Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences · Psychology · Undergraduate
Course Objective
This course aims to cover basic and advanced knowledge in the field of research methods theoretically and practically. Students will be taught the basic components of scientific research processes, common experimental methods in psychology, and scientific reporting techniques. The course will also cover topics such as academic writing rules, computer-based experimental design and scientific ethics.
Course Content
This course covers theoretical and practical aspects of research methods, and scientific writing. Students will be introduced to the basic components of scientific research processes, experimental methods and data visualisation techniques. Critical thinking skills will be developed by discussing famous psychological experiments, ethical debates and methodological analyses. Computer-based experimental software will be introduced and students will be familiarised with experimental tasks commonly used in psychological research. Academic writing rules, referencing methods and scientific text creation processes will be discussed in detail. In addition, advanced features of Microsoft Word will be used to format and edit academic texts.
Required Resources
Shaughnessy, J. J., Zechmeister, E. B., & Zechmeister, J. S. (2000). Research methods in psychology. McGraw-Hill.
Course Learning Outcomes
- Students will be able to define research designs and select appropriate designs.
- Students will be able to critically evaluate psychological experiments and studies.
- Students will be able to read graphs and tables and visualise data.
- Students will be able to recognise common experimental tasks and computer-based experimental programmes in psychology.
- Students will be able to prepare a scientific report in accordance with academic writing rules.
Core Area Distribution
Teaching Methods
Assessment & Evaluation
ECTS / Workload
| Activity | Quantity | Duration (h) | Total Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Duration (Including Exam Week) | 14 | 3 | 42 |
| Out of Class Study Period | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midterm | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| Quiz | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Assignment | 5 | 20 | 100 |
| Practice | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Final | 1 | 10 | 10 |
Course Schedule
| Week | Subject | Preparation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction and previous semester review | Syllabus / Lecture notes |
| 2 | Methodological and ethical evaluation of famous experiments | Shaughnessy, Zechmeister ve Zechmeister (2015) Chapter 3 |
| 3 | Data Visualization, Reading Graphs and Tables | Shaughnessy, Zechmeister ve Zechmeister (2015) Chapter 11 |
| 4 | Data Visualization, Graph and Table Creation Techniques | Lecture notes |
| 5 | Introduction to Computer-Assisted Psychological Experiments | Lecture Notes |
| 6 | Academic Writing Rules I: Introduction to Writing Rules | Shaughnessy, Zechmeister ve Zechmeister (2015) Chapter 13 |
| 7 | Academic Writing Rules II: APA 7 Writing Guide | American Psychological Association - Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (2020) |
| 8 | Mid-terms exam | Mid-terms exam |
| 9 | Academic Writing Rules III: Scientific Report Sections | Shaughnessy, Zechmeister ve Zechmeister (2015) Chapter 13 American Psychological Association - Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (2020) |
| 10 | MS Word for Scientific Reporting Training I: Introduction | Presentation |
| 11 | MS Word for Scientific Reporting Training II: Advanced Topics | Presentation |
| 12 | Research Implementation: Preparation of Literature and Data Collection Tools | Lecture notes |
| 13 | Research Application: Findings and Discussion | Lecture notes |
| 14 | Term Project Sample Application | Lecture notes |
| 15 | Research Methods General Review: Models and Truth, Epistemology, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data | Lecture notes |
| 16 | Final Exam | Final Exam |