The tutorials associated with this course will be part of the first year tutorial system. Below are a number of possible topics for discussion in these tutorials.
TOPIC 1 - WHAT IS SCIENCE?
For many people the answer to what is a science is relatively straightforward. However, there are many different approaches to science. Some people would argue that "hard" sciences such as Physics and Chemistry are not the same as the "soft" sciences like Psychology and Biology. Even these classifications are contentious.
A.F. Chalmers (1982) wrote a book called "What is this thing called science? : an assessment of the nature and status of science and its methods". In this book topics such as causes and effects, theories and explanations and prescriptive and descriptive models. This book is an excellent introduction to the classical view of what a science is.
In the tutorial you could discuss the question : Is Psychology a Science?
TOPIC 2 - VARIABLES
A common problem in learning about experimental design is deciding what an independent variable is, what a dependent variable is and what a confounding variable is.
Design some experiments of your own (these can be about anything), present them to the rest of your group and get them to tell you:
With enough practice designing your own experiments and deciding the design of other experiments you'll soon get the hang of the different kinds of variables.
TOPIC 3 - EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
There are three basic kinds of experimental designs:
The problem in designing an experiment is deciding which kind of design to use. Go to the library and look up a couple of papers in the recent journal section. Take a look at the papers and try and work out why the researchers decided to use the design that they did. Take notes and present your conclusions back to your tutorial group.
TOPIC 4 - LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT.
Levels of measurement include:
Sometimes it is difficult to decide which is which. Go to the library and look up a couple of papers in the recent journal section. Try to identify what scale of measurement they used in the experiments. Do you think that these measurement scales were appropriate or should they have used a different kind of measurement? Also consider how you might change the dependent variable so that it could be measured on the scale immediately above it or immediately below it. Be ready to report back to your tutorial group.
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