Research Methods in Human Development and Family Studies

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

• Apply conventions of APA style to writing in the field of Human Development & Family Studies
• Name, define, and give examples of key research methods terms and concepts.
• Demonstrate the ability to use PsychINFO to locate articles on topics relevant to Human Development & Family Studies
• Evaluate aspects of research methodologies used in the field of Human Development & Family Studies with consideration of ethical standards for the treatment of human research participants.
• Describe and contrast critical issues related to reliability and validity.
• Generate and describe appropriate sampling strategies.
• Generate and describe appropriate sources of data (e.g., survey methods, observational methods).
• Identify and critique experimental research designs of varying complexity.
• Explain the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.
• Demonstrate the ability to select appropriate statistical tests for different research questions.
• Compute descriptive and inferential statistics using data analytic software (SPSS).
• Compare and contrast quantitative versus qualitative methodological approaches.
• Critique research based on evaluations of both internal and external validity.

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Introductory Survey	1 points
Practice Quiz	5 points
CITI Research Ethics Tutorial	10 points
PsychINFO Assignment	10 points
APA Style Assignment	10 points
Exams (4 @ 50 points each)	200 points

Grading Scale

Percentage	Letter Grade
93-100	A
90-92.99	A-
87-89.99	B+
83-86.99	B
80-82.99	B-
77-79.99	C+
73-76.99	C
70-72.99	C-
67-69.99	D+
63-66.99	D
60-62.99	D-
less than 60	F

Attendance/Participation:

In this class, it is virtually impossible to master course material without being present and actively engaged during all class sessions. Attendance is absolutely required!

That said, there is no academic penalty for missing class. However, students who miss class frequently are unlikely to do well enough on assignments and exams to earn the C- required in this class to progress to HDF (445 or 455) and HDF 464.

Please be on time for all class meetings.

If an emergency prevents you from attending a class, I encourage you to be extra vigilant in completing reading for the week, carefully review any materials I email the class, review the slides posted in Canvas for the week, and bring any questions you have to office hours.

I am not able to meet with students individually to review material missed due to class absences.

Attending class in HDF 375 means being logged into the class Teams meeting with your computer camera on and on your full name appearing at the bottom of the screen. It means staying at your computer for the full length of class and being actively engaged for the entire class period. It means attending from a location from which you will be able to fully participate in a professional manner without distractions. You are not considered to be attending HDF 375 if you:

• have your camera off
• have only part of your face visible on camera
• have your face so low on camera that it is blocked by your name
• have walked away from your computer
• are attempting to attend class using your phone or a tablet rather than a computer
• are having conversations or interactions with individuals outside of class - whether or not those individuals appear on screen
• are attending class from bed
• are attending to other responsibilities while trying to attend class – including trying to attend class while in a classroom where you have responsibilities for caring for children.

Students who do not meet attendance requirements as listed above will be dropped from the class meeting.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

The required text for this class is McBride, D. M. (2019). The Process of Research in Psychology (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.