Take your Research and Evaluation course online today!
Home / FAQs / Online Degrees / Certificate Courses / Admission Policies / Class Rooms / Request Info.

Canyon College

online Research and Evaluation course at Canyon College

COURSE SYLLABUS: RESEARCH AND EVALUATION


Course Title:
Department:
Instructor: 		Research and Evaluation
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Matthew D. Geyer, Psy.D. E-Mail -- Vita


REQUIRED TEXT: - Online Bookstore

Kendall, P.C., Butcher, J.N., and Holmbeck, G.N. (1999). Handbook of Research Methods in Clinical Psychology (2nd Edition). John Wiley and Sons, Inc.: New York. ISBN #: 0471295094

GOAL OF THIS CLASS:

After completing this class, the student will have a basic understanding and appreciation of research methods often implemented in clinical psychology. The student will also demonstrate their knowledge by completing a research project.

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION:

This course will use a variety of instructional techniques employed in a distance learning format. These will include, but are not limited to the following methods:
  1. Prepared lectures by the instructor on topics related to the subject area.
  2. Required text readings.
  3. A series of quizzes to be completed by the student after each lecture and reading is completed.
  4. Use of message boards maintained by Canyon College.
  5. Use of chat rooms maintained by Canyon College when scheduled.
  6. Use of e-chalkboards maintained by Canyon College when scheduled.
  7. Use of e-mail messages from students to the instructor and from the instructor to the student.
  8. Completion of the required paper.
Instructional Format:

The student is required to read the lecture material and the required text readings prior to taking the assigned quiz. Any questions that remain upon completing these tasks will be first addressed via e-mail by the instructor. If the student wishes to further discuss the matter, she/ he will schedule a meeting time to meet the instructor in one of the virtual classrooms.

PAPER REQUIREMENT:

This class requires that the student prepares a paper. This paper will comprise a substantial proportion of the overall grade. If this task is completed properly, this paper will demonstrate research writing skills consistent with the goals for this class. The paper will consist of the following sections: Review of Literature, Methods, Proposed Statistical Techniques, Expected Findings. Under no circumstances will the student be permitted to collect data for this project under the instruction of this instructor. The format of this paper will conform with the American Psychological Association’s publication manual guidelines. The student is responsible for knowledge or gaining knowledge of the APA format, considering this is a graduate course in psychology.

The student is required to complete a Review of Literature sufficient for the purposes of this exercise. It is recommended that the student place substantial effort into this task so that they may continue to develop their ideas, possibly to be used for their required thesis. This review of literature will require the student to collect relevant research articles from appropriate sources (e.g., PsychLit, PsychInfo, PsychWeb and NOT Psychology Today or other pop media productions).

If the student requires assistance with selection of a topic area, the instructor will help to facilitate the interests of the student via e-mail communications or other forms of communications, where appropriate.

This paper should be submitted in Word Perfect, Microsoft Word, or Arkose Works format one week prior to the completion of this class.

A popular question for undergraduate students is "How long does the paper need to be?" Since this class is for graduate students, they will already know that the correct answer to this question in graduate school is "as long as it needs to be".

GRADES:

After the student has read and studied the lecture materials and read the required text assignments, they will complete a quiz for that Lecture Session. This quiz will be over the required readings and text assignments. The quiz will be assumed to be completed in open book format and will consist of multiple choice questions. The grade will be based on the following model: 1 correct answer = 1 point. A total of 100 points will be accumulated by the student using the quiz method.

The required paper is weighted heavily for this class due to the belief that it demonstrates an understanding of the course concepts. A total of 100 points will be accumulated by the student for this paper.

The grading scale for the class will be as follows:

180 - 200 = A
160 - 179 = B
140 - 159 = C
120 - 139 = D
Below 119 = F

CLASS SCHEDULE:

Week One Lecture One - Philosophy of Conducting Research
Text: Chapter 1 - Overview of Research Design Issues...
Text: Chapter 2 - Ethical Perspectives in Clinical Research
Idea: Formulate an idea for your paper. What areas seem appealing. Look at what you have accessible to you for your review of literature.
Week Two Lecture Two - The Basic Statistical Knowledge
Text: Chapter 3 - Ethnicity, Gender, and Cross-Cultural Issues...
Text: Chapter 4 - Statistical Methods in Clinical Research
Idea: Read up on your research idea. Formulate a question you would like to put into a study. For instance, you may want to compare two groups on a specific state or trait. You might wonder if people in the country have higher rates of depression than people in the urban areas.
Week Three Lecture Three - Setting Up For Your Research Project
Text: Chapter 5 - Publishing and Communicating Research Findings
Idea: Outline a review of literature for your research project and formulate your research hypothesis (es). Remember, you will be the expert on this issue and will need to educate me with this discussion.
Week Four Lecture Four - Observational Research
Text: Chapter 8 - Observational Assessment
Text: Chapter 19 - Research Methods in Adult Psychopathology*
Idea: Write up your review of literature. Let it sit a night. Read it again. Let someone else read it. Revise!
Week Five Lecture Five - Correlations!
Text: Chapter 28 - Research Methods with Families*
Text: Chapter 23- Research Methods in the Study of Sexual Behavior*
Idea: Write up your methods section. Re-read your revised review of literature section. Make any necessary changes.
Week Six Lecture Six - The Assessment of Differences
Text: Chapter 6 - Psychometric Issues in Assessment Research
Text: Chapter 27 - Research Methods with Couples*
Idea: Re-read your entire paper. Lay it down a day. Re-read it again. Edit as necessary. Re-read it again. Lay it down.
Week Seven Lecture Seven - In Search of the Small n
Text: Chapter 13 - Application of Time-Series Designs....
Text: Chapter 14 - Therapy Outcome Research Methods
Idea: Your paper should now be completed. Relax, take a deep breath, and send it in to me. I will confirm that I have received it with an e-mail message. I will grade it as soon as possible and give you feedback before you complete the class.
Week Eight Lecture Eight - Qualitative Research
Text: Chapter 22 - Research Methods with Behavioral Genetics*
Text: Chapter 15 - Treatment Outcome Research Methods
Idea: Kick back and relax. You have done a lot. Take yourself out for a nice dinner or treat yourself to a delight.


Note: Text assignments which have an "*" by the title will not be included on the quizzes. These are to serve to increase your appreciation of research in the field of psychology. However, be certain to skim the chapter... you might just learn something! Those text assignments which are in BOLD are required reading and will appear on your quiz.

How to Prepare for the Quizzes:

The Quiz after you complete your readings and reading the lecture is a big part of your grade. Therefore, it only makes sense that you put some effort into it. I will provide you with a series of "hints" at the end of each lecture containing the information that you will need to know for the quiz. For instance, I may say that you need to be "familiar with correlation coefficients" and you will be asked a multiple choice question regarding when their use would be appropriate. The questions on the quizzes will be both fact and application based.

If you have any questions about this syllabus, please contact me via e-mail.

Although many texts and resources were consulted for the creation of this class, the following texts were relied upon heavily:

Kendall, P.C., Butcher, J.N., and Holmbeck, G.N. (1999). Handbook of Research Methods in Clinical Psychology (2nd Edition). John Wiley and Sons, Inc.: New York.

McGuigan, F.J. (1990). Experimental Psychology (5th Edition). Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Titus, T. G. (1996). The Conceptualization and Conduct of Psychological Research. Spalding University: Louisville, Kentucky.

The instructor reserves the privilege to make any changes in this syllabus. If changes are made, the student will be notified at least 30 days in advance and will not be penalized for the changes.