This course is designed to fit as ham in a sandwich between our statistics course (PY271) and our senior research course (PY484). PY271 & PY102 (Introduction to Psychology) are prerequisites. Statistics is an especially important background course, so if you have not had a statistics course, please see me immediately.

I have FIVE major objectives for the course, and I will state them here in simple form; (1) to acquaint you with some of the important issues in the philosophy of science, (2) to teach you to write research papers in the style of the American Psychological Association -- APA, (3) to develop in you a fairly deep understanding of the most common research methods used in psychology, (4) to familiarize you with the use of computers to communicate with other researchers (e-mail) and your classmates (conferences) and to do statistical analyses (SPSS), and (5) to teach you to enjoy the fact that psychology, more than anything else, is a science and that science is both interesting and crucial to the humanitarian concerns that brought us all together in this course. Number 5 is the hardest one because I set myself the task of getting you to enjoy. Wow! I hope you'll help me.

There will be three principal divisions of the material covered, and they will be covered roughly in sequence. The first segment will be concerned with Experimental Methods and related issues, Chapters 1, 8, & 9. The second I will call Philosophy of Science, and that segment will include Chapters 1(again),15, & 16. The third segment will be Correlational Methods, Chapters 6 & 7. The sequence of segments may strike you as being rather unusual. I will explain the rationale for that sequence in class. The nature of the course is such that it will be necessary, while working through these ordered segments, to concurrently work on the APA writing tasks (Publication Manual of the APA & Chapters 11-13 in the text). I want to stress the word concurrently. Writing in the APA style is something that needs to be developed over a long period. It just does not work to have writing be a traditional "section" of the course. Writing has to be going on over the entire course. You will write three papers based upon data that we generate as a class project. The first paper will be graded almost entirely on compliance with APA form (This is easier than it sounds. Don't worry!), and the third paper, which will be on the same general research project, will be graded more on content, i.e., how well it is written as opposed to whether or not all the preparation rules have been followed. The second paper will be an un-graded draft of the third paper that will be edited to help you write a better third paper. The computer work will also run concurrently with the other material, but it will require less time than the writing. There are approximate due dates for the papers listed in your syllabus. Actual due dates will be announced in class. If your paper is submitted after the due date, you will lose one letter grade for each 48 hours that the paper is late. Computers are wonderful tools, but problems do occur with them -- disks being erased, printers jamming, networks going down, and so on. Plan on these possibilities by making sure that you do not get yourself in the position of having to have everything working at the very last minute. Computer failure will not be an excuse for a late paper.

At the end of each of the principal divisions there will be an exam that will be graded with a letter grade. Each of the two papers will also be returned with a letter grade. So far that is 5 letter grades. In addition to the 3 exams and 2 papers, there will be little assignments from time to time. Each of these little assignments will be worth 5 or so points, and I will total the points at the end of the semester and assign a single letter grade for the little assignments based upon the point total. A substantial portion of the little assignments grade will come from the MUSIC Conference. At the end of each quarter of the semester (February 14, March 14, April 18, and May 16), I will assign up to 15 little points depending on the quality of your participation on the Conference. Due dates will be announced for the other little assignments, and assignments submitted late will not count. The 6 letter grades will be averaged with each grade counting equally to determine your grade in the course. For borderline cases, I will decide based upon (1) my subjective evaluation of your overall approach and performance in the course, (2) your total number of points, as opposed to letter grades, on the 3 exams, and (3) your relative grades on the 3 exams and final paper compared to your grades on the less difficult and less important little assignments and first paper.

The exams will be essay and discussion questions. I do not like multiple choice. The content of the exams will be very predictable, no surprises, based upon study questions that I will prepare for you. The way to study for an essay exam is to write, and you should write discussions for the questions well in advance of the exams. Write them and re-write them as a means of studying. If you have written essays on any topic, and you would like to hear my comments as a means of preparing for exams, I would be happy to go over what you have with you and make suggestions on how you might improve your writing and thinking on the topic. Your syllabus will give you an approximate calendar and sequence of the activities in the course that includes approximate dates for the exams. The actual exam date will be announced for each exam in class no less than one week prior to the exam. If you find it necessary to take the exam at some time other than the scheduled time, you must make arrangements with me to take the exam as a make-up PRIOR to the scheduled exam.

My official office hours vary from semester to semester and I fully understand that you may not be able to comply with those particular hours. Although I am busy with administrative work and with my own research, I want you to understand that my primary obligation is to the students in my classes. Please do not hesitate to use me as a resource during my office hours or at any other time. If you are in the building, stop by if you need to see me (Scully404). My door is always opened. If I cannot see you when you stop by, we'll make an appointment. Feel free to call too. My office phone is 651-2133 and the department secretary's phone is 651-2132. My home phone is 334-5230. My e-mail address is rburns@semovm.semo.edu. If you would like to have me meet with study groups on either a regular or as-needed basis, just let me know.