This course provides students with the opportunity to acquire firm basic competencies in the understanding, design, analysis, interpretation and critical evaluation of research and evaluation studies. The student will have the opportunity to acquire familiarity with the most important and most frequently used experimental designs and statistical procedures. The skills you develop should prove invaluable in your professional roles both as a consumer and a producer of empirical research and evaluations.
A critical distinction between the scientific approach and other methods of inquiry lies in the emphasis placed on real world empirical validation. Where research has shown that particular approaches are appropriate and effective for specific applications, those approaches are to be selected by the practitioner. Practitioners may be called upon to defend decisions on the basis of research evidence. Consequently, the practitioner must be:
The development of these competencies is a shared responsibility; yours as a learner; mine as a facilitator of your learning. To achieve your goals for this course you need to take maximum advantage of class and practicum sessions and use every opportunity to develop your competencies. Development of your research and statistical competencies is the number one priority of the course. Come to class on time, attend carefully during lectures, discussions, and problem solving work and tutorial sessions. Use the practicum sessions to work on assigned exercises so you can develop, practice and retain your skills.
In developing research and statistical skills, it is particularly true, that you learn by example and you learn by doing. Take advantage of practicum sessions and tutorial sessions, work together in groups, but, also take the initiative to develop your independence: faculty will not be there to help you after you leave the program. Construct additional practice problems and work hard to develop your skills. Allocate enough time in your training to develop your skills thoroughly. The time investment for the course will vary considerably among students, based mostly on background and 'aptitude': allocate enough time in your study schedule to cover the material a number of times. Very few students find statistics to be light reading.
Goals of the Course:Four (4) multiple-choice or completion examinations to be taken on scheduled dates. Exams are open-book, open-notes. Course grades will be based on examination performance and practice exercises. Eighty percent of the final course grade will be based on examination scores; twenty percent will be based on practice exercise scores. If you would like to improve your score on practice exercises, you may resubmit them with corrections to be reevaluated for a higher grade.
Each practice exercise typically will have five items. If you get them all correct, the grade will be 100 or an 'A'. If you miss one, the grade will be 80 or a 'B'. If you miss two, the grade will be 60 or a 'C'.
If your overall percentage grade for the course is 90% or above you can be assured of an A. If your overall percentage grade is from 80% to the cutoff point for an A you can be assured of a B. If your overall percentage grade is from 60% to the cutoff point for a B you can be assured of a C. This does not necessarily imply that if you receive percentage grades somewhat below the stated cutoff points that your letter grade will be lower. However, it is expected that the stated cutoff points will be very close to those actually used to determine letter grades at the end of the course.
Office Hours:The instructor (Dr. Craig Johnson) will be available to individual students during the Tuesday and Thursday practicum sessions. Office hours when the instructor will be available on a walk-in basis to students will be posted by the instructors door. Students may also set up appointments with the instructor for additional meetings.
Class Sessions:Each class session (3:00 - 5:00pm) Tuesdays and Thursdays will involve primarily two elements: (1) a lecture/ demonstration which describes, explains or demonstrates some aspect of research or statistical methods, (2) an assigned set of readings and/or exercises using the course texts, handouts, SPSS/PC computer statistical package or other materials. Class time may also be used for feedback on exams and other assignments.
Practicum sessions:Practicum sessions are scheduled twice each week at the conclusion of class sessions (from approximately 4:35 to 5:00) as adjuncts to the preceding formal class instruction. The practicum sessions are intended primarily to provide an opportunity for you to ask questions and work on the practice exercises while having immediate access to the course instructor.
The practicum sessions provide an opportunity for elaboration and clarification, tutorial instruction and further help with assignments on a more individualized basis. Attendance is not mandatory, but is highly recommended, in that, if you pursue your assignments and finish your practice exercises then, you can have them graded on the spot while you wait, obtaining immediate feedback on the status of your skillsand elaboration and clarification on crucial issues. Consequently, you will use your time more efficiently and reduce the time needed for out-of-class homework.
