Welcome to my online syllabus! I am glad you are curious enough about the course to come to this page. Research methods is all about conducting research, and coming to this page is a first step.
If you have already enrolled in my class, you will find useful information here. It can help you prepare for the beginning of the semester. It’s always good to get a head start with a challenging course! If you are not yet enrolled, I hope this page will convince you it’s worth it.
Research methods is my favorite course to teach because it’s all about conducting research. It’s also the most difficult to teach, and I am always trying to make it better. I’m currently in the process of redesigning the projects and activities to better suit the needs of Bakersfield College students. The changes I incorporated for Fall 2024 were very well received by students. There will be a few more new activities this spring.
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Research methods is about how to conduct research
How will students learn about research methods?
Books needed
Statistical Software
Schedule
Evaluation
Research methods is about how to conduct research
Undergraduate research methods courses serve as an introduction to how scientists conduct research. This course covers methodology the behavioral sciences, which include psychology, cognitive science, anthropology, economics, and sociology. Because it is a psychology course, and I am a psychologist, we will focus on psychological research methods.
What is conducting research like?
Conducting research in an iterative, multistep process. It begins with coming up with questions and reviewing the literature–reading everything that has already been done to address the question. Based on the lit review, researchers formulate testable hypotheses. They then design studies to test these hypotheses and collect data. They use statistical analyses to test the hypotheses. In light of the results, they make inferences and write a discussion. Ideally, the results are published in academic journals. Whatever the outcome, it is always back to the drawing board! New studies are designed to revise or expand upon the first studies.
What will students learn?
This means that you will learn all about conducting research! This includes how to read and understand published research, come up with testable hypotheses, design studies, collect, clean, and analyze data, make inferences, and write up the results. Understanding research ethics and how to practice good science are a vital part of this process.
How will students learn about research methods?
This course has two components. We will have lectures that cover everything from ethics in research to study design to writing in APA style. You will also conduct research! Nothing teaches like doing, so you will choose a topic for a literature review, read relevant research, build an annotated bibliography, and write a literature review. You will also participate in planning and collecting data for a study that will be written up for publication. You will practice research design by brainstorming many studies. You will do statistics with real data and participate in a semester-long study. Your final project will be to present a poster. We will do several lab activities to help you understand experimental design.
Books needed
I have chosen an open-source textbook for this class that I really like. You will need to purchase the APA manual.
Jhangiani, R. S., Chiang, I-C. A., & Leighton, D. C. (2019). Research Methods in Psychology, 4th edition.
This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This means it is free! You can access it here: https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/psychmethods4e/ Links to an external site.. It can be read online or downloaded from the site in various formats. For most assignments, I provide a link directly to the section on CANVAS.
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Washington, DC: Author ISBN: 978-1-4338-3216-1.
You can use any format (hard cover, spiral, paperback, eBook). I strongly suggested trying to find a used one on BC’s Textbooks for Sale facebook page. Most of the information can be found online too. You could also share with a classmate!
You are responsible for reading the texts and learning all content. Yes, I will also lecture. I will probably cover all important points. I will also add to the text material that is NOT in it. I might skip some of the material in the text because I assume you can read. Bottom line: Exam questions will come from the text and my lectures.
Statistical Software
I STRONGLY encourage you to ensure access to our statistical software before the course begins. You will save yourself a lot of stress that way!
As per Bakersfield College requirements for B6 (Research Methods), we must use IBM’s SPSS statistical software. You can get a discounted 6-month license by clicking HERE. (Don’t pay more than that elsewhere!) You can also use it on computers at BC. SPSS is installed on computers in the Main Campus Library, and in rooms 208 and 221 on the Southwest campus. These are classrooms, but there is plenty of time without classes, and I personally don’t mind if a student sits in the back of my class working quietly. The tutoring center at Southwest is also getting computers with SPSS.
Above: A screenshot of an SPSS dataset you might be using. These data were collected by my Research Methods students.
It’s important to note that statistical software such as SPSS is essential for this course. You cannot complete all the assignments with a scientific calculator or with Excel. Like all sophisticated statistical software, SPSS is a powerhouse. You will be using less than 10% of the functions available to you (and BC only provides a limited version). I promise that although it may seem intimidating at first, by the time the first exam comes along, you will feel very comfortable with SPSS!
You can access SPSS for free on the BC Appstream
You can access SPSS (along with Microsoft Office) for free on BC’s Appstream. The Appstream is part of Amazon Web Services, and you can use it anywhere you have an Internet connection on any device with a browser. The SPSS on it is fully functional. It does take a long time to load. (If you use it for exams, get it up and running before you start the quiz). You have to upload your SPSS files to your BC Onedrive, and then open them in SPSS.
The procedure is a bit clunky, but it is free.
Above: I have a few videos demonstrating how to use the Appstream.
You can also access all of my instructional videos detailing how to run analyses in this playlist: SPSS instructional videos.
Schedule
Although the details of scheduling will change, this liquid syllabus will give you an idea of what the course will look like. For 16-week (semester-long) courses, we will do one topic per week.
Welcome! Introductions and preliminary materials
Please read the Home page and complete the first module before the first day of class.
Activities:
• Do the Introduce yourself discussion (record or link to a brief video) by Sunday for 10 points extra credit.
