Psy 222 Research Methods
Spring 2026

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** No class Friday May 1, NU undergraduate research conference
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** Research participation opportunity for extra credit **

• Senior psychology student Ashley Turijan is looking for students to participate in a research study
• Participants will receive an extra 10% on their exam 4 score
• The study is for groups of 2 to 4 people, so please sign up with at least one other person if possible
• The study takes about 30 minutes to complete.
  • Sign up for the study here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C044BA5A62EAAFDC70-63636224-sign

Exam schedule and due dates (subject to change)

• February 4: Exam 1, chapters 1 & 14
• ** Update: February 27: Exam 2, chapters 2, 3, 11
• ** Update: March 11: Exam 3, chapters 5-6
• ** Update: Peer review of draft papers, March 30
  • bring one printed copy to class
• ** Update: April 1, APA paper due
  • bring one printed copy to class
  • email paper: PDF only, no links!
• ** Update: April 15: Exam 4, chapters 7-8
  • see revised study guide for chapter 8
• ** Update: May 4: Poster presentations
  • email a PDF of your poster to me before class on May 4
• May 6 at 12:10: Final exam
  • chapter 10 and all previous information
  • Final exam key concepts review list

Study tips

• Using the study guide, study information in the textbook before we discuss it in class
• Practice what you will do during the exam (NOT highlighting and re-reading your notes over and over)
• Self-quizzing is a very effective study technique

Study reminders

• Avoid simple rereading and cramming
• Practice what you will do on the exam
• Use spaced retrieval practice: study—wait—practice test—repeat
• Keep studying material, even if you think you know it
• Here are more details about effective study methods

Dr. Thompson's Office Hours (DePaul Hall, room 107)

• Monday: 3:00-4:30
• Wednesday: 3:00-4:30
• Friday: 1:30-4:30

Research Groups

• 1. Kate, Destiny, Jacob, Allana
• 2. Alexus, Isabella, Jade, Brett
• 3. Lydia, Alexis, Morgan
• 4. Maggy, Kathryn, Sam, Kanye
• 5. Abby, Emma, Mikayla, Allison, Jordan

Class study materials

• Savani and Wadhwa (2024)
• Tversky and Kahneman (1974)
• preregistration (March 1)
• Anchoring study data entry
• Results section for anchoring study

Course Material​​​​​​​

• ​Exam 1 study guide (chapters 1 and 14)
• Exam 2 study guide (chapters 2, 3, 11)
• Exam 3 study guide (chapters 4, 5, 6)
  • Note the exam is over just chapters 5 and 6
• Revised Exam 4 study guide (chapters 7-8)
• Chapter 10 study guide
• ​How to study for quizzes and exams
• Willingham (2016) Study tips for college students​
• Videos
  • Class videos and statistics videos (R, JASP, making CSV files)​​
• Additional readings
  • Sagan (1995) pages 2-7
  • Sagan (1995) Chapter 2
  • Matthews (2016) Tell me straight doc
  • Amrhein et al. (2019) Retire statistical significance​
  • ASA statement on p-values
• odds and probability conversion chart​

Congratulations to Allana, Destiny, Jacob, and Kate. Their research project and poster was voted "Best Poster" by the spring 2026 class.

How to study: Emphasize spaced retrieval practice. Don't just reread and highlight. Practice what you will have to do on the exam. Rereading and highlighting will not be part of the exam. Also see "Study tips for college students" by Willingham (2016), linked under Course Material.

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Dr. Thompson's songs about science and research

General research information​

• APS open science badges
• AsPredicted research study preregistration site
• Preregistration is becoming the norm (Nosek & Lindsay, March 2018)
• The Preregistration Challenge
• Information about predatory journals
• Psychotherapy's Image Problem
• Dowsing for bodies (Steven Novella)
• Why debunked pseudoscientific therapies persist (Lilienfeld et al. 2014)
• Psychological treatments that cause harm (Lilienfeld, 2007)
• Whatever happened to actual behavior? (Baumeister et al. 2007)
• Homeopathy: There's nothing in it
• James Randi on dowsing and the ideomotor effect (YouTube)
• Do IRBs actually protect research participants? (Grady, 2010)

Writing research papers and posters

• How to avoid term paper procrastination
• APA research paper checklist
• APA paper templates:   Pages    Word
• Team research proposal form
• Write results that make sense
• PsycINFO information on the APA web site
• APA style blog
• Better graphs to show your data (Hehman & Xie, 2022)
• Basics of APA style
• Word processing tips (for Word, Pages, etc.)
• Sample APA papers (from the APA style website)
• Poster templates (24 x 36 inches):   Keynote     PowerPoint
• Tips for making posters
• Poster checklist​
• What is BF and p-value? PDF graphic for posters
• NU Psychology research guide​​

JASP and R for data analysis

• Download R
• Download JASP
• JASP tutorials
• Quick-R: Info. on using R​

Other information on data analysis

• American Statistical Association statement on p values​
• p values are misunderstood (Goodman 2008)
• When Turing met Bayes (Matthews)
• Make use of what you already know (Matthews)
• Bayes Factor calculators (U of Missouri, Perception and Cog. lab)
• Bayesian estimation for two groups (online version by Bååth)
• Activity: Alpha is not the false alarm rate
• Activity: Bayes factors and prior by posterior graphs
• Activity: Graphs for factorial designs​
• Visual introduction to probability and statistics (Brown Univ)
• Interactive visualizations of statistical concepts from Magnusson
  • confidence intervals
  • correlation
  • Cohen's effect size d
  • Bayesian inference​