Unit information: Advanced Research and Analysis Skills in 2015/16

Unit name	Advanced Research and Analysis Skills
Unit code	PSYCM0050
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Stollery
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	Level 6 Psychology Students must have taken PSYC21025 & PSYC21026
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Psychological Science
Faculty	Faculty of Life Sciences

Description including Unit Aims

The unit will introduce a number of advanced skills for psychologists interested in pursuing a career in research and provide the framework for independent in-depth development of those skills. It will begin with training on core skills for psychologists interested in research: the ability to design and construct computer based methods for the collection of behavioural data. The first part of the unit covers the essentials of using computer-based methods for constructing assessments of psychological functions (e.g., memory). Students will be introduced to the “Psychology Experiment Building Language” (PEBL) that is open source software for creating and conducting experiments and is primarily programmed in C++. The aim is to provide a firm foundation so students you can build experiments for psychological assessments. This is not intended to be a comprehensive unit in C++ programming, but a familiarity with PEBL package will be provided so that students can get started (e.g., how to control the screen; create and present shapes, text, animations, movies, and sounds; collect responses; and accurately time events). Only a basic proficiency with computers is assumed, but knowledge of scripting and programming will an advantage. This is followed by more advanced statistical analysis tools that were not covered in Years 1-3 and will include effect sizes and power, meta-analysis, and structural equation modelling. This part of the unit is shared with PSYCM0041.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On completion of the unit, the students will:

• Have developed a thorough understanding of contemporary statistical analysis and methodological approaches in the scientific study of psychology.
• Have a through grounding in building applications for the assessment of cognitive function.
• Have further improved their transferable skills.

Teaching Information

10 x 2 hour lectures (the second hour for Q&A purposes) and 10 2 hour practical sessions.

Assessment Information

1 x design and implement an experiment using PEBL. Assessment based on quality and functioning of the software and write-up that describes the software (written as a method section of a paper).

1 x coursework involving analysing and reporting complex experimental data (max 2,000 words).

Final Grade: Based on 50% PEBL experiment and 50% coursework

Reading and References

Mueller, S. T., & Piper, B. J. (2014). The Psychology Experiment Building Language (PEBL) and PEBL Test Battery. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 222(0), 250-259. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2013.10.024

Mueller, S. T. (2013). The Psychology Experiment Building Language (Version 0.13) [Software]. Available from http://pebl.sourceforge.net

Blunch, N.J. (2013). Introduction to structural equation modelling. (2^nd ed). London: Sage. QA278.3 BLU

Cumming, G. (2012). Understanding the new statistics: Effect sizes, confidence intervals, and meta-analysis. London: Routledge. Currently Cataloguing

Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics. (4^th ed.). London: Sage. BF39 FIE

Howell, D. C. (2013). Statistical methods for psychology. (8^th ed.). Wadsworth International Edition. BF39 HOW

Tabachnick, B. G. & Fiddell, L. S. (2013) Using multivariate statistics. (6^th ed). London: Pearson. QA278 TAB