DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

UNIVERSITY OF SARGODHA

Course Outline of Fundamental Statistics in Psychology (Psy-305)

BS (Semester V)       

Course Instructor: Dr. Adnan Adil

Course Description

Psychologists are interested in understanding a variety of phenomena and they use a wide variety of methods and measures to study the objects of their interest. Regardless of the content or conditions for study, statistics serve as important tools for making sense out of the data that are collected. We need statistics in order to describe the data clearly, so that the findings can be communicated to others. We also need statistics in order to use a specific data set as a basis for more general conclusions. That is, we can use statistics to infer general conclusions from the data collected. In this course, we’ll primarily focus on descriptive statistics whereas the inferential statistics will be covered during your next semester in Application of Statistics in Psychology (Psy-313). Topics to be covered include introduction to statistics, presentation of data, measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, measures of skewness, measures of kurtosis, standardized distributions, and probability.

Objectives of the Course

The aims of this course are to help you develop an understanding of major concepts that underlie the use of descriptive statistics in psychological research, and to help you learn how to choose and carry out statistical procedures that are appropriate for presentation, summarization, and description of data. More specifically, this course entails the following objectives:

1. To familiarize students with basic concepts of statistics and its usage in psychology
2. To help students understand various methods of data presentation including classification, tabulation, charts, and graphs.
3. To make students cognizant of various statistical procedures for summarization and description of data including measures of central tendency, dispersion, skewness, and kurtosis.
4. To achieve an understanding of standardized distributions and derived scores.
5. To assist students in learning the basic concepts of probability

Learning Outcomes of the Course  

At the completion of this course, learners should be able to demonstrate the pertinent knowledge of various concepts and principles of descriptive statistics through their ability to undertake various modes of data presentation and description. Students will be able to calculate and interpret statistics with reference to data and research questions typical in psychological research.

Course Plan

This course holds 3 credit hours. Accordingly, there would be two lectures per week. Each lecture would be of 90 minutes duration. The class will be held on every Thursday and Friday in classroom of BS V. This course will be taught in a lecture/discussion format. Lectures are used to present and clarify issues from the set text and to discuss case studies. They will also include short interactive exercises. The mode of instructions would be English. Lectures may be facilitated through the use of transparencies on high definition projector and multimedia presentations for essential concepts. As appropriate, various activities and supplemental readings will be used to enhance student’s understanding of the material. Classroom lectures/discussions/activities will focus on the topics listed in the course break down. Furthermore, lectures will not be limited to the material from the texts; rather they would be a source of additional information from the instructor.

Course Breakdown

Course Evaluation

The assessment of learning in this course would be undertaken through various assessment activities. There would be two formal examinations namely midterm and final term examinations. Besides these formal examinations, there would be two classroom quiz, two written individual assignments, and one group project that must be submitted in written report and formally presented in the classroom. The relative distribution of marks across these assessment exercises is as follows:

Learning Resources

The instructor shall provide important web links for each chapter of the course for enhancing students’ learning. Relevant research articles for critical review shall also be provided by the instructor. The recommended texts for this course are as follows:

Howell, D. C. (2008). Fundamental statistics for the behavioral sciences (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson.

Gravetter, F. J. & Wallnau, L. B. (2005). Essentials of statistics for behavioral sciences. (5th ed.). New York: Thomson/Wadsworth.

Guilford, J. P. (1995). Fundamental statistics in psychology and education. (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.