Research (Thesis), Spring 2019

Class Information	Instructor Information
PSYCH 6299		Helen C. Harton, Ph.D.
Bartlett 34; 2080; 2079		Bartlett 2080
tba		273-2235; harton@uni.edu

Office Hours: M 3-4; WF 11-11:50; whenever I’m around

Course Information

Course Learning Outcomes: By the end of this course, you should be able to:

· Analyze, critically evaluate, and integrate previous research;

· Design a study to assess an original hypothesis or research question based on previous research

· Collect, manage, and analyze empirical data or obtain an existing dataset to test a hypothesis or research question;

· Demonstrate knowledge of ethical principles in research through practices such as ethical interactions with participants, concern for privacy and participant well-being, proper documentation of sources, pre-registration, and transparency in materials, data collection, and analyses;

· Present and defend your research project; and

· Write a scientific paper describing your research project.

Instructor Course Description: You will complete a Master’s Thesis. You must have or obtain IRB training, participate regularly in research team meetings, and present your research at at least one conference. For your thesis, you will read and review past literature, design the study, collect data, analyze the data, write up a thesis, and defend it publically. I will help and advise you during all the steps of the project. You will also help with other projects in the lab, getting involved in at least one group project with student co-PIs and helping provide feedback and collect and/or analyze data for other projects. One credit equates to about four hours per week of work.

Course Catalog Description: Research. Prerequisite(s): consent of department.

Course Policy Information

Missed Meetings Policy: We will have regularly scheduled meetings to discuss the progress of projects in the lab. When you miss a meeting, you affect the progress of the entire research team. You may miss one meeting per type (i.e., large group, small group) for good reason (e.g., illness, conference presentation) per semester without any penalty. Missing more than one meeting may negatively affect your grade.

Academic Ethics Policy Statement: Students must observe the Academics Ethics Policy (http://www.uni.edu/policies/301). You should adequately cite your sources on PowerPoint slides and in your presentations and papers. You should not use another’s words on your slides or in your presentation without proper attribution. All sources should be ones that you’ve read directly; do not cite secondary sources.

Open Science Policy: My lab is committed to open science principles. As such, all studies will be pre-registered, materials and data will be made public where possible, and we will strive for transparency and ethicality in all our projects.

Diversity and Inclusion Policy: It is my intent that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well served by this course, that students’ learning needs be addressed both in and out of class, and that the diversity that students bring to this class be viewed as a resource, strength, and benefit. It is my intent to present materials and activities that are respectful of various types of diversity, including but not limited to gender, sexuality, disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, religion, and culture. Your suggestions are encouraged and appreciated. Please let me know ways to improve the effectiveness of the course for you personally or for other students or student groups. In addition, if any of our class meetings conflict with your religious events, please let me know so that we can make arrangements for you.

Civility Policy: It is important that we discuss topics calmly and respectfully. We want to have an open setting where everyone feels free to contribute, where no one tries to dominate the conversations, and where we all remain open to other’s ideas. Ad hominem comments are not appropriate.

Credit Hour Statement: This course meets the Course Credit Hour Expectation outlined in the Course Catalog. Students should expect to work a minimum of 2 hours per week outside of class for every course credit hour. Since this is a graduate course, the expectation is that you will work approximately 4 hours per week outside of class for every course credit hour.

Harassment Policy: You do not have to put up with inappropriate treatment (e.g, verbal, physical, or sexual harassment) of any kind. If you have problems with a lab member, participant, or conference goer (or other person you interact with through your lab assignments), please let me know. It is important to note that if you do report it to me, I may have to report it to the university. If you are not comfortable talking with me about the issue, you can talk to the department head, Adam Butler.

Authorship Policy: You are expected to be first author on your thesis, indicating that you have done the majority of the work. If the project is later published in a journal, you would also likely be first author, but authorship may change depending on how much work you are willing to contribute to the manuscript. For small group projects, authorship is determined by the amount each person in the group contributes to the project. For conference presentations, I will usually take last author, but for manuscripts the order may change based on contributions, especially to writing.

Required Readings

Required readings can be found at https://osf.io/enm45/. They include:

· Harton Lab pre-registration form

· Harton Lab instructions for running psychology studies

· Introduction to OSF

· Lab inclusion-exclusion (of data) document

· Qualtrics basic information

· Harton, H. C., & Nail, P. R. (2008). Political orientation and contemporary racism in America. In M. A. Morrison & T. G. Morrison (Eds.), The psychology of modern prejudice (pp. 51-75). New York: Nova Science Publishers.

· Harton, H. C., & Bourgeois, M. J. (2004). Cultural elements emerge from dynamic social impact. In M. Schaller & C. S. Crandall (Eds.), Psychological foundations of culture (pp. 41-75). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Students will do also readings relevant to their projects as well as general readings relevant to psychology methods or lab topics.

Course Elements and Expectations

Research Project: You will design and carry out a research project. Some of the steps along the way include a successful proposal meeting, followed by a list of changes (signed and submitted to the psychology office). Then you will get IRB approval if needed and pre-register the study. After you collect data, you will analyze it using best practices and write up your thesis and revise it until it is ready to go to the committee. Make sure you run statcheck at this point as well. After the thesis defense, final changes are likely. Then you will turn it in to the Graduate College (when you have all the signatures of the committee members) and they will do additional reviews before the thesis is finalized. I ask that all my students order a copy of their thesis for me to keep (in addition to the copies you’ll make for the library and the psychology department).

