UNLV

Department of Psychology

PSY 496 / 498

Independent Study / Independent Research

 

Dr. Kimberly A. Barchard

Interactive Measurement

Group 

 

Course Overview

Mission Statement Course Objectives Required Text Registering Lab Hours General Lab Work Research Professional

Development Presentations Newsletter

Lab Meetings

Purpose Workshops

Literature Reviews

Overview Instructions Recommended

Resources

Posters

Overview Literature Review

Posters Existing Data

Posters Assignments

New Study Posters

Projects

Overview Products Presentations

Team Meetings

 

Team Members

Professor Lab Manager

Grading

Overview Grading Scheme

 

Send comments on this syllabus to Dr. Barchard

PSY 496 / 498Mission Statement

The Interactive Measurement Group will:

prepare students for post-baccalaureate education and careers, by helping them o identify career and educational goals, o develop their leadership and teamwork skills, o develop their communication (oral and written) and computer skills, and o develop their research skills; and

conduct research on emotional intelligence and psychometrics, by o reviewing and integrating published research,o collecting, scoring, and analyzing data, and o presenting results in professional forums (e.g., conferences, publications).

PSY 496 / 498Course ObjectivesI expect students to enroll in this course for a minimum of three semesters. During their time in the lab, I expected students to

clarify their career and educational objectives create a detailed plan for achieving those objectives substantially increase their computer skills, writing skills, and teamwork skills publish at least one article in the lab newsletter create and present at least two professional conference posters write a journal article and submit it for publication

PSY 496 / 498Required TextAmerican Psychological Association (2009).  APA Publication Manual, 6th Edition.  Available from the UNLV bookstore, http://www.apastyle.org, and http://www.amazon.com.

Purdue University has a helpful online writing lab. It includes essential information about APA format.  It is located here:http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

 

PSY 496 / 498RegisteringTo register for Psy 496 Independent Study and 6 credits of Psy 498 Independent Research, you need to fill out a special form. I will submit it to the Psychology Department for approval. Once it is approved, the Psychology Department will email you to tell you that they have unblocked your registration. You should then email me to confirm you have successfully registered.

Each semester, you can enroll in 1-6 credits of Psy 496 or 498. Most students sign up for 3 credits each semester.  You will only be allowed to enroll in less than 3 credits if you have already been in our lab for at least one semester.

You can register for a total of 6 credits of Psy 496 and 6 credits of Psy 498. After you have completed 12 credits, you may volunteer without signing up for credit or you may register for graduate level credit.

PSY 496 / 498Lab Hours

The more time you spend on research, the more you will get out of it. Most students spent at least 12 hours per week on lab work. Many students spend more time than that. How much time you spend on your lab work is up to you.

Minimum Requirements

If you sign up for credit, each credit requires 60 lab hours. If you are taking 3 credits for 180 hours, this works out to 12 hours per week during the fall and spring semesters, and 22.5 hours per week during the 8-week summer lab.  In addition, your must commit to at least 4 hours of general lab work per week, and at least 4 hours to each project and poster you are working on. 

Each student will have a unique combination of general lab work and project/poster work.  Some students will spend all their lab hours on general lab work.  Some students may choose to focus their time on one project and spend 12 or more hours per week on it.  Some students may be working on a poster and a project (each for at least 4 hours per week).  Finally, some students will work on two projects (each for at least 4 hours per week).

If you feel like you have too little or too much work, or if you feel like you aren't being challenged enough or are being overwhelmed, you should email the lab manager and me.  They will work with you to adjust your tasks appropriately.

Recording Lab Hours

Regardless of whether you sign up for credit or not, you need to record the hours you spend on general lab work and on each project you are working on, using the lab hours GoogleDocs spreadsheet.  It is important that you record your hours every week, because I use these records to determine if any students are falling behind or are being overwhelmed. 

It is also important that you update your planned hours.  Plans change.  Sometimes, students get sick or have family emergencies.  Sometimes students have three exams on the same day.  So if you get ahead or behind on your hours, make sure you update your planned hours for future weeks to get back on track.  There are two ways to do this.  For example, if you are ahead on your hours, you can either DECREASE your planned hours for NEXT week so that your cumulative planned hours are correct, or you can plan to work the same number of hours as usual and INCREASE your CUMULATIVE planned hours.

