Assessment Submission

Both assignments and the optional test are to be submitted electronically, via the PSY248 iLearn page. Assessments submitted by post or emailed to tutors/lecturers will not be accepted. Submission of both assignments is required to be eligible to pass the unit. Marks and feedback will be released to students via iLearn one week after the due date.

Both assignments and the optional test are due at 5pm. Please also note that iLearn can lag when large numbers of students are uploading documents at the same time. Submission time for assignments is counted as the time the assessment was received, not the time the uploading began. Because of this, make sure you don't leave your submission to 4:55pm the day it is due! Late penalties (5% per day late) will be applied to assignments that are received after the due time. Specific details on assessment submission will be provided closer to the time.

After submission, it is the student's responsibility to check that the assignment has been uploaded successfully. Any technological problems must be identified before the due time, or a late penalty will be applied. If on the off chance that you do experience technological problems when submitting your assignment, make sure you raise a OneHelp ticket (see 'technical support' section below for information) and email a copy of your assignment to the unit convener, Alissa Beath, before the assignment due time, to avoid a late penalty.

Request for Extensions

Ordinarily, no extension of time for submission of written work will be granted since all assessment tasks are available from the start of S3, i.e., ample time is given. If an extension is required for medical or other extenuating circumstances, students may request this in writing through ask.mq.edu.au with supporting documentary evidence (such as medical certificate, counsellor note, or similar). The staff in the Faculty of Human Sciences Student Services Centre will make all decisions regarding extensions. Course convenors or tutors will not grant extensions.

All requests for extensions must be made prior to the due date for the assignment. If an extension is granted the approval must be printed out and attached to the assignment, or emailed directly to the unit convener (Alissa Beath). Failure to do so will result in a late penalty being applied as the marker will not know that an extension has been granted.

NOTE: during Session 3 the Faculty Student Centre will only grant extensions of up to 7 days. Students who through illness or other circumstances are unable to submit within this time should contact the course convenors or Faculty Student Centre.

Assessment Overall

Your mark on all pieces of assessment for PSY248 will be a straightforward sum of correct answers (with the optional exam only being used if it maximises your grade compared to performance in the end of year exam). 

In order to be eligible for a passing grade in PSY248, students must: 

(i) Complete BOTH assignments, (ii) Attend 80% of (4 out of 5) tutorials, AND (iii) Sit the final examination

In order to complete PSY248 successfully (i.e., achieve a Pass grade or higher), in addition to being eligible (by meeting the above three criteria) students will require a final mark, calculated by adding together the marks for all assessment tasks, of 50 or higher. 

Collusion and Plagiarism

Academic integrity means you submit only your own work, and make it easy for the reader to work out which parts of your assignment are original and which parts come from named sources.

Collusion needs to be avoided

We value students collaborating together as part of their learning experience. Often students form informal study groups, where they share understanding of unit content, and approaches to the assessments. However, it is important to realize that unless you are doing Group Work for an assignment, all of the work you submit for individual assessment should be completely your own independent work.  Students are encouraged to form study groups, but this must not involve collusion to present group work as the work of the individual.

What is collusion?

This is the unauthorised presentation of group work as your own.  It may involve

• Working with someone to provide one piece of work
• Allowing others to share your assignment answer or copy your work
• Using the assignment answer or work of another student (past or present) with or without their permission. It is collusion even if only small parts of the assignment are used
• Allowing others to edit and write your work
• Editing or writing the work of another student
• Offering to do work for another student or seeking payment for preparing academic work for someone else

How can you avoid collusion?

• Do not share your findings or answers to an assignment
• Do not use another student’s case studies, findings or ideas about an assignment
• Do not ask another student for a copy of their assignment
• Do not share your current or past assignments with another student (whether to “look at the structure” or any other reason).

Lectures 

Lectures will be available for download from the unit's iLearn page via Echo. An outline of the lecture topics and associated lecture duration is provided in the following pages and on iLearn. Lectures have been recorded with the associated visual footage to enhance learning.

NOTE: lectures are recordings from Session 2, 2015 but have been saved under topic headings. Because lectures are from a previous Session IGNORE information about assessment tasks as these are not necessarily accurate for Session 3. Instead, refer to information in the unit outline about assessment tasks for Session 3.

All lecture material is examinable (either in exam or assignment formats). 

Tutorials 

There are five 3-hour weekly tutorials associated with this unit.

Prior to their weekly tutorial class, students must have listened to the specified lectures and read any relevant supplementary material, as well as have completed the tutorial exercises.

