PSYC 2298 - Behavioral Statistics
Class Meeting: MW 8:00 am - 9:30 am
Office: CAB 306
Available by appointment. See the scheduler to the right to make an appointment.
For Fall 2020: ALL one-on-one meetings will take place via Microsoft Teams
Email: ssthomas@lagrange.edu
(use subject: PSYC 2298)
Phone: 706-880-8298
Twitter: @SocialPsySteph (Class hashtag: #PSYC2298)
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Please see the course calendar at the bottom of the page for assignment and exam dates.
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All students enrolled for Fall 2020 should complete the following survey. All surveys should be completed by Tuesday, August 25th at 3:00 pm. This survey will count as your first participation points for the course.
Assistant Professor
306 CAB
Department of Psychological Sciences
LaGrange College
Text
Gravetter, F. J., Wallanu,
L. B., & Forzano, L. B. (2018). Essentials of Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. Cengage Learning.
ISBN: 978-1-337-09812-0
The book is NOT required but can be helpful for explaining information and providing additional practice problems. A copy of the book will be on reserve in the library.
Course Objectives
The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the fundamentals of statistics as utilized in the behavioral sciences. The goals of this course are to familiarize you with the basics of statistical theory and analyses. Through this course, you should learn how to compute and interpret common statistical tests and understand statistical reporting in an academic setting.
Course Requirements
Exams and Quizzes
There will be 3 exams during the course of the semester and 1 final exam to be given during finals week. The final exam will contain a comprehensive section. The exams may entail word problems and multiple choice questions. These exams will be based on lectures, in-class exercises, outside readings and homework assignments including material covered in the textbook. It is very important to attend each class and to take good notes. To take the exam you must arrive before the first person leaves the room. To see the specific dates for all exams, please check the course calendar at the end of the syllabus.
To do well on the exams: you will need to regularly attend class, take good notes, keep up with the reading material, keep up with the homework, and study both this material and the notes with the aim of fully understanding it. In order to take the exam, you must have less than 3 recorded absences for that section. Please see the attendance section below.
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Exam policy for Fall 2020: For Fall 2020, exams will change slightly to accommodate the changes due to COVID-19.
All exams will be administered through Connect using Respondus. This will allow all students to complete the exam at the same time, regardless of if they are virtually attending class at that time. To use Respondus, students will be required to purchase access (a year subscription to the service is $15 and one subscription can be used for all of your courses that require Respondus). In addition, all students will need a working webcam and a computer (please note: Chromebooks will NOT work with Respondus).
All students will still complete their exams at the same time; the in-class group will take their exam in the classroom, while the virtual group will take their exam in a private area of their choosing.
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Final exam: The final exam will take place on Tuesday, November 24th at 8:00 am. The final exam will contain a section with new material and a comprehensive section covering material from the entire semester. There will be no make-ups or early exams given for the final exam.
Absence during an exam: Please notify the instructor on the day of your absence from a test by phone or e-mail. To make up an exam, a student must have an excused absence. An excused absence is determined by the instructor and may include an illness that requires the student to remain at home/in their dorm room, a death of someone close to the student, court date during class time, school-sponsored event that occurs during class time, or other events at the discretion of the instructor. To notify the instructor of an excused absence, the student must complete an electronic absence form (this can be found on Connect). If documentation is available, that should be submitted along with the form. Only one undocumented exam absence will be counted as excused per student. After that one, all exam absences must be accompanied by written documentation to count as excused. To designate a missed exam as excused (whether it has documentation or not), the student must submit an absence form no later than the day they return to class to be able to make up the exam and receive full credit; 20% will be deducted from the exam grade if the student submits the absence form after the date of return to class. The student must then arrange to make up the exam as soon as it is convenient, but definitely within 1 week of the original exam date. If more than one student needs to make up the exam, one common time may be arranged for all makeup exams to be given. If no absence form is turned in, the exam cannot be made up and the student will receive a grade of "0" for that exam. If the exam has not been made up within one week of the original exam date (unless prior approval has been obtained by the instructor), the exam cannot be made up and the student will receive a grade of "0" for that exam. The instructor will not contact the student to determine if a missed exam is excused. If no contact is made by the student, it is assumed the missed exam is unexcused. Zeros will be given for exams when it is determined that the absence is unexcused. Please note the following examples of unexcused absences: absences due to vacations or leaving early before a scheduled break, except under extenuating circumstances, work schedules are not considered an excuse for missing an exam.
