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.