Don't stress out about the distinction between general lab hours and project hours too much.  Make sure that all of your time in the lab is recorded as general lab hours or as one of the specific projects you are working on.  If you find you are uncertain about how to categorize your lab hours, ask the lab manager or the lab hour coordinator for help.  The goal of recording

general lab hours and project hours separately is simply to ensure that everyone contributes to on-going lab work and that no one lets their project team members down.

Spending Time in the Lab

You are encouraged to spend time in the lab, even when you are not doing lab work.  However, time in the lab only counts as lab hours if you are working on tasks relevant to the lab.  As well, during the lab hours from 4:00 to 7:00pm on Monday and from 4:00 to 7:00pm on Wednesday, you should almost all of your time actually doing lab work (not doing homework for another class, for example). Monday and Wednesday lab meetings are the only times when we all get together, and so you need to use this time to learn as much as you can with your fellow lab members. 

PSY 496 / 498General Lab Work

General lab work is everything that is not directly related to a project that you are working on.  All of the time spent on any of these will count as lab hours.  Each student must commit to at least 4 hours of general lab work each week.

Activities

Build your professional and research skills:

create, give, and attend workshops on computer programs, writing, and other research skills

create, give, and attend workshops on time management, goal setting, picking graduate programs, etc.

write your CV and statement of purpose

Mentor other students:

give orientations to new lab members train other students help other students with their research tasks mentor other students on time management, career goals, etc.

Help collect data:

design a new psychological test select measures for inclusion in a new study design a website that collects data proof-read a study website administer a study to participants in person answer email questions regarding an on-going study assign credit for an on-going study design a new method of scoring a test

Help lab members publish their research:

enter data score tests find materials through GoogleScholar and the library proof-read SPSS syntax files and Excel programs provide feedback on posters and manuscripts

Help keep the lab running are:

keep the lab orderly arrange recycling pickup keep the computers running by performing virus scans and critical updates provide feedback on workshops, assignments, and the syllabus

GRE Study Groups

Some students meet once or twice a week to study for the GRE together. Being in a study group can increase motivation and help keep you on track. You may count up to one hour per week towards general lab hours.

Writing Groups

Some students meet once or twice a week to provide feedback on each others writing.  Knowing you have to bring writing to your group every week can be a strong motivator. Getting feedback is also great, because it tells you where to focus your efforts (which paragraphs need work and which ones are already good). If you join a writing group, you may count up to one hour per week towards general lab hours.

To learn about how to give effective feedback in writing groups, I recommend you complete the following workshops:

How to Give and Receive Feedback Key Sentences and Writing Circles

PSY 496 / 498ResearchTo become an expert in one of the research topics that I study and to build your writing and teamwork skills, you will complete a literature review. This typically takes a full semester. I expect you to present your completed literature review at a professional conference.

Afterwards, we will talk about how to turn your literature review into a publication. You might be able to publish the literature review directly. Or you might need to analyze existing data (which came from our lab or which you have obtained from another researcher) to contribute to the research literature. If no appropriate data exist, you might need to design one or more studies to add something new to the research literature. During this process, I expect you to present your research at one or more additional conferences. Turning your original literature review into a publication typically takes between one and four additional semesters.

PSY 496 / 498Professional DevelopmentThe primary mission of the Interactive Measurement Group is to prepare students for post-baccalaureate education and careers. I therefore expect you clarify your educational and career goals and to make concrete plans for how you will achieve them. We will offer multiple workshops on these topics each semester. All time spent on these workshops (and the assigned homework from them) counts directly as lab hours. In addition, I encourage you to spend 4-10 hours per week on your professional development, outside of lab hours.

Recommended Books

Graduate Admissions Essays by Donald Asher. It covers choosing a program, tricks for creating a strong application, writing your statement of purpose, getting letters of recommendation, and how to pay for graduate school.

Recommended Workshops

Careers in Psychology Getting into Grad School Choosing a Graduate Program, School, and Advisor Curriculum Vitae Statement of Purpose Interview Day

Cover Letters and Resumes Psychosocial Rehabilitation Worker

PSY 496 / 498Presentations

I require each lab member to give PowerPoint presentations at the end of the semester. Your presentation will last between 5 and 10 minutes, and you must give your presentation individually. You can present on any project that you were involved in during the semester. You must practice your presentation in front of at least two separate audiences before presenting in front of the lab, so that you can talk fluently and only refer to your notes occasionally.