Quizzes: The instructor reserves the right to give pop quizzes in class at any time
Calculator: For exams, students will need a calculator to perform basic calculations. No graphing calculators, programmable calculators, cell phones, tablets, or smartwatches will be allowed. A simple dollar store calculator would be sufficient or students can get this calculator or a similar one for around $3 - $4 on Amazon. Students should make sure to bring their calculator to the exam as there may not be extras for me to pass out and no calculator sharing is allowed.
Homework and Class Participation
Another contribution to the overall grade will be participation in active learning exercises such as in-class activities and homework assignments. These activities are designed to help students learn concepts in an active and memorable manner. By participating in these learning exercises, students will get hands-on experience calculating and interpreting statistics. This type of hands-on learning will be invaluable for succeeding in this course. In-class activities may not be announced in advance. Homework will typically be assigned at the end of class and be due at the beginning of the following class period. If you will not be present for class, you may turn in your assignment early by dropping it off at my office or submitting it on Connect (depending on the assignment). Homework assignments will be accepted up to 24 hours late with an automatic 25% grade reduction applied. After 24 hours, no assignments will be accepted. If the homework assignment is an online assignment and you wish to submit it late, you need to let me know so I can give you an extension. To do this, simply email me ASAP within the 24 hours and I will submit your extension.
Twitter: I will use Twitter to send out additional reminders and announcements (in addition to what I post on Connect). Students are strongly encouraged to follow me to easily receive this information. When I post information relevant to our class, I will use #PSYC2298. In order to see this information as soon as it is posted, you can set up an alert for this # within Twitter such that you will receive a notification every time someone posts with this #. I encourage students that have questions or comments related to class to post using this # as well or send me a direct tweet. I will also post a list of all students' Twitter handles on Connect (for those students who have indicated they are willing to share this information) so that students may connect using Twitter. This offers an easy way to ask questions of other students, post information relevant to the class, or set up group study sessions.
Attendance
Attendance is crucial to be successful in this course. Missing just one day can put you far behind on material. Thus, attending class is a required component of this course and will contribute to your grade. In addition, being on time is important in order to not disrupt the class and ensure you have received all information. Therefore, students that are 15 minutes or more late for class will be counted as absent for the day and will not receive attendance points.
You are responsible for all content covered in class that does not appear in the textbook. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed from a classmate. I am happy to answer specific questions about material after you have obtained materials from a classmate, but I will not re-give lectures to students who missed class. I do not send slides or materials to students by email.
Early in the semester, you should get contact information from one or more of your classmates and set up a "buddy system" for the purposes of letting you know what was covered in class, any changes to the course outline (including information regarding deadlines for various assignments), and giving you copies of any handouts in you should miss a class session.
If you are absent, you will have an opportunity to have the absence erased and still earn your attendance points by completing the following. You must 1. Complete an absence form (found on Connect) and submit it no later than the next day you are in class. 2. Meet with a fellow classmate to get the notes that you missed. After your meeting, you should send an email to me (with your classmate CCed) in which you discuss the progress made in your meeting and any remaining questions. 3. Visit the tutoring center or PACE (you can use this tutoring center visit to get help with the make-up assignment or the regularly scheduled homework). After your visit, please be sure to ask the tutor or Lauren in PACE to send me a confirmation email of your visit. 4. Complete the practice problems. These can be found on Connect. Be sure to do the set of problems that correspond with the date that you were absent. You must earn at least an 80% on the assignment (NOTE: This assignment will be in addition to any regular homework that was assigned that day). If you do not earn at least an 80% on this assignment, then you will not earn the attendance points for this day.
If you successfully complete the above steps then you will erase your absence and still receive the attendance points for the class that you missed.
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For Fall 2020: All meetings with classmates should take place virtually through Microsoft Teams or the virtual platform of your choice.
If you have three or more absences during a unit of the course, you will NOT be permitted to sit for the exam for that unit. Absences that you have been made-up using the above procedure will not be counted towards this total. Students need to have completed ALL of the makeup steps before the corresponding exam date to to be eligible.
If you achieve perfect attendance over the course of the semester, you will earn extra credit points added to your grade. Absences that are made-up will not count against perfect attendance. Perfect attendance is defined as achieving all of the available attendance points for the entire semester.
