PSY 3393-003—Experimental Projects—Spring 2010

Green Hall (GR 4.208) Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:00 – 2:15 PM

Instructor Contact Information Teaching Assistant Contact Information:

Dana Roark, Ph.D. Peter Fauver
danar@utdallas.edu peter@utdallas.edu
Office: GR 4.205 (Perception Lab) Office: GR 4.604
Office Hours: Mondays, 3–4 pm Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 2:15–3:00 pm
(and by appointment) (and by appointment)

Course description
This course will focus on designing and conducting psychological research, with a major
emphasis on the writing of research reports. This course fulfills the advanced writing
requirement for Psychology majors.
Prerequisite: PSY 3392 (Research Design and Analysis) or PSY 3490 (Accelerated
Quantitative Measures).

Student learning objectives

After completing the course, students should be able to:
2.2 Explain and apply basic statistical analyses and employ critical thinking to evaluate the
appropriateness of conclusions derived from their use.
2.3 Locate, accurately summarize, and evaluate bodies of scientific literature in psychology.
2.4 Use critical thinking to design and conduct basic studies to address psychological
questions using appropriate research methods.
2.5 Demonstrate proficiency in writing research reports following APA Style Guidelines that
include an abstract, introduction, methods, results and discussion sections.
3.2 Use critical thinking to analyze empirical reports.

Required text:

You must obtain a copy of :

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition (2009).
(Use only the 2009 version—it contains several important changes from previous versions.)

There are also required handouts for this course provided on e-learning. You should print
them out and bring them to class.
https://elearning.utdallas.edu/webct/entryPage.dowebct

Overview of the class

The objectives of the class are two-fold: 1) to design and carry out your own psychological
experiment, and 2) to write-up your research in the specialized format known as “APA
format”. While I stress correct use of APA formatting, I also place significant emphasis on
your ability to write effectively and clearly. So, although designing and carrying-out your
experiment are important components of this class, the quality of your writing is equally, if
not more, important.
Early in the semester, you will work on designing your own experiment and locating
appropriate references from the literature. I encourage students to conduct their research in
pairs, which greatly aids in the tasks of designing the experiment and, later in the semester,
collecting a sufficient amount of data to make the experiment worthwhile. (Yes, you may
conduct your own experiment, but it is more work).
As the semester progresses, you will be turning in preliminary versions of each of the sections
of the paper. Turning in individual sections of the final paper throughout the semester
ensures that students keep up with the great deal of writing that this course requires, and also
allows students to receive feedback on their writing, which is useful for the revision process.
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Structure of Final Course Grade

Component Weight Points
Final Letter Grades:
1. Writing assignments 30% (60 pts) A = 179-200
2. Quizzes 20% (40 pts) B = 159-178
3. Data collection & analysis 10% (20 pts) C = 139-158
4. Class Presentation 10% (20 pts) D = 120-138
5. Final paper 30% (60 pts) F = below 120
_____________________________________________
Total: 100% (200 pts)

Writing assignments
(10 pts each; 60 pts total)
These assignments consist of the four major sections of the final paper: Introduction,
Methods, Results, and Discussion, plus two additional writing assignments towards the
beginning of the semester.

Quizzes (10 points each; 40 pts total)

There will be 4 quizzes that cover assigned readings and class lectures.
I do not give make-up quizzes unless there are extraordinary circumstances.

Data collection and analysis (20 pts)

There will be three graded assignments that involve data collection and analysis.

Class Presentations (20 pts)

At the end of the semester, students will give a PowerPoint presentation of their experiment to
the class.

Final Paper (60 pts)

Your final paper will include revised sections of the paper that you turned in earlier in the
semester, as well as an abstract, a reference page, figures, and if necessary, an appendix.

Your grade on the final paper will not necessarily equal the sum of the grades of its original
parts. Because rewriting is an important part of the process of academic writing and research
publication, you are expected to revise your paper as the semester progresses.

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Course and Instructor Policies
Attendance
Students are expected to take responsibility for attending class and attendance will be
formally taken each class. If you do miss a class, you are responsible for getting any notes
and/or assignments from a willing classmate. As this is not a typical course with exams, I do
not post lecture notes, although I do post information about assignments on e-learning.

