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Offered at EMU in the Fall. See the course catalog for details.
About
About
Psychological Statistics I (PSY 600) is the first of a two-course sequence on inferential statistics offered at the graduate level that is required for students in all three of the masters’ programs and the doctoral program in psychology. The course takes a project-based approach to cover exploratory data analysis and 4 types of inferential statistical tests. Students complete 5 projects that use data made available from published research in Psychological Science.
Teaching
Teaching
I will teach this course Fall 2023
The syllabus from Fall 2021 is at the bottom of this page
Foundational Issues
Foundational Issues
The course covers a range of test statistics for inferential tests for correlation, regression, single groups, independent groups, and repeated measures designs. Compared to undergraduate statistics, greater emphasis is placed on understanding the strengths and limitations of each statistical method as well as how to determine if the assumptions for a particular statistical test are violated. Additionally, students are tasked with the messiness of data analysis in that there is no single correct method; there are approaches that are clearly wrong, but more often, there are several methods that are all equally right.
Statistical Software
Statistical Software
Students use R within the RStudio environment for statistical analysis. This software was selected for reproducibility and accessibility. Using a single R Markdown file, students record what they did (R code), the results (displayed in the file), and what they understand about output (writing to learn). This serves as a model for doing statistical analysis so that the results are easily replicable. Since both software programs are free and available for all operating systems, students have ready access to the tools of the trade no matter their financial situation.
Consumers and Producers of Research
Consumers and Producers of Research
One of the big goals I have for the course is that students leave with the necessary information to become good, critical consumers of statistical information. To that end, students practice reporting what the statistical findings do—and do not—tell us about the scientific hypotheses advanced by the original study authors. A second goal is that by knowing the strengths and limitations of statistical analyses, students will produce better quality science be it a conference presentation, maters thesis, or doctoral dissertation.
PSY600 FA21 Syllabus.pdfPage updated
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