HELP UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BACHELOR OF PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE PROGRAM JANUARY 2012

COURSE TITLE: COURSE CODE: COURSE DESCRIPTION: ADVANCED RESEARCH METHODOLOGY PSY 201 This subject explores the development of skills necessary for the critical evaluation of behavioural research. Areas of study will include an advanced understanding of the scientific method of research, methodologies employed in research, and statistical analysis. At the end of the subject, students: Gain a clear understanding of the various descriptive, experimental, and applied methods of research. Are well versed with techniques of experimental control and sampling.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1. Knowledge of psychology students will learn advanced research skills. 2. Research methodology students will learn how to: Formulate a research question Conduct a review and critique of existing research in the relevant areas Design a research utilizing the methodology that takes into consideration validity, reliability, ethical issues, and practicality Conduct a research efficiently and effectively Organize and analyze the data using the appropriate statistical tools Report the findings of the research in a clear, comprehensive, and coherent manner through written as well as verbal modes 3. Independent and critical thinking skills students will learn how to critique individual research in psychology & critique & evaluate bodies of research within psychology 4. Application of psychology students will hopefully be able to apply their research skills to a variety of real world settings. 5. Values in psychology students will learn about research ethics. 6. Information and technological literacy students will improve their skills with word processing, internet search, & presentation software. 7. Communication skills students will write research reports. 8. Socio-cultural and international awareness students will learn to be mindful of the fact that many ideas within psychology were developed in a different cultural context. 9. Leadership and personal development through the group project, students will learn how to work in a team, to resolve group conflict & disagreements. PREREQUISITES: LECTURER: PSY 105 & PSY 106 Winnee Cheong BA (Psych) Hons (Central Methodist) MA (Human Behavior) (Commonwealth Int) TELEPHONE: 03 2711-2000 Elaine Fernandez (elaineff@help.edu.my)

EMAIL: cheongwn@help.edu.my GRADUATE TUTOR:

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HELP UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BACHELOR OF PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE PROGRAM JANUARY 2012

COURSE ASSESSMENT: Quizzes Test Project Final Three (3) 10% 10% 30% 50%

CREDIT HOURS:

Course assessment 1. Quizzes (10%) You will not be awarded points for attendance but there will be a quiz 5 minutes after the class begins. There will also be pop quizzes that are given in the middle of class, etc. The quizzes will be based on the previous class. Each quiz will have 5 questions worth 5 marks. I will drop the 2 lowest scores from the total number of quizzes. For example, if you are given 12 quizzes in total for the semester, the 2 lowest scores will be dropped, so the total will be from 10 quizzes. If you are given 17 quizzes in total for the semester, the final total will be from 15 quizzes. There will be no makeup/replacement quizzes. I will not entertain requests for replacements, so theres no need for you to bring me medical certificates, letters from your parents, etc. If you are caught copying on ANY quiz, you will be given an automatic ZERO for all your quizzes. 2. Test (10%) You will be given 1 test (only MCQs) during the semester. This is not a mid-semester exam. You will be informed of the date & material at least 1 week before the test. There will be no makeup/replacement tests. I will not entertain requests for replacements, so theres no need for you to bring me medical certificates, letters from your parents, etc. Your test will be 1 hour or less. Students are not allowed to leave before the first 10 minutes of the test and latecomers are only allowed the first 10 minutes to be late. 3. Project (30%) You are to conduct any experimental research of your choice in groups & submit individual lab reports (in parts further instructions will be provided below). Each group should have at least 5 members. Failure to be in a group of at least 5 members will result in no marks. A group of five members can do a between-subjects design with 1 IV 5 levels or a 2 x 2 design, for example. There is no maximum number of group members, but the more members you have, the more complex your study needs to be. ERB form (5%) I must approve of your topic & the Ethics Review Board must approve of your research before you can conduct it. If you conduct research without ERBs approval, it will not be graded. Before you submit the ERB form, you need to conduct a preliminary literature review i.e. in the APA database (you MUST have journal articles), in books, etc and find past research on the topic you are interested in. Once you have done some preliminary research, you can see me with your research design idea (i.e. how you will run your research. If you want to use a questionnaire, bring me the questionnaire [note that if you want to use a questionnaire, you cannot write your own questions - you must use an established questionnaire from a reliable source & obtain permission to use it if it is a copyrighted measure. If you don't know whether a source is reliable, bring the questionnaire + the details of the source together to this meeting]. After you have the preliminary literature review, design, materials, fill in the ERB form (on My Acel).
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HELP UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BACHELOR OF PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE PROGRAM JANUARY 2012