All tutorial material is examinable (either in exam or assignment formats). A tutorial outline will be available on the unit's iLearn page.

Attendance at tutorials is compulsory – the material is examinable, but more importantly, it allows an opportunity to apply and discuss material from lectures.

According to University policy, in order to be eligible to pass this course, students are required to attend at least 80% of classes (i.e., 4 of the 5 tutorials). Students who must miss TWO tutorials due to unavoidable circumstances (see University definition of unavoidable circumstances) are required to lodge an application for special consideration via ask.mq.edu.au.

Please attend the tutorial in which you are officially enrolled. Tutorial changes can be made via e- Student until 12th December 2015. After this date, no further changes will be entertained unless supporting documentation including the reason for changing is provided and there is space in the alternate tutorial you wish to attend. 

A schedule of tutorial classes and tutors will be available on the iLearn page.

Resources

Textbook

• Field, A. (2014). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics (4th ed.). London: SAGE.

This is a very student-friendly text that combines statistical principles and the use of SPSS. This text will also be used in PSY349 and PSY418 in coming years, and thus goes beyond the scope of this course.

Course notes are also available for downloading on the PSY248 web page:

• Chekaluk, E. (2014). PSY248 – Design and Statistics 2: Notes on ANOVA lecture topics.

As well as the textbook, the main reference materials for more technical computing information are the following, which will be available on the PSY248 website:

• Chekaluk, E. (2012). Using the MANOVA command in SPSS.
• Taylor, A. (2011). Introduction to IBM SPSS Statistics (The Red Book).

A list of additional resources is available on the iLearn page, if students want supplementary materials.

Technology

Students must have access to SPSS, a statistical software package, for this course. SPSS can be bought from the Co-Op bookshop, accessed on University computers (e.g. C5C labs), and/or accessed online via iLab. See https://wiki.mq.edu.au/display/iLab/About for more information about accessing SPSS via iLab.

Technical Support

If you experience technological difficulties with iLearn or iLab, make sure you take a screenshot of any error messages or difficulties that occur, and contact the university's technical support team via OneHelp. Raise requests by calling the IT HelpDesk on (02) 9850 HELP (4357), emailing onehelp@mq.edu.au, or visiting the IT HelpDesk located in C5C. Track requests directly at onehelp.mq.edu.au. Because iLearn and use of SPSS are fundamental to PSY248, it is your responsibility to make sure you can access both throughout the semester, especially when needed for weekly quizzes and the assignments. 

Course content has changed slightly since PSY248 was offered over Session 3 2014/2015. 

There are no changes to the course since Session 2 2015, other than changes to scheduling due to the nature of Session 3.

This course is an intermediate statistics and methods course which covers both the design and statistical components of experiments common in psychological research. The experimental method is, of course, not the only method of performing psychological investigation, but this course is devoted to it; your other methods and statistics courses (e.g. PSY349) will cover the design and analysis of non-experimental research. Note also that the course is one in psychology - it is assumed that all students have a rudimentary knowledge of the scope of psychological investigation and are familiar with common psychological variables. The importance of both the experimental design and interpretation of statistical analysis is emphasized together with concepts of power and sample size requirements for efficient research.

Statistical methods covered include descriptive statistics, analysis of frequency data, one-way and two-way analysis of variance, analysis of variance with repeated measures, correlation and regression. Practical classes are based on the use of the computer with the statistical program SPSS.

As this is an intermediate level subject we assume you have mastered all the material in STAT170 / PSY122 / (PSYC104 & PSYC105) (or an equivalent introductory course in statistics) which includes:

(i) Graphical methods and descriptive statistics (mean, median, standard deviation etc.);

(ii) The normal distribution, and how to find areas under it;

(iii) Single sample t-test, independent groups t-test and paired t-test;

(iv) Ability to read statistical tables such as the t-test tables; and,

(v) A moderate level of mathematical background, i.e. basic numeracy and basic algebra.

If you feel that you lack the above knowledge, it is essential that you review your STAT170/PSY122/PSYC104&105 notes. Alternatively, the Numeracy Centre will provide refresher workshops, as well as continuing extra tutorials throughout the session. Achieving a pass grade in STAT170, STAT171, PSY122 or (PSYC104 & PSYC105) is a prerequisite for enrolling in this unit.

Please be aware that there is an expectation of an intensive workload during Session 3. The estimated workload is 24 hrs/week for this unit in Session 3.