Undergraduate Programs

BCSC 206: Lecture Schedule

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Week

Date

Monday

Date

Wednesday

Notes and to do

08/28
CFR

C: General workflow for the rest of the semester. IRB. Ground rules.
R: Introduction: What is science? Hypothesis Testing

Project assignments

09/02

Labor Day

09/04
CR

PI presentations 1+2

Mon: Project preferences due
Fri: Contact mentor to set up weekly meeting
Fri: Find weekly time for project group work

09/09
CR

PI presentations 3+4

09/11
C

Guest Lecture:
Background Research demo: cited reference search, journal impact search
Moriana Molchanov
How to present your research (C)

Fri: Get CITI certification number and be added to an experimental protocol

09/16
CF

Present Target Study
Hypothesis & Finding 1

09/18
CF

Present Target Study
Hypothesis & Finding 2

09/23
CR

Present Brief Background of Target Study Hypothesis 1 (3-5 Articles)

09/25
CR

Present Brief Background of Target Study Hypothesis 2 (3-5 Articles)

Fri: 1st writing assignment (a short summary of research questions and hypothesis) due

09/30
C

Experiment design
discussion: paper assigned, identify design parts

10/02
CR

Experimental paradigms used in this class

10/07
CF

Present Experimental Design of Target Study (Conditions, timing, num trials, subjects) and Study Checklist (Work flow plan, Skills needed, IRB) 1

10/09
CR

Present Experimental Design of Target Study (Conditions, timing, num trials, subjects) and Study Checklist (Work flow plan, Skills needed, IRB) 2

Assignment for the workshop on 10/16 given

10/14

Fall Break

10/16
C

Academic writing workshop: Methods section
Whitney Gegg-Harrison

10/21
FR

Organization and reproducibility (notes, files, code, workflow)

10/23
R

Understanding data: confidence interval and significance

Fri: Second writing assignment (Methods) due

10/28
CF

Progress update
discussion: paper assigned

10/30
CR

Progress update
discussion: paper assigned

Send your own data to Florian by the end of the week

11/04
F

Data wrangling I

11/06
F

Data wrangling II

Fri: Second writing assignment revision (optional) due

11/11
F

Data visualization I

11/13
F

Data visualization II

11/18
CF

Progress update: preliminary analyses and graphs 1

11/20
CR

Progress update: preliminary analyses and graphs 2

11/25
C

Academic writing workshop: Results
Whitney Gegg-Harrison

11/27
FR

In class work-time

Fri: Third writing assignment (results) due

12/02
CF

Final progress update/Dry-run for the class presentation

12/04
CR

Final progress update/Dry-run for the class presentation

12/09
CFR

Final class presentation

12/11
CFR

Final class presentation

Final essay due at 6pm on 12/20

Readings & Assignments

8/28 Scientific method & hypothesis testing: Wikipedia: Scientific Method; Assignment: What is "the scientific method"? What are hypotheses? How can they be tested?; Optional Advanced Reading:
Wagenmakers 2007
Bayesian primer
9/4 Background research, Project assignments; (IRB approval process): Complete the CITI certification course (the minimal risk research module)
Submit your ID to your mentor/lab coordinator so you will be added to their experimental protocol.; Assignment: After the class, read your assigned paper in detail and spend 30min on background research
9/11 Presentation Skills: watch the YouTube video: "Happy secret to better work" by Shawn Achor; Take a look at student presentation examples
9/16 – 9/18 Target Study, Research questions and hypothesis: 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
9/23 - 9/25 Background of target study: Assignment: Read 3-5 papers related to your target paper and be prepared to summarize them and present them
9/30 Experiment Design: Discussion Article:
Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2003). Action video game modifies visual selective attention. Nature, 423(6939), 534-537.; Also useful to read:
Levitin, D. J. (2002). Foundations of Cognitive Psychology: Core readings. Chapter 6: Experimental Design in Psychological Research, pp. 115 - 126. Cambridge: MIT Press.; 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
10/9 Experimental paradigms used in the target projects: Assignment: Go back to all the target papers and understand the basic experimental design/methods and why they were chosen (over other alternatives)
10/7 - 10/9 Present design and methods of the target study: Assignment: Be prepared to present (and answer questions about) 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.
10/16 Academic Writing Workshop (Methods): Assignment: TBD
10/21 Replicability and reproducibility: Assignment: Think about factors contributing to the systematic non-replicability of many studies. What actions can be taken to overcome this problem?; 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; 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
10/24 Understanding Data and Results (confidence intervals and statistical significance): Assignment: TBD; Wallis papers + examples
Understanding p-values: Wagenmakers 2007
10/28-10/30 Progress Updates (present your pilot data)
11/4-11/13 Data Wrangling, Introduction to R: Assignment: Install R and R studio on your laptop; Checking Data
Descriptive Statistics
What are Outliers
Detecting Outliers
Dealing with Missing Data
Blog Comparison of Database Software
11/18-20 Progress Updates, Working with Data Output: Ten simple rules for better figures
Beyond bar and line graphs
11/25 Academic Writing Workshop (Results): Assignment: TBD; Optional reading materials
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
11/27 In-class worktime (Bring your questions and discuss them with the instructors)
12/2 -12/4 Final Progress Updates, Final Presentation Dry-runs
12/9 -12/11 Final Presentations