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PSY 295: Data Analysis in Psychological Research
First Summer Session 2015
Online from 18 May 2015 to 2 July 2015
INSTRUCTOR:
Jingjing Ma
Office: 348 Psychology
Email: majingj1@msu.edu
Virtual Office Hours: Wednesday 10 am to 12 pm
Office hours will be held on D2L in the course Chat Room.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOK (NEEDED ON 18 MAY 2015):
Gravetter, F. J., & Wallnau, L. B. (2011). Essentials of Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences (7th
ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage.
COURSE OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES:
This course is designed to provide students with an introduction to the basic statistical concepts
and procedures widely used in psychology and related disciplines. The beginning of the course
will focus on terminology, statistical notation, and basic statistics used to organize and
summarize data. The next portion of the course will cover concepts that are central to the
foundation of inferential statistics as well as the logic behind statistical significance testing. The
course will then cover how to conduct and interpret several specific tests that are used for
drawing inferences about population characteristics from sample data (e.g., t-tests, ANOVA).
The last sections focus on more advanced techniques such as correlation and regression.
WORKLOAD:
Summer courses are intense and statistics is particularly challenging. Plan to spend around 4
hours per day working on PSY 295 (assuming a 5-day work week). This includes the time
you spend reading the text, viewing lectures, working on homework problems, taking quizzes,
and studying the material. The best way to be successful in PSY 295 is to stay on top of the
material. We will follow a compressed schedule during our 7 weeks together so it can be easy to
fall behind if you are not self-disciplined. (Remember that we will cover the same material that is
normally covered in an entire semester!) Homework is due each week. Likewise, you will have
to complete six quizzes that will occur at the end of each week starting in Week #2. You should
commit yourself to seven weeks of working very hard. Do not plan a summer vacation in the
middle of this class! If these considerations do not fit with your plans or your personality, then
drop this class as soon as possible. Note that you must have access to the required textbook to
succeed in this course!
ONLINE COURSE INFORMATION:
This version of PSY 295 will be held entirely online through the Desire 2 Learn (D2L) course
management system (https:// d2l.msu.edu/). All lectures, quizzes, and homework assignments
will be administered online on D2L. Previous classes have utilized LON-CAPA or Angel for the
coursework, but the class for this summer session will NOT be using LON-CAPA or Angel. As
such, please ignore all mentions of LON-CAPA or Angel in the notes for this class. Due to the
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online nature of this class, you will need to have a high quality computer with consistent access
to a high-speed internet connection. Access to a printer is strongly recommended.
TECHNICAL PROBLEMS:
Problems with D2L? Call the MSU HELP LINE: 1-800-500-1554 or (517) 355-2345. Help is
available 24 hours/7 days a week!
If there is a problem during a test, report it as soon as possible to the MSU Help Line at 1-800500-1554 or (517) 355-2345. You should also email me to let me know about any unresolved
issues. However, I am not available around the clock so please make sure that you report
problems immediately and try to get them resolved ASAP. I cannot do much for you if you wait
1-2 days after the issue to contact the Help Line or contact us. Please keep the MSU Help Line
number handy!
GRADING:
There are a total of 500 points in this class. Here is the breakdown:
Task
Points
Six Quizzes
75 points each for a total of 450 Points
Seven Homework Exercises
10 points each for a total of 50 points
*Will drop 2 lowest HWs
Extra Credit
Up to 20 points
Your final grade is based on the total number of points earned in this course. Numerical grades
will be assigned according to the following scheme:
Grade
Total Points
Grade
Total Points
4.0
450 to 500
2.0
350 to 374.9
3.5
425 to 444.9
1.5
325 to 349.9
3.0
400 to 424.9
1.0
300 to 324.9
2.5
375 to 399.9
0.0
Less than 300
These are strict cut-offs. Extra credit is the only way to increase your point total if you are
concerned about falling on the wrong side of one of these cut-offs.
HOMEWORK:
There are seven homework assignments in PSY 295 and they account for 10% of your grade.
Homework will be available by 8 am of the Monday of the week that the assignment is due. All
homework is due by 5 pm of the Thursday of that week. For example, the Homework
assignment for Week 2 will be posted by 8 am on Monday May 25th. You are expected to
complete this assignment before 5 pm on Thursday May 28th.
There is no back-tracking for the HW, meaning after you answer a question, you will not be
able to return and change your answers later! There are no make-ups for homework
assignments, instead only your top 5 HWs will be counted towards your final grade. You will be
able to review incorrect homework responses for 24 hours after the quiz for that week closes.
