More About the Major

2-c Advanced Research Methods in Psychology

Students will select at least one 300-level research course. Each of these courses will involve the students in a research project, generally in the research area of the faculty member who teaches the course.  The specific topic will change from term to term, but the course will always cover advanced methodological issues and students will develop skills in the methodology chosen (experimental, survey, observational, etc.).  These will be small enrollment courses (capped at 10 students), and we will plan to offer three each year.

Most of these courses will have a content-area prerequisite, in addition to psychology 200 and 211.  All faculty members in the department are qualified to teach at least one of these methods, and teaching of these courses will rotate among us.

Students in these courses will write a research report in standard APA style, and will be encouraged (and may be required) to submit the work for public presentation.

5. Theory, Application and Research in Psychology (TARP).

With the assistance of an advisor, students will choose eight courses, to be selected with the constraints described below.

5a. [WP: 1 course required] Writing in Psychology.

The WP course will include drafts and revisions, and a more sustained focus on writing than is typically done in other classes. Writing skills that we would like to foster in our students:

  1. The ability to write review papers, research proposals, and empirical research reports in APA style.  To help accomplish this, students should be required to:
    a. write papers in APA style in some of their classes
    b. revise and resubmit papers in some of their classes
    c. purchase the latest edition of the APA publication manual, or a text on writing in psychology which the department will adopt.
  2. The ability to use writing as a self-reflective exercise outside of class (e.g., journaling, work completed in student exercises that accompany courses, reaction papers).
  3. The ability to write short reports summarizing psychological literature for a non-psychology/lay audience.

5b. [SI: 1 course encouraged]

Students are encouraged (but not required) to take at least one course designated as speaking intensive.  These courses will have enrollments no greater than 12 students who will make frequent oral presentations, and will receive feedback from the instructor and from classmates.  Students who are unable to fit a speaking-intensive course in their schedule will be encouraged to enroll in courses that focus on oral skills in theatre (120, 200, 221, 255) or the interdisciplinary public speaking course (ID 240).

5c. [AP: 1 course required]

 At least one of the TARP courses must be designated as ‘applied,’ and will meet the college’s F11 (“Beyond the Gates”) requirement.  These courses will be limited to 15 students, and we will plan to offer 4 each year. ‘AP’ designation will be given to service learning courses, the internship course, and to courses with substantial off-campus field work.  Courses in education, even if they are not cross-listed in psychology, will fill this requirement since all of them include field projects.

5d. [CA: 3 courses required]

At least three of the TARP courses will be  ‘Content Area’ courses in psychology.  Some of the upper-level courses we offer are ‘standard’ as preparation for graduate study.  Graduate study in psychology is divided into these areas, so that students may go on to take advanced degrees in most of these content areas. These courses are typically offered in all colleges and universities with strong psychology programs, and courses in these areas are often pre-requisite for graduate courses.  Students should consult with an advisor to select at least three of these courses.

CA courses will typically enroll 20 students, but they may be offered with WP, s, or AP designation, in which case they will enroll fewer.  A student may count the same course as both a CA and WP, s, or AP requirement, but this will not reduce the total number of TARP requirements.  (Double dipping of this sort may allow students to take additional Research Topics courses or other upper-level courses.)

5e. [CO: 1 course required]

At least one course beyond the introductory level taught outside the psychology department in a related area of study will fulfill a Connections Requirement.  Possibilities for courses we might approve to fill this requirement are:  Anthropology/Sociology:  Family in Social Context, Life Histories, Psychological Anthropology and others; Biology:  Mechanisms of Development, Animal Behavior, Genetics, and others;  Economics:  Health Economics, Game Theory, and others;  English:  Biography and Memoir; Philosophy:  Early Modern Philosophy, Modern Ideologies, Philosophy of Mind and Consciousness, Philosophy of Science and others.  (These are only example departments; the list could be quite long.)