Heres the timeline for your ERB submission: 1) All groups are to submit draft 1 of your ERB form in week 4. 2) I will review your draft. If your ERB form is fine (i.e. no changes are necessary), I will take it to week 5s ERB meeting; if your ERB form is not fine, it will be returned to you in week 5 (during your week 5 tutorial). If your ERB form passes my review & is approved by ERB, you can proceed to the trial run/assessment. If your ERB form is rejected by ERB, you need to re-submit an ERB form in week 6. 3) Submit draft 2 (that was returned in week 5) or a new ERB form in week 6. 4) If your ERB form is fine, I will take it to week 7s ERB meeting. If your ERB form is not fine, it will be returned to you in week 7 (in class). If your ERB form passes my review & is approved by ERB, you can proceed to the trial run/assessment. If your ERB form is rejected by ERB, you need to re-submit an ERB form in week 8. 5) Submit the final ERB form in week 8. Final ERB form = no more drafts/re-submissions are allowed. Your ERB form MUST be fine this time. If youre unable to perfect it after 2 drafts, you will not submit an ERB form. No ERB submission = no research = no project = 0%. 6) The last ERB meeting will be in week 8. 7) All ERB forms must be submitted in class. Do not leave anything in my pigeon hole or pass the ERB form to anyone else but me (unless you have prior permission from me).

Trial run (2%) & assessment (3%) You need to have a trial run & an assessment. Make sure you at least try to control for extraneous/nuisance variables. Based on the ERB approvals, I will prepare a schedule for you to book trial runs/assessments (i.e. its possible that certain groups ERBs are approved in week 5 & can do their trials in week 6 while others have to submit their ERBs more than once, which means they wont do a trial until at least week 9). If your trial run/assessment goes well, you may start your research. If your trial run/assessment does not go well, you will be required to repeat the trial run/assessment until you are deemed ready. Therefore you want to make sure that you come to the trial run/assessment prepared. You should recruit BPsych students as participants (on ipsy.help.edu.my). Once your trial run is over, I will give you the experimenter code for ipsy.help.edu.my. I believe you can book venues through ipsy.help.edu.my, but for additional equipment (e.g. projector cables), you need to book via the admin staff at the Dept of Psychology. Note that you need to give the admin staff between 3-5 days to check the availability of a venue/equipment. Each researcher is only allowed to recruit 5 participants. So if there are 5 members in the group, you are allowed a maximum of 25 participants. Things you need to bring for your trial run 1) Sessions - list of all the sessions from the combined levels of IV e.g. 1) Classical-Red, 2) Classical-Blue, 3) Pop-Red, 4) Pop-Blue 2) Research procedure e.g. 1) Participants read letter to participants, sign consent form, 2) Participants watch video clip, 3) Etc, etc, etc. 3) Timeline e.g. 1) Step 1 12:00-12:05 p.m., 2) Step 2 12:06-12:10 p.m., 3) Etc, etc. 4) List of responsibilities e.g. 1) Person X - reading instructions, 2) Person Y - distributing test o If you are rotating tasks, show me how the tasks are rotated for the sessions o Please take note that there needs to be 1 researcher outside the lab, "guarding" it against students coming late, noise, etc. To be fair, you should rotate this responsibility instead of assigning it to 1 person because it is a rather boring job. But dont forget to control for experimenter effects. 5) Script this is like a movie script, but it's your experimental script. Everything you say to the participant, from the time you see him/her needs to be typed out & scripted. Your script obviously matches your procedure & time line. For example, 1) "Welcome to our research. You will be required to... 2) "You will now be given a questionnaire. You have 2 minutes. Please begin.
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HELP UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BACHELOR OF PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE PROGRAM JANUARY 2012

