Introduction: Designing and conducting an intervention study is an arduous task for students that requires strong teaching and mentoring practices from psychology instructors. Statement of the Problem: Most research methods textbooks simply describe how an intervention is incorporated into a research study design (Johnson & Christensen, 2016),…

Researchers often rely on undergraduate students to participate in psychological studies and so ethical guidelines state that there must be educational value to their participation. In previous studies that have asked undergraduates whether they felt they learned something new from participating in research, students have generally said yes.…

Integral to most undergraduate psychology degree programs are research methods courses. Students learn about theory, study design and hypothesis testing, and gain knowledge that is assessed by laboratory reports. We describe a problem-based learning approach with an emphasis on acquisition of study design skills. Working in small groups, students…

This article presents an innovative technique for teaching the principles of experimental design in a way that is entertaining and engaging for students. Following a lecture on experimental design, students participate in an experiment in which the teacher uses a funny segment from a movie to test the influence of implicit social norms. Randomly…

We describe an exercise involving the power balance wristband (PBW) designed to enhance students' ability to design scientific tests. An instructor demonstrated that the PBW improved a student's balance, strength, and flexibility and invited students to design and conduct a brief scientific test of the PBW. Research methods students who…

Students in research methods courses, especially those taught in an intense format, might be hard pressed to actually conduct research studies due to logistics and time constraints. I describe the use of single-case research design and a personalized behavior project as an alternative research project for students in an undergraduate psychology…

Undergraduate students (N = 47), enrolled in 2 separate psychology research methods classes, evaluated a power analysis lab demonstration and homework assignment. Students attended 1 of 2 lectures that included a basic introduction to power analysis and sample size analysis. One lecture included a demonstration of how to use a computer-based power…

Outlines a history of psychology course in which research design and methodology are introduced in a historical context. Describes course texts and experimental projects in which students ask research questions that are appropriate to a particular historical figure or theorist. Discusses advantages and disadvantages of teaching the course in this…

Provides a classroom demonstration designed to test an astrological hypothesis and help teach introductory psychology students about research design and data interpretation. Illustrates differences between science and nonscience, the role of theory in developing and testing hypotheses, making comparisons among groups, probability and statistical…

Students critiqued research contained in the book "Rival Hypotheses" (Huck and Sandler, 1979), which contains studies dealing with knowledge claims of practical importance, e.g., the evidence that saccharine causes cancer. (RM)

The major goals of this two-semester seminar are to help first-year graduate students understand the links among perspective, theory, assumptions, problem formulation, methods, and findings in psychological research and to optimize their transition into the PhD program. The seminar is described and evaluated and suggestions for change are made.…

Provides a brief overview of single-subject research designs. This method exercises its power by examining changes in single subjects' responses over time across experimental conditions. Describes a classroom project in which students collect repeated measures of their own behavior and graph the data. (MJP)

Discusses a class project where students use content analysis techniques to examine societal trends of stereotyping in the media. Outlines the steps involved in this research methodology and indicates criteria that instructors could use for evaluation. Includes a table identifying tasks and research skills associated with each stage of the…

Provides an exercise for introducing research methods to undergraduates. The students view a graph revealing that left-handed people are underrepresented in older age groups. Small group discussions attempt to explain this phenomenon. A follow-up class discussion focuses on the different approaches and methods available for interpreting the data.…

Describes the application of the problem method, or case study approach, to teach undergraduate research methods. Maintains that the approach is particularly applicable because research design is a classic ill-defined task. Reports that students find the method challenging and interesting. (CFR)