Perfect attendance is often a determining factor when a student’s final grade average is on the
border between a B+ or A, a C+ or B, etc.

If you find that you will be unable to attend a significant number of classes and need to
withdraw from the course, the last day to drop without a W is Monday, March 22nd; the last
day to drop the class with a “WP/WF” is Monday, April 19th; the See Comet Calendar for
details.

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 Late Assignments

• Do not miss deadlines. So that I can read your papers and assignments and get them
back to you in a timely fashion, I strictly enforce due dates and thus, do not accept
late papers.

• Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the due date posted on the syllabus.
In other words, if you turn in an assignment on the day that an assignment is
due, but more than 10 minutes after class begins, it will be counted as “late” (one
letter grade off).

• If you have an emergency, you should notify the TA or me by email. Or, at the very
least, you may leave a message for me with the Dean’s office (972-883-2355). In
case of illness, accommodations will be made only with a doctor’s note. If you
know in advance that you will be unable to attend class on the date that a project is
due, you must make arrangements with me before the due date.

• I never accept assignments that are sent by email. You must turn in all
assignments in-person.

Class Policies

~ Do not use your cell phone during class.

~ Only bring a laptop to class if you plan to take class notes with it. Many students think that when
they check email, check Facebook, browse the Internet, etc. on their laptops during class, that it simply
looks like they are taking notes; well, it doesn’t.

~ When sending email to me or to the TA, use only your UTD email account. For security reasons,
we will only open email with a UTD address.

~Plagiarism, especially from the web, is taken seriously in this class. Should you have questions about
how to correctly cite and paraphrase the work of others, please ask. See also the section on the next
page, “Academic Integrity.”

~NOTE: The papers that are available for students to purchase on the Internet are some of the
worst papers on Earth; do not use them.
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Student Conduct & Discipline

The University of Texas System and The University of Texas at Dallas have rules and regulations for the orderly
and efficient conduct of their business. It is the responsibility of each student and each student organization to be
knowledgeable about the rules and regulations which govern student conduct and activities. General information
on student conduct and discipline is contained in the UTD publication, A to Z Guide, which is provided to all
registered students each academic year.

The University of Texas at Dallas administers student discipline within the procedures of recognized and
established due process. Procedures are defined and described in the Rules and Regulations, Board of Regents,
The University of Texas System, Part 1, Chapter VI, Section 3, and in Title V, Rules on Student Services and
Activities of the university’s Handbook of Operating Procedures. Copies of these rules and regulations are
available to students in the Office of the Dean of Students, where staff members are available to assist students in
interpreting the rules and regulations (SU 1.602, 972/883-6391).

A student at the university neither loses the rights nor escapes the responsibilities of citizenship. He or she is
expected to obey federal, state, and local laws as well as the Regents’ Rules, university regulations, and
administrative rules. Students are subject to discipline for violating the standards of conduct whether such conduct
takes place on or off campus, or whether civil or criminal penalties are also imposed for such conduct.

Academic Integrity

The faculty expects from its students a high level of responsibility and academic honesty. Because the value of an
academic degree depends upon the absolute integrity of the work done by the student for that degree, it is
imperative that a student demonstrate a high standard of individual honor in his or her scholastic work.
Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, statements, acts or omissions related to applications for
enrollment or the award of a degree, and/or the submission as one’s own work or material that is not one’s own.
As a general rule, scholastic dishonesty involves one of the following acts: cheating, plagiarism, collusion and/or
falsifying academic records. Students suspected of academic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary proceedings.

Plagiarism, especially from the web, from portions of papers for other classes, and from any other source is
unacceptable and will be dealt with under the university’s policy on plagiarism (see general catalog for
details). This course will use the resources of turnitin.com, which searches the web for possible plagiarism
and is over 90% effective.

