Mid america christian university d2l

MID-AMERICA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

College of Adult and Graduate Studies

PSYCHOLOGY AND

ETHICS RESEARCH I PSYC 3501

Syllabus

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN PSYCHOLOGY AND ETHICS

ADULT SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE

Revision: September 15, 2013

PSYC 3501 Psychology & Ethics Research I MACU College of Adult and Graduate Studies

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Instructor See Contact Information in D2L under News in Course Home.

Course Description The second course in the research block expands the study of the fundamentals of research to designing a

research study that meets the criteria for Chapter 3 in a formal research project. Students will apply

evaluation criteria to critique their study to identify weaknesses in the research design and inappropriate or

biased selection of participants. Once approved, students will perform their study and prepare to write the

results in PSYC 4823. Prerequisite: PSYC 3403 Research and Ethical Decision Making

Course Overview This course continues the study of writing and consuming as well as validating empirical research

through the continuation of the capstone research project. The student will have completed

Chapters 1 and 2 and then have completed Chapter 3 (Methods) by the end of this course. Students

will be initially presented with information on creating survey questions in research consistent with

their research design and will learn how to sample populations as well as how to construct

questions. Students will be asked to explore the current research and be able to identify the

different components of research within those articles. By doing this, students will be able to

critically review research and become good consumers of research.

Student Outcomes Within this course, students will be introduced to and instructed in the application of research

methodology both as a producer and a consumer as well as research design. At course end,

students be able to: 1. Critically evaluate research from a scientific perspective.

2. Evaluate the statistical analysis of research to determine significance of the study.

3. Apply basic principles of research to their own career choice.

4. Design a survey questionnaire for use in their chosen career.

5. Examine the literature to produce questions for further research and evaluation.

6. Create a methods section to explore their research question.

7. Evaluate an hypothesis and to determine the significance of an effect in research.

8. Read and use research literature in their discipline.

9. Systematically and rationally use research in decision making.

10. Conduct library research and use computers in research.

11. Critically analyze research to be good consumers of research.

12. Scientifically develop research to be good producers of research.

13. Evaluate a methods section of a research article for clarity and significance.

14. Identify the differences in research designs.

PSYC 3501 Psychology & Ethics Research I MACU College of Adult and Graduate Studies

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Required Textbook and Other Materials

 Miller-Cochran, S & Rodrigo, R. (2014). The Wadsworth Guide to Research. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Boston, Ma. (2014).

 Additional article readings will be provided

 The APA manual for writing is strongly encouraged.

College of Adult and Graduate Studies Policies and Resources For more information about specific CAGS academic policies or resources available to

CAGS students, consult the CAGS Policy statement located under “Course

Documents” in your course on D2L. This document contains information about

Academic Integrity, Disability Services, the C.E. Brown Library, Technical Support,

and more.

Course Evaluation The student’s performance in this module will be evaluated as follows:

Course Content

Points

Possible

Discussion (Week 1 & 2, 10 points

each)

20 points

Quiz (Week 1 & 2, 40 points each) 80 points

Journal Reflection (Week 1 & 2, 75

points each)

150 points

Article Summary (Week 1 & 2, 100

points each)

200 points

Research Study Evaluation (Week

1 & 2, 100 points each)

200 points

Survey Project (Week 1) 200 points

Chapter 3 (Week 2) 150 points

TOTAL POINTS

1000

Grading Scale

A = 90 to 100%

B = 80 to 89.9%

C = 70 to 79.9%

D = 60 to 69.9%

F = 0 to 59.9%

PSYC 3501 Psychology & Ethics Research I MACU College of Adult and Graduate Studies

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Course Format: This is designed to be an online-based course utilizing D2L, discussion boards and

email.

Course Expectations

 Weekly examination assignments: This course will require an examination of outside

articles for exploration and understanding. You will be required to summarize those articles

and define any new terms which will allow you to show an understanding of the article. You

will be expected to summarize the article for your own clarity. By the end of week 1, you will

have completed your survey design which you will use in your research. Week 2 you will be

expected to have completed a Chapter III (Methods section) for your research understanding.