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QUIZZES:
There are six quizzes in PSY 295. Each quiz will be worth 15% of your final grade. These will
occur at the end of Weeks 2 to 7 in the course. You will have 1 hour to complete the quiz starting
from the time that you begin to take the quiz. The quizzes will be “open” on D2L for a 24 hour
period of time starting from 5pm on Thursday until 5pm on Friday. You can take that quiz
anytime during that 24 hour window. For example, Quiz #1 is scheduled for May 28th to May
29th. Thus, you need to find 1 hour between 5pm on May 28th and 4 pm on May 29th to take the
quiz. Please remember NOT to start the quiz after 4 pm on the day that it is due because
you will not complete the quiz by 5 pm!.
There is no back-tracking for the quiz, meaning after you answer a question, you will not be
able to return and change your answers later! There are no make-ups for quizzes without a
certified medical excuse provided by a doctor’s note. You will be able to review incorrect
responses 24 hours after the quiz closes. The class will end at 5pm on July 2nd.
IF A SIGNIFICANT EMERGENCY OCCURS: Fax the information to (517) 4322476. Include a cover sheet with your instructor’s name, and the subject line of “Psych 295
Missed Quiz Documentation”. Then send an email to:
Ms. Jingjing Ma
majingj1@msu.edu
If you do not send the email then it is likely that an extended period of time will pass before your
fax is discovered because it is sent to a fax machine that is not closely monitored!
EXTRA CREDIT:
Extra credit is available for participation in research projects or for completing an alternative
written assignment. Complete details will be available on the course website in D2L. There
is a maximum of 20 extra credit points. You can participate in on-line research for 2 extra credit
points per 1/2 hr research credit (i.e., 10 experimental credits maximum/5 hours of experiments)
OR you can write 1 journal article commentary for 20 extra credit points. The commentary must
be in full APA style formatting and be 4-5 pages in length (more details on D2L). If you wish to
do the written option, you must contact me and have your article approved by me by June 5th.
The deadline to complete extra credit work is July 2nd. Full instructions for creating your HPR
account and signing up for experiments are available under the “Subject Pool Instructions”
document on D2L. Full requirements for commentary will be under the “Commentary Extra
Credit Instructions” document on D2L.The secret codeword from the syllabus is “Tigers” (As in
the baseball team from Detroit). This will unlock the Week 1 assignments. Keep this secret
codeword handy. Don’t forget it.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
Any and all forms of cheating are unacceptable. Students are expected to complete homework
and quizzes individually and without outside help. Any student caught cheating on exams or
homework will receive a ZERO in this course. You can only use a basic calculator for your
quizzes. Legalistic Details: Article 2.3.3 of the Academic Freedom Report states that "The
student shares with the faculty the responsibility for maintaining the integrity of scholarship,
grades, and professional standards." The Department of Psychology adheres to the policies on
academic honesty as specified in General Student Regulations 1.0, Protection of Scholarship and
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Grades; the all-University Policy on Integrity of Scholarship and Grades; and Ordinance 17.00,
Examinations. For extensive details see Spartan Life: Student Handbook and Resource Guide.
Further information about cheating can be found on a website provided by the MSU Ombudsman
(http://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/dishonestystud.html). Make sure you are familiar with MSU
definitions regarding academic dishonesty. Ignorance is not an excuse. The bottom line in
PSY295 is simple – work hard, don’t cheat, and be happy!
ACCOMODATIONS:
Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities. If you need special assistance for this course
because of a disability, please contact the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities to
establish reasonable accommodations. More information can be found at
http://www.rcpd.msu.edu or by calling (517) 884-7273 (TTY: 517-353-1293).
SCHEDULE FOR PSY 295:
Week
Dates
1
May 18 to May 22
2
3
4
5
6
7
May 25 to May 29
June 1 to June 5
June 8 to June 12
June 15 to June 19
June 22 to June 26
June 29 to July 2
Topics
Basic Concepts
Frequency Distributions
Homework 1
Central Tendency
Variability
z-scores
Homework 2
Quiz 1
Probability
Central Limit Theorem
Homework 3
Quiz 2
Hypothesis Testing
One Sample t-tests
Homework 4
Quiz 3
Independent Groups t-tests
Repeated-Measures t-tests
Homework 5
Quiz 4
ANOVA
Homework 6
Quiz 5
Correlation and Regression
Homework 7
Quiz 6
Book Readings
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Key Dates
Due: May 21
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Due: May 28
May 28 to May 29
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Due: June 4
June 4 to June 5
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Due: June 11
June 11 to June 12
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Due: June 18
June 18 to June 19
Chapters 13 & 14
Due: June 25
June 25 to June 26
Chapter 15
Due: July 2
July 1 to July 2