6) Your IV & DV & all other relevant materials to run your experiment. So if you are playing music, bring the music + a device to play the music. I do not provide any equipment. 7) Note: Your trial run is supposed to be exactly like your experiment. So you need to come & run the "experiment" in my office just like you would run it in a lab, with ALL the necessary materials. Failure to produce the necessary materials will result in a deduction of marks...and in all probability, a lecture on your lack of preparation. 8) Please note that I need a copy of the list of sessions/treatments, research procedure, timeline, list of responsibilities, script. Lab report (20%) You are to write an individual lab report on your research & it should be written according to the APA format. Your paper should be typed, double-spaced, and the font should be Times New Roman, size 12. You are reminded to follow the APA writing guide & format guide. Refer to MyAcel for both documents. You need to use at least EIGHT (8) primary journals in your lab report. The lab report needs to be submitted in parts: 1) Part 1: Introduction (5 pages) & Method (2 pages) due week 7 2) Part 2: Results (2 pages) due week 12 3) Part 3: Discussion (5 pages) & Abstract (120 words on 1 page) due week 13 Total length of the entire lab report (Abstract, Intro, Method, Results Discussion) = 15 pages. The title page, References, Appendices dont add to your page limit. I only count whats written in the sections listed here. So excluding the Abstract (since an Abstract should be no more than 120 words on a page of its own), from your Intro to Discussion, you are allowed 14 pages maximum (anything beyond this will not be read/marked). The page lengths listed above are recommended/suggested, but you do not have to follow them. So, for example, you could have a 1-page Results & a 6-page Discussion. How to submit the lab report parts: 1) Part 1: Introduction & Method a) Title page b) Introduction & Method c) References d) Appendices (relevant materials) e) TurnItIn report of just the Introduction & Method 2) Part 2: Results a) Re-use the same title page with Part 1s marks b) Attach marked Introduction & Method c) Results d) Appendices (SPSS output tables) e) TurnItIn report of just the Results (do not re-upload the Introduction & Method) 3) Part 3: Discussion a) Print/use title page used in Part 1 (there will be no marks on it because I wont be able to return Part 2 to you before Part 3 is due) b) Discussion c) Abstract (I know it is usually the 1st thing a reader reads, but for this assignment, put it after the Discussion as I have instructed here; but dont forget that it always comes right after the Title Page, before the Introduction) d) TurnItIn report of the Discussion & Abstract 4) The entire group needs to submit the parts together in an envelope. On the envelope: a) Write the subject code (PSY 201) b) Write your student names (as registered) in alphabetical order c) Arrange the papers accordingly (in alphabetical order) & put them in the envelope d) Submit the envelope to me when its due in class
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HELP UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BACHELOR OF PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE PROGRAM JANUARY 2012