If you are not presenting your poster or project, you will still present. We have a workshop on interviews. It includes a list of questions that you might be asked during an interview for graduate school. If you will not be presenting a project, then you should prepare to present your answers to 3-5 of these questions, in PowerPoint format. See the the Interview Day workshop.

Recommended Resources

PowerPoint workshop

PSY 496 / 498NewsletterWe publish a newsletter called, Connections: Word from the Interactive Measurement Group. The purpose of our newsletter is create a supportive community connecting current and former lab members. Our newsletter is a tool to help lab members network: reuniting people who used to work together and introducing people whose time in the lab did not overlap but who nonetheless have much in common.  Each issue will include personal stories of successes and mishaps, as well as advice and insights that you can apply to your professional and personal life. 

To assist you in building your writing skills, I will expect you to contribute at least one article to our newsletter during your time in the lab. In your second or third semester, talk with me about your ideas for possible articles.

PSY 496 / 498Purpose of Lab Meetings

Lab meetings will be held every Monday from 4:00 to 7:00pm and every Wednesday from 4:00 to 7:00pm.

On Mondays, new lab members will be taught useful research skills (such as how to present research, improve writing skills, and learn about various computer programs). Only new lab members (and their trainers) are required to attend the Monday lab meetings.

On Wednesdays, the lab manager and assistant lab managers will help students with any tasks they are working on and also provide training. Students will usually work on general lab work during this time. Students may work on projects during these official lab hours if they have no general lab work that needs to be done. All lab members are required to attend the Wednesday lab meetings.

During these meetings, you will be taught useful skills and will discuss preparation for graduate school. These meetings will also review progress on lab projects, such as data entry, scoring, and study design. These meetings counts as general lab work, regardless of the content of the meetings.

PSY 496 / 498Workshops

During lab meetings, lab members will present workshops. The student leaders must practice their presentation in front of at least two separate audiences before presenting a workshop during the lab meetings so that they are able to talk fluently and only refer to their notes occasionally. Student leaders will be expected to read the workshop and complete the assignment before they give the presentation. Lab members will read the workshop as homework and then work on the assignment during lab hours. Ideally, workshops should be interactive, involving discussion, exercises, and personal examples. All leaders must complete the Workshop on Giving Workshops, at least 2 weeks before their presentation date.

In addition, students are required to complete Library Workshops every semester they are in the lab. Lately, we have been arranging custom-designed workshops for our lab members. The lab manager will let you know what workshops we are covering this semester.

Finally, students are encouraged to attend Writing Workshops, offered through the UNLV Writing Center. Each semester, students may count up to two workshops as lab hours. See http://writingcenter.unlv.edu

Recommended Resources

Workshop on Giving Workshops

PSY 496 / 498Literature ReviewsWorking in a group of two or three students, you will co-author a literature review of one of the research topics that I study. Your literature reveiw will be at least 20 pages long and will contain at least 20 references. Writing a literature review will help you become an expert in this area, while developing your writing and teamwork skills.

You should meet with your co-authors at least twice a week. In addition, our lab's Writing Supervisor will meet with you most weeks to provide guidance and answer questions. I will provide you with feedback on your literature review at key points during the semester.

Instructions

I will give you a list of possible topics from which to choose. Choose one of these topics with your team. Be sure to pick the topic you are most interested in.

Read at least 20 journal articles.  For each, create an annotated bibliography. Save your annotated bibliographies onto the server in your team folder.

Write a 20-page APA-format paper on the topic you have chosen, using the 20+ articles. This is not just a summary of each article. You will review all the articles and compose a thesis around it. Save this first draft and all following drafts onto the server in your team folder.

Obtain feedback on your literature review from two lab members. Incorporate their feedback.

Obtain feedback on your literature review from the Writing Supervisor and me. Incorporate our feedback.

Save your final paper onto the server.  Email the Writing Supervisor and me to tell us your paper is finished and you are ready for our feedback. Incorporate our final feedback.

