FOUNDATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Psychology 2120-001

Instructor: David W. Alfano, Ph.D.

Office: Rm 3094 Warwick Office Hours: MF 10 -11 am W 9-11 am T 10-11 am

email: dalfano@ccri.edu

Psychology Department Phone: 825-2222

Prerequisite: PSYC 2010 General Psychology or its equivalent. General Psychology should be successfully completed prior to taking this course.

Required Text: Methods in Behavior Research 8^th edition by Paul C. Cozby

Requirements

Reading Course. Please note that Foundations of Psychological Research is classified as a reading course. Students are responsible for all assigned reading material. Some of this material will not be reviewed in class but will appear on your exams and/or assignments. It is assumed that students can read and understand the basic concepts and principles reviewed in the textbook. Students who have reading difficulties or who are currently working on improving their reading skills in order to better understand college level reading material are advised not to take this course at this time. See me if you have any questions.

Classroom Activity. The use of lecture time will vary, depending on the learning objectives. For example, lectures may be used for clarifying text material or introducing new material, for discussing how to identify and apply principles or theories, and for films on special topics. Activities (classroom and home assignments) play an important role in this particular course since several of the performance objectives require that you develop specific skills.

Attendance. The student is expected to attend class regularly. Attendance will be monitored. Multiple absences may affect the final grade of the student. You will need to be in class to complete any classroom assignments or activities. You will be given a zero for any assignment or activity that you miss that can not be made up.

Cell Phones and Pagers. Before entering class, please, either turn off your cell phones and pagers or set them to silent or vibrate mode.

Pipeline. All students must be able to access CCRI's Pipeline system and have activated their Pipeline email. Assignments and announcements will be given over Pipeline under My Courses. Go to Research methods for files and announcements.

Grading. Four exams will be given throughout the semester. They will consist of multiple choice, true/false, fill in the blanks, and short essay answers. Exams will cover material covered during the previous segment of the course. These exams will be worth 50% of your grade. Activities / Assignments will be worth 25% of your grade and a Paper Assignment will be worth 25% of your grade.

Policies. If, for any reason, you cannot complete exams on or before the due date, you must let me know prior to that date to schedule a make up date. Usually, make up exams will be given the following class during class time. However, please note that you may miss an assignment that can not be made up. The student must contact the professor to take the make up exams or schedule other arrangements.

All exams and out of class assignments are to be completed within a one week time span from the original due date. Those students that do not complete the exams and out of class assignments within this time limit will be given a ZERO for their missing work.