INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS AND DATA ANALYSIS - 2022/3

Module Overview

The module introduces students basic statistical theory and critical thinking skills. Teaching involves a combination of theory lectures and practical workshops. Each week, lectures cover a specific statistical or critical thinking topic. Workshops and tutorials typically focus on using and practicing the theoretical content of the preceding lecture(s). Together, lectures and workshops provide knowledge of statistical analysis and critical thinking from both a theoretical and practical perspective, resulting in a good introduction and grounding in statistical research methods in psychology. 

Module provider

Psychology

Module Leader

ASKEW Chris (Psychology)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 4

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

Basic numerical skills (GCSE mathematics)

Module content

The weekly lectures and workshops will cover theory and practice related to the following indicative topic areas:

• Introduction to research methods


• Hypothesis testing and research designs


• Descriptive statistics & significance testing


• z-scores and normal distribution


• An introduction to statistical testing, including t-tests and correlation


• Identifying and evaluating critical arguments, theory & evidence


• Constructing critical arguments

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate understanding of both critical thinking and quantitative data analysis.

 

1. Critical thinking coursework (1 page worth 20% of the module mark)

This assignment has been designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their skill in constructing a sound argument about a psychological question based on a critical evaluation of research.

Assesses LO6

 

2. Quantitative coursework (4 pages worth 80% of the module mark)

This assignment has been designed to assess competence in test selection in relation to data evaluation, use of jamovi, and writing results in the formal style used in psychology. 

Assesses LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 and LO5

 

Formative assessment and feedback
The module contains a high level of discussion about analysing psychological research and using it to answer psychological questions. Through this, good critical thinking is modelled by the lecturer, practiced by the students and continual feedback is given about how their arguments in classroom discussion map onto the standards of critical thinking outlined in the lectures. The tutorials further support this in a smaller group that supports interaction from all students.

Weekly statistics workshops consist of a worksheet and data sets to analyse. Students receive feedback on their progress via a feedback sheet of worked solutions. In addition, workshop tutors provide individualised verbal guidance and feedback during the sessions. In statistics lectures, students typically complete MCQ questions and receive immediate feedback to enable them to check their understanding of the module content.

 

 

Module aims

• Enable students to correctly analyse experimental data using basic statistical procedures and understand the assumptions and limitations of these.
• Enable students to correctly interpret statistical results and understand the correct formats used to present data and results.
• Introduce students to the critical evaluation of psychological research

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching methods include:

• There will be 9 weeks of 2-hour statistics lectures and 2 weeks of 1-hour critical thinking lectures. In addition, there will be 8 weeks of 2-hour statistics workshops and 2 weeks of 1-hour critical thinking tutorials/workshops. 


• Lectures cover statistical theory and critical thinking as well as how to use jamovi to run statistical analyses. Students gain practice applying these techniques in workshops/tutorials. 


• There is a dedicated VLE site where handouts from the lectures and workshop materials are available. Readings are set each week from the core text book. 

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: PSY1020

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2022/3 academic year.