To create your APA-style document, you will need to use the following features of Word:

Running head Double-spacing Remove extra space between paragraphs Page breaks before the abstract, introduction, figure, table, and references First line indents of each paragraph Hanging indents on each reference

Recommended Resources

Writing

UNLV library website

Google Scholar Forward Searches workshop Purdue Online Writing Lab APA publication manual CrossRef to find doi address Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace by Williams and Bizup Punctuation workshop Writing Circles workshop How to Give and Receive Feedback workshop

Software

Word workshop

Teamwork

Effective Email workshop Leadership workshop Communication workshop (including handout on Tough Discussion) Assertiveness workshop Meeting minutes workshop

Productivity

Goal Setting and Time Management workshop Stress Management workshop Smarter, Faster, Better by Charles Duhigg

PSY 496 / 498PostersStudents will create three types of posters

Posters based directly on their literature reviews Posters that analyze existing data Posters that describe the results of one or more new studies

Literature Review Posters

I expect all students to present their literature reviews at professional conferences, such as the American Association for Behavioral and Social Sciences, Western Psychological Association, and Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

Instructions

1. Incorporate all feedback from the Writing Supervisor and me, to finalize the content of your poster.

2. Format your literature review as a conference handout using Word. Include ALL material.

3. Format your literature review as a conference poster using Publisher. Include only as much material as needed to have a good discussion with other people at the conference.

4. Obtain feedback on your formatted poster from two lab members. Incorporate their feedback.

5. Obtain feedback on your formatted poster from the Writing Supervisor and me. Incorporate our feedback.

6. Meet with me to polish your title and abstract. Email me one or two weeks in advance to set up this meeting.

7. Submit your poster for possible presentation at a professional conference.8. Work with me to expand your poster into a journal article.

Recommended Resources

Publisher workshop Conference Posters workshop

Existing Data Posters

To publish your research, you need to make a substantial contribution to the research literature. To do this, you may need to analyze empirical data. Talk with me to find out if I have data that would be appropriate for your project or if I have suggestions for other sources from which you could obtain existing data.

The first step in creating your empirically based publication is to analyze the data and present you results in a conference poster. Your poster will include a literature review (borrowing from your previous literature review), a description of how the data were collected, the results of your data analysis (conducted with SPSS), and a discussion of your findings.

You will complete your poster in a series of weekly assignments to ensure that you make continuous progress and receive sufficient feedback. You will receive a lot of feedback on your poster: from poster team members, the writing supervisor, me, and others. This feedback will help you write more clearly and persuasively. Detailed instructions on how to create empirically based posters are given in the Poster Assignments.

After finishing your poster, you should work with me to expand your poster into a journal article.

Recommended Resources

SPSS workshop Factor Analysis workshop Publisher workshop Conference Posters workshop

New Study Posters

Sometimes, we will not have access to any appropriate data for your project. In that case, you will need to design a new study to collect the data you need.

Instructions

1. Send me a 2- or 3-page study proposal, describing o the purpose of the studyo the measures you will includeo the type and number of participants (usually UNLV Subject Pool or mTurk)o the findings you expecto the practical implications of those findingso an explanation of why this research is important

2. Set up meetings with me to complete the following steps o Finalize the study designo Create the study materialso Write the IRB proposalo Collect the datao Analyze the datao Write a journal article based upon your results

3. Write your conference poster o As you are analyzing your data and writing your journal article, somewhere along

the way you should create a conference poster. This posters will typically include only some of your empirical results, so that your final publication goes beyond your poster.

2. Select the results to present in your poster. Describe them briefly.3. Shorten your method section so it fits on one or two single-spaced pages.4. Cut your literature review down to two single-spaced pages.5. Cut your discussion down to one or two single-spaced pages.6. Format your material as a conference handout in Word. Include all of the

remaining material.7. Format your material as a conference poster in Publisher. Include only as much

material as needed to have a good discussion with other people at the conference.8. Obtain feedback on your formatted poster from two lab members. Incorporate

their feedback.9. Obtain feedback on your formatted poster from the Writing Supervisor and me.

Incorporate our feedback.10. Meet with me to polish your title and abstract.11. Submit your poster for possible presentation at a professional conference.