These assignments will be due no later than midnight of the Saturday following the assigned

work. Week 1 will consist of a completed survey questionnaire for your research. You can

expect to be involved in library and internet research each week. You must check email daily

as your instructor will be in constant communication with you.

 Quizzes: There will be a total of 2 quizzes. Quiz 1 and 2 will cover the terms presented to

you at the beginning of each week.

 Class participation: Daily class participation on D2L is expected and necessary.

 Discussion Board: Each week students are required to select and post a discussion question

(250 words) in which you will discuss with other students what you have done this week to

continue with your research assignment. Support for each other is encouraged. Discuss such

items as where you found your material, what new discoveries you made in terms of records

or articles about your career choice, what new resources you discovered that may benefit

others or you may discuss the need to find more sources and reach out to other students who

may have found a good resource. In this way, you are sharing your resources with other

students who may be able to use them as well. The two responses to other students will be

required on this discussion question as well.

a. The instructor will present topics for students to discuss throughout the week based on material

covered in the textbook readings, projects completed by the students, or other research the instructor

deems as being important to the class.

b. Students will be required to participate in the online discussions each week with a minimum of three

posts: one main post, (of at least 250 words) which will be the original thoughts and ideas of the

student for fellow classmates to read and comment on, and two comments (at least 75 words) in

response to the posts of your fellow classmates. Each week will have a second discussion question

with specific instructions for these discussions within the discussion board assignment.

c. Comments are to be well-thought out, developed, and written. Comments are also to contain an

element of material from the text, as well as personal thoughts and interpretations. What this means

is, all of your comments should be based on our textbook readings or research you are currently

working on rather than just personal opinion. Students place an appropriate reference for any outside

sources from which you are taking information. Failure to cite your references on original posts will

result in point reduction.

PSYC 3501 Psychology & Ethics Research I MACU College of Adult and Graduate Studies

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d. Comments are to be free of grammatical and spelling errors, and should reflect a level of writing

commensurate with Master’s level work. Points will be deducted for poor writing, grammatical and

spelling errors.

e. Responses to the posts of fellow students should reflect the same level of writing mentioned in part c

and above. Comments such as, “Great post, I couldn’t agree with you more,” are not acceptable and

will receive no points.

Course Schedule

Week One

Reading Chapters 4, 5, 6 from The Wadsworth Guide to Research.

Articles are accessible on the Reading page in D2L.

Discussions Participate in the discussion forum after the instructor specifies this week's topic by day 7 at 11:59 pm CST.

Assignment Complete the Article Summary, Journal Reflection, Research Study Evaluation, Survey Project, and Quiz by day 7 at 11:59 pm CST.

Week Two

Reading Chapter 13 from The Wadsworth Guide to Research.

Articles are accessible on the Reading page in D2L.

Discussions Participate in the discussion forum after the instructor specifies this week's topic by day 7 at 11:59 pm CST.

Assignment Complete the Article Summary, Journal Reflection, Research Study Evaluation, Chapter 3, and Quiz by day 7 at 11:59 pm CST.

RUBRICS:

Weekly Article Summaries % - Points

Explain Points Awarded

Presents a summary of the article which is clearly in the

student’s own words

0-20

Student notes and clearly defines the relevance of this

article to his/her own project

0-20

Summary shows a clear understanding of the content of

the article and terms used in the article

0-20

Article summary is a minimum of 250 words 0-10

Reference is in correct APA style 0-10

Writing: Paragraph structure is free of punctuation or

grammar errors

0-20

Total 100

PSYC 3501 Psychology & Ethics Research I MACU College of Adult and Graduate Studies

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Journal Reflection % - Points

Explain Points Awarded

Presents an introduction which clearly examines

indicates the relevance of this review to his/her own

project.

