms: Request for Renewal Form,  Report of Change Form, and Sample Consent Form. 

Ethical Guidelines Online:

American Psychological Association (1996). APA ethics information. [On-line]. Available: http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx.

Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Research Integrity

https://ori.hhs.gov/

V. Theory, Research, and Application

Discussion Notes: Causality Discussion Notes

Discussion Notes: Theory, Constructs, and Research Strategies

Readings:

Whitley, B. E., Jr. (1996). Behavioral science: Theory, research, and application. In Principles of research in behavioral science (pp. 1-30). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.

Whitley, B. E., Jr. (1996). Research strategies: An overview . In Principles of research in behavioral science (pp. 31-59). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.

VI. Hypothesis Testing

Discussion Notes

Readings:

Platt, J. R. (1964). Strong inference. Science, 146, 347-353.

Whitley, B. E., Jr. (1996). Formulating a research question. In Principles of research in behavioral science (pp. 61-95). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.

VII. Measurement Issues

Discussion Notes: Reliability and Validity, Part I

Discussion Notes: Reliability and Validity, Part II

Readings:

Whitley, B. E., Jr. (1996). Developing a measurement strategy. In Principles of research in behavioral science (pp. 97-128). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.

Whitley, B. E., Jr. (1996). Scaling and coding. In Principles of research in behavioral science (pp. 129-167). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.

Measurement Resources

Mid-Term I