Recommended Resources

Qualtrics workshop Website Design workshop Online Research workshop Captivate workshop SPSS workshop Factor Analysis workshop Barchard, K. A., & Williams, J. (2008).  Practical advice for conducting ethical online

experiments and surveys for United States psychologists.  Behavior Research Methods, 40, 1111-1128.

 

PSY 496 / 498Projects Students work with me on a variety of projects besides literature reviews, posters, and journal articles. For example, students have worked with me to create

the lab website the lab newsletter, Connections: Word from the Interactive Measurement Group the Poka-Yoka Data Entry System Program for Open-Ended Scoring the second edition of the test manual for the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale workshops on new software new studies

Students usually work on their projects in groups of 2 to 3 students. Most students find that working in groups makes it less time-consuming to complete their projects and that their projects are of better quality. In addition, working in teams makes it possible for students to join advanced projects, even if they do not yet have all the necessary skills.

Student team members usually meet amongst themselves once or twice weekly. Most teams meet once per week with me or provide detailed written progress reports by email if they cannot meet with me in person. In addition, teams may email me with questions or requests for additional appointments. Most meetings will occur in-person in my office. If the student is out of town, we will have a long-distance meeting, using phone and/or Internet. Check with me about the workshops you should complete to prepare yourself for these long-distance meetings.

PSY 496 / 498Project ProductsAll project teams will create one or more product(s).  Often this will be a written document, website, or program.  Discuss the end-products with me during our meetings.  Make sure the product(s) are listed among our semester goals, and that you clarify the exact specifications for our product(s) during our meetings.

The product(s) MUST be saved on the server.  If the files are not on the cluster server, they are not complete.  Just as you wouldn't be given credit for a take-home exam unless you handed it to the instructor, teams receive no credit for work that is not on the server where all lab members (including me) can access it. If you are unable to save your work to the server for some reason (sometimes Rebelfiles does not cooperate), email the files to all team members and I will put them on the server for you.

 

 

PSY 496 / 498Project PresentationsAt the end of the semester, one team member will discuss the project during the end-of-semester presentations.  Talk with each other and decide who will give that presentation.  That person should prepare a PowerPoint presentation that explains the purpose of your project, what you accomplished, and what the next steps in this research are.  Check with lab manager for your specific presentation time.

 

PSY 496 / 498Team MeetingsIf you are working on a literature review, poster, publication, or study, you will meet with your team members at least two times a week for a minimum of 2 hours per week, at regularly scheduled times.  These meetings count as part of your project hours. 

Because of the importance of meeting regularly, attendance at these meetings is required.  However, your course grade will not be automatically reduced for failure to attend a meeting.  If you are able to make a solid contribution to the project even though you missed a meeting, this will not reduce your course grade. 

The day and time of a meeting can be changed (either temporarily or permanently) with the agreement of ALL team members.  It is important to note, however, that team members are under no obligation to acquiesce to someone's request to change the meeting time.  When you agree to meet with your team at a certain time each week, it is your responsibility to do so. 

At the end of each meeting, you should create a concrete plan about what each person will do before the next meeting. This plan MUST NEVER include having a person who has been on the team for only a few weeks working on something by themselves; the entire point of having a TEAM is to mentor new students.  There is one exception: when you are writing annotated bibliographies, after the team has completed the literature search and has decided which person will read which papers, then each team member can work independently on the annotated bibliographies.  But never ask a person who has not completed an entire poster to draft or revise any part of a poster by themselves, or to analyze any part of the data by themselves.

Recommended Resources

Effective Email workshop Leadership workshop Communication workshop (including handout on Tough Discussion) Assertiveness workshop Meeting minutes workshop

PSY 496 / 498Professor

Kim Barchardkim.barchard@unlv.edu Office phone: 895-0758Office number: CBC B346Lab phone: 895-3093Lab location: CDC 520My website: http://faculty.unlv.edu/barchard/

Talk to me about course registration and grades, your workload, and your professional development.

PSY 496 / 498Lab Manager

Fae Tahimictahimic@unlv.nevada.eduLab phone: 895-3093Lab location: CDC 520Lab website: http://faculty.unlv.edu/img/

Talk to the lab manager about lab meetings, workshops you have completed, and all your general lab work.

