Lecture 1

Introduction to Psychology as a Science

Introductions and housekeeping

Dr Lincoln Colling

26 Sep 2022

Psychology as a Science

Plan for today

• Meet the teaching team
• Tips on doing well
• Finding the information you need
• Knowing how to get help
• Research methods in your degree
• Structure of this module
  • Assessments
  • Lecture topics

Introductions

Main teaching is three people:

Dr Lincoln Colling (Lecture content convenor)

Introductions

Introductions

Introductions

In addition to the three main people there’s also:

• Dr Bryan Singer who is responsible for the special Research Ethics lecture and the assessment that goes with it

• An entire team of doctoral tutors who are there to help you in the practical classes and who will be responsible for marking your lab report

Knowing who is responsible for which sections of the course will help to make sure that you contact the correct person

We spend a lot of time just re-directing queries, so just directing queries at the correct person will save everyone a lot of time

Tips for doing well

The most important thing you can do to make sure you do well is attend all the classes

Coming to the lectures each week means:

You get exposed to all the lecture content without even trying!

• It might be tempting to just watch the recordings, but it’s really easy to fall behind

But more importantly so much of what makes university great is the stuff that happens around the classes

• You get to meet me and talk to me after class

• You’ll get to meet to your classmates

• You’ll get more of an authentic university experience

Tips for doing well

Apart from showing up every week, the other thing you should do is:

Do all the assessments!

• This is particularly true to the assessments related to the practical content!
• Each of these assessments builds on the previous one, so if you miss too many it can be difficult to catch up.

For all the assessments you’ll do during the course, whether it’s the

• Assessments related to R
• Or the Lab Report

it’ll be the first time you’ll be doing anything like them

This means they might appear daunting, but you’re all in the same boat, and if you stick with it, I know you can be successful

Tips for doing well

Psychology as a Science is not a difficult course, but most of the material we’ll be covering will be very new…

For example, I’ve mentioned R several times, but all you are probably thinking “what is R?”

I don’t expect any of you will know what R is, but that is something you’ll learn about in this course!

Don’t feel bad if you don’t know what R is or if you’ve never come across any other material in this course. If you knew all the material in this course, then this course will be pointless!

You’re here to learn new stuff and we don’t assume any background knowledge¹

Finding the information you need

All the information you need is on canvas

Finding the information you need

Click through all the links and read the information

Finding the information you need

• Keep a notebook handy while you read through the information on canvas

• Note down anything you think is particularly important

• Or bookmark pages you think are important

• Check out the Frequently Asked Questions

Knowing who to contact

One thing that can be tricky when you’re first starting at university is knowing the correct person to contact if you need help.

Admin queries

• If you’re meant to have an extension but it hasn’t been applied correctly

• If you’re unable to submit your lab report because you’re unwell

If you have any of these kinds of queries then you should email the admin staff at psychology@sussex.ac.uk

Please don’t email teaching staff asking for extensions, because we can’t do anything about it.

See the handout (and canvas for more information about absences and extensions)

Knowing who to contact

Queries about course content

The lecturers are your point of contact if you have queries about the course content

• For queries about the lecture material and final exam I’m the best person to contact

• For queries about the practical content or the lab report, you should take to Dr Terry or Dr Costin

The best way to get in touch with me is to talk to me after class!

I’ll always hang around after class to answer any questions

Asking for help

Apart from asking me a question after/during class, the best place to ask for help is on the Discord

Sign up here: https://discord.gg/TBf8Zju2xv

Asking for help

The best ways to get help are to talk to us directly before/after class, by using the Discord, or by coming to the drop in sessions.

You shouldn’t need to email us unless there is a matter that you’d like to raise confidentially.

There’s lots of ways to get help, so make sure you make use of these methods first

Research methods in Psychology

Psychology as a Science is only the first in a series of research methods modules you’ll do during your degree.

Following this module you’ll take the following modules:

• Analysing Data (next term)

• Discovering Statistics (year 2)

• Quantitative and Qualitative Methods (year 2)

All these courses build on each other and prepare you for your research dissertation in your final year

They’re also a great way to learn a lot of transferable skills that are useful outside university, for example: 1) how to analyse data; 2) how to make sense of statistics; 3) computer programming/coding skills.

Psychology as a Science (PAAS)

PAAS covers an introduction to the research process. Some of the topics we’ll cover include:

• Introduction to Philosophy of Science qualitative methods
• Basics of statistical theory

In the practical classes you’ll be introduced to the R programming language and you’ll learn:

• The basics of programming using R
• How to process and summarise data
• How to draw plots in R

You’ll eventually learn how to perform various kinds of statistical analyses using R, so the aim of PAAS is to lay the foundation for this!