Email Use
The University of Texas at Dallas recognizes the value and efficiency of communication between faculty/staff and
students through electronic mail. At the same time, email raises some issues concerning security and the identity of
each individual in an email exchange. The university encourages all official student email correspondence be
sent only to a student’s U.T. Dallas email address and that faculty and staff consider email from students
official only if it originates from a UTD student account. This allows the university to maintain a high degree of
confidence in the identity of all individual corresponding and the security of the transmitted information. UTD
furnishes each student with a free email account that is to be used in all communication with university personnel.
The Department of Information Resources at U.T. Dallas provides a method for students to have their U.T. Dallas
mail forwarded to other accounts

Withdrawal from Class

The administration of this institution has set deadlines for withdrawal of any college-level courses. These dates and
times are published in that semester's course catalog. Administration procedures must be followed. It is the
student's responsibility to handle withdrawal requirements from any class. In other words, I cannot drop or
withdraw any student. You must do the proper paperwork to ensure that you will not receive a final grade of "F" in
a course if you choose not to attend the class once you are enrolled.

Student Grievance Procedures

Procedures for student grievances are found in Title V, Rules on Student Services and Activities, of the
university’s Handbook of Operating Procedures.

In attempting to resolve any student grievance regarding grades, evaluations, or other fulfillments of academic
responsibility, it is the obligation of the student first to make a serious effort to resolve the matter with the
instructor, supervisor, administrator, or committee with whom the grievance originates (hereafter called “the

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respondent”). Individual faculty members retain primary responsibility for assigning grades and evaluations. If
the matter cannot be resolved at that level, the grievance must be submitted in writing to the respondent with a
copy of the respondent’s School Dean. If the matter is not resolved by the written response provided by the
respondent, the student may submit a written appeal to the School Dean. If the grievance is not resolved by the
School Dean’s decision, the student may make a written appeal to the Dean of Graduate or Undergraduate
Education, and the deal will appoint and convene an Academic Appeals Panel. The decision of the Academic
Appeals Panel is final. The results of the academic appeals process will be distributed to all involved parties.
Copies of these rules and regulations are available to students in the Office of the Dean of Students, where staff
members are available to assist students in interpreting the rules and regulations.

Incomplete Grade Policy

As per university policy, incomplete grades will be granted only for work unavoidably missed at the semester’s
end and only if 70% of the course work has been completed. An incomplete grade must be resolved within eight
(8) weeks from the first day of the subsequent long semester. If the required work to complete the course and to
remove the incomplete grade is not submitted by the specified deadline, the incomplete grade is changed
automatically to a grade of F.

Disability Services
The goal of Disability Services is to provide students with disabilities educational opportunities equal to those of
their non-disabled peers. Disability Services is located in room 1.610 in the Student Union. Office hours are
Monday and Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Tuesday and Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, 8:30
a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
The contact information for the Office of Disability Services is:
The University of Texas at Dallas, SU 22
PO Box 830688
Richardson, Texas 75083-0688
(972) 883-2098 (voice or TTY)

Essentially, the law requires that colleges and universities make those reasonable adjustments necessary to
eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability. For example, it may be necessary to remove classroom
prohibitions against tape recorders or animals (in the case of dog guides) for students who are blind. Occasionally
an assignment requirement may be substituted (for example, a research paper versus an oral presentation for a
student who is hearing impaired). Classes enrolled students with mobility impairments may have to be
rescheduled in accessible facilities. The college or university may need to provide special services such as
registration, note-taking, or mobility assistance.
It is the student’s responsibility to notify his or her professors of the need for such an accommodation. Disability
Services provides students with letters to present to faculty members to verify that the student has a disability and
needs accommodations. Individuals requiring special accommodation should contact the professor after class or
during office hours.

Religious Holy Days

The University of Texas at Dallas will excuse a student from class or other required activities for the travel to and
observance of a religious holy day for a religion whose places of worship are exempt from property tax under
Section 11.20, Tax Code, Texas Code Annotated.

The student is encouraged to notify the instructor or activity sponsor as soon as possible regarding the absence,
preferably in advance of the assignment. The student, so excused, will be allowed to take the exam or complete
the assignment within a reasonable time after the absence: a period equal to the length of the absence, up to a
maximum of one week. A student who notifies the instructor and completes any missed exam or assignment may
not be penalized for the absence. A student who fails to complete the exam or assignment within the prescribed
period may receive a failing grade for that exam or assignment.

If a student or an instructor disagrees about the nature of the absence [i.e., for the purpose of observing a religious
holy day] or if there is similar disagreement about whether the student has been given a reasonable time to
complete any missed assignments or examinations, either the student or the instructor may request a ruling from
the chief executive officer of the institution, or his or her designee. The chief executive officer or designee must
take into account the legislative intent of TEC 51.911(b), and the student and instructor will abide by the decision
of the chief executive officer or designee.

