Discussion 1
First, introduce yourself to the class. Include your major and anything you would like to share about yourself. Then address the prompt below.
In this module, you will explore the concept of data literacy and its importance in psychological research. First you will watch the video How Not to Be Ignorant About the World. Both your text and the video discuss bias and intuition and how both of these can cause decision making to go awry. The video ends by suggesting four heuristics (methods of problem solving, or "practical tricks," as Hans Rosling describes them) that help people make accurate decisions in the modern world. As you answer the questions, think about the four methods and how they could be useful in people's lives and decision making.
For your initial post, review the video and answer the following questions:
How would you describe one of the cognitive biases discussed in the video or in your assigned reading?
How can biases cause people to make inaccurate decisions?
How might using data and scientific reasoning help to avoid these types of biases?
How does the concept of data literacy and its importance in psychological research apply to any of the following programmatic course themes?
Social justice
Career connections
Ethics
Remember to respond to two peers while being respectful of and sensitive to their viewpoints. Consider advancing the discussion in the following ways:
Post an article, video, or additional research to reinforce a peer's idea or challenge them to see their point from a different perspective.
Consider asking a content-relevant question or discussing your own personal experience with biases or heuristics such as those discussed in your textbook or the video.
To complete this assignment, review the Psychology Undergraduate Discussion Rubric. You will also need:
Discussion 2
In this module, you will explore the concept of psychological studies in the media. In previous modules, you have explored scholarly and non-scholarly articles and empirical and non-empirical sources. Here you will continue to develop the skill of being a thoughtful data consumer.
Before answering the questions below, review the following resources:
Reading: Serotonin Modulates Behavioral Reactions to Unfairness (peer-reviewed journal article)
Video: Beware Neuro-Bunk (11:03)
Reading: The Cheesy Secret Behind Successful Decision Making (popular media article)
For your initial post, answer the following questions:
How did the authors of the peer-reviewed journal article summarize their own work versus the journalist's summary in the popular media article?
Imagine you are summarizing a peer-reviewed journal article for a general audience. To avoid the oversights in the popular media article, what one major point would you ensure was communicated accurately to a general audience?
Why is it important to refer to empirical studies when you see claims in popular media?
How does the concept of psychological studies in the media apply to any of the following programmatic course themes?
Social justice
Career connections
Ethics
Remember to respond to two peers while being respectful of and sensitive to their viewpoints. Consider advancing the discussion in the following ways:
Post an article, video, or additional research to reinforce a peer's idea or challenge them to see their point from a different perspective.
Engage in conversation with your peers around the concept of psychological studies in the media.
Week 5 Discussion
ou will choose one of the surveys and analyze the construction and validity of one of the survey items/questions and its associated answer options. Do not answer the survey questions; rather you will analyze one item/question on one of the surveys.
For your initial post, review the following two surveys covering social justice and career considerations:
Survey: Social Justice in the United States
Survey: Careers
Choose one of the surveys to analyze in the discussion. Include the title of the survey you select in the title of your post. Answer the following questions about the survey you chose. Note: Unlike for the other discussions in this course, you must start a thread or complete your initial post to read and reply to your peers' posts.
What one item/question you would change to improve the survey? Describe how the item/question is currently written and how it would be written if you changed it.
Explain why you would change this item/question based on what you have learned in the course about creating a good survey. Use key terminology and concepts from your reading to explain your rationale for the improvements. Cite and reference your sources.
Think about the one item/question you selected to revise. What is the scale of measurement for this item/question (categorical, ordinal, interval, ratio) as it was originally written? What do you notice about the item/question that leads you to believe it is categorical, ordinal, interval, or ratio? Use sources to support your reasoning.
Will your revision to the item/question change the level of measurement? Explain how the level of measurement would be the same or different with your revision. Use sources to support your reasoning.
How does appropriate survey construction relate to the programmatic theme of ethics?
Once you have completed your initial post, respond to two peers while being respectful of and sensitive to their viewpoints. Respond to at least one initial post that analyzed a different survey than you did. Consider advancing the discussion in the following ways:
Post an article, video, or visual to reinforce a peer's idea or challenge them to see their point from a different perspective.
Engage in conversation with your peers around survey question construction.
To complete this assignment, review the Psychology Undergraduate Discussion Rubric. You will also need:
Week 8 Discussion
In this module, you are submitting Project Two, which focuses on critiquing a research paper. In preparation for that assignment, you will use the research study you chose to analyze for your project for this discussion and think about the topic of data literacy.