You’ll also work with some of the same data data you’ll be using in Cognition in Clinical Contexts

Analysing Data (AD)

• You’ll learn the core statistical tests used in Psychology

• More advanced R, and using R to perform statistical tests

• You first chance to independently analyse some data

In AD it is assumed that you have basic knowledge of R, so it’s very important that you stay on top of the work in PAAS

Some of the work you do in Analysing Data will connect up with the work you do in Psychobiology

Discovering Statistics (DS)

• Move advanced statistical tests

• Focus on more complex statistical analyses

• More advanced R

Some of the work you do in Discovering Statistics will connect up with Developmental Psychology

Quantitative and Qualitative Methods (QQM)

• Advanced multivariate statistical techniques

• Non-statistical research methods such as interviews and discourse analysis

Some of the work you do in Quantitative and Qualitative Methods will connect up with Social Psychology

Research methods do not happen in isolation, but they’re connected with everything else you do in your degree

Why research methods?

• Dominant approach to training psychologists is the scientist practitioner model

• Doing research is integral to this approach!

Just like medical doctors, who not only deliver treatments but also develop treatments, psychologists also apply and produce knowledge.

You want to do what works and being able to read, critique, and conduct research will help you know what works and allow you to develop evidence-based care

Even for those that don’t become psychologists, research methods is a useful skills that can prepare you for careers in, data science, civil service, consultancy, and more

Structure of this module

Like most research methods modules PAAS is made up of three main activities:

1. Weekly lectures

   • One hour each week.

   • Covers research methods, statistics, and theory

   • Note that you’ll also have a special lecture one evening in Week 6 that will cover research ethics. Check your timetable!

Note, that Psychology as a Science does not have an additional reading list, because you’ll have enough R homework for the practicals to keep you busy

Structure of this module

2. Tutorials/Practical preparation homework

   • About an hour a week.

   • Done in R as preparation for the practical class.

3. Practical classes

   • Two hours a week.

   • Gives you hands-on experience with the R programming language.

You’ll find out more about the exact structure of the tutorials and practicals in the practical sessions.

Assessment Structure

For the assessment there’s a 50/50 split between coursework and the exam.

The coursework is made up of four parts. Pay special attention to this section, because the list on Sussex Direct can be a little confusing.

1. Computer Based Exam worth 10% due in Week 8

   This will cover the material from the ethics lecture in Week 6

2. Computer Based Exam worth 40% (Beware confusing due data on Sussex Direct)

   This refers to the R assessments that you’ll do. You’ll find out more about these in the practical classes.

It’s very important to note that this isn’t a single assessment due at the end of term.

Consist of several assessments you’ll do through out the term. Make sure you keep up with them, because doing them will help you achieve a good grade.

Assessment Structure

1. Report worth 40% due in Wk 9

This is the major piece of written work you’ll do, and you’ll find out more in the practical classes

1. Portfolio with 10% (Beware confusing due date on Sussex Direct)

   This refers to the 20 credits worth of research participation that you’re required to do as part of the course. To find out more about this follow the big yellow link labelled Research Participation/Sona.

Again, it’s very important to note that the due date is the final day you can complete research participation.

But don’t wait until the last week to do it, because there’ll probably be no studies left to take part in.

Research participation is also important for your academic development, because it will give you a first-hand experience of the research process.

Lecture topics

Lecture topics divided into two sections

In part one you’ll do:

These lectures are all about the research process, and they’ll prepare you for the lab report

Lecture topics

In part two you’ll do:

These lectures focus on statistical concepts, and they’ll prepare you for learning about statistical testing in Semester two

Lecture topics

The first set of lectures will cover big picture ideas. These lectures will probably be most useful in helping you to prepare for the report.

• What are scientific theories?

• What issues do we need to consider when we’re measuring phenomena?

• What does it mean to operationalise our variables?

• What are different approaches you can take when conducting a study?

• What are some sources of bias in psychology studies and publishing of psychology studies, and how might we be able to ameliorate some of these biases?

Lecture topics

The second set of lectures are all about preparing you for learning about statistics and working with data.

In these lectures you’ll learn the underlying theory of statistical testing. You’ll learn how to reason about statistics and data, and the relationship between scientific hypotheses and statistical hypotheses.

Doing statistics isn’t like following a recipe. It’s not about just picking the “correct” statistical test out of a list.

It involves thinking about what you want to know, why you want to know it, and how statistics can help you to know it. So we spend a bit of time this term just learning about this reasoning before you actually learn about statistical tests next term.

Closing thoughts

• Can’t emphasise enough that this course is not inherently difficult

• Most people do very well

• BUT you’ll only do well if you keep up with the work

This means:

• Coming to all the classes (Lectures and Practicals)

• Doing all the assessments (particularly the R assessments)

• Doing all the R tutorial activities

• Coming to drop in sessions if you’re stuck or confused about anything

The better you do in this course, the easier you’ll find the methods courses that follow

And the better you do at methods the better you’ll do in your final year dissertation