August 27
Introduction to the Course and the Scientific Method
The "sherbet dish" model of research (a Palmquist derivative)
Common Terminology and Symbols used in Research Methods
Read:
September 3
Evaluating Published Research: Look What a Little Common Sense Can Do!
Error: Bias and Noise
Looking at the Shape of Data: Getting Started with Descriptive Statistics
Read:
September 10
More work with descriptive statistics
September 17
Reliability and Validity in Research
Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research, Philosophical Differences
Choosing Representative Samples
Levels of Measurement
Read:
September 24
Sign-up session for choosing a methodology
will be next week: 1) survey research, 2) content analysis, 3) historical,
4) experimental research, 5) case study, 6) bibliometrics, and 7) qualitative research.
Exploratory Data Analysis
Looking for Patterns in Bi-variate Data - Pearson r
Read:
Handout: Midterm Review Sheet (ungraded)
October 1
Sign up for Oral Group Reports on a Methodology
Ethical Issues in Doing Research
Review for Midterm
October 8
Midterm should take approximately 1-2 hours.
October 15
Oral Presentations for research articles to illustrate various research methods
October 22
Normal Distribution (Handout provided -- Not graded, but helps with final)
Sampling Distribution of a Statistic (in our class, a mean)
Demo of SPSS Student Ware (in class)
Read:
October 29
Inferential Statistics: Hypothesis Testing
T-distribution: A test which compares the means of two distributions (variables)
Read:
November 5
Chi-square: A test which compares the shape of two distributions (variables)
Read:
November 12
Chi-square, continued
Survey Data Analysis using a statistical package
DUE: Assignment 1 (Mr. Hogg)
Handout: Assignment 2 (SURVEY DATA)
November 19
Research and Project Proposal Writing
November 26
Websites for Proposal Writing
December 3
Last Class - Review for Final Exam
DUE: Assignment 2 (SURVEY DATA)
December 10
Scheduled Final Exam 7-10 p.m./SZB 468
DUE: Problem Statement