For this discussion, imagine that you are a science journalist. Remember that in Module Three you looked at science in the popular media versus research studies. You will practice the skill in this module of summarizing studies for lay audiences.
For your initial post, address the following:
Summarize the study and interpret its findings for a lay audience.
Focus on objectively translating this study for a lay audience.
Consider how this study relates to current and emerging issues in psychological research.
How does the study relate to the programmatic themes?
How could the findings from this study be used by people in their work, personal lives, or to help others?
Explain why data literacy is important when evaluating sources of evidence from a study.
Remember to respond to two peers while being respectful of and sensitive to their viewpoints. Consider advancing the discussion by answering the following questions:
Did your peers do a good job of translating the findings of their chosen study to a lay audience?
Did your peers relate their chosen study to current and emerging issues in psychological research?
Did your peers describe how the findings of their chosen study could be used personally or professionally?
Week 2 Assignment
PSY 222 Module Two Activity Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
Identifying quality research studies is an important skill. In this activity, you will be asked to distinguish between studies that are scholarly and empirical, scholarly and non-empirical, and neither scholarly nor empirical. This activity will prepare you for the Module Four Activity assignment.
The goal of this activity is to efficiently and strategically evaluate research studies for certain criteria. This skill will benefit you as a student of psychology, a consumer of research information, and a professional in research-related careers.
Each rubric criterion below contains a word-count goal. These are guides to help you respond at the right level of depth and specificity.
Prompt
You will use your webtext writing template to complete this activity. For each article provided in your Soomo webtext, accurately address the rubric criteria listed below:
Determine if the research study is scholarly or non-scholarly. Support your response with evidence from the article. Your response should be about 25 words.
Determine if the research study is empirical or non-empirical. Support your response with evidence from the article. Your response should be about 25 to 50 words.
Week 4 Assignment
PSY 222 Module Four Activity Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
In this activity, you will practice the skill of reading a research study. This activity builds on the Module Two Activity assignment and prepares you for Project Two, where you will critique a research study.
Each rubric criterion below contains a word-count goal. These are guides to help you respond at the right level of depth and specificity.
Prompt
Summarize the research study’s purpose. Your response should be about 25 to 50 words.
Describe the relevance of the publication dates of the citations referenced for the research study. Your response should be about 25 to 50 words. Consider the following:
Are some of those cited sources recent (relevant to date of publication)?
Identify the type of claim the research study makes. Explain your response. Your response should be about 25 to 50 words. Consider the following:
Is the claim frequency based, association based, or causal?
Describe the research method used in the research study. Your response should be about 25 to 50 words. Consider the following:
Is the research method qualitative, quantitative, or mixed?
Describe the research study’s data collection method. Your response should be about 50 to 100 words. Consider the following:
Possibilities for data collection include surveys, observations, interviews, archive review, objective or biological measures, or some combination of those listed.
Describe the research study’s sample. Your response should be about 50 words. Include the following in your response:
Sample size
Sample characteristics
Describe one type of statistical analysis conducted in the research study. Your response should be about 25 words.
Describe one limitation from the research study. Your response should be about 25 to 50 words.
Describe how this research study could be used in personal and professional practice. Your response should be about 25 to 50 words. Consider the following:
How can the findings from this study be used by people in their work, personal lives, or to help others?
Week 6 Assignment
PSY 222 Project Two Milestone Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
Throughout this course, you have been building and refining your data literacy skills. You have practiced identifying quality research studies, analyzing research studies, and planning for research design. All of these skills prepare you to critique research studies. For clarification on addressing any of the items below, use your Soomo webtext chapters.
In Project Two, due in Module Eight, you will critique a research study from the list provided on a psychology-related topic that most interests you. For this milestone, you will select the study you will critique and address the criteria below in preparation for submitting your project.
Prompt
Select a research study from the list provided in your Soomo webtext. For your milestone, you must address the rubric criteria listed below:
Select a peer-reviewed journal article and describe its relevance to you personally or professionally in about 50 to 75 words.
Describe the purpose of the peer-reviewed journal article in about 25 to 50 words.
Identify the major methodological design of the peer-reviewed journal article in about 25 to 50 words.
Identify strengths and weaknesses of the specific measurement used to operationalize one of the key variables in about 50 to 100 words.
