PSY 3010-A Introduction to Research Methods in Psychology ...

PSY 3010-A 

Introduction to Research Methods in Psychology 

Independent Study 

Course Syllabus 

Instructor Information: 

Malinda Freitag 

Department of Psychology 

malinda.freitag@psych.utah.edu 

Office Hours: contact me for an appointment 

You are highly encouraged to read, reread and understand this entire syllabus prior to 

beginning the first lesson. In addition, please explore and become familiar with the entire course 

site. 

Introduction: 

The science of psychology uses many tools to further the understanding of human thought, 

feelings, and behavior. However, no tools are more essential than the abilities to think critically 

and to analyze information thoroughly. Regardless of whether your intent is to continue in the 

field of psychology or to engage in another profession, these skills provide the foundation for 

success. Therefore, one goal of this course is to provide you with critical thinking skills and the 

ability to thoroughly analyze information, namely with respect to psychological research. 

However, the course will also emphasize the use of these tools with respect to the nonscientific 

world. You will therefore be asked to analyze the hypotheses, methods, results, and conclusions 

of a variety of both published peer-reviewed journal and newspaper articles. 

A second goal is for you to become more familiar with current research and research methods in 

psychology and become proficient at evaluating their worth. By the end of the course, you 

should be able to critically assess the design, methods, results, and interpretations of 

psychological research. In addition, you should be able to identify possible flaws in research, 

suggest improvements, and offer alternative interpretations. You should also improve your ability 

to synthesize information about these research methods in psychology and uniquely apply them 

to new scientific and real-life situations. Critical thought, the synthesis of ideas, and writing skills 

will also be emphasized. 

A third goal of the course is to foster communication skills, in terms of both written and oral 

communication; this course fulfills a writing and communication degree requirement at the 

University of Utah. Your writing skills will be emphasized in writing a scientific report. You will 

be asked to use the knowledge from the lessons to generate hypotheses and write sections of an 

University of Utah 1 

PSY 3010 © January 2010



APA-style scientific report, including a title page, abstract, introduction, method, results, 

discussion, and references. In addition, you must submit a final scientific report that 

demonstrates your accumulated knowledge on how to appropriately present scientific research in 

APA format. In order to augment your oral communication skills you will be asked to present 

your scientific report orally, using the format presented in the Text and in the commentary 

section of lesson 14. 

Basic Requirements: 

Textbook: 

Research Methods in Psychology by Shaughnessy, Zechmeister, and Zechmeister (8th Edition) 

McGraw-Hill. ISBN-13: 978-0073382692 

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th Edition) Washington, DC: 

American Psychological Association. ISBN: 1433805618 

Additional material in appendices located in the Resources folder on the Blackboard homepage 

and in E-Reserve. 

The textbooks may be obtained from Internet booksellers such as Amazon or Ebay. Make sure 

you get the correct version by noting the title, author, edition, and ISBN number. 

Psychology 3010-A, Introduction to Research Methods in Psychology, consists of 15 lessons, 

nine assignments, and two equally weighted exams. Included in the assignments are one 

scientific report and an oral presentation on the report. The course carries four semester units of 

credit through Continuing Education at the University of Utah. Prerequisites: Psychology 1010 

(General Psychology) and Psychology 3000 (Statistical Methods in Psychology). 

Course Format: 

Lessons: Each of the 15 lessons consists of material from the text, the American Psychological 

Association (APA) manual, and/or the appendices, as well as information from this course 

manual. The components of each lesson (described below) are designed to complement one 

another, and it is highly recommended that you use all of these resources in order to gain the 

deepest possible understanding of the material. 

Learning Outcomes provide guidance on the most important information and/or skills that you 

should learn from the reading assignments and commentary sections of each lesson. The 

information and skills listed in the learning outcomes are most likely to be addressed in the 

written assignments and exams. 

Reading Assignments provide both breadth and depth with respect to information about research 

methods, research design and evaluation, statistics, scientific writing, and oral presentations. The 





Text is the primary source of course content, so reading assignments are a critical portion of the 

class. Please note that at the end of each chapter in the Text there are several sections including a 

summary, key concepts, review questions, and challenge questions. You should read these parts 

of the Text carefully and answer the questions in order to comprehend the material to the fullest 

extent. You will also be asked to read selected material from the APA manual and appendices in 

this course manual. These additional required readings will provide you with all of the content, 

format, and background information that you need to write your APA-style scientific report and 

conduct your oral presentation. 

Key Concepts focus your attention on additional information and skills that are also likely to be 

addressed in the written assignments and exams. 

