Practice and Assignments

Activity: What’s Wrong with This Paragraph?

This activity includes a highly plagiarized paragraph along with the original source material to allow students to identify problem areas. There is an answer key for instructors as well as a “solution” paragraph without plagiarism. Click here for a link to the assignment

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.

A Guide and Template for Taking Notes on Research

This resource provides a guide for how to take notes on research, as well as a template for taking notes on empirical articles and review articles/chapters. It also provides an example set of notes for an empirical article. It can be used as the basis for a note-taking assignment given to prepare student to write …

A Guide and Template for Taking Notes on Research Read More »

Practice: Repeated-Measures ANOVA

In this activity, students will take data from a fictitious design to practice conducting a Repeated-Measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). First, provide students with the research scenario and the accompanying questions to have them determine the research design, statistical analysis to use, and independent and dependent variables. Next, have students set up a data file …

Practice: Repeated-Measures ANOVA Read More »

Practice: Two-Way (Factorial) ANOVA

In this activity, students will take data from a fictitious 2 x 2 factorial design to practice conducting a Two-Way (Factorial) Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). First, provide students with the research scenario and the accompanying questions to have them determine the research design, statistical analysis to use, and independent and dependent variables. Next, have students …

Practice: Two-Way (Factorial) ANOVA Read More »

Practice: One-Way ANOVA

In this activity, students will take data from a fictitious multi-group design to practice conducting a One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). First, provide students with the research scenario and the accompanying questions to have them determine the research design, statistical analysis to use, and independent and dependent variables. Next, have students set up a data …

Practice: One-Way ANOVA Read More »

Practice: t-test for Independent Means

In this activity, students will take data from a fictitious two-group design to practice conducting a t-test for Independent Means. First, provide students with the research scenario and the accompanying questions to have them determine the research design, statistical analysis to use, and independent and dependent variables. Next, have students set up a data file …

Practice: t-test for Independent Means Read More »

Assignment: Data Visualization (Histograms, Pie Charts, and Scatterplots) (SPSS)

In this assignment (created by Dr. Kimberly A. Barchard and Dr. Leiszle Lapping-Carr), students learn how to create and edit histograms, pie charts, and scatterplots in SPSS. A detailed grading rubric is included. This assignment was designed to be completed with an existing dataset (the address is given on the assignment). The handout includes instructions …

Assignment: Data Visualization (Histograms, Pie Charts, and Scatterplots) (SPSS) Read More »

Assignment: Basic Data Transformation (Recode, Reverse Code, Calculating Totals) (SPSS)

In this assignment (created by Dr. Kimberly A. Barchard and Dr. Leiszle Lapping-Carr), students learn how to recode a string variable into a numeric variable, reverse code a numeric variable, and calculate a total score. A detailed grading rubric is included. This assignment was designed to be completed with an existing dataset (the address is …

Assignment: Basic Data Transformation (Recode, Reverse Code, Calculating Totals) (SPSS) Read More »

Assignment: Selecting Cases / Calculating Statistics for Subgroups (SPSS)

In this assignment (created by Dr. Kimberly A. Barchard and Dr. Leiszle Lapping-Carr), students will use SPSS to compare two subgroups (men and women) using three different methods: select cases, split file, and explore. A detailed grading rubric is included. This assignment was designed to be completed with an existing dataset (the address is given …

Assignment: Selecting Cases / Calculating Statistics for Subgroups (SPSS) Read More »

Assignment: Working with Syntax (SPSS)

In this assignment (created by Dr. Kimberly A. Barchard and Dr. Leiszle Lapping-Carr), students learn create syntax commands by typing them and by using the paste function, and they will learn how to save the syntax file in SPSS format and pdf format. A detailed grading rubric is included. This assignment was designed to be …

Assignment: Working with Syntax (SPSS) Read More »

Assignment: Creating a Data Set, Calculating Descriptive Statistics (SPSS)

In this assignment (created by Dr. Kimberly A. Barchard and Dr. Leiszle Lapping-Carr), students learn the basics of SPSS, including how to create a new data file or open an existing data file, enter data, calculate descriptive statistics, and save data and output files. A detailed grading rubric is included. This assignment was designed to …

Assignment: Creating a Data Set, Calculating Descriptive Statistics (SPSS) Read More »

Assignment: Correlation (SPSS)

In this assignment (created by Dr. Kimberly A. Barchard and Dr. Leiszle Lapping-Carr), students learn how to calculate the Pearson Product-Moment correlation using SPSS and how to interpret the output. A detailed grading rubric is included. This assignment was designed to be completed with an existing dataset (the address is given on the assignment). The …

Assignment: Correlation (SPSS) Read More »

Assignment: t-test for Independent Means/Samples (SPSS)

In this assignment (created by Dr. Kimberly A. Barchard and Dr. Leiszle Lapping-Carr), students learn how to use SPSS to compare two independent groups using the independent samples t-test and using confidence intervals for the difference of the means. Students also write a research report with their results. A detailed grading rubric is included. This …

Assignment: t-test for Independent Means/Samples (SPSS) Read More »