Psychology 208: Principles
of Experimental Design
An introduction to theory and research methods in psychological science. Topics include philosophy of science, ethical issues, experimental design, and data interpretation. This course is a prerequisite for Psychology 209, and you should not take both concurrently without permission of instructors in both courses.
Instructor: Randolph Blake Hours: 1 - 2 M/W, or by appointment |
TA: Emily Grossman |
TA: Cathryn Freid |
Click here for information on how we graded homework 9. This page also contains additional material on ethics in research involving human subjects.
Click here to access material from the Vanderbilt University IRB webpage on treatment of human subjects.
Click here to see the answers to Exam 2.
Click here to download a file containing several "replies" to the article on healing prayer.
Click here to download a copy of the article on healing prayer that you should read before taking exam 2 on October 31. The article is in PDF format (can be opened using Adobe Reader, a copy of which can be downloaded free from this site). A copy of the article is also on reserve at the Central Library.
Click here to download a copy of the syllabus in PDF format (can be opened using Adobe Reader, a copy of which can be downloaded free from this site)
Click here to access three essays on understanding (Homework 1) that we particularly enjoyed reading.
Click here to access the answer key for exam 1.
News Flash!
IS AN UNHAPPY MARRIAGE BETTER
THAN A DIVORCE?
from The Christian Science Monitor
Thirty years after the divorce revolution
first offered the promise of "freedom" to unhappy couples,
assuring them that children are resilient and will quickly adjust,
a quiet reappraisal is taking place. Several researchers now find
that what might be liberating for adults can sometimes have unsettling
long-term effects on children. The best-known proponent of this
viewpoint is Judith Wallerstein, whose new
book, "The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce," is sparking
controversy from newsmagazine covers to talk shows and columns.
She was a featured speaker at a seminar at the nonpartisan Institute
for American Values in New York, sharing the spotlight with Linda
Waite, author of another new book, "The Case for Marriage:
Why Married People are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially."
Both authors hope their findings, and those of other researchers,
will promote a shift in public attitudes, encouraging marriage
and discouraging
divorce. For more on this potentially important study,
navigate to this
website.
SCIENTISTS DISSECT DYNAMICS OF PANIC
Around the world, wherever large groups gather, people have witnessed the mysterious power of panic. Now, scientists say they have built a powerful computer program that, for the first time, solves the mystery of how crowds move under pressure, a program that will help architects and emergency planners prevent panics. Unlike past studies, which tried to understand the mentality of the mob, the new simulation suggests that human traffic jams are almost as predictable as the motion of the planets. The human tendency to follow the crowd, and to push when stressed, can unleash forces powerful enough to bend steel or topple brick walls, the authors say, unless architects redesign public spaces to create a smooth flow of people even when they panic. For more on this potentially important study, navigate to this website.
A professor was giving a big test one day to his students. He handed
out all of the tests and went back to his desk to wait. Once the test was
over the students all handed the tests back in. The professor noticed that
one of the students had attached a $100 bill to his test with a note saying "A
dollar per point." The next class the professor handed the tests back.
This student got his test and $64 change.
Navigate to Essays on Science and Society to see a list of essays recently published in Science magazine. Essayists include prominent scientists plus a wide range of nonscientists, including artists, politicians, religious leaders, science fiction writers and philosophers. With a new essay each week through the end of the year, the series builds into a fascinating portrait of how the sciences are perceived today.
Some that I particularly like:
Popular Culture and the Threat to Rational Inquiry (Hofstadler)
Beauty, Charm and Strangeness: Science as Metaphor (Banville)
Science from a 6th Grader's Perspective (students of Bird Elementary School)
Folk Psychology and Other Interesting Tidbits
* Can computer robots "think" and create? Recent findings out of Brandeis University doesn't provide a definitive answer, but the findings are provocative: robots are now able to produce other robots without significant human intervention.
* Does background music influence consumer purchasing? The answer appears to be "yes" at least when it comes to wine.
* Are women more emotional than men? According to one article the answer is "yes", but men get angry quicker and stay angry longer.
* By how much do daily births outnumber daily deaths in the world? The answer is approximatetly 220,000 - that's EVERY DAY. For the source of this and other fascinating, disturbing facts, navigate to the "facts" webpage published by the World Health Organization.
* Does use of the Internet affect people's social lives? Yes,
and negatively according to a study published recently in American
Psychologist. To quote from the abstract, "In this sample,
.. greater use of the Internet was associated with declines in
participants' communication with family members in the household,
declines in the size of their social circle, and increases in
their depression and loneliness."
Course Overview: We live in an expanding ocean of information, and scientific research is one source of that expansion. Knowledge acquired through research is bounded by the conditions under which the research is carried out. Consequently, informed consumers of information must understand how research is carried out, in order to decide what to believe. This course provides an introduction to theory and research methods in psychological science. Topics include philosophy of science, measurement, ethical issues in psychological science, experimental design and data interpretation. Students will develop an appreciation for the methods involved in carrying out research on issues in psychology and, hopefully, will become critical consumers of scientific results, learning to distinguish sound conclusions from those based on faulty reasoning or flawed experiments.
