I recall with (somewhat, but not complete) fondness the days when I could do some systematic research. I made it a point to get my data early in the semester; the students who participate early are (generally) more motivated by the doing of the research and less by the panic of either having to do it as a course requirement, or panic at needing the extra-credit points. Late-semester data were never as clean as early-semester data.
I did response times to brief visual stimuli; I'm not sure whether this phenomenon generalizes to other sorts of research, but my suspicion is that it does. m -- Marc Carter, PhD Associate Professor and Chair Department of Psychology College of Arts & Sciences Baker University -- > -----Original Message----- > From: Joan Warmbold [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 12:35 PM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Subject: RE: [tips] educating participants in research > > Here might be the issue folks and it's so pathetically > understandable--relative to Carol's point about how cavalier > students are toward teacher evaluations and how some students > exhibit the same unfortunate attitude when acting as a > participant in research studies. > > The students aren't receiving A GRADE or being evaluated in > any sense for the quality of their responses. And can we > blame them if our school system has conditioned them to > perform well only for a grade as opposed to some type of > intrinsic sense of accomplishment? It would be interesting > to devise some type of contingency for both participants in > research studies and for students completing evaluations. No > ideas come to mind at the moment but still feel it's an idea > to consider. > > Joan > [email protected] > ____________________________________________________ > > I can't help but wonder if this isn't an awful lot like the way > > students treat evaluations of teaching. It seems that the same > > concerns would be there in both cases. > > > > Carol > > > > > > Carol L. DeVolder, Ph.D. > > Professor of Psychology > > Chair, Department of Psychology > > St. Ambrose University > > 518 West Locust Street > > Davenport, Iowa 52803 > > > > Phone: 563-333-6482 > > e-mail: [email protected] > > web: http://web.sau.edu/psychology/psychfaculty/cdevolder.htm > > > > The contents of this message are confidential and may not be shared > > with anyone without permission of the sender. > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: William Scott [mailto:[email protected]] > > Sent: Thu 5/7/2009 11:38 AM > > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > > Subject: Re: [tips] educating participants in research > > > > Because the "alternatives" to research participation > requirements are > > pretty much in place everywhere, I'll wager that the students who > > reported to Joan that they were required to participate in research > > were actually offered those alternatives. I'll also wager that the > > alternatives were presented in such a way that the students > > immediately discarded them as actual alternatives and > thereby forgot about that part of the contract. > > Why write a summary paper that requires real work when you can flip > > through some questionnaires and get it over with? This was the > > original concern of this thread. The students are asked to > be there in > > body but need bring nothing else. I agree that this state > of affairs > > could have serious effects on the overall quality of > psychological research. > > > > I think Stephen, who reported on participants' casual > flipping through > > powerpoint slides, may have a paradigm that could serve as > a dependent > > variable to test the effectiveness of various participant > > preparation/education procedures. Given different sets of > > instructions, how much time do they spend with the material > presented > > to them when allowed to proceed at their own pace? > > > > Bill Scott > > > > > >>>> "Gerald Peterson" <[email protected]> 05/07/09 9:29 AM >>> > > I don't know if it's an ethical guideline, suggestion or > what, but APA > > "requires" there be alternatives for students in Gen. Psych classes > > being asked to participate in research. Gary > > > > > >>>> "Joan Warmbold" <[email protected]> 5/6/2009 9:53 pm >>> > > I clearly was under a misconception here. I had been told > by a number > > of my 101 students that at their previous universities they were > > required to participate in a number of research studies--average > > seeming to be between > > 3 and 6. Has that changed in recent years? Clearly if > students are > > given the option for other activities, then there's nothing > coercive > > about their participation whatsoever. > > > > Joan > > [email protected] > > > >> I know of no program that doesn't offer a reasonable > alternative to > >> research participation. We ask students to complete a 1-page > >> double-spaced summary of an empirical article from an APA > journal or > >> from a short list of other peer-reviewed journals. They > get to pick > >> whatever topic they want and often the articles are immediatley > >> accessible online so that they don't even have to go anywhere. The > >> length of the article doesn't matter as long as they can > capture the > >> essence of what they read. > >> > >> I really do believe that participation teaches valuable > lessons about > >> the process of research. I still remember from the late 1960's > >> participating in research studies even though I was at that time > >> clueless about the whole process. I have a vague memory of memory > >> drums! but I no longer remember from over 40 years ago > just what the > >> study was about. I do remember really believing that what > I was doing > >> was important. > >> > >> So I have no problem with subject pools. > >> > >> Annette > >> > >> Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. > >> Professor of Psychology > >> University of San Diego > >> 5998 Alcala Park > >> San Diego, CA 92110 > >> 619-260-4006 > >> [email protected] > >> > >> > >> ---- Original message ---- > >>>Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 19:05:31 -0500 (CDT) > >>>From: "Joan Warmbold" <[email protected]> > >>>Subject: Re: [tips] educating participants in research > >>>To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" > >>> <[email protected]> > >>> > >>>Boy am I going to provoke reactions here but to me it > seems unethical > >>>to require psychology students to be participants in research > >>>studies. And is it any surprise that forced participants > sometimes > >>>don't take the research seriously? They might be irritated and/or > >>>feel they are being taken advantage of, and rightly so. > There has to > >>>be a better way to obtain participants for research studies other > >>>than literally coercing students to do so if they wish to > get credit in a course. > >>> > >>>Joan > >>>[email protected] > >>> > >>>> We try....to various levels of success. We try to emphasize the > >>>> ethics involved and have decided as as department to > incorporate a > >>>> discussion of honest participation during the teaching > of research > >>>> ethics. Also, we encourage students to do the alternate > assignment > >>>> if they really don't want to do the studies. > >>>> > >>>> That's the best we can do. I'm anxious to hear better > solutions to > >>>> this problem. I just ran a study where I am sure about 15% of my > >>>> sample was just blowing off a requirement because they > performed so > >>>> poorly :( I'm not sure how to handle the data. > >>>> > >>>> Annette > >>>> > >>>> Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. > >>>> Professor of Psychology > >>>> University of San Diego > >>>> 5998 Alcala Park > >>>> San Diego, CA 92110 > >>>> 619-260-4006 > >>>> [email protected] > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> ---- Original message ---- > >>>>>Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 13:47:51 -0500 > >>>>>From: "Blaine Peden" <[email protected]> > >>>>>Subject: [tips] educating participants in research > >>>>>To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" > >>>>> <[email protected]> > >>>>> > >>>>> Our students and faculty conduct research with > >>>>> participants from introductory psychology and other > >>>>> courses. Some participants seem to do the studies in > >>>>> great haste and with little sincerity and thereby > >>>>> raise concerns about the quality of their data. Have > >>>>> you developed strategies or instructional materials > >>>>> that explain the process and purpose of > >>>>> psychological research to future participants and > >>>>> also promotes their involvement and integrity? I > >>>>> welcome any comments, suggestions, or resources. > >>>>> > >>>>> thanks so much, blaine > >>>>> > >>>>> --- > >>>>> To make changes to your subscription contact: > >>>>> > >>>>> Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > >>>> > >>>> --- > >>>> To make changes to your subscription contact: > >>>> > >>>> Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > >>>> > >>>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>>--- > >>>To make changes to your subscription contact: > >>> > >>>Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > >> > >> --- > >> To make changes to your subscription contact: > >> > >> Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > >> > >> > > > > > > > > --- > > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > > > > --- > > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > > > > > > --- > > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > > > > > > --- > > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