Small Group Project: You will also be asked to work on a small group project with 2-3 other students. In this project, we’ll work together to design a study related to one of my areas of research interest (e.g., social influence, political psychology, research ethics), as chosen by you. We will generally design and collect data in the fall and analyze and present in the spring.

Lab activities: As a member of my lab, you’ll also work on projects that benefit others in the lab. For example, you may be asked to give suggestions on a questionnaire, pretest a study, or serve as a confederate.

Meetings: You’ll schedule a half hour meeting with me each week for your thesis and another for your small group. We’ll also have one, hour-long large group meeting per week. You are expected to attend and participate actively in these meetings.

Presentation: You will submit to one or more conferences in the fall and present at one or more regional, national, and/or local conferences in the spring. Presentations may be posters or oral presentations.

Open Science Requirements: You will create an account on OSF and keep all of your study materials up-to-date there. All studies will be pre-registered and gain IRB approval before data collection begins. Materials and data will be made public where possible. All data will be independently analyzed by at least two people, and files will contain proper and clear documentation.

Final Grade Determination

Grading in the course is based on the quality of your participation (e.g., punctuality, meeting attendance and participation, preparation, ethical behavior, attention to detail, pre-registration, data cleaning, data analysis), timeliness (e.g., meeting deadlines), and your outputs (e.g., quality of poster and presentation). If you do everything well, you will earn an A in the course. Deficiencies in one or more areas will result in a lower grade. To get a grade in the fall, you need to have successfully completed your proposal meeting, gotten IRB approval, pre-registered, and gotten materials ready for data collection. To get a grade in the spring, you need to have successfully defended your thesis.

Course Schedule

These are general time guidelines. Other assignments related to the large group will arise as needed (e.g., helping as a confederate).

Week of	Tasks/Topic
Jan. 26	Introduction to the lab; Read initial required readings; Set up groups
Sept. 2	Initial group meetings; Discuss ideas
Sept. 9	Form general idea and do literature search (finding more readings); Develop idea; Do IAF form; Have proposal meeting. First IAF deadline is Sept. 12
Sept. 16	Continue idea development; Finalize methods; Have all changes written up for the thesis; Get signatures and turn in to psych office
Sept. 23	IRB proposal written and turned in for small group and thesis.
Sept. 30	Materials (e.g., Qualtrics survey) developed.
Oct. 7	Pre-registration
Oct. 14	Data collection
Oct. 21	Data collection
Oct. 28	Initial analyses; MPA proposal
Nov. 4	MPA proposal turned in (Nov. 5 abstract deadline)
Nov. 11	Continue data collection via other sources
Nov. 18	Data cleaning
Dec. 2	Data cleaning
Dec. 9	Organize final OSF folder of materials
Exam week	Complete any final documentation

Resources and University Policy Statements

Counseling Center: UNI’s Counseling Center is free, confidential, convenient, and effective. It is the mission of the University of Northern Iowa Counseling Center to promote the personal development and psychological well-being of all students and to encourage a college environment that is conducive to growth and learning. To make an appointment, call 273-2676 (8:00-5:00 M-F). For urgent situations outside of office hours, call the Counseling Center at 273-2676 and press 2 to speak to a crisis counselor. Call 911 in case of immediate danger.

The Learning Center: The Learning Center @ Rod Library has office hours for assistance with writing, math, science, and college reading and learning strategies. A graduate assistant assigned to help graduate students with writing will be in the LC Mondays and Thursdays from 11-2. You can also schedule appointments with Kat Wohlpart at https://uni.libcal.com/appointments/meetwithkat. Beginning week two, The Learning Center (TLC) operates on a walk-in basis and is open 10:00 am to 10:00 pm Monday through Thursday for general help. For more information, go to https://tlc.uni.edu/tutoring, email TheLearningCenter@uni.edu , call 319-273-6023, or visit the TLC desk located on the main floor of Rod Library. If you are unable to come in during normal tutoring hours, online tutoring is available through Smarthinking. You will need your CATID and passphrase to gain access. To access the Smarthinking platform go to https://tlc.uni.edu/schedule.

Rod Library: Rod Library is here to help, so take advantage of their services. Need help finding resources for a research paper? Need to find some information and can’t figure out where to look? Contact the Rod Library! You can stop by, chat, email, text or call the library all hours the library is open. www.library.uni.edu/research/ask-us

Need Other Assistance?: I am happy to help you with class content, program issues, writing, etc. If you’re a victim of a crime, you can call 1-800-770-1650 to talk to an advocate 24/7 or text IOWAHELP to 20121. If you are experiencing food insecurity, you can access the Panther Pantry in the lower level of Maucker Union (right of the computer lab) from 12-7pm (til 8 S-Th) for confidential help. I can also help you locate other resources, but be aware that if you report certain things to me (e.g., sexual abuse, criminal activity), I may be required to report it to the university.

Office of Compliance and Equity Management Statement: The University of Northern Iowa does not discriminate in employment or education. Visit 13.03 Equal Opportunity & Non-Discrimination Statement (https://policies.uni.edu/1303) for additional information.

Student Accessibility Services Statement: The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Fair Housing Act, and other applicable federal and state laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability. To request accommodations please contact Student Accessibility Services (SAS), located at ITTC 007 for more information, either at (319) 273-2677 or via email to accessibilityservices@uni.edu. Visit Student Accessibility Services (https://sas.uni.edu/) for additional information.