Overall Grading
The different types of assignments that you will encounter in this class will each contribute a unique amount of weight towards your final grade in the class. The following table lists the percent of your final grade that will come from each of the designated types of assignments.
For tips on how best to prepare for this class, please see the following help document.
The following factors may also affect a student's grade:
Grades may also reflect class behavior, and those students who behave in a way deemed disruptive by the instructor may have their grades reduced and/or be referred to Student Judiciaries. Likewise, students that are active in class discussion may have their grades increased.
Academic misconduct. Any student who cheats or plagiarizes will be given a grade of “F” for the course and will be referred to Student Judiciaries. Cheating includes, but is not limited to: wearing earphones or hats to the test session, attempting to or leaving the classroom with a copy of the test or answer sheet, looking at another student’s test or answer sheet, or using a phone during the exam period. Plagiarism involves any attempt to pass off work from another source as your own. This applies to both tests and assignments.
Extra Credit Assignments
Make-Up Problems
Any makeup-work that does not need to be completed to makeup for an absence can be completed for extra credit.​ Thus, for any section of material that you accrue no absences, you can complete the extra assignment for extra credit points. There is no limit to the number of extra assignment students can complete. Students must earn at least an 80% on the assignment to earn the extra credit. For each assignment that students earn at least an 80%, 2% will be added to their corresponding exam grade. ALL questions must be answered, if any questions are left blank, the assignment will be returned ungraded. All extra assignments are due by the exam on which that material appears. Specific due dates are given on Connect.
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Finding Errors
To encourage the reading of all class materials, I offer extra credit to the first person to notice errors in any class documents. If you spot an error (this can be as simple as a misplaced comma or a misspelled word), please send me an email with a screenshot and explanation of the error. Each found error will earn you extra credit towards the Participation portion of your grade. This not only encourages deep reading and attention to all class materials but ensures that the class materials are continually improving.
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Maintaining a Good Learning Environment in the Classroom
Phones
Please silence your phone and put it away during class. Yes, I can see you texting, tweeting, and snapping even when you put your phone under the desk or try to hide it on your desk. This not only distracts other students around you but also distracts me from my lecture. If I see a phone out an inappropriate time, I will call you out in front of everyone and your grade WILL be negatively impacted by repeated issues. In addition, please do not wear headphones during class. Once class begins, headphones should be removed from your head/ears and put away.
Please do NOT use laptops in class. Research has shown that not only is writing information better for memory but attempting to multi-task during class worsens performance and memory (e.g., this article). You will receive handouts in class that correspond to the slides presented so there is no need for a laptop. If you have concerns about this policy, feel free to come and talk to me about it. If there are reasons to make exceptions, that can be done.
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!!FOR FALL 2020!!
Due to precautions against COVID-19, certain policies will be different this semester. You will be required to have access to a laptop and you will need to bring it to class every day. Much of our work will happen electronically so access to a working laptop and internet access is a must.
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In order to encourage correct behavior regarding electronic devices in the course, if the class can go the entire semester without the professor reprimanding a student for inappropriate electronic device usage, then ALL students in the class will receive 2 points of extra credit added to their grade. However, each time the professor must reprimand a student for using a cell phone during class than the entire class loses one of these points.
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Please use polite email etiquette and don't email me about these issues or your email may be deleted. In general, my email responses will be very short (1-sentence). I am not trying to be rude, just efficient as I get many emails in a day. If your question requires a lengthy response, I would suggest scheduling a meeting with me instead. For all email responses, please permit at least 24 hours before expecting a response (e.g., you are unlikely to get a response to your email the night before an exam). In general, emails may not be answered over the weekend, holidays, or after business hours.
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Microsoft Teams
For Fall 2020 we will be using Microsoft Teams to live-stream class sessions as well as to aid in communication both inside and outside of the classroom. Thus, you are required to have Microsoft Teams setup on your computer. You are also strongly encouraged to set this up on your phone as well. There is a free app in the app store you can download. This software is free with your LC account. Do not create a new account, use your LC Microsoft account to log in. If you have trouble logging in, please contact IT. More information including tutorials on how to access and download Teams as well as a link to our course Team are provided on Connect.
Other Administrative Details
All papers submitted in this class should follow the paper formatting guidelines found here.