Computer accounts/electronic classroom: Students need to have computer center accounts (there is no cost involved), so they can access electronic mail (e-mail) and the World Wide Web (WWW). Students with accounts also will be able to access electronically the files posted in the 208 folder on the Electronic Classroom file server. Exam guides and interesting tidbits will be posted regularly in that folder. In addition, students may use e-mail to transmit comments or questions to the instructor or the teaching assistant.
Students will spend time in Room 120 Wilson Hall, the electronic classroom (EC) with Macintosh workstations. Throughout the semester demonstrations, exercises and homework assignments will be posted on those workstations for students enrolled in 208. The EC is open for your use during times posted outside that classroom. Plan to attend one of the tutorial sessions offered by the EC staff; these are offered during the first week of class. During open times, there is an assistant in the classroom who can answer questions about the facility (e.g., logging on to the computer, printing material).
GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR THIS COURSE
Education would not be necessary if things were as they seem (Parker Palmer)
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler (Albert Einstein)
Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly (Gypsy Rose Lee)
The more the teacher teaches, the less the student learns (anonymous)
The Double Helix, by J.D. Watson
Doing Psychology Experiments, D. Martin (DPE)
How to Think Straight About Psychology, K.E. Stanovich
Selected articles, available in Reserve Room at Central Library
VANDERBILT'S HONOR CODE GOVERNS ALL WORK IN THIS COURSE
EXPLORING METHODOLOGY OUTSIDE OF CLASS
"A properly conducted experiment is a thing of beauty. It
is an adventure , an expedition, a conquest. it commences with
an act of faith, faith that the world is real, that our senses
generally can be trusted, that effects have causes, and that we
can discover meaning by reason." From To Know A Fly,
by Vincent Dethier.
"A properly conducted experiment operates like a well-constructed
trap, in which a captured conclusion has no escape from the evidence."
R. Blake, driving to work one morning.
One rich source of insight for understanding methodology is provided by your own, everyday encounters with your world. We want you to discover strategies of knowing that, in a sense, you already use. Learnto pay attention to how you solve problems, how you interpret events and how you form opinions and reach conclusions. To give a just a few examples:
Think about how you'd discover the reason your car isn't running well.
Enumerate the characteristics that form your first impressions of someone you've just met.
Listen to comercial advertisements, paying particular attention to their use of "evidence" to influence your purchasing behavior.
Pay attention to the ways in which "statistics" are employed in newspaper stories, to buttress an argument.
Notice what tactic your roommate uses to convince you to do something, or not to do something.
Keep a tally of the number of times you read or hear the phrase, "Scientific evidence shows ....."
Ask you physician how she/he arrives at a diagnosis.
You are to keep a "Methods Diary" throughout the semester. In this diary you are to record examples of how "evidence" - particularly scientific evidence - is used. Bring particularly salient or amusing experiences to class, so we may share in the learning experience. You will turn in your diary on 10/10 as homework assignment Five. Your diary should include at least six documented examples drawn from multiple sources (such as media, other classes, social interactions, church). Each example should explain the source of the evidence, the motives of the source, the validity of the evidence and your reaction(s) to it.
ADDITIONAL (BUT NOT REQUIRED) READINGS & RESOURCES
General methods
Campbell, D.T. & Stanley, J.C. (1963) Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. Chicago: Rand-McNally Press. Classic analysis of threats to internal and external validity.
Ericson, K.A. & Simon, H.A.(1993) Protocaol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Pioneers in psychological research argue for the validity of verbal reports as psychological data.
Wilson, T. (1994) The proper protocol: Validity and completeness of verbal reports. Psychological Science, 5, 249-252. A skeptical review of the utility of protocol analysis.
Recent issues of Journal of Experimental Psychology or Psychological Science (Main) Articles in these journals provide first-hand exposure to contemporary psychological research.
Critical thinking
Paulos, J.A. (1988) Innumeracy:mathematical illiteracy and its consequences. New York: Vintage Books. A classic showing how our ability to think rationally is limited by our confusion about probability and by the illusion of large numbers.
Gray, W.D. (1991) Thinking crtically about new age ideas. Belmont CA: Wadsworth. Fallacies in evidence supporting paranormal phenomena.
Radner, D & Radner M (1982) Science and unreason.Belmont CA: Wadsworth. Differences between pseudoscience and genuine science.
Shermer, M (1997) Why people believe weird things. New York: Freeman & Co.Human reasons why we believe in the supernatural.
Cultural relativism
Matsumoto, D. (1993) People: Psychology from a multicultural perspective. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Matsumoto, David (1994) Cultural influences on research emthods and statistics, Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Description of the ways culture affects the conduct of research and the analyses of data.
Triandis, H.C. (1994) Culture and social behavior. New York: McGraw Hill.
Philosophy/history of Science
Kuhn, T.S. (1970) Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 2nd Edition. CHicago: University of Chicago Press.
Toulmin, S. (1960) The Philosophy of Science: An Introduction. New York: Harper & Row.
Medawar, P. (1984) The Limits of Science. New York: Harper & Row.