These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the Professor.

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COURSE SYLLABUS, PSY 3393–003 SPRING 2010

Please Note: As the course progresses during the semester, it is not uncommon
for minor adjustments to be made to the syllabus so that more time can be spent
on certain topics. Any changes will be announced at least one week in advance.

Make sure you have access to e-learning:

https://elearning.utdallas.edu/webct/entryPage.dowebct

Date Topic Assignments Due Reading Due

Course overview
Tuesday
Experimentation in -- --
January 12th
Psychology

• READ YOUR
SYLLABUS
Variables
Quiz 1 • Oppenheimer
Thursday (on Oppenheimer article) article (posted
Writing style
January 14th 10 pts on e-learning)

• APA manual:
Chapter 1

• APA Ch 2
(section 2.05
only)
• APA Ch 3
Mandatory Library e-learning handouts:
Tuesday
Session • Writing
January 19th
MEET in Lobby of Summaries
McDermott Library • Finding
References
• Citing
References

• 3 handouts on
writing style
(e-learning)
Generating • 1 handout,
Thursday 1–1.5 page summary
hypotheses Experimental
January 21st 10 pts
Design Terms
(e-learning)

Be working on library APA:

Research design;
Tuesday research; collecting and • Chapters 4 & 6
variables and
January 26th reading references
measurement

Be working on library Handout:

Thursday
Discuss graded research Writing the
January 28th
summaries Introduction
(e-learning)

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1–1.5 page summary

Tuesday
10 pts
February 2nd

Review:
Written experimental
Thursday • Experimental
sketch due
February 4th In-class conferences Design Terms
(mandatory; but no
(e-learning)
grade)

Tuesday Bem Article

Be working on your
February 9th In-class conferences (section about lit
Introduction….
review/Introduction)

Thursday
Be working on your
February 11th Collecting Data
Introduction….

Tuesday Experimental Method Introduction and

February 16th & reference page due
Ethical issues 10 pts

Read p. 20 in APA
Thursday
Manual
February 18th
(Ethical Compliance)

Tuesday In-class Quiz 2

February 23rd Data Collection 10 pts

Bem article
Writing the (section about
Thursday Method section Method)
February 25th Handout: Creating a
In-class data table for your
Data Collection results
(e-learning)

Turn in data collection Handout, Writing the

Tuesday
Data discussion (data sheets and table) Method section
March 2nd
10 pts (e-learning)

APA Ch 2
Thursday (section 2.06--
ANOVA
March 4th Method)

Refer to APA Ch. 4 for

Tuesday Method section due Method section
March 9th SAS and ANOVA 10 pts (punctuation,
abbreviations, italics,
numbers, etc.)
Data analysis LAB
Thursday
(class will meet in a Bring your SAS program Handout provided
March 11th
computer lab on 5 pts in-class
campus-- TBA)

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Tues March 16th

& SPRING BREAK NO CLASS
Thurs March 18th

Handouts on Results
and Graphs
Writing the (e-learning)
Tuesday Turn in SAS results
March 23rd Results section 5 pts
Bem article
(section about
Results)

APA
Thursday graphs Bring questions about Chapter 2
March 25th your Results section to (section 2.07:
class Results)

Refer to APA Ch 4 (pp

116-120) for your
Results section
Tuesday Writing a Discussion Results Section due
March 30th section 10 pts
Handout: Writing the
Discussion
(e-learning)

Thursday QUIZ 3
April 1st 10 pts

Bem article
Tuesday Putting together the
(section about
April 6th final paper
Discussion)

APA Chapter 2
Thursday Presentation Discussion Section due
(section 2.08:
April 8th guidelines 10 pts
Discussion)

Tuesday
April 13th

handouts on
Thursday QUIZ 4
the final paper
April 15th 10 pts
(e-learning)

Tuesday
Class presentations
April 20th

Thursday
Class presentations
April 22nd

Tuesday Class presentations

April 27th
Refer to sample paper
Thursday Class Presentations provided in APA manual
Final paper due
April 29th (Figure 2.1, beg. on p.
60 pts 41)

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