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All exams and handwritten work turned in for a grade must be completed in pencil if not typed. Do not use pen/marker/highlighter to complete any graded work.
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The course outline is a guide. The coverage of certain topics or participation in class activities may take more time or less time than was originally expected. The instructor reserves the right to alter the course outline at any time. Students will be notified in class and/or by email of any changes in the course outline. If given as an option, the student majority vote will decide changes in exam dates that may occur.
All due dates and times in this course are given in eastern time. Please note! If you travel to central time, your work is still due at the stated eastern time!
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In the case of an emergency such as severe weather or an influenza or zombie outbreak, I may be obliged to make changes to course content, assignments, or other substantive elements of the class.
The syllabus may be corrected or amended if errors or omissions are discovered after the syllabus is posted. Corrections will be posted to the course Connect site and/or the instructor's Twitter page.
ADA Statement: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, LaGrange College consistently undertakes to provide, by every reasonable effort, assistance and appropriate accommodations to qualified students with disabilities. If you have a disability, please contact Brandi Cameron, Coordinator of Learning Disability Support Services at 706-880-8269. She is located in Smith Hall in room 121. Students with documented accommodations that they wish to utilize must speak with the instructor & present documentation by the end of the 2nd week of the semester.
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Acts of academic misconduct (e.g. cheating, plagiarism) may result in course failure and will result in referral to the Honor Council. No electronic devices may be on a student's person, out, or in use during exams or other graded activities. If that rule is violated, it will be assumed that the device is used for cheating. The matter will be referred to the Honor Council. Unless told otherwise by the instructor, assume that all graded work uses only the student's brainpower and is closed book/notes/internet and is an individual assignment. During exams and graded activities, students may only have a pencil and an eraser on the table top (aside from any materials provided by the instructor). During exams, all belongings should be closed and stowed under the table. All notes/books must be in a zipped bag and placed under the table. You must turn in your exam if you leave the room.
Honor Code: “As a member of the student body of LaGrange College, I confirm my commitment to the ideals of civility, diversity, service, and excellence. Recognizing the significance of personal integrity in establishing these ideals within our community, I pledge that I will not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate these unethical behaviors in others.”
All tests, papers, etc... will be destroyed during week 5 of the following semester. Any questions regarding grades or assignments must be addressed before that time.
You are required to get permission from the instructor if you wish to audio record, video record, or take pictures of a class.
Important information from the instructor will be sent to student's via their LaGrange email account or via announcements within the Connect course site. Students are responsible for all messages and materials sent via these routes. Reminders and hints may also be sent via the instructor's Twitter account. Any changes to course policy, dates, or assignments will also be sent via email or Connect.
DropGuard: The faculty, staff, and administration at LaGrange College want students to succeed in every aspect of their college experience. One of the tools we use to help us in that process is called DropGuard. The DropGuard system allows faculty and staff members to enter information when they are concerned about students – perhaps because of absences from class or other activities, or because of irregular performance, and so on. If there are several indications that things may not be going well for a student, it’s possible that the student will be contacted by their advisor or by another campus official. Students may receive email notifications from DropGuard when the instructor notes a concern. If a student finds themselves in a situation where they could use some additional assistance, please set up a meeting with a faculty member or academic advisor. Naturally, academic support services are readily available in PACE, Tutoring Center, the Writing Center, and in the Counseling Center (study skills, time management, etc.). If students have specific questions about DropGuard itself, please feel free to e-mail: studentsuccess@lagrange.edu.
If you ever encounter an issue with an online assignment, please email me and you MUST include a screenshot that documents your issue. Failure to follow this guideline may result in a denial of your request for late submission of the assignment. As a note, technical errors are bound to occur, therefore, it is HIGHLY recommended that you do not wait until the last minute to complete assignments.
Responsible Employee Reporting Obligation: All faculty and staff share in the responsibility to create a safe learning environment for all students and for the campus as a whole. As members of the campus community, all faculty and staff (other than those designated as confidential reporters) are designated as responsible employees and therefore have the duty to report any instances of sexual harassment, sexual violence and/or other forms of prohibited discrimination. If a student would prefer to share information about sexual harassment, sexual violence or discrimination with a confidential employee who does not have this reporting responsibility, a list of those individuals can be found at http://www.lagrange.edu/about/security/sexual-harassment-violence.html.
*Instructor reserves right to alter schedule due to any unforeseen circumstances*
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