July 2020

NOBA: Statistical Thinking

A chapter by Beth Chance and Allan Rossman that introduces several key topics in statistics such as: distributions, p-values, confidence intervals, samples/populations, and drawing statistical conclusions . This chapter could serve as an introduction to the topic or as a refresher for students in a more advanced course. You can access the full chapter here.

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NOBA: Research Designs

An article by Christie Napa Scollon that outlines the basics of research designs in psychology, including information about experimental vs. correlational design. This reading would be a good introduction to the topic, or a good review for students who previously took a methods course. You can access the full chapter here.

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NOBA: Conducting Research in the Real World

An article by Matthias Mehl that advocates for taking our research out of the lab and exploring phenomena in the real world. The discussion touches on topics like internal/external validity, ecological validity, sampling, as well as several specific/specialized methods related to capturing daily information from participants. The chapter also includes information about conducting research online

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NOBA: Why Science?

This article by Ed Diener provides a brief primer on the science of psychology. The article focuses on defining science, showing how it applies to psychology, discusses ethical considerations, and why science is so useful in psychology. In any psychology course, but especially research methods, this article would provide students with a really nice introduction

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Article: Teaching the Foundations of Psychological Science

This chapter from Regan Gurung (Twitter: @ReganARGurung) and Drew Christopher, discusses all aspects of teaching research methods and statistics in psychology from why students need the course, how to organize the course, highlight resources, and discuss challenges in teaching these important courses. Citation: Gurung R.A.R., Christopher A. (2020) Teaching the Foundations of Psychological Science. In:

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Video: How-To Create a #BetterPoster

An in-depth presentation from Mike Morrison (you can find him on Twitter @MikeMorrison) about the need for a #betterposter. If this doesn’t convince you that we need to revamp how we present scientific information at conferences, nothing will. Want to find templates for creating better posters? Click here. The next video is a deeper dive

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Creating an Outline for an APA Style Introduction

This resource provides a template to help students plan and organize the structure of an APA style Introduction. It includes an example for students to reference Please click here for the file.

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Practice Creating an Outline for an APA Style Introduction Based on Notes

This resource helps students practice the process of outlining an APA style Introduction based on notes taken on research articles. It provides note sheets from 8 research articles and a template to help students plan and organize the structure of an APA style Introduction. Please click here for the file.

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Investigating Claims Made by the Media

This assignment helps students practice scientific literacy and literature searches. Students find a media posting that makes a psychology-related scientific claim and a peer-reviewed research article that speaks to that claim. Students then write an essay evaluating the media claim based on the scientific conclusions. Please click here for the file.

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Student Guide to SPSS and APA Style Writing (v.12.0)

This guide (created by Gary Lewandowski; Twitter: @LewandowskiPhD) is a free resource that can substitute for the APA Manual and SPSS guides. The Student Guide leads students through data analysis in SPSS with step-by-step instructions and screenshots for setting up the analyses and interpreting the output. For each analysis, students also see an example SPSS

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APA Style (7th Edition): Annotated Sample Papers (Professional & Student)

One of the most helpful resources instructors can provide for students is a solid example. To facilitate learning APA Style, the APA has provided several sample papers for both professional and student formats. Here are two annotated examples: Professional Paper – Annotated Version (Sample Only Version) Student Paper – Annotated Version (Sample Only Version)

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APA Style (7th Edition): Avoiding Several Types of Plagiarism

Students can always use additional information about plagiarism as a refresher. In this handout from the APA, they distinguish between word plagiarism and idea plagiarism, as well as discuss “patchwriting.” (which may be a new concept for students) You can find the handout here.

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APA Style (7th Edition): Writing the Discussion (Key Phrases to Use)

Anyone who has ever taught writing of APA Style Research Reports, knows that students struggle with writing the Discussion section. The APA now provides a handout that helps students by providing key phrases for each subsection. These should help students better match their content to the appropriate section. You can find the handout here.

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APA Style (7th Edition): References

The video is a bit long (over an hour) and the audio quality isn’t stellar, but it has lots of good information. Instructors could provide this to students and have confidence that all of the key elements were covered. Here is an additional resource/handout that summarizes APA Style References as well.

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APA Style (7th Edition): Academic Writer Tutorial: Basics of Seventh Edition APA Style

This is an online guide from the APA that introduces APA Style writing and formatting. This would be a great resource to introduce students to APA, especially for an online course. From the site “By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to understand and implement the following basic elements of APA Style”

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Writing Quantitative Empirical Manuscripts With Rigor and Flair (Yes, It’s Possible)

This article, authored by Marianne Fallon (Central Connecticut State University) in the Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research, addresses the myth that APA style writing needs to be boring. The article features lots of great advice for students (and for more senior researchers). Students could read this before starting their paper to give them a

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APA Style (7th Edition): Sample Notated Paper

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is a premier source for all types of resources for teaching writing, including APA style (Here is a link to all of their APA materials). But perhaps the most useful resource is their sample research report with abundant notations highlighting key points for students. Not only that, but they

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Activity: Multi-Group Multi-Tasking

In this activity from The Learning Scientists’ blog, students are randomly assigned to one of three groups: recite the alphabet, count to 26, or go both by going back and forth (A-1-B-2, etc.). The dependent variable is how long it takes to complete the task. This could be done in class, but could also be

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