Honors Research, PSY 359H (41230)

 

 

Meeting time and location:     MWF 9-10 a.m., SEA 2.108

 

Professor:       Dr. Randy Diehl

Office:             SEA 4.222

Phone:             475-7595

E-mail:            diehl@psy.utexas.edu

Office hours:   MW 1-2 or by appointment

 

TA:                  Taylor Simpson

Office:              ARC 3.134

Phone:             656-7924

E-mail: taysimp@mail.utexas.edu

Office hours:   MW 10-11

                        F      11-12

                                   

Texts:              Pyrczak, F. (2000).  Writing empirical research reports:  A basic guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences (3rd ed.).  Los Angeles: Pyrczak.

 

                        American Psychological Association (2001).  Publication manual (5th ed.).  Washington, D.C.:  American Psychological Association.

                                   

Prerequisites:  The Psychology Department will drop from any upper-division course all students who do not meet the following prerequisites: 

  • PSY 301 with a C or better
  • PSY 418 (or an equivalent listed in the course schedule) with a C or better
  • upper-division standing (60 hours completed). 

 

Additional requirements for Psychology Honors Research are that you:

  • are a Psychology or Plan II major
  • have an UT GPA of at least 3.25 overall and a Psychology GPA of at least 3.5  
  • have at least 6 hours of upper-division courses
  • have permission of the Psychology Honors Advisor (i.e., course instructor)

(Note also that PSY 458 must be taken before enrolling in PSY 379H; it may be taken concurrently with PSY 359H.)

 

To graduate with Special Honors in Psychology you must:

  • fulfill the normal degree requirements for a degree in Psychology plus three additional hours in the major (for a total of 31 hours of Psychology)
  • complete PSY 418, PSY 458, PSY 359H, PSY 379H, and participate in PSY 158H
  • have UT GPAs of at least 3.25 overall and 3.5 in Psychology courses
  • complete each Honors Thesis class with a B or better
  • complete at least 60 hours in residence at UT counting toward the degree.

Course objectives:     

  • to select and refine a research idea,
  • to review the relevant literature, and
  • to design an independent research project.

 

Writing assignments (due dates are listed on the attached schedule):

  1. Topic summary:  This is an overview of the area of research you plan to explore for your project along with questions that are of interest to you (1-2 pages).
  2. Literature review:  This includes a description of the research question that you plan to address together with a discussion and analysis of relevant earlier research (5-8 pages).
  3. Research proposal:  This consists of a revised version of your literature review along with a description of your experimental hypotheses, experimental design, and proposed methods (9-12 pages).

In addition, there will be several other small writing assignments during the course.

 

Attendance and preparation

The discussions with the professor and other students that take place during class time are a fundamental part of this course.  Consequently, attendance is expected.  If you miss more than one class, you will need to provide a written explanation of your absence, accompanied by any relevant documentation.  Effective discussions also require that participants are prepared.  Therefore, you should come to each class meeting prepared to participate.  Please do not be late to class as it is disruptive to the instructor and other students.

 

Grading

      Contributions to the final grade are as follows:  topic summary--5%, literature review--20%, class participation and small assignments--15%), research proposal (including revised literature review--60%.

 

Students with disabilities

      The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities.  For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TTY.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Course Schedule (tentative)

 

On Mondays and Wednesdays, the class will be conducted in a group format. On Fridays, students will work individually on their projects in the classroom or in the adjacent computer room.  The professor and T.A. will be available during these sessions for consultations.

 

Date                Topic                                                   Assignment

 

Aug 27             Overview of Honors Research

 

 

Sept 3              Selecting a research topic                      Write 1 or 2 sentence on topic.

                                                                                    Begin literature review.

 

Sept 10            Narrowing the focus                             Write paragraph on narrowed topic.

 

 

Sept 17            Reviewing the literature            

                        Susan Macicak tutorial , meet at PCL Lobby   

 

Sept 19                                                                        Topic summary due

 

Sept 22            Clarke Burnham:  IRB

 

Sept 24            Developing hypotheses             Pyrczak Chap 1, 2, and 3

 

Oct 8               Writing an introduction              Pyrczak Chap 4, 5, and 6

 

Oct 15             Getting in to graduate school                 Literature review due

 

Oct      20                   Designing your study                             Pyrczak Chap 7

 

Oct 27             Selecting stimuli and measures  

 

Nov 5              Human subjects                                   

 

Nov 17                        Writing a methods section                     Pyrczak Chap 8

 

Nov 24                        Presentations begin                               Research proposal due