Identify the key variables and how they were operationalized in the study (i.e., what measures were used) in about 100 to 150 words.
Week 7 Project 1
PSY 222 Project One Guidelines and Rubric
Competencies
In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:
Determine an appropriate research methodology and design aligned to a research question
Develop a research plan
Scenario
You are a research assistant for a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at a university. You have been asked to develop a research plan focused on one of the topics the faculty member is interested in studying.
For this project, you will review the topics provided by your faculty member and select the topic that interests you most. Then you will use the library to find relevant empirical and scholarly research studies to inform the research. Finally, you will develop a research plan to submit to your faculty member.
Directions
You will use your webtext writing template to complete this project. Select a topic from the list provided in your Soomo webtext. For your activity, you must address the rubric criteria listed below:
Determine the plan’s background introduction. Include the following details:
The title of the plan
Summary of three relevant empirical and scholarly research studies for the plan. Each summary should be about 150 to 250 words.
Develop a clear and specific research question that is relevant to the three research studies you chose. Your response should be about 25 words.
Develop a clear, specific, and testable hypothesis that corresponds to your research question. Your response should be about 25 words. Consider the following in your hypothesis:
Your hypothesis should be informed by the claim you are making.
Describe aspects of sampling that you would want to consider while acquiring participants for your study. Your response should be about 100 words.
Select a design (experimental or correlational) for your proposed study that aligns with the research question and hypothesis. Your response should be about 100 words. Include the following details:
Explain why you selected this design.
Identify conceptual variables that align with the research question and hypothesis.
Select a measure to operationally define each of your conceptual variables. Your response should be about 100 words per variable. Include the following details:
As you select a measure, also state whether it uses natural/laboratory observations, surveys, objective/physiological measures, interviews, etc.
For each variable you measure, identify its scale of measurement.
Describe your type of analysis and the p value required to support your hypothesis. Your response should be about 50 words.
Develop the plan’s discussion content. Your response should be about 250 to 350 words. Include the following details:
What you would expect to be the main finding of your study
How you would know if your hypothesis was supported
The potential implications of the findings
A possible limitation of your proposed study
Directions for future research
Week 8 Project 2
PSY 222 Project Two Guidelines and Rubric
Competencies
In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:
Articulate the rationale for a psychological study
Develop a research plan
Scenario
Data literacy is a vital component of psychology-related careers. Having the skills to understand, dissect, and critique research studies will benefit you in this course and beyond. For this project, you will critique a research study from the list provided on a psychology-related topic that interests you. Critiques are a balanced discussion of the research study, which means you will want to focus on both the strengths of the study and the limitations or areas of possible improvement. For your critique, you will analyze each section of the research study you select.
This project builds on the skills you practiced in your Module Two and Module Four activities, as well as the Project Two Milestone assignment.
Directions
You will use your webtext writing template to complete this project. Use the research study you selected in the Project Two Milestone. For your critique, you must address the rubric criteria listed below:
Analyze the introduction section of the research study in about 50 to 100 words. Include the following in your response:
The title of the article
The purpose of the study
How the article’s introductory content is relevant and how it logically leads into the study
Analyze the method section of the research study in about 250 to 350 words. Include the following in your response:
The study’s method and design
The study’s primary hypothesis and claim
How the method and design aligns with the primary hypothesis to reach a strong conclusion
How the researchers made measurements and whether they were good choices for the conceptual variables
How the researchers obtained participants, how many participants there were, and their characteristics
The sampling characteristics (sample size, strategy, composition, etc.) as they relate to this study
Analyze the results section of the research study in about 50 to 100 words. Include the following in your response:
The “big idea” of the analysis (compare means, look for relationships, assess frequency, etc.)
How the primary hypothesis was supported
The analysis used for the primary hypothesis
Analyze the discussion section of the research study in about 150 to 200 words. Include the following in your response:
The major findings
The strengths and limitations described in the study
The conclusions and whether they were supported by the method that the researchers used
Whether the claims and inferences the researchers draw seem appropriate, given their findings
How the study could be improved or extended in future research
Explain how the findings of this research study could apply to your personal or professional life in about 50 to 100 words.
What to Submit
To complete this project, you must submit the following:
Research Paper Critique
You will use your Soomo webtext writing template to complete the project and download for submission. Your critique must be a minimum of two pages. Sources should be cited according to APA style.