Welcome to Elementary Statistics for Psychology!
This course will introduce you to the basic statistics used in psychological research. Psychology has developed scientific methods to explore questions about humanity and this course will introduce you to the statistics used to interpret and evaluate research findings. The goal is to provide you with a foundation to continue your training in psychology and to think critically about psychological findings reported in research articles and the media. Specifically, this class will teach you to: neither fear nor revere statistics, use statistics to share observations, understand statistical inferences, use SPSS to analyze data, and interpret results obtained during analysis. You will also develop the ability to write clearly and concisely about scientific research.
***Office hours are Mondays 3:30-4:30 in Psychology 233, or by appointment
***Powerpoints are provided as an aid to note taking during lecture. They are not intended to replace lecture and may not contain all of the information needed to study for tests or complete assignments.
***You are required to turn in assignments from the lab manual during lab sessions. Be sure to bring the manual with you.
***Your grades on class assignments, tests, and quizzes will be released through the TAMU ecampus system for your lab section. It’s a good idea to check this system regularly for your scores.
Tuesday (9/1) Lecture: Introduction
Lab – none
Thursday (9/3) Lecture: Methods for Psychology
- Tips on study design and methods
- Tutorial on scales of measurement
- A silly video about statistics – all of this will make sense by the end of the semester
- The history of statistics
Tuesday (9/8) Lecture: Measures of central tendency
Lab ***it is extremely important that you attend this lab session*** Introduction and picking projects (bring this Study Sheet)
Thursday (9/10) Lecture (2 sets of powerpoints): Variability, Graphing Data
Lecture: no class
Lab: Introduction to SPSS
Tuesday (9/22) Lecture: Reliability and validity
Lab: Descriptive statistics
Thursday (9/24) Lecture: Review Day (bring calculators)
Tuesday (9/29) Lecture: Test #1 (bring calculators, pencils)
Lab: Quiz #1, Reliability & validity
Thursday (10/1) Lecture (two sets of powerpoints): Hypotheses
Tuesday (10/6) Lecture: Probability & zs
Lab: Hypotheses, Writing Intensive A, bring 2 copies of Draft #1 (attach the writing rubric)
Thursday (10/8) Lecture: Significance testing
Tuesday (10/13) Lecture: Independent samples t-tests
Lab: Independent t-tests, Draft #1 Due (attach the writing rubric)
Thursday (10/15) Lecture: Dependent t-tests
Tuesday (10/20) Lecture: Review (bring calculators)
Lab – Dependent t-tests
Thursday (10/22) Lecture: Test 2 (bring calculators, pencils)
Tuesday (10/27) Lecture: no class
Lab: Quiz #2, ANOVA; Final #1 due (attach draft + rubric)
Thursday (10/29) Lecture: Analysis of Variance
Tuesday (11/3) Lecture: Factorial ANOVA
Lab: Factorial ANOVA, Writing Intensive C, bring 2 copies of Draft #3 (attach the writing rubric)
Thursday (11/5) Lecture: Correlation coefficients
Tuesday (11/10) Lecture: Review (bring calculators)
Lab: Correlation coefficients, Final #3 due (attach the writing rubric)
Thursdasy (11/12) Lecture: no class
Tuesday (11/17) Lecture: Test 3 (bring calculators)
Lab: Quiz #3, Linear regression, bring presentation materials
Thursday (11/19) Lecture: Linear regression
Tuesday (11/24) Lecture: Chi square; Overview of other tests (there are two sets of notes here)
Lab: No class (Thanksgiving)
Thursday Lecture: No class (Thanksgiving)
Tuesday (12/1) Lecture: Test 4 (bring calculators, pencils)
Lab: Chi square; Quiz #4, Writing Intensive D, bring 2 copies of Draft #4
Thursday (12/3) Lecture: Presentation Day, Your Grading rubric (print & bring this with you, filled out), My grading rubric (what I use to score posters; you do not need to print this)
(12/8): Final #4 due to TA by 5 pm (attach the writing rubric).
Useful class links and information
If you need writing help or consulting, it is available at the University Writing Center
If you would like a class tutor (or would like to volunteer as one) they are often arranged through the psychology advising office, you can find information at their website here!
You can access SPSS at computer centers around campus
Helpful stats page with interactive stats text and exercises.
Your textbook’s cite with practice problems and information.