OVERVIEW

The course covers the main methods and techniques for designing and carrying out research projects in psychology and the most common statistical methods for hypothesis testing.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course is to provide students with knowledge of the main research designs in psychology (experiments, quasi-experiments, observational studies) and the ability to analyze data using the most adequate statistical method.

LEARNING OUTCOMES (FURTHER INFO)

The course aims at developing the ability to perform a literature review, to critically read a scientific paper, to design, develop and acarry out research projects in psychology, to analyze data and correctly interpret the results, and to communicate research findings to inform the public opinion and the stakeholders.

TEACHING METHODS

Combination of traditional lectures (36 hours) and assignments to be completed between the last lecture of a week and the first of the next

Students can also interact with the teacher and the other students on an online forum (see the Aulaweb website), where they can post solutions to exercises and questions about the topics covered by the course. Students can ask the teacher to be involved in his research activities.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

In the first part of the course, the basic topics in research methodology and in the application of the scientific method will be reviewed. It will be shown how to perform a literature search and review on the internet and how a scientific paper is drafted, along with the publication process. In the second part of the course, statistical methods for the analysis of data (nominal,  ordinal, and metric variables) from experimental and observational psychological research will be presented. Specifically, statistical tests for comparing one, two, or more independent and dependent samples and for testing association between variables (correlation and regression) will be covered. The course will introduce the difference between statistical, practical, and clinical significance and the common measures of effect size for each statistical test. The main aim of this part of the course is to provide students with the ability to choose the adequate statistical test given the level of measurement and the research question and to interpret the results of the analysis.

A laboratory activity (Utilizzo di software per l'analisi statistica [Software for statistical analyses]) is associated to this course. The activity aims at developing students' skills in using a statistical software and correctly read its output.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Coolican, H .(2014). Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology. Sixth Edition. New York: Psychology Press [Chapters 1-6, 8-9, 11, 13, 16-19, 21-24]

[Please e-mail to the teacher if you have issues in finding these books]

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

CARLO CHIORRI (President)

GUIDO FRANCO AMORETTI

FABRIZIO BRACCO

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Lectures will start on September 27th, 2016 [Please note that they will be delivered in Italian, although foreign students can ask questions in English, French, and Spanish]

Class schedule

EXPERIMENTAL AND STATISTICAL METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

At the end of each part of the course, an exam will take place. This is not an "official" exam (hence the participation is not compulsory, nor it affects the possibility to take part to official exams), but its outcome is equivalent to that of regular exam sessions throughout the academic year. At each exam session, students can take any or both of the exams of each part of the course, with no limitation in the number of attempts.

The exam is a written test (105 minutes) that comprises open-ended questions (80% of the final grade) on theoretical issues in research methods and statistical techniques and single exercise (20% of the final grade) on the interpretation of an output of a statistical analysis.

During the exam students cannot consult books, notes, nor they can use computers, smartphones, smartwatches, or other electronic devices. Any violation of these rules will lead to the annulment of the exam.

Answers must be written with a pen only on the sheets provided by the exam commission (additional sheets are available once the initial ones have been filled completely). Answers written with a pencil that are not graphs or diagrams will not be considered valid.

Each question and exercise shows the highest scores that can be achieved with a perfect answer. The total possible score is 31. The exam is passed with a score equal to or greater than 18. Once the exam has been passed, students can ask for an optional oral exam through which they can increase their grade to up to two points. This oral examination will consist in two questions about the application of the concepts covered by the course.

Students can reserve their seat at the exam here: https://servizionline.unige.it/studenti/esami/. Note that the website is accessible to up to 4 days before the exam day. If the student has not reserved a seat, the teacher cannot guarantee the participation to the exam.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Open-ended questions test the ability of the student to comprehensively and thoroughly present theoretical issues in research methods and statistical analyses, using the adequate jargon and the correct spelling of techinical terms and authors. The answers are scored also grounding on their potential clarity for non-experts or stakeholders. The answers to the exercise are rated considering the ability of the student to correctly identify the variables at hand, their level of measurement and their role in a causal model, to write down the null and the substantive hypotheses, to adequately interpret the results from the output, and to report the correct effect size measure depening on the statistical test used and its interpretation guidelines. 

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students can join the research activity of the teacher of the following topics:

Development and validation of psychological tests

Italian adaptation of tests originally in a foreign language

Multivariate statistical analyses: factor analysis, structural equation modeling, Rasch and Item Response Theory Models

Personality traits and individual differences

Personality disorders and clinical assessment

Cognitive styles

Traffic psychology

Police psychology