IST/University of Limerick

Practical Psychology 1

Maria Takousi2014-15

Based on Sandra O’Brien lecture notes

Introduce you to a range of research methods employed in psychology

Develop your ability to work with quantitative data

Introduce you to new and important IT skills such as how to use SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences)

Start design and conduct a research analyze, interpret and present results

Practical Psychology aims to

Most weeks, there will be a lecture and a lab

In the lecture, the theoretical background of various issues will be covered

In the lab, practical activities will take place

However, there are few weeks with no lecture, so have in mind the timetable

How this will be done?

Week Lecture? (Monday)

Lab(Wednesday)

1 Yes Overview of Practical Psychology I Basics of Research (Variables, frequencies and measurements)

2 Yes Measures of central tendency

3 Yes Measures of dispersion Data entry for Report 1

4 No Tables, graphs and figures

5 Yes Relative frequency Data analysis for Report 1 and introduction to probability

6 Yes Research design

7 No Report writing Data collection for Report 2

8 Yes Distributions

9 Yes Hypothesis testing, Type I and II errors Data analysis for Report 2

10 Yes Significance and probability

11 No Survey design

12 No Review

Attendance

Attendance at labs is mandatory

Failure to attend labs results in penalties and possible failure

5% penalty for the first non-attendance An additional 5% penalty for the second non-

attendance Failure for the third non-attendance

These will be 2 labs reports, one each due in Week 8 (17/12/14) & Week 12 (28/1/14)

The first is worth 25%, the second is worth 75%

There will be also two homework assignments (no grade, but must be completed in order to get feedback)

You will be required to submit two pieces of coursework : a hard copy and an electronic copy

Both of them have to be submitted by the deadline

Hard copy into the Registrar office (17:00 the latest)

Soft (electronic) copy uploaded to Sulis

Assessment

If either one of these are not submitted on time it is considered a late submission

Penalties for late submission are 5% per day up to 5 days

Any submission after 5 days is a fail

If you fail you will have to repeat in Summer

Assignments Penalties

You must get a grade of C3 or higher (i.e. ≥45%) in order to pass PS4041

Grades of D1 and D2 cannot be used as compensatory fail grades for this module

The next grade below C3 is F

Grading

Percentage Grade-Literal Grade≥ 80%-A1≥ 75%-A2≥ 70%-B1≥ 65%-B2≥ 60%-B3≥ 55%-C1≥ 50%-C2≥ 45%-C3

F

Grading

The possible grades

If you have missed labs or submitted coursework late due to mitigating circumstances it is ESSENTIAL that you complete a M form with supporting documentation

Mitigating Circumstances

In psychology we are interested in studying individuals’ attributes (characteristics)

For instance, Female18 yrs oldGreekBlond hair1.70 height 50 kilos (weight)

Let’s start…

A set of logical attributes consists a variable

For instance, Male/ female = attributes Gender = variable

Greek/Irish/English/French = attributes Nationality= variable

18yr, 25yr,33yr= attributesAge=variable

Variables

Are males more extraverted than females?Variables: gender and personality trait Is age related to healthy lifestyle? Variables: age and healthy lifestyle (nutrition,

physical activity, smoking)

Different types of variables (categorical, ordinal, interval, ratio)

Variables in Psychology

Categorical or nominal (a variable that has two or more categories)

e.g. gender, age group, nationality, religion, field of study, e.t.c

There is no ordering

Categorical variables

Similar to categorical, but with clear ordering

ordered categories e.g. self-ratings of satisfaction on a scale of 1-4(1=very, 2=moderate, 3=little, 4=not at all)

Educational level (4th, 5th, 6th)

The intervals are not equal

Ordinal variables

Numeric , similar to ordinal Same intervals between cut points Have not true zero e.g.

temperature (0 does not mean no temperature)

Interval variables

Numeric, similar to intervals Same intervals between cut points Have true zero e.g.

number of children (0 children means no children in the family)

Ratio variables

Independent variables (IV) Dependent variables (DV)

The IV is controlled or manipulated by the researcher (cause)

The DV is the variable observed (effect)

The effect of Mozart music on the short–term memory

Variable are also divided to …

The effect of smoking on food consumption

The effect of stress in blood pressure

Are males more extraverted than females?

Differences in healthy lifestyle depends on life stage ?

First year students will report higher anxiety in the Anxiety Scale

Examples IVs & DVs

An independent variable may have a number of levels (values)

e.g. Gender (2 levels –male/female)Place of residence (3 levels-urban/ suburban /rural

areas)

A dependent variable may or may not be divided into levels

Levels of variables

...is the definition of variable in exact terms and these terms are the steps taken in the measurement of the variable.

e.g.

Are males more extraverted than females?

What the variables are (identify & define)

How the variables are measured in your study (e.g. extraversion ? personality, questionnaires)

All variables need an Operational definition...

A population includes all individuals of interest

All Psychology students

All Greek people

It might be difficult, or impossible to test the whole population

A sample is a subset of a population

Samples should be representative of the population

Population vs sample

Descriptive & Inferential stats

Descriptive stats – illustrate your data

Inferential stats – test your hypotheses

Statistics