Quantitative Methods in Psychology

CG0009
Fall 2006

Course Meeting Place: Foxboro Auditorium, Kassar House
Course Meeting Time: MWF 10:00-10:50 (C hour)

Course Goals and Objectives:

By the end of the semester students who successfully complete this course should:

• know how to collect useful and meaningful data
• know methods for analyzing data
• know why those methods work
• know how to analyze data using both a calculator and a spreadsheet
• understand the uses of data and how to interpret data

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Books and Materials:

1. Required Textbook: Howell, David C. (2004). Statistical Methods in the Behavioral Sciences (5th Edition). Duxbury/Thomson Learning. (available at the Brown Bookstore). Abbreviated "H" below.
   
   A list of errata for this book can be found at: http://www.uvm.edu/~dhowell/StatPages/Fundamentals/Errata_for_Fund_5th_ed.html
   
   The required supplementary readings on probability theory [from Freedman, D., Pisani,R., & Purves, R. (1978) Statistics. New York: W. W. Norton (abbreviated FPP below)] are available on the Supplementary Web Resources page on the course website.

2. A scientific calculator such as a Texas Instruments or the Hewlett Packard scientific calculator. The graphing calculator you used to take the SATs will be just fine. Whatever kind of calculator you use should be able to sum up the squares of a bunch of numbers at the same time as it calculates the sum of those numbers. The Brown Bookstore and CVS both carry calculators. Please make sure you know how to operate your calculator -- if you can't find the directions, check the manufacturer's website.
   
   Use of calculators will be permitted during exams and will be needed for doing some homework. Remember to bring your calculator to class so that you can work on example problems and data analyses during class; besides, you may need your calculator if a surprise quiz is given.
3. Software: Homework and in-class demonstrations of procedures will be done using the MS Excel spreadsheet application. It is available as part of Microsoft Office and is available on public cluster computers on campus. Plenty of demonstration and instruction in Excel will be given during lecture. Students who want extra instruction can sign up for training through PASS (a sign-up link for PASS courses appears on the CG9 website homepage). Most of the data needed to do the problems assigned for homework can be found in Excel format on the CD that comes with your textbook.


4. Recommended: Computer storage media (a USB memory stick is preferred) for keeping back-up copies of electronic assignments (in case something goes wrong wtih WebCT or our record keeping) and for transporting assignments between the Drop-In Center and other computers.

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Course Format:

1. Class Meetings: The course will meet C-hour (MWF 10:00 — 10:50 a.m.) for lecture. A very general outline of each lecture’s content and the handouts/slides will be posted on the course website a day or two following the lecture. Because class attendance is expected, no detailed lecture notes will be provided by the instructor.

2. The last class meeting will be on Wednesday, December 6 (see Course Schedule below).

3. The course has an online WebCT website using the new, improved WebCT system found under myCourses. Assignments, announcements, handouts and slides from the lectures, links to supplementary materials, and test/homework grades will be posted there; students will submit their electronic assignments through the "drop box" on the course website; and the instructors will communicate with class members using site's email. The website may also be used for online discussion between students in the course. All registered students will automatically added to the WebCT student list for this course and will be able to access the site after logging on to WebCT.

   For the first two weeks of the semester non-registered students (or students whose registration has not yet been recorded by the Registrar) will be able to log onto the course site using a guest login.

   Guest login id: brown.guest
   password: guest

   After the course registration deadline only registered students will be able to access the site.

4. The CG9 Drop-In Center (Room 204 Metcalf Chemistry): The CG9 Drop-In Center provides times and a place when you can come to do course work and assignments with other students in the course, and ask questions of the course staff member who is present. Feel free to bring your laptop or use one of the PC's available in the room. The Drop-In Center will operate three days per week (2 hours each day) on the following schedule, except for University holidays:

Tuesdays: 4-6 p.m. (tentative)
Wednesdays: 7-9 p.m.
Thursdays: 7-9 p.m. (tentative)

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Course Requirements:

1. Exams: Hour exams will be given on Friday, October 13, and Friday, November 3. Absence from exams is excused only by prior permission of the instructor. The final exam will be on Wednesday, December 20 at 2:00 p.m. (You must have a Dean's Excuse to take the final exam at time other than the Registrar's assigned date). Unless otherwise announced, students may use only a calculator and a single page (2-sides) of written notes while taking an exam. Cell phones and PDA's must be turned off and stowed out of sight during all exams.

2. Quizzes: Seven short quizzes -- generally unannounced -- will be given during lecture at various points during the semester. No make-ups will be allowed, with missed quizzes being counted as a zero. Each student’s best five quiz scores will be counted in determining the final course grade. You may need a calculator for quizzes, so get in the habit of bringing one to class with you.
   
