Simon Fraser University

Department of Psychology
PSYC 210: Introduction to Data Analysis in Psychology
Summer 2021

Instructor Information Teaching Assistant Information

Ric Hohn Name: ______________________
RCB 5101 (REMOTE) Office: REMOTE
rhohn@sfu.ca Email: _______________________
Office Hour: Tuesday @ 11am PST Office Hour: __________________
(see below)
Tutorial Section: _______________

Course Description
This course introduces students to statistical concepts and techniques applied in the field of
psychology. Successful completion of the course is a requirement for students to formally declare as
a psychology majors within the department. The course aims to teach students three broad
categories of statistical knowledge. First, students will learn how to organize, describe, and represent
data (e.g., measures of central tendency and dispersion, tabular and graphical displays of data, etc.),
as well as be introduced to fundamental concepts such as measurement, sampling, and probability.
Second, students will learn the conceptual frameworks for assessing the probability of sample data
(e.g., standardized scores, sampling distributions, and null hypothesis significance testing). Finally,
students will learn to apply those frameworks by conducting inferential statistical tests applicable to
numerous research scenarios (e.g., single- and multiple-group designs, between- and within-subjects
designs).

Office Hours
I understand that for many of you remote learning is not ideal, whether it be because of the strange
format, inadequate study environments, or your distance from SFU and any time zone issues that
arise from that. As such, I'm going to try and be as accommodating as possible by offering both
scheduled drop-in office hours and office hours by appointment. It is possible that my office hours
may change depending on regular attendance and student accessibility.

Email: rhohn@sfu.ca

Drop-in hours:

• Tuesday @ 11:00am PST

Zoom information can be found here. From this link, you may click the "Join" button to enter our office
hour zoom meetings. If you need information about the meeting, such as the password or online links,
you may click the "Invitation" button.

Appointments: By request; please email me directly using the address above.

Course Map
The emphasis of this course is on conceptual understanding. Although computational
understanding is also important to the course, students will have trouble with exams if they
focus mainly on computation in their studies.

The material in this course can be categorized into roughly three components: Foundations,
Conceptual Frameworks, and Applications. It is critical that students have a firm grasp of
foundational material if they are to excel in this course, as the material presented in the first
five lectures is repeatedly drawn upon in subsequent instruction. Further, as the note above
implies, this course is primarily a conceptual course, which tends to surprise most students. While
statistics is a branch of applied mathematics, the equations presented in the course are not
exceedingly complex. Rather, the complexity of the course is primarily rooted in understanding how to
use the equations we learn in a broader framework of drawing statistical conclusions and making
inferences from them, as well as understanding what the equations conceptually mean. That said, be
aware that the most difficult part of the course (for most) is the Conceptual Frameworks
section presented over lectures six and seven. Please do not be surprised by these two lectures’
material and understand that although the course may seem easier over the first several lectures, you
should not take the amount of care and attention given to this course for granted. Students that are
able to grasp material in the Conceptual Frameworks section typically do well in the Applications
section of the course. I provide this information not to intimidate, but rather to help students plan and
prioritize their studies and, most of all, to avoid surprising them. Please remember to take full
advantage of course resources if or when you need them, including attending tutorials and office
hours, and emailing your TA with study questions.

Educational Goals

Upon successful completion of this course, it is my aim that students are able to:

• Employ basic descriptive statistics, graphs, and tables to summarize sample data
• Explain the role of sampling distributions and z-scores in the logic of inferential statistics
• Apply the logic of null hypothesis significance testing by translating psychological research
questions into testable research hypotheses and articulating the appropriate null and
alternative hypotheses
• Choose appropriate statistical analyses for the testing of psychological hypotheses
• Interpret the meaning of a p-value with respect to reject or non-rejection of a null hypothesis
and interpret p-values in published psychological research
• Conduct and interpret hypothesis tests on behavioral data using z-tests and t-test
 • Understand the core concepts of simple ordinary least squares regression, including
calculating the slope parameter estimate, intercept parameter estimate, and predicted scores,
as well as conduct tests of model fit

Course Organization

Online Presence:

All components of this course will utilize Canvas. All materials related to lectures and tutorials will be
posted on canvas, as well as the syllabus, any other important information such as course
announcements. Assignments will be submitted to Canvas, and the midterm and final exams will be
conducted on Canvas. Students should be in the habit of checking canvas regularly each week.
Additionally, please feel free to use the discussion section to post questions or organize study groups
among your peers.