Commentary sections in this course manual are important supplements to the reading 

assignments and will expand on, or clarify, information already presented, as well as introduce 

new ideas. Commentary material will also include examples of concepts presented in the reading 

assignments as well as current psychological research. Lastly, many of the commentary sections 

will focus on how to write scientific reports and make oral presentations according to APA 

format. 

Self-Study Questions are provided at the end of each lesson to allow you to quiz yourself on your 

comprehension of the learning outcomes and key concepts material. The answers to the selfstudy 

questions are located in appendix A of this course manual. 

Thought Questions follow the self-study questions and will help you relate concepts, terms, and 

theories presented in the lesson material to each other and to their practical applications. 

Written Assignments: Written assignments are based on information from the Shaughnessy et 

al., Text, the APA manual, the course manual, and the appendices. The questions in the 

assignments pertain to content information about psychological research methods, how to write 

scientific reports, and how to conduct oral presentations. All assignments provide a structured 

review of lesson material, assess your understanding of the material, and establish a forum for 

constructive feedback from the instructor. Assignments must be submitted in the exact order 

requested. 

Assignments 1, 3, 5, and 7 present content questions about research methods in psychology. The 

approach in these four assignments is geared more toward critical thought and the synthesis of 

ideas than the self-study questions. These assignments will generally require you to carefully reexamine 

the issues dealt with in the reading assignments and commentaries. These assignments 

are the first place for you to demonstrate full and complete knowledge of the course material, as 

well as your ability to think critically and synthesize information from the lessons pertaining to 

each assignment. These four assignments will be graded on accuracy, completeness of ideas, clear 

presentation of concepts, and critical thought. As this course fulfills a Communication and 

Writing degree requirement at the University of Utah, your assignments will also be graded on 





spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and overall clarity. An example of an assignment answer 

which would be considered an “A” is provided in appendix B of this course manual. 

Assignments 2, 4, 6, and 8 pertain to writing scientific reports. Your scientific report will be 

broken into four parts: 1) introduction; 2) method; 3) results and commentary; and 4) title page, 

abstract, and references. You will hand in each of these four parts separately as assignments 2, 4, 

6, and 8. Therefore, when you turn in assignment 8, you will be turning in your completed 

scientific report. In addition, you will be asked to evaluate the content and format of sections of 

scientific reports by answering questions about summaries of research provided for you. These 

four assignments are primarily based on the information in the APA manual on how to write 

scientific reports, but chapter 14 of the Text also supplies information on how to write these 

reports correctly. The three journal articles in appendix E will provide the empirical background 

for you to write the introduction section of the report. These four assignments are the second 

place for you to demonstrate full and complete knowledge of the course material, as well as your 

ability to think critically and synthesize information across the lessons. These assignments will be 

graded on technical format, content, completeness of ideas, clear written presentation of 

concepts, and critical thought. Again, please pay careful attention to spelling, grammar, and 

other conventions of language. One example of a scientific report is provided in chapter 14 of 

the Text. A second example can be found in the APA manual. 

Assignment 9 is to conduct your oral presentation based on the scientific report that you wrote for 

assignment 8. The oral presentation is a psychology department requirement for Psy 3010. 

Information on how to give an oral presentation is provided in chapter 14 of the Text and in the 

commentary section of lesson 15. When you are ready to give the oral presentation you may do so 

in person at the main campus of the University of Utah, or you may videotape the presentation and 

submit the videotape for grading. This last assignment is the third place for you to demonstrate full 

and complete knowledge of the course material, as well as your ability to think critically and 

synthesize information across the lessons. It will be graded on inclusion of appropriate material, 

completeness of ideas, clear oral presentation of concepts, and critical thought. A sample outline for 

an oral presentation is provided in appendix G. 

It is required that all assignments, with the exception of mathematical work and the oral 

presentation, be submitted in typed format. In the unusual event that you are unable to comply 

with this requirement please contact the instructor before submitting the assignment. It is always 

wise to retain a copy of the submitted assignments as material can be lost in transit. 

Exams: Exams must be taken in the exact order requested and will cover material from all facets 

of the course. The exams include definitions, multiple choice questions, short answer questions, 

and essay questions. The exams will be oriented toward critical thought and the synthesis of 

ideas. Each exam focuses primarily on material from the lessons that immediately precede it, but 

some important material from lessons 1 through 8 may be included on the Final. Both exams are 

closed-book and closed-note. Please allow two hours for taking each exam. An example of “A” 

work on an exam is provided in appendix C in the Resources folder. 





Note: As this course is offered in an online format, students should contact the Distance 

Education office to make arrangements for proctored exams. You must pass the final exam 

in order to pass the course. If you fail this exam you will fail the course. This is a 

requirement of all U of U Distance Education courses. 

Grade Scale: Grading in this course is based upon the following activities and assignments. 