e) Do this for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Group members can have identical (verbatim) titles & hypotheses, but that is it. You should not write any other element of the lab report together. Do not cut & paste your Method from the ERB form, because then you will have verbatim information (which isnt allowed). You can share journals (& end up having the same sources of information), but dont share exact content (i.e. you decide together that you are all going to quote sentence 2 from page 255 ). You shouldnt run the SPSS analysis together or get 1 group member to do the analysis & then use the output since its good for you to practice on your own. But to be fair, if you do this, I wont know. What I will know, though, is what you write in your Results section. So you should interpret the results yourself & write out the results (in relation to the hypotheses & hypothesis testing) yourself. Plagiarizing from each other is just as serious as plagiarizing from journals, book, etc. Under any of these circumstances, you could be sent to the Department Assessment Investigative Committee (DAIC) for plagiarism. As mentioned above, you need to submit the lab report parts to TurnItIn. 1) Upload ONLY the section that is to be submitted. Do not re-upload parts as this will affect the plagiarism percentage. 2) Dont forget to refer to the How to submit the lab report parts instructions on page 4. 3) The TurnItIn report is the document you receive via email from TurnItIn saying that it has received your upload. This is what you attach at the very end (i.e. this is the last page). 4) When submitting your paper to TurnItIn, make sure you use your registered name (i.e. whats in the attendance list) & not a nickname. 5) Failure to 1) submit your assignment to TurnItIn, 2) attach the receipt, 3) use a registered name will result in a deduction of 5%. Marking criteria for lab report Sections Introduction Method References Appendices Format Total Results Appendices Total Discussion Abstract Total Grand total Marks 25 16 7 2 2 52 16 2 18 25 5 30 100 marks (20%)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Please note that there is a 2% deduction for every 24 hours (1% for every 12 hours) that an assignment is late (including Saturdays & Sundays). 7 days after the assignment is due, assignments will no longer be accepted e.g. your assignment is due on Monday in class the last day you can submit it is the following Monday by 12 pm. When you submit a late assignment, you can pass it to me directly. However, if Im not in my office, you can put it in my pigeon hole. But BEFORE you leave it in my pigeon hole, make sure you pass it to an admin staff to acknowledge receipt (i.e. ask them to write the date & time & sign on the front of
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HELP UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BACHELOR OF PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE PROGRAM JANUARY 2012

your assignment). Otherwise, I wont know when you submitted it & will make the deductions based on when I receive the assignment. So either pass the late assignment to me, or get an admin staff to acknowledge receipt for you & then put it in my pigeon hole. Dont leave the assignment with the admin staff/grad tutor (they have too many other things to worry about). Put it in my pigeon hole. Colloquium In the 4th tutorial of the semester (week to be confirmed), all groups will give oral presentations of their research. Based on the quality of you research, FOUR groups will be selected to present at Psychology Colloquium to share your research with others, and to compete for the Best Presentation prizes. You are not allowed to decline to present. Groups that are selected to present should be proud that theyre chosen because lecturers are supposed to select the top 4 groups. As such, failure to present will result in a deduction of 5%. If you are unable to present but you have a valid reason, come see me as soon as the groups are announced.

Other information Please note that the policies below apply to all students enrolled for this subject: BPsych students, BBusPsych students and ADP students. Students from other departments taking this subject as an elective are bound by all policies stated here except research participation and colloquium attendance. 1. Plagiarism note All students must use the APA citation style refer to the guide posted on My Acel. Plagiarism is defined as any unacknowledged use of ideas and material produced by someone other than the writer him/herself. Please note that you are NOT to submit an assignment that you have already submitted to a different subject, whether in the same or different semester All assignments must be submitted to TurnItIn. Students who fail to do so will be penalized. The following rules apply: 1) Any information taken from any source must be cited. 2) If you copy the words (more than 3 words in the same sequence) from the source, this is called a direct quotation. Quotation marks must be used and this must be cited. 3) If you re-write or summarize the information in your own words, this is called a paraphrase. No quotation marks are necessary, but the source must be cited. Description Complete paragraphs and/or sentences used without in-text acknowledgement Clear intent to plagiarize Action For cases of blatant plagiarism, students will be called before an Academic Misconduct Committee consisting of the Head of Department and two Senior Lecturers. The following decisions can be made at the discretion of the academic misconduct committee: 1. 0 for assignment 2. F grade for the subject 3. Suspension from the BPsych program 4. Expulsion from the BPsych program In addition to this, all faculty staff will be made aware of the students who appear before the

Category Blatant plagiarism

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HELP UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BACHELOR OF PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE PROGRAM JANUARY 2012

committee. Reference /recommendation letters will not be provided for these students. Maximum 50% of available points Lecturer discretion Student to be notified of action. This will be accompanied by a discussion/consultation on how the mistake can be avoided in future. Maximum 50% of available points Lecturer discretion Student to be notified of action. This will be accompanied by a discussion / consultation on how the mistake can be avoided in future.