Lectures:

This course will utilize a combined learning format, with some components delivered asynchronously
and others synchronously. Lectures and corresponding materials will be delivered
asynchronously each week on or before Monday at 12:30pm PST.

Tutorials:

Students are expected to attend their assigned tutorials. Tutorials will be conducted
synchronously over Zoom. The primary focus of tutorials is for TAs to review core course concepts
and, importantly, provide the opportunity for students to obtain hands-on applied experience
performing statistical operations. Moreover, each TA has set up a “Tutorial Hub” discussion post for
their sections where their materials and other resources will be posted. In addition to checking the
course homepage, please get in the habit of also checking your Tutorial Hub.

Tutorials will begin on Wednesday, May 19.

To access your tutorials, use the Zoom information found here. From this link, you may click the
"Join" button to enter our tutorial zoom meetings. If you need information about the meeting, such as
the password or online links, you may click the "Invitation" button.

Course Materials:

Required Reading:

There will be no required textbook for this course. Course readings will be drawn from a set of
course notes available on Canvas, and any supplemental readings will be accessible through
university databases (e.g., PsycINFO, etc.). The course notes are authored by Dr. Donna Tafreshi, an
SFU graduate and former PSYC 210 instructor, and are used with permission.
Students who wish to obtain a formally published textbook for additional support are directed to the
citation below, however, owning this book in not a requirement of the course.

Howell, D. C. (2013). Fundamental Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. (8th ed.). Cengage

Required Technology:

To participate in the synchronous components of the course students must have a reliable internet
connection and computing device (e.g., laptop, desktop, tablet, etc.) that is able to maintain streamed
video content and accompanying audio content. All synchronous course components will utilize
Zoom.

Students should also have access to a basic calculator (handheld or online). A graphical calculator is
not required.

Course Evaluation

There are four items that together comprise your final course grade, which are weighted as such:

• Assignment 1 (due by 11:59pm PST on June 14): 20%

• Assignment 2 (due by 11:59pm PST on August 02): 20%
• Midterm Exam (held between 12:30pm and 2:20pm PST on June 21): 30%
• Final Exam (TBD, but will be synchronous): 30%

Assignments:

Assignments are due no later than the time indicated on Canvas and within this syllabus and should
be submitted via Canvas upload. If a technology issue arises at the time of submission, please email
a copy of your assignment to your TA. Assignments should be submitted as a single pdf file. You
are welcome to complete the assignments using pen and paper and scan or take pictures of your
work – if you do, please combine individual files into a single pdf. Finally, assignment files should be
named using the following format:

LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_A1.pdf (for Assignment 1)

LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_A2.pdf (for Assignment 2)

Late Assignments: In the absence of exceptional circumstances, late assignments will not be
accepted. If you find yourself in an exceptional circumstance, please contact the instructor or TA as
soon as possible.

Exams: The midterm and final exams will cover material presented in the lectures and required
readings. Both conceptual questions and computational questions will be present on both exams.
Although the final exam will emphasize material after the midterm, this course is inherently cumulative
and therefore, students need a firm grasp of early course material to succeed later in the course. The
format for the exam may include multiple choice and short answer questions, some of which may be
analytical.
Exams for the online version of this course are open-book and open-note. Calculators may be used.

Missed Exams: Failure to take either test as scheduled will result in a score of zero and a final grade
of N. Special arrangements are granted at the discretion of the instructor for personal medical
emergencies with proper documentation, however you must contact the instructor and your TA within
48 hours. A “Certificate of Illness” is required for this consideration:
http://www.sfu.ca/content/dam/sfu/students/pdf/certificate-of-illness.pdf

Permission to write the midterm and/or final exam at a date later than scheduled must be obtained
from the instructor at least three weeks prior to the date of the exam. Permission will only be granted
if students have exam hardship (defined as three exams in one day) or under other extenuating
circumstances (documentation must be provided).

