CHAPTER 1: PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND THE
RESEARCH METHODS COURSE
Activities/Assignments
Scientific Thinking. Hatcher (2000) presents an activity to introduce scientific thinking,
perhaps as an icebreaker on the first day of class. Students are given a riddle and can ask
yes/no questions until they come up with the right solution. Hatcher points out the
similarities between solving riddles and scientific thinking (e.g., “Persistence is a key quality
in problem solving,” “By expecting complicated answers, simple ones may be overlooked,”
p. 123). Hatcher reports that students enjoy the exercise and that it works well as an
icebreaker activity.
Hatcher, J. W. (1990). Using riddles to introduce the process and experience of
scientific thinking. Teaching of Psychology, 17, 123-124.
The Research Process: An Overview. Wilson and Hershey (1996) describe an activity
designed to help students discover that they know more about the research process than
they may think they do. Students are given a sheet of paper with the phrase “Get idea for
project” at the top and “Publish the research paper” at the bottom. Students are to fill in any
activities that they think occur between these two steps. Their answers are then compared
to the answers provided by 49 psychology professors. I’ve found that this activity works
nicely as a first-day icebreaker – students can work in small groups and thus meet some of
their classmates.
Wilson, T. L., & Hershey, D. A. (1996). The research methods script. Teaching of
Psychology, 23, 97-99.
The Research Process for an Original Research Project. It’s often instructive for students
themselves to go through the components of the research process as seen in Table 1-2 (p.
4). Students can go through the first 4-5 components (Problem, Literature Review,
Theoretical Considerations, Hypothesis, and Research Design) for a topic of interest to them
(see handout entitled The Research Process for an Original Research Project).
,Becoming a Knowledgeable Consumer of Research. Connor-Greene (1993) describes an
interesting activity designed to help students think critically about popular press articles
that depict psychological research. During class in small groups, students read a short USA
Today article on biological differences between homosexual and heterosexual men (the
article is conveniently reprinted in the Appendix of Connor-Greene’s article). Students
answer six questions and then view excerpts of the research article from which the USA
Today article is based. An individual assignment is also discussed; students themselves can
find a popular press article describing research and then compare to the original research
report.
Connor-Greene, P. A. (1993). From the laboratory to the headlines: Teaching critical
evaluation of press reports of research. Teaching of Psychology, 20, 167-169.
Article Review. Each chapter in this Instructor’s Manual contains an “Article Review” in
which students read an empirical journal article and answer questions. The articles have
been chosen based on several factors. First, each article should be easily comprehended by
students. Many of the articles are older, in part because older articles tend to have
somewhat simpler methodologies (only one or two independent variables, only one study
presented, etc.). Second, each article should be interesting to students. Topics include, for
example, sexual attraction, helping behavior, and attitudes toward gay men and lesbians.
Third, each article should be related to the chapter topic. For example, in the ethics chapter
(Chapter 2), students will read an article containing deception. In the survey chapter
(Chapter 4), students will read an article containing a telephone survey. Fourth, each article
should be related not only to the chapter in which it is presented, but also to past and future
chapters. For example, many of the studies contain deception so that instructors can revisit
ethics throughout the course. Many of the questions for each article review reference
material from past chapters, so if you cover chapters out of order, be aware that you may
need to modify this activity accordingly.
Students need to have access to the full text of the articles in order to answer the questions,
so instructors could either make the articles available (e.g., on Reserve at the library) or
have students find the articles themselves at their library (this may not be feasible if
students need to use Interlibrary Loan).
The article for Chapter 1 is on handshakes and how aspects of the handshake (e.g., strength,
vigor) relate to gender, personality, and first impressions.
,The questions for this Article Review focus primarily on the components of the research
process (see Table 1-2 on p. 4). There is some deception in this study, so it could be used in
Chapter 2 as well. In addition, a correlational research design is used, so this article could be
used in Chapter 4.
Chaplin, W. F., Phillips, J. B., Brown, J. D., Clanton, N. R., & Stein, J. L. (2000).
Handshaking, gender, personality, and first impressions. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 110-117.
Discovering Psychology: Understanding Research. This program provides an overview of the
research process and is available free online at
http://www.learner.org/resources/series138.html.
, The Research Process for an Original Research Project
Each question below refers to one of the components of the research process as described
in Table 1-2 (p. 4) of your book. Try to come up with a research topic and study of interest
to you and answer the following questions.
1. Problem: Briefly describe the problem. In other words, what are you interested in
studying?
