Readings & Assignments

8/31 Scientific method & hypothesis testing

Scientific Method

Assignment: What is “the scientific method”? What are hypotheses? How can they be tested?

Optional Advanced Reading:
Wagenmakers 2007
Bayesian primer

9/7 Background research, Project assignments; (IRB approval process)

**bring computer to class for live demo

Assignment: After the class, read your assigned paper in detail and spend 30min on background research

9/12 Presentation Skills

Presentation Delivery from Brian Scholl, Professor of Psychology at Yale University

Slide Design from Reynolds, G. (2013). Presentation Zen Design: Simple design principles and techniques to enhance your presentations. New Riders.

9/14 Target Study, Session 1

Assignment: Read assigned papers carefully and write down their hypotheses and how they tested them.
When it’s your turn to present, prepare notes and slides

9/19 Target Study, Session 2

Assignment: Read assigned papers carefully and write down their hypotheses and how they tested them.
When it’s your turn to present, prepare notes and slides

9/21 Background of target study

Assignment: Read 3-5 papers related to your target paper and be prepared to summarize them and present them

9/26 Experiment Design

Levitin, D. J. (2002). Foundations of Cognitive Psychology: Core readings. Chapter 6: Experimental Design in Psychological Research, pp. 115 - 126. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Discussion Articles:
Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2003). Action video game modifies visual selective attention. Nature, 423(6939), 534-537.
Shepard, R. N., & Metzler, J. (1971). Mental Rotation of Three-Dimensional Objects. Science, 171, 701-703.

Assignment: Identify the independent variables and levels, dependent variables, and within- and between-subjects factors

9/28 Present design and methods of the target study

Assignment: Be prepared to present the design and methods of your target study

Optional discussion topic: Preregistration
Which parts of each study could have been preregistered? Should preregistration be required for all research? In what ways is a preregistered study more valuable than a non-preregistered study?
Psychologists Call for Preregistration Open Letter to The Guardian
Why Psychology Needs Preregistration by Dorothy Bishop
How to Preregister a Study by Chris Chambers

Discussion Articles:
Senghas, A., & Coppola, M. (2001). Children creating language: How Nicaraguan Sign Language acquired a spatial grammar. Psychological Science, 12(4), 323-328.
Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2003). Action video game modifies visual selective attention. Nature, 423(6939), 534-537.

10/3 Study checklist

Assignment: Be prepared to present your group’s schedule for the rest of the semester (stimuli creation, pilot testing, pilot data analysis, subject testing, and data analysis, presentation). Check with your mentor and make sure the plans are realistic/feasible

10/5 Scientific Writing

Assignment: TBD

10/12 Measurement

Subtraction Method (read pages 89-101) from Snodgrass, J. G., Levy-Berger, G., & Haydon, M. (1985). Human Experimental Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.

Optional Advanced Reading
Model-based Approaches to Neural and Behavioral Data

10/17 Progress Updates

Optional discussion topic: Organization

Organizing computational bio projects Data sharing
Reproducible computational studies

10/19 Understanding Results (figures and statistics)

Ten simple rules for better figures
Beyond bar and line graphs
Wallis papers + examples
Understanding p-values: Wagenmakers 2007

10/26 Working with Data Output

Checking Data
Descriptive Statistics
What are Outliers
Detecting Outliers
Dealing with Missing Data
Blog Comparison of Database Software

11/2 Choosing the Right Graphs and Figures

Ten simple rules for better figures
Beyond bar and line graphs

11/9 Statistics

TBA

11/16 Statistics

TBA

11/28 Replication crises

Reading of project proposals and superficial reading of associated papers

The 9 Circles of Scientific Hell
Ioannidis, J. P. a. (2005). Why most published research findings are false. PLoS Med, 2(8), e124.
Pashler, H., & Harris, C. (2012). Is the replicability crisis overblown? Three arguments examined. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(6), 531–536. doi:10.1177/1745691612463401

Assignment: What are the factors contributing to the systematic non-replicability of many studies? What actions can be taken to overcome this problem?

Optional Advanced Reading:
Pashler, H., & Wagenmakers, E. J. (2012). Editors’ introduction to the special section on replicability in psychological science: A crisis of confidence? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(6), 528–530.
Brandt, M. J., Ijzerman, H., Dijksterhuis, A., Farach, F. J., Geller, J., Giner-Sorolla, R., … van ’t Veer, A. (2014). The Replication Recipe: What makes for a convincing replication? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 50(1), 217–224. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2013.10.005
Button, K. S., Ioannidis, J. P. a., Mokrysz, C., Nosek, B. a., Flint, J., Robinson, E. S. J., & Munafò, M. R. (2013). Power failure: why small sample size undermines the reliability of neuroscience. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 14(May). doi:10.1038/nrn3475

11/30 Scientific Writing & Dissemination

A Brief Guide to Writing a Psychology Paper -- from Harvard University
Sternberg, R.J (1993). How to win acceptances by psychology journals: 21 tips for better writing. APS Observer 5, 12-14.
How to Publish a Replication in Perspectives in Psychological Science