0-20

Terms are identified and defined 0-20

Analysis indicates that student clearly understands the

content and purpose of the journal

0-10

References are given written in APA style 0-10

Writing: Paragraph structure is appropriate, free of

grammatical and spelling errors, in APA style, a

minimum of 250-300 words

0-15

Total 75

Research Study Evaluations % - Points

Explain Points Awarded

Introduces the research evaluation and its relevance to

the students own project

0-20

Student shows a clear understanding of the process of

research through their evaluation of this research

0-20

Student draws ideas from the research and defines any

unknown terms

0-20

Student summarizes any shortcomings of this research as

well as what he/she has found to be beneficial

0-20

Student cites the research correctly in apa style 0-10

Writing: Paragraph structure is appropriate, free of

grammatical and spelling errors, in APA style,a

minimum of 250-300 words

0-10

Total 100

PSYC 3501 Psychology & Ethics Research I MACU College of Adult and Graduate Studies

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Survey Project Points

Research Project: Survey Explain Points Awarded

Survey questions are clearly written free from grammatical error

or spelling error

0-40

Clearly defines the use of the survey in collecting data for this

project

0-20

Rough draft of chapter 3: 3-5 indicating the use of the survey

and procedures used for collecting data to include sampling. A

minimum of 2-3 citations per paragraph (in text)

0-40

Summarizes and analyzes the unresolved issues, conflicting

findings, social concerns and issues

0-20

Survey questions are relevant to the topic and to the resolve of

the problem statement in the research

____________________________________________

Limitations of the study are clearly written and defined

0-20

________

0-20

_________________

A clear analysis is stated as well as the research design, subjects,

instruments to be used and procedures to be used to research

0-20

Terms are identified. A clear and precise summary transitions to

the next chapter.

0-20

Total Possible Points

200

Comments:

PSYC 3501 Psychology & Ethics Research I MACU College of Adult and Graduate Studies

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Final Project Points

Chapter 3 Explain Points Awarded

The project is clearly developed and demonstrates an

understanding of the components of a chapter 3. Use the

final research paper outline as a guide

0-40

Additional research articles are examined for relevance and

understanding

0-40

Each article is cited in text according to the APA citation

rules

0-10

Summarizes, analyzes and defends the use of his/er

methods used

0-10

Chapter 3 begins the process of transition to the next

chapters, chapters 4 and 5-the results and discussion

sections by describing the statistics used and why these are

relevant to the study

___________________________________________

Paper is well written using appropriate sentence and

paragraph structure, APA style, free of grammatical and

spelling errors.

0-25

________

0-25

___________________

Total 150

Comments:

PSYC 3501 Psychology & Ethics Research I MACU College of Adult and Graduate Studies

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Standard Discussion Questions Rubric

Discussion /

Participation

Grading

Rubric:

CATEGORY

100 - 85% 84-70% 69-40% 39-0%

Followed Specific

Directions

(as needed) This

includes

answering the

question, word

count, complete

sentences, and

collegiate level

language.

All instructions concerning the

discussion were

followed.

Attention to

details of

Discussion is

apparent.

Followed majority of

instructions.

Minor details of

assignment need

attention.

Lacked attention to details in

instructions.

Did not follow instructions.

Contribution to Class Discussion

Responses make a valuable

contribution to

the class by

inviting further

comment and

thought.

Responses invite further comment

and thought but

are not relevant

to the discussion.

Responses are relevant to the

discussion but do

not lead to

further comment

or thought.

Responses are irrelevant to the

discussion and

discourage

further comment

and thought.

Participation Continue and contribute to

class discussion

by responding to

at least 2

student’s posts

on 3 separate

calendar days. (6

responses).

Continue and contribute to

class discussion

by responding to

2 or more fellow

students. (4

responses).

Continue and contribute to

class discussion

by responding to

at least 1 fellow

student. (3

responses).

Minimal or No replies to fellow

students. (2 or

fewer

responses).

CATEGORY 100 % 90 % 80 % 50 %

Substance Responses address all points

of view and

issues requested

by the question.

Responses

incorporate

reading

resources to

Responses address most of

the points of

view and issues

requested by the

question.

Responses address a few of

the points of

view and issues

requested by the

question.

Responses do not adequately

address points of

view and issues

requested by the

question.

PSYC 3501 Psychology & Ethics Research I MACU College of Adult and Graduate Studies

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support their understanding of

material and

issues.

Contribution to Class Discussion

Responses make a valuable

contribution to

the class by

inviting further

comment and

thought.

Responses invite further comment

and thought but

are not relevant

to the discussion.

Responses are relevant to the

discussion but do

not lead to

further comment

or thought.

Responses are irrelevant to the

discussion and

discourage

further comment

and thought.

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