• Complete the SPSS Pre-assessment (Required to advance to Topic 1)
• Read the How to Access SPSS page. (required)
• Complete the Day 1 Survey (required)
Topic 1: Welcome! Course Orientation and Introduction
Assigned Reading
• Text Part I: The Science of Psychology
• Syllabus
Assignments & Activities
• Note: Your assignments are all in QUIZ form on CANVAS.
• Required CANVAS Discussion: Course expectations
• Due: Syllabus Quiz
• Correlation study design exercise
Topic 2: How to conduct research in psychology
Assigned Reading
• Text Part II: Overview of the Scientific Method (Introduction and Chapters 7, 8)
• Rosenthal, 1994 (see quiz)
Assignments & Activities
• Complete the Library Information and Databases Modules
• Rosenthal, 1994 Quiz
• Professor Black introduces the research project
Topic 3: Developing Testable Research Questions and Hypotheses
Assigned Reading
• Text Part II: Overview of the Scientific Method (Chapters 9-14)
• APA Manual, Chapter 1 (sections 1.1-1.10, Types of articles and papers)
Assignments & Activities
• Complete the Strategies for Effective Research Module
• Due: QALMRI 1
• Introductory SPSS lab.
• Choose your lit review topic
Topic 4: Ethical Principles in Writing and Conducting Research
Assigned Reading
• Text Part III, Research Ethics
• APA Manual, Chapter 1 (Sections 1.11-1.20: Ethics, Legal, and Professional Standards in Publishing & Protecting the Rights and Welfare of Research Participants and Subjects)
• Read the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct
Assignments & Activities
• Complete the Avoiding Plagiarism Module
• Complete the APA General Principles quiz
• Due: Proposed lit review topic (1 paragraph detailing the importance of the topic, 3 sources)
Topic 5: Planning and Conducting Research; Introduction to APA Style
Assigned Reading
• Text Part XI: Presenting your Research (Introduction and Chapter 48)
• APA Manual, Chapter 2: Paper Elements and Format
• Format a document in Word for papers, theses, & dissertations (APA style)
Assignments & Activities
• Brainstorming research ideas for Study 5
• Statistics and SPSS Review (Day 1 dataset)
• Due: SPSS Assignment 1: Descriptive Statistics.
Topic 6: Psychological Measurement
Assigned Reading
• Text Part IV: Psychological Measurement
Assignments & Activities
• Testing scale reliability in SPSS
• Develop a psychometric scale
• Due: SPSS Assignment 2: Scale reliability
• Due: Current draft of your annotated bibliography, with at least five sources
Topic 7: Correlational Research: The Examination of Relationships
Assigned Reading
• Text Part VI: Non-experimental Research
Assignments & Activities
• Complete the Informed Consent quiz
• Non-experimental 2 group Study Design Exercise
• Due: Aspredicted Pre-registration for your non-experimental study
Topic 8: Survey Research
Assigned Reading
• Text Part VII: Survey Research
Assignments & Activities
• Vote on Study 5 design
• Due: Rough draft of lit review (see below for detailed description): 3-4 pages, PLUS title page and reference section, at least 6 sources
Topic 9: Review and midterm exam
No Assigned Reading
Assignments & Activities
• SPSS review
• Midterm exam
• Check Study 5 survey for errors if ready
Topic 10: Experimental Research Designs and cleaning data
Assigned Reading
• Text Part V: Experimental Research
• How to prepare raw data for analyses
Assignments & Activities
• Experimental study design exercise
• Due: SPSS Assignment 3 (Comparing means)
• Data collection study 5?
Topic 11: Testing hypotheses
Assigned Reading
• Text Part XIII: Inferential Statistics
Assignments & Activities
• Due: SPSS Assignment 4 (Correlation)
• Due: QALMRI 2
• Correlation study design exercise based on your lit review
Topic 12: The publishing process
Assigned Reading
• APA Manual, Chapter 12 (Publication Process)
Assignments & Activities
• Review a paper
• ANOVA study design exercise
Topic 13: Writing and Presenting Your Research: Basics and Best Practices
Assigned Reading
• Text Part XI: Presenting your Research (Chapters 49, 50)
• Text Part VIII: Quasi-Experimental Research
Assignments & Activities
• Due: Final draft of your annotated bibliography (at least 9 sources)
• Due: SPSS Assignment 5 (Based on SF paper)
• Data collection should be done
Topic 14: Factorial Designs
Assigned Reading
• Text Part IX: Factorial Designs
Assignments & Activities
• Factorial study design exercise
• Data cleaning
Topic 15: Poster Presentations, review, catch-up
No Assigned Reading
Assignments & Activities
• Due: Posters (files)
• Due: Final study design exercise
• Due: Final Paper (Proposal: 8-10 pages PLUS title page, references, table, appendix, at least 9 sources)
Final Exam Day:
Poster presentations, party!
The Professor reserves the right to modify the assignments in CANVAS or classroom (by adding, changing, deleting any work listed in this syllabus), and will notify students of such changes via announcements, lecture, and email. IN THIS CASE, I WILL BE CHANGING THINGS!
Evaluation
In this course, you will primarily be evaluated on how much you learn about conducting research. We will focus on the research process, with an emphasis on designing studies and understanding published research. You will also have low-stakes assignments designed to teach you how to use SPSS to run statistical analyses, as well as a midterm exam and occasional quizzes. You can see the grade breakdown below.
Above: As can be seen in the table above, 70% of your grade comes from applying knowledge and skills relevant to conducting research. If you come to class and put in sufficient effort, you will pass the course.