Activities for Teaching Statistics and Research Methods

Jeffrey R. Stowell, PhD, earned his doctoral degree in psychobiology from The Ohio State University. He is a professor and the assistant chair of the psychology department at Eastern Illinois University (EIU), where he teaches courses in biological psychology, sensation and perception, learning, and introductory psychology. He has published articles in Teaching of Psychology, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, and other teaching-related journals on the use of technology in teaching. He presents regularly at regional psychology conferences and mentors undergraduate and graduate student research. He participated in the 2 8 National Conference on Undergraduate Education in Psychology: A Blueprint for the Future of the Discipline. He received the Society for Teaching of Psychology's Early Career Teaching Award and served as the society's Internet editor for 8 years. At EIU, Dr. Stowell has earned the honors of Professor Laureate and Distinguished Honors Faculty Award he is a three-time winner of the Psi Chi Chapter Faculty of the Year Award and has received the College of Sciences' highest awards in three different areas (teaching, research, and service). William E. Addison, PhD, is a professor in the psychology department at EIU, where he has regularly taught courses in statistics and research methods. He is a Fellow and former president of APA Division 2 (Society for the Teaching of Psychology), and he is a charter Fellow of the Midwestern Psychological Association. He has served as a consulting editor and reviewer for the journal Teaching of Psychology, as a member of the GRE Psychology Test Development Committee, and as a faculty consultant for the annual Advanced Placement Exam in Psychology. He participated in the 999 National Forum on Psychology Partnerships and the 2 8 National Conference on Undergraduate Education in Psychology: A Blueprint for the Future of the Discipline. Dr. Addison presents regularly at annual meetings of APA and the Midwestern Psychological Association and at the Midwest Institute for Students and Teachers of Psychology. His publications include teaching-oriented articles in Teaching of Psychology and the College Student Journal. He has received a number of awards for his teaching, including the EIU Distinguished Faculty Award and the EIU Distinguished Honors Faculty Award.

• ContributorsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionJeffrey R. Stowell and William E. AddisonPart I: StatisticsChapter : Reducing Anxiety in the Statistics ClassroomTamarah SmithChapter 2: How to Lie With the Y-AxisThomas E. HeinzenChapter 3: Summarizing Data Using Measures of Central Tendency: A Group ActivityThomson J. LingChapter 4: How Fast Is Your Internet? An Activity for Teaching Variance and Standard DeviationBonnie A. Green and Jeffrey R. StowellChapter 5: Getting Dicey: Thinking About Normal Distributions and Descriptive StatisticsRobert McEntarffer and Maria VitaChapter : A Low-Anxiety Introduction to the Standard Normal Distribution and Measures of Relative StandingLaura Brandt and William E. AddisonChapter 7: Using the Heat Hypothesis to Explore the Statistical Methods of Correlation and RegressionGeorge Y. BizerChapter 8: Active Learning for Understanding Sampling DistributionsDavid S. KreinerChapter 9: Testing Students for ESP: Demonstrating the Role of Probability in Hypothesis TestingWilliam E. AddisonChapter : Using a TV Game Show Format to Demonstrate Confidence IntervalsAlexis GrosofskyChapter : Real-Life Application of Type I and Type II Decision ErrorsBernard C. BeinsChapter 2: Factors That Influence Statistical PowerMichael J. Tagler and Christopher L. ThomasChapter 3: An Interdisciplinary Activity for p Values, Effect Sizes, and the Law of Small NumbersAndrew N. ChristopherPart II: Research MethodsChapter 4: An Activity for Teaching the Scientific MethodR. Eric LandrumChapter 5: Linking Identification of Independent and Dependent Variables to the Goals of ScienceMary E. KiteChapter : Everything Is Awesome: Building Operational Definitions With Play-Doh and LEGOsStephanie E. Afful and Karen WilsonChapter 7: A Demonstration of Random Assignment That Is Guaranteed to Work (95% of the Time)Thomas P. PusateriChapter 8: Identifying Confounding Factors in Psychology ResearchChris Jones-CageChapter 9: Demonstrating Experimenter and Participant BiasCaridad F. BritoChapter 2 : The Most Unethical Researcher: An Activity for Demonstrating Research Ethics in PsychologySue FrantzChapter 2 : The Ethics of Behavioral Research Using Animals: A Classroom Exercise (PDF, 9 9KB)Harold HerzogChapter 22: Demonstrating Interobserver Reliability in Naturalistic SettingsJanie H. Wilson and Shauna W. JoyeChapter 23: Using a Classic Model of Stress to Teach Survey Construction and AnalysisJoseph A. WisterChapter 24: Using Childhood Memories to Demonstrate Principles of Qualitative ResearchSteven A. MeyersChapter 25: Using a Peer-Writing Workshop to Help Students Learn American Psychological Association StyleDana S. DunnIndexAbout the Editors