GRADING:
Teamwork & discussion 30 pts
SPSS & Text exercises 25 pts
Written article critique 25 pts
Paper proposal/Analysis Plan 20 pts
Draft intro & methods 15 pts
Draft of results & discussion paper 15 pts
Final paper 70 pts
Note that there are a number
of pieces that compose your final grade. You receive 1.25 credits for
this class: the extra credit reflects the fact that this course requires
more time, both in-class and out of class, than 1 credit courses--you
need to plan accordingly. The points in the course reflect all aspects
of the research process, including the fact that successful research culminates
in a clear, well-written research paper. Thus, much of your grade will
be determined by the final grade on your paper; the paper itself should
reflect how much you have learned through the semester about the many
different aspects of research. The remainder of the points for the course
are distributed across a variety of tasks: as in research itself, conscientiousness
and pacing in this course will pay off. In contrast, neglecting assignments
as we go along will whittle away at your point total in ways that will
show up at the end of the semester (2 points here, 3 points there--it
adds up!). Mistakes that are attended to carefully along the way, dont
have particularly dire consequences, however. Drafts of the 4 major sections
of your paper are required. If you do not hand in these drafts, you will
not receive any points, and I can guarantee that your final paper will
also suffer from lack of feedback (writing a good research paper is not
a particularly intuitive process--you need input!). One point will be
subtracted for each day the drafts are late, but more importantly, handing
in drafts late will decrease the amount of time, and consequently the
amount of feedback, that I will be able to provide.
ATTENDANCE in class is vital!
Much of your work will be done in class, and much of what we cover is
not discussed in the textbook. Moreover, our research is done in groups.
Missing class means that your group has to work without you, in ways that
will be difficult to make up. If you do not think that you will be
able to attend, ON TIME, the vast majority of classes this semester, you
should arrange to take this course at some other time, or to take some
other course.
GOALS: We have several
goals we hope to accomplish during this course, all of which will require
your active participation. These goals include: becoming more sophisticated
consumers of psychological research (and research in general); learning
the conventions of personality research and psychological writing according
to APA format; becoming familiar with key methodological and theoretical
research concepts; developing an area of substantive knowledge within
personality; developing experience and expertise in problem definition,
critical thinking, tolerance of ambiguity, and teamwork.
CLASS SCHEDULE
N.B.: Scheduling for this course is of necessity tentative, because
the unexpected frequently occurs during the research process. As we go
along, discussion topics will be tailored to the specific projects that
we develop in class. Please keep abreast of announcements during class--they
have the same status as the syllabus.
DATE TOPIC
Tue 9/5 INTRODUCTION
& LOGISTICS
ASSIGNMENT: Find article for
presentation and discussion next class (see handout).
Thur 9/7 Class presentations
on articles & Discussion of operationalization, Ethics & preparation
of ethics proposals, and other concepts. MEET IN SCI 268 until 3
Tue 9/12 Continuation
of class presentations; stats intro in 450 at 3. MEET IN SCI 268 until
3.
Thur 9/14 Reliability
& Validity introduction; Kinds of measures used in personality research;
Discussion of different constructs and scales for inclusion in 101 testing;
Form groups to brainstorm, in preparation for literature searches &
hypothesis generation. We'll meet in SCI 450 for the rest of
the term, unless otherwise noted below or in class.
T 9/19 Reliability
& validity, cont. SPSS work; Measurement issues
TH 9/21 Class discussion
of lit. searches, brainstorming & hypothesis generation; finalizing
groups and project outlines.
T 9/26 Begin compiling
measures to be used & working on ethics proposals. Debbie Swenson's
presentation on using the Research Pool.
TH 9/28 SPSS &
Statistics; Strengths & weaknesses of correlational & experimental
research
Continue compiling measures.
T 10/3 Discussion of
convergent methods in personality; finalize study plans; Work on ethics
proposals.
TH 10/5 Last minute
details/rehearsal/etc; Final prep. for scheduling & running 101 pool
participants.
ETHICS PROPOSAL DUE
T 10/10 FALL
BREAK--NO CLASS
TH 10/12 Continue
data collection; in class computer work.
T 10/17 Disc. of
data entry; file set-ups for individual projects
ARTICLE CRITIQUE DUE
TH 10/19 DATA DATA
DATA
T 10/24 Analytic
strategies for our data; continue data entry
TH 10/26 DATA ENTRY
T 10/31 Continue
working on analysis plan; continue data entry
TH 11/2 Group work
in consultation w/JKN
T 11/7 Group
work in consultation w/JKN
TH 11/9 Group work
in consultation w/JKN
PAPER PROPOSAL/ANALYSIS
PLAN DUE
T 11/14 Group work
in consultation w/JKN
TH 11/16 Group work
in consultation w/JKN;work on intro & methods draft
T 11/21 Ditto;
INTRO & METHODS DRAFTs
DUE!
TH 11/23 THANKSGIVING
VACATION - NO CLASS
T 11/28 GROUP PROJECT
WORK/Individual meetings
TH 11/30 GROUP PROJECT
WORK/Individual meetings
T 12/5 GROUP
PROJECT WORK/Individual meetings
TH 12/7 LAST CLASS:
Class presentations
RESULTS & DISCUSSION
DRAFTs DUE!
**FINAL PAPERS DUE AT 4:30
p.m. on TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19th.**
THIS IS A COLLEGE DEADLINE,
AND IS NOT IN THE LEAST BIT FLEXIBLE
Papers should either be handed
to me personally, or handed in to Pat Paul in SCI 466.
DO NOT LEAVE PAPERS or ASSIGNMENTS
IN MY MAILBOX.
Plagiarism is a violation of
the College honor code, (as well as a serious ethical violation generally)
and will be dealt with via the College Judiciary. No credit will be given
for plagiarized work, and credit for the course will be in jeopardy if
plagiarism is confirmed. Plagiarism is the use of another authors
words and/or ideas, without clear attribution to that author. If you have
any doubt about what constitutes plagiarism (and many students do!), please
talk to me.
YOU MUST KEEP A COPY OF YOUR
PAPER.
Links/Resources:
coming soon!
Created: July 10, 2001
Last Modified: July 26, 2001
Created by: Leslie Chang and Natalie Ng
Maintained by: Julie K. Norem
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