Final Grades: The range of values listed below reflect anticipated values for letter assignments
only; the actual values may vary depending on the performance of the class and final grades may be
scaled if necessary. Note that there are no SFU or Psychology Department standard policies
regarding the assignment of letter grades. Failure to complete either of the examinations will result
in a grade of N. Students’ final numeric grades will not be rounded in any way.

A-/A/A+ = 88+; B-/B/B+ = 76-87; C-/C/C+ = 65-75; D = 50-64; F = 0-49.

Grade Appeals: Based upon departmental policies, a request for a final grade change is only
applicable if there has been an error in calculating your grade or if you believe a component of the
course was unfairly graded. Any other request cannot be entertained.
Course Schedule

Lecture Date Topics & Readings Due

• Introduction and Basic Concepts
Topics:
• Notation and Summation
1 2021-05-17
Chapter 1
Readings:
Chapter 2
• Quantification and Measurement
Topics:
• Displaying and Describing Data, Part 1
2 2021-05-24

Foundations
Chapter 3
Readings:
Chapter 5
Topics: • Displaying and Describing Data, Part 2
3 2021-05-31
Readings: Chapter 6
• Statistical Relationships
Topics:
• Linear Transformations
4 2021-06-07
Chapter 7
Readings:
Chapter 8
Topics: • Discrete and Continuous Probability
5 2021-06-14 Chapter 9 Assignment 1
Readings:
Chapter 10

-- 2021-06-21 MIDTERM EXAM (SYNCHRONOUS @ 12:30pm PST)

-- 2021-06-28 CANADA DAY STAT HOLIDAY (NO LECTURE OR TUTORIALS)

• Sampling and Sampling Distributions

Frameworks
Topics:

Conceptual
6 2021-07-05 • Central Limit Theorem
Readings: Chapter 11
• Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST)
Topics:
7 2021-07-12 • One-sample z -test
Readings: Chapter 12
• NHST: One-sample / One-variable Scenarios
• One-sample z -test (review)
Topics: • One-sample t -test
8 2021-07-19 • NHST: Two-sample / One-variable Scenarios
• Dependent-samples t-test
Chapter 13
Readings:
Chapter 14 (14.1 & 14.2)

Applications
• NHST: Two-sample / One-variable Scenarios
Topics: • Independent-samples t -test
9 2021-07-26 • NHST Extensions: 2+ sample / One-variable Scenarios
Chapter 14 (14.3 & 14.4)
Readings:
TBD
• NHST Extensions: Prediction
Topics: • Correlation (review)
10 2021-08-02 Assignment 2
• Simple OLS Regression
Readings: TBD
Topics: • Final Exam Review (no tutorials)
11 2021-08-09
Readings: None
-- TBD FINAL EXAM (SYNCHRONOUS @ TBD)

* this course schedule may change during the semester

University Policies and Resources:

Honesty and Student Conduct: Please refer to https://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student.html for

information regarding academic dishonesty. Work for this course is expected to be done
independently and penalties for academic dishonesty can range from a warning to suspension or
expulsion from the university. Regarding the assignments and exams for this course, the following
actions are strictly prohibited:

• Directly copying source material (e.g., course notes, lecture slides, resources shared with
other students). All work should be in your own words.
• Working in groups or communicating your work to other students in any form
• Communicating with other students during exams
• Downloading, screenshotting, or obtaining personal files of exam questions or content in any
way

The consequences of being academically dishonest may be severe. See

https://www.sfu.ca/psychology/ugrad/academic-honesty.html for additional information.

Drop Policy: Standard drop dates apply (see https://www.sfu.ca/students/deadlines/). No exceptions.

Centre for Accessible Learning: The CAL (https://www.sfu.ca/students/accessible-learning.html) is

located at 1250 Maggie Benson Centre and is committed to providing individualized services and
accommodations to students. The Centre aims to eliminate barriers so that students can attain their
educational goals at SFU.

Student Health and Counselling Centre: The SHCC clinic (http://students.sfu.ca/health/) is located
in the Maggie Benson Centre and offers a variety of services including medical and psychological
counselling. Students can also access free confidential 24/7 mental health and well-being support
through 'My SSP'. Call 1-888-3515755 or search for 'My SSP' on the Apple App Store or Google Play
Store.