Ethics in Science
Broad, W. & Wade, N. (1982) Betrayers of the truth. New York: Touchstone. An examination of the various ways fraud in science is committed and detected.
Sarasohn, J. (1993) Science on trial. New York: St. Martin's Press. Account of the contentious, exhausting investigation of a recent, infamous case of scientific fraud involving a Nobel Prize winner.
Intelligence Testing (IQ Debate)
Gould, S.J. (1981). The mismeasure of man. New York: W.W. Norton.
Gould, S.J. (1994). Curveball. The New Yorker. (pp. 139-149).
Hernnstein, R.J., & Murray, C. (1994). The bell curve. Free Press.
Murray, C., & Herrnstein, R.J. (1994). Race, genes, and IQ - An apologia. The New Republic. (pp. 27-37).
Jacoby, R., & Glauberman, N. (1995). The bell curve debate. New York: Random House.
Jensen, A.R. (1972). Genetics and education. New York: Harper & Row.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Tranel, D., & Damasio, A.R. (1985). Knowledge without awareness. Science, 228, 1454-1455.
Raichle, M.E. (1994). Visualizing the mind. Scientific American, 58-64.Why people believe weird things. New York: Freeman & Co.Human reasons why we believe in the supernatural.
Cultural relativism
Matsumoto, D. (1993) People: Psychology from a multicultural perspective. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Matsumoto, David (1994) Cultural influences on research emthods and statistics, Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Description of the ways culture affects the conduct of research and the analyses of data.
Triandis, H.C. (1994) Culture and social behavior. New York: McGraw Hill.
Dave Barry on College and Psychology
What is College? College is basically a bunch of rooms
where you sit for roughly two thousand hours and try to memorize
things. The two thousand hours are spread out over four years;
you spend the rest of the time sleeping and trying to get dates.
What do you do in College? Basically, you learn two kinds of things in college:
1. Things you will need to know in later life (2 hours). These
include how to make collect telephone calls and get beer and crepe-paper
stains out of your pajamas.
2. Things you will not need to know in later life (1,998 hours).
These are the things you learn in classes whose names end in -ology,
-osophy, -istry, -ics, and so on. The idea is, you memorize these
things, then write them down in little exam books, then forget
them. If you fail to forget them, you become a professor and have
to stay in college for the rest of your life.
What is Psychology? This involves talking about rats and dreams. Psychologists are obsessed with rats and dreams. I once spent an entire semester training a rat to punch little buttons in a certain sequence, then training my roommate to do the same thing. The rat learned much faster. My roommate is now a doctor. If you like rats or dreams, and above all if you dream about rats, you should major in psychology.
Some WorldWideWeb Sites on Topics
of Relevance to Students in Psychology 208
Psychology Journals/organizations on
the Web
http://www.apa.org/sitemap.html
[largest professional organization of psychologists]
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/
[research-oriented professional organization, with access to Psychological
Science and to Current Directions in Psychological Science]
http://psych.AnnualReviews.org/
http://www.rhine.org/jp1.html
[flagship journal in parapsychology]
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPA.html
[style manual for the APA]
History of Psychology
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/Mind/Table.html
On-line Psychology Experiments
http://epsych.msstate.edu/index.html
http://kahuna.psych.uiuc.edu/ipl/
Statistics (somewhat advanced)
http://www.graphpad.com/welcome.htm
http://www.graphpad.com/www/Book/Choose.htm
Three Door Problem (exercise in statistical reasoning)
http://www.intergalact.com/threedoor/threedoor.cgi
Astrology
http://www.vianet.on.ca:80/pages/mcnenlyb/
www.humorscope.com
http://metro.turnpike.net/S/SRozhon/www.htm
http://www.excite.com/horoscopes/astrology/
Parapsychology
http://eeyore.lv-hrc.nevada.edu/~cogno/para1.html
http://www.rhine.org/jpab9709.html
Philosophy of science
http://www.liv.ac.uk/~larvor/intersci.html
Science and Society
http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/150essay.shl
Experimental Design
http://server.bmod.athabascau.ca/html/Validity/index.shtml
http://gateway1.gmcc.ab.ca/~digdonn/psych104/think.htm
Ethics
http://helix.nih.gov:8001/ohsr/guidelines.phtml [guidelines
for use of humans in research]
http://www.apa.org/ethics/code.html
[ethics in psychological training and research]
http://www.apa.org/science/animal2.html
[guide for treatment of animals in research]
Bad Science
http://www.junkscience.com/
http://www.improb.com (the Mad Magazine of science)
http://www.csicop.org/si/
(a journal devoted to debunking bad
science)
General Psychology
http://www.onnashville.com/health/blurbs/mind.htm
http://www.psych-web.com/
A note on grading of homework essays. We look at several aspects of the answer including:
1. Does the essay answer the question that was asked?
2. Is the reasoning sound and consistent?
3. Are the thoughts expressed clearly, with examples if required?
4. Does the essay contain grammatical and/or spelling errors?
Homework 1
Homework 2
Homework 3
Homework 4
Homework 5
Homework 6
Homework 7
