PSYC 815 Advanced Research: Quantitative Research & Analysis

The value of quantitative research in understanding human behavior is examined with an emphasis on various advanced quantitative methodologies and their theoretical foundations. The course builds on students’ understanding of basic inferential theory and linear regression and familiarizes them with new statistical techniques and advanced quantitative methods.

The purpose of this course is to develop an advanced understanding of the major concepts, applications, methodologies and practices in quantitative research. This course will take on a more applied approach addressing empirical findings of contemporary issues in psychology with the goal of moving students toward a dissertation topic and proposed research strategy. The course will also help students develop the skills necessary to understand and critique research in the field of psychology as well as propose innovative research ideas.

Textbook readings, lecture presentations, articles, and websites

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Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions (3)

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student is required to provide a discussion thread in response to the provided prompt for each discussion. Each discussion thread must respond and fully address the prompt, demonstrate course-related knowledge, and include at least the required scholarly sources, not including the course text and/or Bible (unless otherwise specified). Discussions format for this course include video presentations following the guidelines in the instructions.  In addition to the discussion thread, the student is required to reply to 2 other classmates’ discussion threads. Each discussion reply must be at least 300 words and must provide a critical analysis and substantive feedback. (CLOs: A, B, C, D, E, F)

This assignment is designed to help you develop your skills in designing a research project that answers three important questions in any research design. These questions are the WHAT, WHY, and HOW questions. These questions coincide with various components in the dissertation formula. In this assignment, you will begin to conceptualize these questions and components as you formulate an idea, research question(s), and hypothesis(es) to begin developing your design for the Research Paper: Research Proposal Assignment for this course.

Note that the topic you choose for this course does not have to be what you plan to research in your dissertation (though it can be related if you so choose). This course is about learning the process and analysis, and is not directly a part of your dissertation development. (CLOs: B, D, E, F)

Research Paper: Literature Review and Problem Statement Assignment

Continuing with the development of your research proposal and the WHAT, WHY, and HOW questions, you will conduct a more thorough literature review to provide a good foundation and background for the development of your problem statement, and eventually your research questions and hypotheses. A literature review is the process of reading and critically analyzing a number of original research articles and reports, while the background to your study is the section of your paper where the literature review is utilized and summarized into a well-written summary. Sometimes, the introduction to a study, the literature review, and the background to the study are used interchangeably but they are actually separate items. Your introduction introduces the topic and the need for the topic to your reader. The literature review is the process of reviewing the literature, and the background to your study is the writing that takes place from the literature review to lay the foundation for your study. All of these, in some way, hinge upon a good literature review. While different journals (and different Universities for dissertations), will label these in different ways, the process is essentially the same. In the Liberty dissertation process, the background leads into your problem statement. Keep in mind that you cannot write a good problem statement without a good literature review/background.  (CLOs: B, C, F)

Research Paper: Methodology Outline Assignment

Researchers who outline their project well before writing their narrative, usually produce a much better proposal, with improved clarity, and the process is much easier. Outlining a methodology is essentially mapping a course or charting a path.  Otherwise, it is easy to get turned in circles resulting in an inconsistent, illogical, or incomplete methods section.  The methods is the center of the research proposal and essential to getting approvals and conducting research.  the gold standard is that a researcher should be able to give another researcher their method section, and that researchers should be able to go conduct that research without asking questions. It should be thorough and complete, without extraneous narrative. This assignment will help you with the process of outlining and detailing a methods section in research.

(CLOs: A, B, E)

Research Paper: Research Proposal Assignment

In many ways, your methodology is the most important part of your research proposal. Without a well-written methodology, your proposal is simply an idea, vision, or dream. For your final paper, you will write a journal article style research proposal, similar to what you might present to a grant funding organization or a research/University, in order to gain approval and/or funding to continue with your research.

A proposal should be a plan. It ties together the details of what you are doing, why, and how. It especially focuses on answering the question “how” to yourself and your reader. The high standard of a well-written methodology is that another researcher in your field should be able to take your paper as written, and go conduct your research without asking you any questions (with perhaps few exceptions). 

While this paper will not follow the exact process and outline to be used in chapter 1 of your dissertation, it will reflect many of the required elements used there. Therefore, you will find this assignment helpful to make the connection between what you have learned in this course, and what you will do in the future as you develop your dissertation. (CLOs: A, B, E)

These assignments give you an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to apply the research processes learned in the associated module. These allow you to practice conducting and analyzing research in various ways which will serve both as formative exercises, as well as summative assessments. It is recommended that you first complete the Learn items for the applicable module, as well as the Learning Quiz associated with the applicable module before completing the Research Application Assignment. (CLOs: A, B, C, D, E, F)

Quiz: CITI Human Subjects Training (SBE)

Students are required to complete the CITI course in Social-Behavioral-Educational (SBE) Basic. The SBE Basic course provides an introduction to social-behavioral-educational research with a focus on the protection of human subjects. It offers historic and current information on regulatory and ethical issues important to the conduct of research involving human subjects. Case studies are used within the modules to present key concepts. This course has been updated to reflect the 2018 Requirements of the Common Rule.  The student will be required to upload their transcript or certificate.  Points will be awarded for successful completion of the CITI course. (CLOs: E, F)

University link: https://www.liberty.edu/graduate/institutional-review-board/collaborative-institutional-training-initiative/

Course link: https://about.citiprogram.org/en/course/human-subjects-research-2/

Quizzes (8)

These quizzes have low grade points associated with them, and should be considered “Learning Quizzes” designed to help you learn and apply the information from the textbook and other Learn items.  Each quiz in Module 1-7 will primarily cover the Learn material for the associated module, but in some cases may include building upon what you have learned in previous modules.The quiz in Module 8: Week 8 will cover the information in that module as well as a comprehensive review of all materials learned previously in the course.

Each quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 10–25 questions, and there is no time limit to complete them. However, students must complete them on their own without outside help from other individuals, “cheat sites”, or AI assistance.  Doing so is not only unethical and academic dishonesty, but will circumvent the formative purpose of the quizzes as “learning quizzes”.  (CLOs: A, B, C, D, E, F)