Course descriptions:

PSY 4660, along with the second half (PSY 4760), complete the Empirical Investigations requirement for the psychology major.  The intent is to provide students with an opportunity to develop an independent research project; collect data; analyze that data; and report the results in the form of an APA-style paper.  Doing so allows students to demonstrate their knowledge about the scientific enterprise and their ability to understand and work with literature and issues within at least one specific area of psychology.  Further, the research experience strengthens one’s preparation for graduate study in psychology or for the growing need for research in business, government, and the private sectors.

Although placed into a “course” structure, the projects are independent in nature.  That means that I am available for guidance, suggestions, and critiques, but the ideas, work, and success of each project depends on student effort.  Typically, projects will take two semesters' time to complete.

Required materials:

The following books will be required for both Psy 4660 and 4760:

Your research topic:

You will not be assigned a topic to research. You must choose a topic that falls into the broad areas of "social" or "health" psychology. All topics must be approved by me, however, before research can proceed. Therefore, I urge you to come up with multiple possible topics at the start.

Criteria for acceptable projects include (but are not limited to):

* Feasibility. As you are aware, UMM is a small campus with somewhat limited resources. A study that requires biochemical assays is most likely out of the question, unless you have successfully applied for funding from some external source.

* Access to appropriate subject population. Projects to be run on fellow students are the most "do-able," but you do not have to limit yourself to them. Studies on children, community institutions, those conducted outside of Morris, are all possible. However, use of a special population presents some additional hurdles. I will not veto such proposals off-hand, but I will try to point out the additional effort involved. Consider the demographics of UMM and Morris when deciding on topics.

* Ethics. For what are hopefully obvious reasons, I will not allow a student to conduct a study that I see as unethical. Any project conducted will need to be approved by the University’s IRB: Human Subjects Committee. Before any study is submitted to them, however, it will need to be approved by me. If I don’t feel that subjects’ rights are being adequately protected, or that the nature of the study places people at-risk, it will not be forwarded.

* Time. (Related to feasibility). Some projects would be very exciting to do and could produce very interesting results—if you had at least two years to do them. If a study cannot be done properly in the time you have available, it defeats the goal of trying to graduate. Keep the idea in mind—perhaps you can use it as a masters thesis!

Notice that I did not list "lack of originality" as a reason for not accepting a study proposal. Students are often afraid of replicating previous research. Don’t be. Replication is a necessary part of science. We’d be fools to rely on the results of one study to determine the legitimacy of a theory or idea. I will likely urge you toward replications with a "twist," adding something of your own into an existing study. Or I may urge you toward more of a conceptual replication where the idea is tested in another way. A direct replication may also be acceptable if results are controversial, maybe mis-applied, population characteristics are suspected for obtained results, etc.  Make sure you start by looking at existing research and ask yourself how you can add to it.

Working with other students:

Many projects will be done in teams of two students with occasional groups of three or even four. Groups larger than two students will need to be justified based on the complexity or time-consuming nature of the project. In any case, it is expected that each student is providing a unique contribution to the project and that work on all parts of the study will involve all students assigned to that project.

Each student will turn in their own paper. Certain portions of the paper will contain significant overlap (in particular, the methods and results sections) and can be written together. However, the introduction and discussion sections can vary widely from person to person, depending on their emphasis, interpretation, etc. Although sources, key ideas, hypotheses, conclusions, etc, may overlap, each person should produce the write-up independently.

Grading:

Most of you will take this course on an A-F basis. Your grade will be based almost entirely on your final paper. This is not unlike what happens when research is submitted for publication: A good project that has been poorly articulated and for which the manuscript doesn’t meet the standards of the journal will be rejected. The paper is where you will demonstrate your understanding of the topic, how your research fits within that topic, the scientific process, and the data analytic principles required for the project. Failure within any one of those areas will result in a grade below C-. Grades above C- will be based on the quality of your presentation in each area. I will work with you toward the goal of "A" papers by providing feedback on drafts until you have reached that level or are satisfied with your current standing.

A completed project without a paper will be given a grade of "F." A project that is incomplete at the end of the second semester (PSY 4760), where no justification has been provided, will receive an "F." That grade can be changed to the appropriate grade upon completion of the paper. An incomplete project that is incomplete because of unforeseen, justified, circumstances will receive an "I." 

At the end of the first semester (Psy 4660), you will receive an "X" grade which will be changed to a regular letter grade at the conclusion of the project (Psy 4760).

Projects that, because of their design, require additional time to complete, will receive a grade of "K", acknowledging the continuation of that project.

In rare cases, a student may take both Psy 4660 and Psy 4760 concurrently.  This can only be done with permission by the instructor.  That permission will only be given if there is a clear indication that the project can indeed be completed in a single semester.

The University’s definitions of grades appear below:

A -- achievement that is outstanding relative to the level necessary to meet course requirements.

B -- achievement that is significantly above the level necessary to meet course requirements.

C -- achievement that meets the course requirements in every respect.

D -- achievement that is worthy of credit even though it fails to meet fully the course requirements.

S -- achievement that is satisfactory, which is equivalent to a C- or better.