2. Literature Review: Briefly describe some empirical research pertaining to your topic.
3. Theoretical Considerations: What theory or theories are relevant to this research?
RESEARCH METHODS COURSE
Activities/Assignments
Scientific Thinking. Hatcher (2000) presents an activity to introduce scientific thinking,
perhaps as an icebreaker on the first day of class. Students are given a riddle and can ask
yes/no questions until they come up with the right solution. Hatcher points out the
similarities between solving riddles and scientific thinking (e.g., “Persistence is a key quality
in problem solving,” “By expecting complicated answers, simple ones may be overlooked,”
p. 123). Hatcher reports that students enjoy the exercise and that it works well as an
icebreaker activity.
Hatcher, J. W. (1990). Using riddles to introduce the process and experience of
scientific thinking. Teaching of Psychology, 17, 123-124.
The Research Process: An Overview. Wilson and Hershey (1996) describe an activity
designed to help students discover that they know more about the research process than
they may think they do. Students are given a sheet of paper with the phrase “Get idea for
project” at the top and “Publish the research paper” at the bottom. Students are to fill in any
activities that they think occur between these two steps. Their answers are then compared
to the answers provided by 49 psychology professors. I’ve found that this activity works
nicely as a first-day icebreaker – students can work in small groups and thus meet some of
their classmates.
Wilson, T. L., & Hershey, D. A. (1996). The research methods script. Teaching of
Psychology, 23, 97-99.
The Research Process for an Original Research Project. It’s often instructive for students
themselves to go through the components of the research process as seen in Table 1-2 (p.
4). Students can go through the first 4-5 components (Problem, Literature Review,
Theoretical Considerations, Hypothesis, and Research Design) for a topic of interest to them
(see handout entitled The Research Process for an Original Research Project).
,Becoming a Knowledgeable Consumer of Research. Connor-Greene (1993) describes an
interesting activity designed to help students think critically about popular press articles
that depict psychological research. During class in small groups, students read a short USA
Today article on biological differences between homosexual and heterosexual men (the
article is conveniently reprinted in the Appendix of Connor-Greene’s article). Students
answer six questions and then view excerpts of the research article from which the USA
Today article is based. An individual assignment is also discussed; students themselves can
find a popular press article describing research and then compare to the original research
report.
Connor-Greene, P. A. (1993). From the laboratory to the headlines: Teaching critical
evaluation of press reports of research. Teaching of Psychology, 20, 167-169.
Article Review. Each chapter in this Instructor’s Manual contains an “Article Review” in
which students read an empirical journal article and answer questions. The articles have
been chosen based on several factors. First, each article should be easily comprehended by
students. Many of the articles are older, in part because older articles tend to have
somewhat simpler methodologies (only one or two independent variables, only one study
presented, etc.). Second, each article should be interesting to students. Topics include, for
example, sexual attraction, helping behavior, and attitudes toward gay men and lesbians.
Third, each article should be related to the chapter topic. For example, in the ethics chapter
(Chapter 2), students will read an article containing deception. In the survey chapter
(Chapter 4), students will read an article containing a telephone survey. Fourth, each article
should be related not only to the chapter in which it is presented, but also to past and future
chapters. For example, many of the studies contain deception so that instructors can revisit
ethics throughout the course. Many of the questions for each article review reference
material from past chapters, so if you cover chapters out of order, be aware that you may
need to modify this activity accordingly.
Students need to have access to the full text of the articles in order to answer the questions,
so instructors could either make the articles available (e.g., on Reserve at the library) or
have students find the articles themselves at their library (this may not be feasible if
students need to use Interlibrary Loan).
The article for Chapter 1 is on handshakes and how aspects of the handshake (e.g., strength,
vigor) relate to gender, personality, and first impressions.
,The questions for this Article Review focus primarily on the components of the research
process (see Table 1-2 on p. 4). There is some deception in this study, so it could be used in
Chapter 2 as well. In addition, a correlational research design is used, so this article could be
used in Chapter 4.
Chaplin, W. F., Phillips, J. B., Brown, J. D., Clanton, N. R., & Stein, J. L. (2000).
Handshaking, gender, personality, and first impressions. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 110-117.
Discovering Psychology: Understanding Research. This program provides an overview of the
research process and is available free online at
http://www.learner.org/resources/series138.html.
, The Research Process for an Original Research Project
Each question below refers to one of the components of the research process as described
in Table 1-2 (p. 4) of your book. Try to come up with a research topic and study of interest
to you and answer the following questions.
1. Problem: Briefly describe the problem. In other words, what are you interested in
studying?
2. Literature Review: Briefly describe some empirical research pertaining to your topic.
3. Theoretical Considerations: What theory or theories are relevant to this research?
