Tim,
Sounds like a turf war. If so, there may not be much you can do to convince
the math folks. You may need to just go over their heads to whomever else
actually makes the decision. You also didn't say anything about the nature
of the courses offered by the math department, so I can't comment from that
perspective (although I presume that your interest in offering your own
course implies at least some degree of dissatisfaction with those courses;
or a belief that you can do some things better than them). In any case, here
are some ideas you might toss out:
Ask people to consider this from the point of view of what is best for
students, rather than from the perspective of whose domain this happens to
be. Don't know whether that'll carry any weight, but it's worth a try.
By way of analogy: Do they believe that teaching writing is the sole domain
of the english department? Most reasonable people think not. So wouldn't the
teaching of mathematical skills also cross disciplinary boundaries?
Is there anyone in the math department who is intimately familiar with the
application of statistics in psychology? If not, then the argument about
whose "domain" this is starts to sound pretty weak.
Of course, if this really is just a turf war, then none of these arguments
will carry any weight with the math people. But maybe others will listen.
Good luck,
John
----------
John Serafin
Professor of Psychology
Saint Vincent College
300 Fraser Purchase Rd.
Latrobe, PA 15650
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
----------
>From: Tim Shearon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: Bill/Hank/et al <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Applied Statistics/and math dept
>Date: Fri, Oct 15, 1999, 7:35 PM
>
> Tipsters-
> Has anyone gone through the process of implementing an "applied statistics"
> course (other than just research methods or a component of that) recently
> (or at all). If so I'd especially appreciate hearing from you as to how
> your math dept responded. Ours seems quite hostile and insists that we
> "justify" the use of resourses of a psychologist to teach "in their
> domain". We are trying to make it clear that their statistics course will
> be a prerequisite and are recommending that students also take their
> advanced statistics (and they only teach two!). Any advice on how to sell
> it, techniques that worked for you, or just general comments would be
> appreciated.
> Tim Shearon
>
> _______________________________________________________
> Timothy O. Shearon, PhD
> Albertson College of Idaho
> Department of Psychology
> 2112 Cleveland Blvd
> Caldwell, Idaho
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 208-459-5840
>
>
>