F (or N) -- Represents failure (or no credit) and signifies that the work was either (1) completed but at a level of achievement that is not worthy of credit or (2) was not completed and there was no agreement between the instructor and the student that the student would be awarded an I (see also I)

I -- (Incomplete) Assigned at the discretion of the instructor when, due to extraordinary circumstances, e.g., hospitalization, a student is prevented from completing the work of the course on time. Requires a written agreement between instructor and student.

K—Acknowledges that the course is still in progress and that a final grade cannot be determined at this time.

X-- Indicates a student may continue in a sequence course in which a grade cannot be determined until the full sequence of courses is completed.  The instructor submits a grade for each X when the student completes the sequence.

The University of Minnesota student work-load policy states:  

"One semester credit is to represent, for the average University of Minnesota undergraduate student, three hours of academic work per week (including lectures, laboratories, recitations, discussion groups, field work, study, and so on), or approximately 45 hours of work over the course of an enrollment period." Therefore, a student taking a two-credit course would be expected to put in an average of 6 hours of effort per week.

Timeline for completing your project:

Your research project will include several steps.  Moving from an initial idea to a complete project takes some planning and self-discipline.  Although every project is different, the basic timeline remains similar.

To be completed as part of Psy 4660:

In order to complete your project, a number of things need to happen in a timely fashion.  Past experience has made it clear what needs to be completed by the first half of the E.I. for students to successfully complete their project by the end of the second semester.  Therefore, the following are REQUIRED for completion of Psy 4660 and for you to continue with Psy 4760 and completion of the project.  Failure to complete any one of these will result in a grade of “F” for the term.

1.      Project ideas: You will have a list of possible topics by the second class session.  Bring your ideas to the group for discussion-- All ideas are welcome!.  Based on feedback, a final, refined idea will be ready for presentation by the next session.  (The due dates for project ideas are required for all students.)

2.      Human Subjects certification:  The University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) requires all members of the University community involved in research to complete certification training.  This includes training about research ethics.  The training is conducted outside of class time (count on about 2 hours time) as an online mini-course.  This needs to be completed prior to submission of your study for IRB approval.  To complete this training, do the following:

a.       Access the course at:  http://www.research.umn.edu/first/humansubjects.htm

b.      Choose the first option on the web page that links you to the CITI course.  You’ll register using your University username and password.  Choose the Social Sciences option.

c.       Once you have completed the mini-course, return to the initial web page.  Choose option 1b (toward the bottom of the page) to report your completion of the requirement.

3.      Human Subjects approval: Completed applications need to be submitted to the IRB committee on the Twin Cities campus for approval.  Many projects will require full-committee review; rarely will projects be exempted from review.  Projects requiring full-committee review generally need to be submitted by the first Monday of the month for review on the 3rd week (see dates on the last page of this syllabus).  IRB applications need to be approved by me and signed by the Division Chair prior to mailing to the IRB, so plan accordingly.  You will get feedback from the committee approximately one week after committee review.  To be able to collect data during Fall semester, you would need to submit your IRB application in time for the October or, at latest, November meeting.   (This is true of projects requiring only “expedited” review, too.  My experience has been that these reviews can take as long as a full review.  Also, if the committee disagrees about its expedited status, it will be placed on the next full committee’s agenda.)  Links for accessing IRB application forms, instructions, and committee deadlines are available on the course web page (under “Links for Conducting Research”).  Submission of a complete IRB application in time for the December deadline is required for Psy 4660.  IRB committee approval is not required for Psy 4660, but will need to occur prior to data collection.

4.      Draft of Methods sections: To complete the IRB application, you need to have your study’s methodology planned out and summarized.  Therefore, before running the project and while waiting for IRB approval, you have an opportunity to work on your methods section and conduct further literature review.  A draft of your study’s Methods section will be due to me no later than Tuesday, November 15.

It is strongly recommended (but not required for 4660) that you submit a draft of your literature review and introduction to me before the end of the term.

To be completed as part of Psy 4760:

For the second term, Psy 4760, I will mostly work with research groups individually rather than as a whole “class.”  The goal will be to complete your projects by the end of the term, including data collection, data analyses, interpretation of results, and completion of the paper. It's possible that data collection and other activities needed for project completion will occur while enrolled in Psy 4660.  Great!  You'll be that much more ahead!  Typically, the following activities will make-up Psy 4760:

1.      Data collection: Assuming the IRB has approved your project, recruitment and running of subjects should occur as soon as you have that final approval.  If you needed to respond to stipulations by the committee, that may delay you a week, perhaps more.  You'll need to be prepared to run your study by having your questionnaires, etc., copied and numbered, your room(s) scheduled, and faculty contacted for subject recruitment (if using UMM students).

2.      Data analysis: Count on taking two-three weeks to code your data and analyze it.  Some studies may take longer, some shorter.  There will be some overlap in techniques used for coding and analysis among projects, so you don’t need to worry about doing this solo!

IRB submission dates for 2005-06:

(At the time this syllabus was completed, submission dates were only available through December, 2005.  For January or later submissions, go to the IRB website at: http://www.research.umn.edu/irb/meetings/ .

September

October

November

December