Prof Jonathan Jackson

This course is compulsory on the BSc in Psychological and Behavioural Science. This course is not available as an outside option nor to General Course students.

This course will be open only to students in Year 1 on the proposed BSc in Psychological and Behavioural Science. 

This course introduces students to statistical methods for the analysis and interpretation of psychological data. It takes 'student's eye' perspective - first introducing where to find datasets and how to examine these data using descriptive statistics and visual analytics. Topic covered include emerging sources of data, types of data, frequency distributions, and methods for summarizing and visualizing data. Once students are familiar with navigating and understanding data sets from different sources, the second section of the course introduces basic probability theory and sampling distributions, covariation, and correlation, and hypothesis testing. Practical sessions will equip students with knowledge of how to conduct the taught statistical techniques using the R programming language.

This course, together with PS115 Introductory Research Methods for Psychological and Behavioural Science, aims to provide students with integrated foundational knowledge and skills in research and analysis methods in psychological and behavioural science. The course will be taught by drawing on real data sets from studies in psychological and behavioural science. These will be selected to reflect the theoretical issues raised in parallel sessions in PS110 Foundations of Psychological Science and PS111 Foundations of Behavioural Science. The presentation of the techniques via these data sets will also be used to demonstrate applicability to the results collected via the data collection methods acquired in PS115 Introductory Research Methods for Psychological and Behavioural Science.

This integration is planned to operate according to the following general three-step schema:

Step 1: PS110 and/or PS111 introduces a data collection method as part of the discussion of the theory and data concerning a topic (e.g., PS111: the Implicit Attitude Test to investigate implicit prejudice)

Students are then guided in using this method to collect data using a pre set-up protocol on an internet-based research platform operating experimental software: no coding required by students: e.g.,  protocol for a two or three sample IAT experimental design comparing the implicit attitudes of two groups of people  to a selection of potential targets of prejudice

Step 2: MY105 develops the data analytic techniques to analyse the data collected by students (e.g., two-sample t test or one-way ANOVA)

Step 3: PS105 (this course) discusses the general research design and the specific method (and alternatives and variations), and students extend the method (e.g., to a different set of samples to compare, or different potential targets of prejudice, etc) and collect more data using the same design with the same general predictions. Students analyse this data themselves using the data analytic techniques developed in MY105, and relate the results back to the theoretical issues raised originally in Step 1.

20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of computer workshops in the MT.

The intensive learning of subject-specific and generic skills during teaching time will be supplemented in three ways by activities in reading week.  These provide opportunities to take a wider perspective on the programme, to integrate its content and to develop personal and career-related skills:

1.  LSELife activities to develop key skills for the course

2. Collective formative feedback and planning sessions for the formative assessments.

3. Sessions on the integration of ideas from this course with ideas from other courses on the programme.

Students will be expected to produce 5 problem sets in the MT.

Students will work in groups to answer 5 take-home problem sets.

Field, A., Miles, J., & Field, Z. (2012). Discovering statistics using R. London: Sage.

Other readings will be provided.

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours) in the summer exam period.

There will be a 2 hour unseen open book examination in the Summer Term.