Accidental plagiarism

One or two in-text citations omitted Quotation marks omitted Little or no evidence of intent to plagiarize

Poor paraphrasing

Material is acknowledged but at best, the paraphrasing is only limited to a few words being changed Quotation marks are also not used) Little or no evidence of intent to plagiarize

2. Mid-Term / Class Test Attendance Policy 1) For class tests / mid-terms that are 1 hour or less students are not allowed to enter after / leave before the first 10 minutes of the test. 2) For class tests / mid-terms that more than 1 hour students are not allowed to enter after / leave before the first 30 minutes of the test. 3) For class tests / mid-terms, students are not allowed to leave in the last 10 minutes of the test. 3. Barring from Final Examinations Please note that effective from the Jan 2011 semester, for all Psychology subjects, students must attempt any assessment within the enrolled subject that is 10% and above. Failure to do so will result in the student being barred from Final Examinations for that particular subject. For example, for a subject that has the following assessment: Quizzes: 5% Assignment 1: 10% Assignment 2: 15% Mid-terms: 30% Final Exams: 40% If a student does not submit/attend any of the following: Assignment 1 / Assignment 2 / Mid-terms, this student will be barred from sitting for the final examinations of this subject. Please note that students have to submit their assignments within 7 days of the due date (the 7 days include weekends). Assignments submitted after that will not be considered. (i.e. students who submit assignments later than 7 days after the due date will be barred from final exams) If you have attempted the assessment but have obtained a fail grade for that particular assessment, you will still be able to sit for final examinations for that subject. For PSY 201, you must attempt: Test (10%) & Project (30%). 4. Compulsory Participation in Experiments (This policy applies to all Bpsych / BBusPsych / ADP students)
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HELP UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BACHELOR OF PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE PROGRAM JANUARY 2012

Please note that it is compulsory for every student to participate in 4 hours of research this semester: 4 hours in total for the whole semester, regardless of the number of Psychology subjects you are enrolled in (E.g, a student enrolled in 3 Psychology subjects and a student enrolled in 1 Psychology subject will have to participate in the same number of hours (4 hours) of research). Failure to do so will result in 2% being deducted from each Psychology subject that you are enrolled in. Please see the Head of Department if you are uncomfortable with attending experiments and would like to obtain alternative forms of assessment. No bonus marks will be allocated for participation of more than 4 hours of research. The only students who are exempted from this requirement are the BPsych students who are only enrolled in PSY 313 Undergraduate Thesis 2 and no other Psychology subject. Important Note 1: Please ignore any mention of bonus marks on the experiments website, as this semester only has compulsory participation. Important Note 2: Students must make sure that they attend every experiment that they sign up for. Failure to attend an experiment will result in the number of hours of that experiment being deducted from the compulsory hours you have completed. For example, if one signs up for a 2-hour experiment but fails to attend this experiment, the compulsory research hours in the system will be stated as -2 hours. As such, this student will need to participate in a total of 6 hours of experiments to fulfil the 4 hour compulsory requirement. Please refer to the Department of Psychology admin staff if you have any questions about this. 5. Ipsy.help.edu.my/experiments Students may sign up for all experiments at http://ipsy.help.edu.my/experiments. Attention: All Experimenters Kindly update your participants' attendance latest by Wednesday, Week 13 (4th April). It is the experimenters responsibility to ensure that all students who have signed up and attended the experiment receive a confirmation of attendance. Attention: All Participants Please double-check your compulsory research participation hours for accuracy. If there are discrepancies, kindly notify your experimenters to update your attendance. The last day to do this is Wednesday Week 13 (4th April). No changes will be entertained after this. 6. Psychology Colloquium Please note that the format for the Psychology Colloquium has been revised. It will be compulsory for students of certain classes to attend Colloquium. Students in the relevant classes will be notified by lecturers during the first two weeks of class. It is compulsory for PSY 201 & 202 students to attend Colloquium. Failure to do so will result in 2% being deducted from each Psychology subject that you are enrolled in. Please see the Dean (Dr Goh Chee Leong) or the Head of Department (Kenneth Phun) if there are any extenuating circumstances that prevent you from attending the Colloquium.
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7. Policy on Participation for Group Assessment 1. It is the policy of this department that when group assessments are assigned, each individual in that group holds the following responsibilities: 1.1 in the case of written assessment, to contribute to the finished product, be it presentation notes, a research report or a project report. This contribution may include archival research, drafting, editing or formatting. in the case of an oral presentation, to verbally present part of the presentation. No individual should be exempt from speaking during the oral presentation. to be clear on what your specific roles and contributions are to the group effort, as well as the expectations your group members have in terms of your contributions. attend group meetings unless there are legitimate and documented reasons for missing them. attend group meetings with supervisors unless there are legitimate and documented reasons for missing them

