Week |
Date |
General topic |
Discussion group |
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1/14 |
Basic assumptions of the scientific method. |
Politics & science: evolution v. creationism. |
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1/23 |
General methods & theory in science. |
The role of science in society: What does science "do", "Neuro-law". |
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1/28 |
Developing hypotheses, basic research designs. |
Identifying theories, hypotheses, & methods in a research article. |
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2/4 |
Ethics in research. |
Ethics and bias in research. |
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2/11 |
Experimental design, the research context. |
Searching for references & readings. Main topic of your research paper due this week. | ||||
Exam # 1 Wednesday,
Feb. 13. | ||||||
2/18 |
Finish experimental control, Sampling |
Exam overview. Analyze the key design features of a published study. |
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2/25 |
Quasi-experimental and evaluation designs. |
Measurement v. experimental studies as they apply to your paper topics. |
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3/4 |
Descriptive research; Quantitative & qualitative studies. |
Introduction & design of your paper due this week. | ||||
3/11 |
Surveys & questionnaires, general sampling issues. |
Design a survey. |
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3/18 |
Finish Surveys, begin basic statistics. | Methods section for your paper due this week. | ||||
Exam # 2, Wednesday,
March 20 |
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March 25 - 29; Spring Break |
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4/1 |
Basic statistics; variance and distributions. |
Exam overview, basic frequency distributions |
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4/8 |
Inferential statistics: t-tests, correlations, Chi square |
The logic of the t-test, calculate a t-test by hand, initial paper results. | ||||
4/15 |
Multiple independent variables, factorial designs, interactions. |
Correlations: Statistics & results for your paper due this week. |
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4/22 |
Multivariate and within-subjects designs. | Discussion topic TBA Papers are due Friday in discussion group. |
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4/29 |
Finish multivariate designs, within-subject designs, final course overview. |
Course evaluation during discussion group, review for final exam. |
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Exam #3, 1:00 - 3:00, Wednesday, May 8, in classroom. |
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