Psychological research methods (2016/2017)

Learning outcomes

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MM: Lezioni
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This course introduces a range of psychological research techniques and illustrates their strengths and weaknesses through the discussion of psychological researches in the fundamental areas, with in-depth examples in organizational psychology. Students will develop a basic understanding or the research designs in psychology, and fundamental data analysis skills. Learning outcomes Knowledge and understanding: This course introduces a range of psychological research techniques and illustrates their strengths and weaknesses through the discussion of psychological researches in the fundamental areas, with in-depth examples in organizational psychology. Students are instructed in the basic principles of research design and inferential decision making. Applying knowledge and understanding: Students will be able to understand fundamental concepts in measurement theory; develop a basic understanding of experimental research designs in psychology; develop fundamental data analysis skills especially with regard to the exploration and description and interpretation of data collected from correlational, experimental and quasi-experimental research designs; develop a basic understanding of the principles regarding the identification of causal relations between independent and dependent variables. Emphasis will be placed on the developing skills in the use of computer resources, to manage the research process from the identification of a research question to the data collection and data analysis.
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MM: Esercitazioni
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Practical training sessions will be provided, in order to help students to develop computer skills in order to manage a simple research process in psychology. These practical training sessions will follow the steps: - bibliographical research - data gathering and data entry - data analysis (descriptive and inferential statistics), base level. Open-source and/or very common packages will be used. Download the statistical package JASP https://jasp-stats.org/

Syllabus

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MM: Lezioni
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- The Science of Psychology: qualitative and quantitative methods. - The Scientific Method - Ethical Issues in the Conduct of Psychological Research - Descriptive Methods (Observation; Survey Research) - Experimental Methods (Independent Groups Designs, Repeated Measures Designs, Complex Designs) - Quasi-Experimental Designs - Validity in psychological research
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MM: Esercitazioni
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- Library Research Methods in Psychology. - Managing a scientific paper. - Data collection and Computer-Assisted Data Entry. How to manage a dataset. - Computer-Assisted Data Analysis, descriptive statistics. Illustrate and summarize the data. - Computer-Assisted Data Analysis, inferential statistics. Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST); Comparing Two Means; univariate ANOVA, Correlational analysis, Regression analysis.

Assessment methods and criteria

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MM: Lezioni
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The exam is written, with 32 multiple choice questions and three open ended questions. The multiple choice questions mainly deal with the theoretical contents. The open ended questions deal with the analysis of a psychological scientific report, and competences concerning Methods and Data Analysis will be assessed.
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MM: Esercitazioni
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At the end of the practical training session a test could be performed, with an evaluation of max 3 scores, that will be added to the final evaluation. No more than one test will be proposed for the class.

STUDENT MODULE EVALUATION - 2016/2017