1.2

1.3

1.4 1.5

2. Group members have a right to report fellow members for negligence if there are deemed to have failed in any of the responsibilities listed above. 2.1 Group members are encouraged to raise these complaints with their lecturers and attempts made to resolve differences before a formal complaint is lodged. Negligence (social loafing) reports can be filled in by one or several members of the group (see attached form) using forms that can be downloaded from the MyAcel site. Negligence reports should be submitted to the course lecturer who will then make a decision having investigated the issues raised. The group member accused will have an opportunity to defend themselves against the allegations made. If a student is found to be negligent in this matter, a lecturer can penalize them by deducting any amount of marks from their group assessment marks and/or their individual assignment marks.

2.2

2.3

2.4

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HELP UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BACHELOR OF PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE PROGRAM JANUARY 2012

Teaching Wk 1 Jan 9-13 2 Jan 16-20 Lectures (Mondays 3-6 pm) Introduction to PSY 201 (go through course assessment) Formation of research groups Review of research designs & variables (PSY 105 revision) How to conduct a literature review How to formulate research questions & hypotheses How to write a lab report Students will review how to do the above in preparation for their project No class Chinese New Year Hypothesis testing & review of inferential statistics Students will review basic statistical analysis in preparation for their project No class Prophet Muhammads birthday Basic quantitative research Students will review material learned in Research Methodology Basic quantitative research Students will review material learned in Research Methodology Alternative research designs Students will learn about quasi-experiments Alternative research designs Students will learn about quasi-experiments Advanced quantitative research Students will learn about more research designs Advanced quantitative research Students will learn about more research designs Archival research & Observational research Students will learn about content analysis, participant observation Survey research Students will learn about questionnaires & interviews ERB draft 1 due in class Tutorial 1 research questions & hypotheses ERB draft 2 due in class Lab report Part 1 due in class ERB final submission due in class Tutorial 2 results & revision on research designs Tutorial 3 discussion Lab report Part 2 due in class Tutorial 4 presentations Lab report Part 3 due in class Colloquium Apr 7 Others

3 Jan 23-27 4 Jan 30-Feb 3 5 Feb 6-10 6 Feb 13-17 7 Feb 20-24 8 Feb 27-Mar 2 9 Mar 5-9 10 Mar 12-16 11 Mar 19-23 12 Mar 26-30 13 Apr 2-6 14 Apr 9-13 Apr 14-18 Apr 19-28

Focus groups & meta-analysis Students will learn what these 2 research techniques are SEMESTER BREAK FINAL EXAMINATION (The final exam is cumulative)

COURSE OUTLINE PREPARED BY: WC

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