Since all graded assignments are related directly to course objectives, failure to complete any 

assignment will result in an unsatisfactory course grade. 

Assignment: 400 (25, 50, or 100, points maximum for the nine assignments) 

Exams 200 (100 points maximum for each of the two exams) 

Total 600 

Grade Percentages: 

A 93-100 C 73-76 

A- 90-92 C- 70-72 

B+ 87-89 D+ 67-69 

B 83-86 D 63-66 

B- 80-82 D- 60-62 

C+ 77-79 E 59 and below 

Percentage grade equals total points earned/600 possible. For example, if you earn 535 points in 

the course then your final grade is computed as: 535/600 = .891 (or 89%). This corresponds to a 

B+ on the scale shown above. 

NOTE: Independent Study policy requires that you pass the final examination in order to pass the 

class. Your grade — whether passing or failing — will be recorded with the University of Utah 

Registrar. Please be aware that a minimum grade of C must be obtained for this course to count 

toward a psychology major at the University of Utah. 

Any disputes over grading should be submitted to the instructor in writing, clearly stating the 

perceived discrepancy. All submitted grading disputes will be carefully reviewed and discussed 

with the student. 

Planning Time: 

Successful students (those that get A’s, B’s, and C’s) use their time wisely. Just like a face-to-face 

course, the standard formula for college coursework is that for every one hour of class time will 

result in three to six hours (and sometimes more) of homework; so a three-unit course will 

require an average of 9 or more hours of homework (reading, research, studying) per lesson. As a 





result, successful students plan their time wisely so that they keep up with assignments by 

maintaining a pace that fits the course schedule. They also communicate with the instructor 

often so that they can receive much needed feedback on their work. 

Online Course Responsibilities: 

This course requires significant self-motivation. Some lessons take a considerable amount of time 

to complete. Please note that not all lessons are created equal. Some may take a bit more time 

than others. Some people believe this to be a much easier way to study this subject than in the 

on-campus frame work. Others may feel very intimidated at first. Be patient as you work your 

way through the first few lessons. If you are serious about the material, you will learn as much, if 

not more, than most on-campus students about this subject and develop reading and 

communication skills that are vital to the workforce of the 21st century. 

The following is a list of general notes as they relate to the course: 

All course communication with the instructor should be completed using the WebCT 

email tool. 

Assignments are to be submitted in Word format ( .doc) or an .rtf file if using other 

word processing software. 

Online Courtesy & Communication Policy: 

Extreme consideration for the feelings of others is expected. People cannot see you smile and 

may not know when you are joking. Do not tell people they are stupid or wrong. Do explain 

why you believe differently. If someone has the facts wrong, direct them to the source of accurate 

information or politely offer your alternative “facts.” Use of profanity or direct/indirect insults 

which defame a person’s character, race, ethnicity, religion, etc. are inappropriate and will not be 

tolerated. 

Academic Dishonesty & Plagiarism: 

Cheating will not be tolerated in this course. Anyone caught cheating will fail the course and will 

be reported to the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, in accordance with the Code of 

Student Rights and Responsibilities. 

Successful students always make sure that their work is original. This is important because the 

instructor must be able to gauge what the student has learned. Therefore, copying the work of 

another person, whether an essay, answers on your assignments or during a test, is considered 

plagiarism. 

Plagiarism is a form of cheating. Any time a student uses someone else’s work and does not give 

that person credit, it is plagiarism. Anyone who plagiarizes will receive a failing grade on the 

assignment. If this is repeated, the student will fail the course and can be expelled from the 





university. If you are “suspected” of plagiarism, you will bear the burden of proof. You must be 

able to present rough drafts or related materials and discuss the topic intelligently. Refer to the 

University of Utah Plagiarism Policy for more details and/or the University of Utah - Policy and 

Procedures Manual. 

ADA Policy: 

The University of Utah seeks to provide equal access to its programs, services and activities for 

people with disabilities. If you will need accommodations in the course, reasonable prior notice 

needs to be given to the Center for Disability Services (CDS), 162 Olpin Union Building, 581- 

5020 (V/TDD). CDS will work with you and the instructor to make arrangements for 

accommodations. 

All written information in this course can be made available in alternative format with prior 

notification to the Center for Disabilities. 

THE INSTRUCTOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE/MODIFY 

THE CONTENTS OF THIS SYLLABUS 

COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION 

Copyright notice to students taking online courses: 

Notice to students that materials used in connection with the course may be subject to copyright 

protection. 

TEACH Act Copyright Notice 

The materials on this course Web site are only for the use of students enrolled in this course for 

purposes associated with this course and may not be retained or further disseminated.

PSY 3010-A Introduction to Research Methods in Psychology ...

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