Requirements

How your final grade is calculated

Attendance and class participation	15%
In-class exam	25%
Part one of research proposal	5%
Parts two and three of research proposal	15%
Parts four and five of research proposal	20%
Methodological critique and comparison paper	20%

 

Special note

Academic accommodations are available for students with documented disabilities. These accommodations must be approved through the Office of Disability and Support Services (Ext. 7584). Students with approved accommodations should schedule an appointment with the instructor early in the semester to discuss any accommodation that may be needed for this course.

Attendance and class participation

Attendance in class is mandatory. Missing more than two classes will affect your final grade.

By participation, I mean (a) doing the readings before class on the day they are assigned and (b) joining in class discussions. Especially after the first four weeks, the readings become less instrumental to everyone's individual assignments (because students have choice about the methods they discuss and use in the remaining assignments). For the class to succeed, everyone must continue reading, preparing questions about, and discussing the assigned readings. To ensure this, I reserve the right to give up to two pop quizzes during the semester to determine your participation grade.

I realize that not everyone feels comfortable speaking in class when they are unsure about the material or have opinions they fear are unpopular. However, I see it as my duty to prepare a safe classroom environment where you can ask for clarification, make mistakes, and debate ideas, so please take advantage of this and participate. I am always receptive to your comments about how I can improve the classroom environment.

Exams and assignments

A closed book exam will be given on February 7 to cover the essential concepts and procedures of the scientific method. Here are practice questions and their answers to help you study (formatted for MS Word 98 for the Mac):

Here is the answer key to the exam (formatted for MS Word 98 for the Mac):

NOTE: Students who scored less than 20 points on the exam will be able to raise their grade retroactively when they write their research proposals and methodological critique and comparison papers, by (a) submitting an additional memo that explains how these assignments reflect the correct understanding of items they got wrong on the exam, and (b) including a copy of the relevant exam pages with the memo.

A research proposal is to be turned in over three dates: March 7, April 23, and finals week (date TBA). For instructions, click here.

A methodological critique and comparison paper will be due on April 9. For instructions click here.