   
3. Homework: Homework is designed to give students practice using the concepts and techniques covered in lectures. Anyone who wants to do well on the exams and quizzes should be sure to keep up with the homework. Problem sets for most weeks are listed in the Course Schedule below. Homework is due by the beginning of the lecture period (10:00 a.m.) on the Friday of the week during which it is assigned unless otherwise noted, and answers to the problem sets will be posted on the course website once the assignments have been reviewed and logged.
   
   You will get homework submission credit for an assignment if you make an obvious good-faith effort to complete each problem. Students who have obviously copied solutions from other students will not receive credit for the assignment. Late submissions will be graded on a time-available basis, but no homework will be given submission credit if it is submitted later than the time of next exam. Failure to submit all homework assignments will cause 2 points to be subtracted from the student's final weighted average for the semester (see Grading policies below).
   
   
   • The homework problems should be completed electronically using a computer Excel spreadsheet, and should be submitted via the course website. Although it is a little awkward to enter written responses to short-answer homework problems on a spreadsheet, you can and should put your written responses into one or more spreadsheet cells.
     
   • Format for submitting electronic assignments:

     (a) Make sure that the work and the answers for each assigned problem is clearly labelled
          with the problem number.
     (b) Use the following naming scheme to name the file you submit:
     
                yourlastname,firstinitial,Assign#.xls
     
          If your instructor was submitting her first assignment it would be named:
     
               spoehrkAssign1.xls
     
      (c) Mac users should be sure to include the extension ".xls" on the file name.

   • Please be sure that your homework is done in a legible type font/size and that you show your work so that partial credit can be given for correct methodology in spite of calculation error. It is helpful to the TAs if you use a bright color (e.g., red) to display spreadsheet cell containing the final answer to a problem.

4. Participation as a subject in experiments: Each student in CG9 is strongly encouraged to serve for three hours as a subject in either Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences or the Psychology Department. Participation is not required, but will contribute extra credit toward the final course grade (see grading policy below). Information about how the Subject Pool works is posted on the course WebCT site. Participation in experiments as a subject, and the subsequent debriefing about the design and aims of the experiment, give students valuable, direct experience with and knowledge of experimental methods in the behavioral sciences.
   
   
5. Completion of online surveys: Occasionally surveys and other data-gathering instruments will be posted on the course website. All students are required to complete these exercises.

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Each student's final course grade will be based on the following weights:

Failure to complete online surveys and other data-gathering instruments (#5 above) will cause 2 points to be subtracted from the student's final weighted average for the semester. Failure to submit all homework assignments will cause 2 points to be subtracted from the student's final weighted average for the semester. Participating for three hours in experiments (#4 above) will add 2 points to the student's final weighted average for the semester.

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Course Policies:

• Every student should make a habit of checking the WebCT site daily for new postings.
  
• All cases in which there is an apparent violation of the Academic Code will be referred to the Dean of the College’s Office, with the Dean’s office determining the appropriate penalty when it has been determined that a violation has occurred. Click this button to see the full text of the Academic Code.
  
• The following are considered to be violations of the Academic Code:
  1. Giving help to or receiving help from anyone else during an exam or quiz.
  2. Use of unauthorized notes or books on quizzes and exams when they have been disallowed.
  3. Use of calculators, computers or other physical computation aids on quizzes or exams when they have been disallowed.
  4. Use of cell phones and/or PDA's during exams.
  5. Transmitting to or receiving from anyone information on the content of or answers to quizzes and exams.
  6. Copying from another student or having anyone do for you any take-home work for the course that counts toward the final grade (e.g., homework, take-home exam questions).

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Course Schedule and Reading List:

Reading assignments, homework, and other assignments are indicated below. The reading for each class meeting covers the material that will be discussed in class on that date (and occasionally other topics as well). The Assigned Reading column sometimes suggests some web-based activities you can try with particular Supplementary Resources that will increase your understanding of the assigned reading.

All assignments should be done using Excel and should submitted via the website. Many of the assigned problems make use of the data referenced in Appendix D of your textbook. Appendix D tells you where to get an electronic copy of this data online; for your convenience the file has been downloaded and can be accessed on both the "Supplementary Web Resource" section and the "Assignments" section on the course website.

     Abbreviations:

• If an electronic assignment has the designation (CD) next to it, the data for the problem are on the CD supplied with your textbook and you won't have to type in the data. You can find those data files in the directory on the CD labelled "Manual Install/Datasets/excel ." The first time you open a data set you will be in "Read Only" mode; if you save the data set under a different name on your computer, you will be able to make changes and do the problems.
• SWR stands for on the of the numbered items (usually a simulation or demonstration) on the "Supplementary Web Resource" section on the course website.

FINAL EXAM: Wednesday, December 20 at 2:00 p.m.
(You must have a Dean's Excuse to take the Final Exam at another time!)

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