PSYCHOLOGY STATISTICS LAB

LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY

WINTER 2000


 



INSTRUCTOR: Terry Rew-Gottfried

OFFICE HOURS: M 2:30-4:00 p.m., WF 10:00-11:00 a.m., or by appointment

OFFICE: Briggs Hall 311

TELEPHONE: (832)-6706, or at home 731-8009


STATS LAB SESSIONS (for students in MATH 07C only): Thursday 1:10-2:20 p.m., Briggs 421

STATS AND RESEARCH METHODS LAB SESSIONS (for students in MATH 07C and PSYC 28): Tuesday 1:10-4:00 p.m., Briggs 421

REQUIRED MATERIALS:

3.5" Floppy disks formatted for PCs


PURPOSE OF LABS:

The Psychology Statistics Labs are designed to give you hands-on experience with data analysis, not only to teach you practical skills in number-crunching and data presentation, but so that you better understand the contexts within which statistics are used in psychology and related social sciences. This practical experience will help you better to understand the uses and misuses of statistics, how statistics can be properly employed, the limitations of statistical analysis, and how to interpret and present data, especially in psychology and related sciences.


LAB SESSIONS:

The laboratory sessions will involve the use of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), one of the standard statistical programs used both in business and academic applications. SPSS for the PC is a pretty manageable program, using spread-sheet-like data entry, although it does have its quirks. Because we will continue to use SPSS throughout PSYC 28 and 29, as well as advanced courses in psychology, it is well worth the effort to learn how to use it. In the laboratory, you will use this tool to explore various sets of data: Some data-sets will be provided from studies conducted by Lawrence students and faculty in the Psychology Department; other data-sets we will generate by conducting our own experiments during lab sessions.

Typically, you will be encouraged to develop your own questions and perform analyses to answer them.  This laboratory is designed to encourage your own creativity as a data analyst, rather than providing "canned" exercises. The lab sessions are intended to provide opportunities to apply and interpret the analyses you learn in Math 07C. At the beginning of the term, we may not perform all of the analyses one might appropriately use on the data, but as the term proceeds, your repertoire of analytical tools will expand, enabling you to do more in-depth analyses.



Go to

Revised 31-DEC-99