PSY 496 / 498Grading Overview

Grades will be based upon two criteria: lab hours and quality of work.  Each of these will be marked out of 50, and then these will be added to obtain your final grade.  In addition, penalties will be applied to the final course grade if students miss meetings or fail to complete workshops.

Completing Required Lab Hours

You will receive a base grade of 50 for completing your required lab hours.  If you do not complete all of your required hours, you will receive a lower grade.  You will lose 1 point for each 1% of missing time.  For example, if you were taking a 3-credit course and were required to complete 180 hours but only completed 162 hours, this is a 10% loss, and so you would receive 40 points for your lab hours.  Although I will be very grateful if you work additional hours beyond the minimum required for this course, there will be no extra points for additional hours worked.

Quality of Work

You will receive a grade out of 50 in terms of the quality of your research assistance.  If you performed poorly, you might get 20 or 25 out of 50.  If you performed well, you might get 40 or more out of 50.  Thus, someone who did a moderately good job and completed all of their required hours would get 30/50 plus 50/50 = 80/100.  The most important qualities in a research assistant are work quality (primarily accuracy, the ability to follow instructions, and problem-solving skills) and a good attitude (primarily cooperativeness, interest in the material and willingness to accept feedback).  Quality is much more important than speed.

Penalties

Incomplete Workshops

All students are required to complete certain workshops (such as library workshops, writing workshops, and workshops on Excel and PowerPoint).  If students do not complete the specified workshops as required, they will lose 1% off their final course grade. Contact me if you think it will be impossible to complete one of the required workshops.

Late Poster Assignments

In order to ensure that students make continuous progress on their posters and receive as much feedback as possible, teams will complete a series of assignments, each of which has specific requirements.  Unless there is a very good reason for missing one of these deadlines, late assignments will result in penalties of 1% per week, which will reduce students' final course grade. For example, if an assignment is 1 - 7 days late, the final course grade is reduced by 1%;

if the assignment is 8 - 14 days late, the final course grade is reduced by 2%.  Throughout the semester, there may be holidays during which the university is closed.  Students must plan ahead to ensure that assignments are still completed by the deadlines.

It is essential to recognize that there is a penalty if your poster assignment is late, but there is NO penalty if the assignment is done poorly.  If you are having trouble with the poster, the goal is to give you feedback and assistance.  Therefore, you MUST hand in your assignments on time, so we can get you the feedback you need.

Missed Lab Meetings

All lab members are required to attend Wednesday lab meetings. New lab members (and the people who are training them) are required to attend Monday lab meetings. If students miss meetings or are more than 5 minutes late and do not have an extremely good reason, they will lose 1% off their final course grade. 

The following are considered compelling reasons for missing a meeting: being sick, and being out of town to attend a professional conference or because of a family emergency.  If you are sick, please do not come to the meeting (not even to tell someone that you are sick). Instead, let the lab manager know afterwards: No one in the lab wants to get sick.  The following are not considered compelling reasons for missing a meeting: going to work, and being on holiday.  These will result in reductions in your course grade.  Students are not required to attend meetings that fall on a day when the university is closed: Students are welcome to meet that day or to schedule an extra meeting at a time when the university is open, but this is not required.  If a student is out of town, they can attend project meetings by phone or Internet to avoid receiving a penalty, but they will usually not be able to attend lab meetings this way.  If you know in advance that you will be out of town, please notify the lab manager and me as soon as possible, preferably by the end of the second week of the semester.  Also, if you do miss a lab meeting for any reason, you should make arrangements to complete the workshop or read the handout within 7 days.   If it will be impossible to attend lab meetings this semester, contact me before the semester begins to discuss individual arrangements.

Missed Poster and Project Meetings

Attendance at project meetings is also required.  However, your course grade will not be automatically reduced for failure to attend a meeting.  If you are able to make a solid contribution to the project even though you missed a meeting, this will not reduce your course grade.

PSY 496 / 498Grading Scheme

The following grading scheme will be used:

A 93 - 100 C 73 - 76A- 90 - 92 C- 70 - 72B+ 87 - 89 D+ 67 - 69B 83 - 86 D 63 - 66B- 80 - 82 D- 60 - 62C+ 77 - 79 F Below 60

PSY 496 / 498

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