Psychology 7

Introduction to Experimental

Psychology

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

EXAM 2 GRADES POSTED

 

THURSDAY MAY 15, 11:30-2:00

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FAIR

 

NOTES FROM JONI'S Second REVIEW SESSION

NOTES FROM JONI'S First REVIEW SESSION

 

 

Text: Available at Campus Bookstore and via on-line book distributors.

Gravetter, F. J., & Forzano, L. B. (2006). Research methods for the behavioral sciences (2nd Edition). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Copy on reserve at Davidson Library.

There is a text companion web page:

Gravetter 2nd Edition Web Page

 

Course Overview: The purpose of this class is to introduce you to the methodology and practice of experimental psychology. A great deal of knowledge about human psychology has been accumulated by observational, survey, experimental and quasi-experimental research. The process of this research includes coming up with a testable hypothesis, operationalizing the hypothesis into independent and dependent variables, adopting an appropriate methodology for the study (e.g., survey, experiment, observation), and analyzing and interpreting data. This course will examine each step of the research process in experimental psychology. In addition to learning how academic psychologists conduct research to investigate all areas of social behavior, a goal of this class is to equip you with critical skills about research claims. All of you, throughout your lives, are going to be bombarded with research claims, and are going to seek out answers to questions that can be investigated with research. Therefore, an important goal of this course will be to teach you to how to critically evaluate research claims.

Course Requirements and Grading:
Exam #1: 30%
Exam #2: 30%
Final Exam: 40%

Psychology Department Equalization of Grading Policy
In order to ensure that grading procedures are consistent across all courses required for entrance into the major, the Psychology Department utilizes a grading policy that is applied to all pre-major courses (Psych 1, 3, 5 & 7). This policy ensures that all students will be evaluated consistently across different classes and different instructors.

According to this policy, approximately 10-15% of the class can receive a grade of A- or higher, approximately 40-45% of the class can receive a grade of B- or higher, and approximately 80-85% of the class can receive a grade of C- or higher. Thus, the final distribution of grades in this course will be based on these guidelines and on overall student performance. This means that your final grade will be based both on your absolute performance and on your performance relative to other students in the course.

 

The Psych 7 Research Requirement
The purpose of the Psych 7 Research Requirement is for students to get first-hand experience with research.
Options: 1) Be a participant in experiments; or 2) Write a research paper

For Spring ‘08, students need 6 Credits
•  a one hour (or less) experiment = 1 credit
• over an hour (up to two hours) = 2 credits
The last day to participate in experiments is June 1, 2008. NO experiments are run the last week of classes and there are no experiment makeup dates after the last day of experiments. The paper is due on May 30, 2008 by 4:00 PM (Psych East, RM 1813). If you don’t complete the research requirement by the specified deadlines, your Psych 7 grade will be reduced (e.g., if you had an A- you will receive a B+, if you had a C, you will get a C-).

If you have questions about the Psych 7 Research Requirement, contact the Subject Pool Coordinator, wwwsubpool@psych.ucsb.edu.

Italics below indicate update (4-2-08)