The primary objective of this course is to give students first-hand experience with empirical data in psychology and with problems of deriving generalizations from such data. Other important objectives cover knowledge of scientific methodology and of principles involved in designing psychological investigations.
Students gain experience in organizing and interpreting observations from psychological experiments.
They also gain practice in writing research reports and in using the computer as a tool in statistical analysis. A discussion of ethical issues related to research is also presented. Two objective examinations are given that emphasize material from the lectures, the research projects, and the readings. Each project is preceded and followed by lecture and discussion dealing with the issues raised, the methods used, the analysis, and the interpretation of the data.