Research Methods in Psychology

Catalog description

Knowledge acquired through scientific research is bounded by the conditions under which the research is carried out. Consequently, informed consumers of information must understand how scientific research is carried out in order to decide what is true. This course provides an introduction to scientific research methods in psychological science, experimental design, and data interpretation. Students develop an appreciation for the methods involved in carrying out research on issues in psychology and, hopefully, become critical - but not cynical - consumers of scientific results, learning to distinguish sound conclusions from those based on faulty reasoning or flawed studies. Students in this course gain real experience by designing and conducting an experiment of their own, and presenting and reporting their results.