Week 1:
Tu 1/8: Brief introduction. WRITING ASSIGNMENT: Write a statement of your research interests. The primary goal of this assignment is for you to have and keep these interests in mind as you learn about a variety of methods for doing research. A secondary goal of this assignment is for the rest of the class to be aware of the variety of interests of their classmates. Turn in a paper copy of your statement, and post a copy on the class web bulletin board. Due Tuesday 1/15. READING ASSIGNMENT: Chapters 1, 2 & 3 of the textbook. Due Thursday 1/10. The usual writing assignment (see below), i.e., abstracts and application to your interests, applies to chapters 2 and 3.
Th 1/10: Discussion of Chapters 1, 2 & 3. Led by Prof. Kruschke.

The first part of the course will involve reading the textbook. We will discuss 3 to 4 chapters per week. Each chapter will have a primary and a secondary discussant selected from the students in class. Click here for a list of assignments of chapters to students. These two students will provide a brief summary of the material in the chapters. The primary discussant will provide the major summary that lasts approximately 15-20 minutes; the secondary discussant will contribute additional details or perspective for 10-15 minutes. Alternatively, the primary and secondary discussants can arrange a team presentation if they wish (but they should turn in separate abstracts and statements of applications to their interests). The exact duration will depend on the content of the chapter. Questions will then be addressed in open discussion. (Prof. Kruschke will often not be able to restrain himself from lecturing occasionally, of course.) For every chapter, all students write (1) a brief abstract of the chapter and (2) a statement of how the methods or issues in the chapter could apply to their personal research interests. The abstract and statement of applications will typically be no more than one page long (total). The abstract and statement are due at the beginning of the class in which the chapter is discussed. Professor Kruschke will keep these statements, so make copies for yourself before turning them in.

Week 2:
Tu 1/15: 4, 5
Th 1/17: 5 (cont.), 6

Week 3:
Tu 1/22: 7, (8 omitted), 9
Th 1/24: 10, 11

Week 4:
Tu 1/29: 12, 13
Th 1/31: 13 (cont.), 14

Week 5:
Tu 2/5: 15, 16
Th 2/7: 16 (cont.), 17

Week 6:
Tu 2/12: 18, 19
Th 2/14: 20, 21

Week 7:
Tu 2/19: 22, 23
Th 2/21: 24, 25

Week 8:
Tu 2/26: 26, 27
Th 2/28: 27 (cont.), 28

Beginning on week 9, the second part of the course will consist of student presentations regarding methods used in published research in their own fields of interest. Each student will select an article from a high-quality research journal on a topic central to his or her interests, and present a summary of the methods used in the research and the conclusions drawn from them. The emphasis is on the methods and their use. The presenter should identify where the methods were discussed in the textbook, if indeed they were. The presentation should last approximately 1 hour. Typically this only allows time to describe a single experiment or study in sufficient detail. Each presenter also prepares two questions that can be briefly answered by students in the audience based on information provided in the presentation. The questions are distributed at the beginning of the presentation, and all students must turn in answers to the questions at the next class meeting. The presenter turns in a copy of the article summarized, a copy of the questions to students, and a copy of any other materials used in the presentation (e.g., handouts, overheads, powerpoint slides, etc.).

Week 9:
Tu 3/5: S1
Th 3/7: S2

(Spring Break, week of 3/9-3/17.)

Week 10:
Tu 3/19: S3
Th 3/21: S4

Week 11:
Tu 3/26: S5
Th 3/28: S6

Beginning Thursday of week 12, the third part of the course will consist of student presentations regarding methods used in proposed new research in their own fields of interest. Each student will (1) state his or her research question, (2) propose two empirical studies using two distinct methods that are also different from those reported by the student previously in the second part of the course, (3) elaborate the procedure used with the participants to obtain data, (4) describe data analysis techniques, and (5) describe conclusions to be drawn from anticipated results. The presentation should last approximately 1 hour. Each presenter also prepares two questions that can be briefly answered by students in the audience based on information provided in the presentation. The questions are distributed at the beginning of the presentation, and all students must turn in answers to the questions at the next class meeting. The presenter turns in a copy of the questions to students, and a copy of any other materials used in the presentation (e.g., handouts, overheads, powerpoint slides, etc.).

Week 12:
Tu 4/2: S7
Th 4/4: S1

Week 13:
Tu 4/9: S2
Th 4/11: S3

Week 14:
Tu 4/16: S4
Th 4/18: S5

Week 15:
Tu 4/23: S6
Th 4/25: S7

Finals Week:
Tu 4/30: Official final exam time is 12:30-2:30, but there will be no final exam for this course, nor will the class meet at this time.