Evaluation of Course/Teacher:On the date shown on the tentative class schedule, each student in the course will be given an evaluation form to complete.
Students are requested on the day identified for the evaluation to bring with them to class any comments that they may wish to make regarding the course or instructors, particularly if the comments will help the instructors improve the lectures and the course. These comments should be typed (or may be handwritten if the student doesn't feel the writing may be identified). Comments regarding instructors should be made on separate pages with the instructor's name at the top.
The complete evaluation forms and the comments are to be placed back in the envelope containing the forms and then returned to the Office of Academic Affairs. The course instructor will receive a computerized print-out of the summation of the student's responses so that all students evaluations remain anonymous. The typewritten comments regarding an individual lecturer's performance will be transmitted to that lecturer.
Excused Absence on Holy DaysAbsence from any class or excuse for a late assignment or test/quiz/ examination because the date is a holy day will be permissible only if the form for holy day absence, available from the Office of Academic Affairs, has been completed by the student and the instructor and submitted by the student to the Office of Academic Affairs within the first 15 days of the semester, documentation of a holy day, other than well known holy days in the community, by a religious official also is required.
Readings and assigned practice exercises are to be completed prior to class
meetings. Additional optional practice problems may be found in Roscoe.
Abbreviations: R. - Roscoe, P.E. - practice exercises,
C&S - Campbell & Stanley.)
Date Topic Readings/P.E. due
Jan. 17 Requirements, Orientation
Jan. 19 Intro to Research R. Chp. 1,
Jan. 24 Variables, Validity, Reliability Handout(s), PE 1 due
Jan. 26 Threats to Validity C & S pp. 1-6, PE 2 due
Jan. 31 Pre-Experimental Designs C&S pp.6-13, PE 3 due
Febr. 2 True Experimental Designs C&S pp.13-34, PE 4 due
Febr. 7 Quasi-Experimental Designs C&S pp.34-57, PE 5 due
Febr. 9 Choosing Designs & Review C&S pp.55-71, PE 6,7 due
Febr. 14 Exam #1
Febr. 16 Measurement Scales/Frequency Distrib. R. 2, 3
Febr. 21 Percentiles/Graphs R. 4, 5
PE for 2, 3 due
Febr. 23 Notation/Central Tendency R. 6, 7
PE for 4, 5 due
Febr. 28 Variability/SPSS R. 8.
PE for 6,7 due
Mar. 2 Standard Scores/Normal Dist. R. 9, 10
PE for 8 due
Mar. 7 SPSS, Review PE for 9, 10 due
SPSS frequencies run due
Mar. 9 Exam #2
Mar. 14 Spring Break
Mar. 16 Spring Break
Mar. 21 Sampling Theory R. 18
Mar. 23 Hypothesis Testing R. 19, 20, PE for 18
Mar. 28 t-tests R. 23, 24;
PE for 19, 20 due
Mar. 30 t-tests R. 25, 35; MegaMentor
PE for 23, 24 due
Apr. 4 Analysis of Variance R. 35, 36; MegaMentor
PE for 25 due
Apr. 6 ANOVA (continued) R. 36; MegaMentor
P.E. for 35 due
Apr. 11 SPSS/Review PE for 36 due
SPSS T-TEST & ONEWAY due
Apr. 13 Exam #3
Apr. 18 Chi-Square Test For Goodness of Fit R. 29
Apr. 20 Chi-Square Test for Contingency Tables R. 30; MegaMentor
PE 29 due
Apr. 25 Correlation R. 12; MegaMentor
PE 30 due
Apr. 27 Spearman Correlation R. 13.1, 31.1,31.2,31.5
PE 12 due
May 2 Choosing Statistical Tests & Review PE 31 due
SPSS correlation run due
May 4 Exam #4/
Student Completion of UTSAHS
Course Evaluation Forms