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Departmental Learning Goals for Psychology 331: Laboratory in Human Performance

By the end of this course, students are expected to design, conduct, analyze, and explain an experiment in cognitive psychology. Broadly, this means that students will:
  1. Show an understanding of each step in the experimental process (generate a testable question, place it in a theoretical context, design an experiment, collect, analyze, and interpret data, and communicate results).
  2. Clearly show their understanding of the scientific method by justifying and explaining each step of the experimental process orally and in writing.
Specifically, students will:
  1. Propose an experiment, explaining its underlying theory and the relation between theoretical and operational constructs.
  2. Summarize and critique the research literature on which the experiment is based.
  3. Explain the relation between prior research and the current hypothesis.
  4. Choose an appropriate research design, operationalize variables, choose appropriate experimental methods.
  5. Use appropriate statistical methods and software for summarizing and analyzing data.
  6. Describe and graphically display research results according to American Psychological Association (APA) formatting and style conventions.
  7. Write a research report of the experiment using APA format.
  8. Develop organizational and communication skills by working productively in a group and showing tolerance for multiple individual perspectives.
  9. Construct a clear, cohesive, and engaging research presentation and respond to impromptu question from the audience.

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