Type of course

Course content

The course provides an introduction to statistics and research methods relevant to the subject of psychology. This includes descriptive statistics (e.g., central tendency and dispersion) and inferential statistics based on probability distributions, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing, in particular, t-tests and correlation analyzes. The course also encompasses research ethics, with emphasis on principles of conducting sound, transparent and well-designed research, and research dissemination, with emphasis on rules against plagiarism.

The course provides a brief introduction to the use of a statistical software.

The course includes knowledge required to read and evaluate research literature.

Objectives of the course

Skills:

• Being able to find out about research ethics guidelines and follow these
• Being able to describe basic principles for descriptive statistics and inferential statistics

• Being able to determine when correlation analysis and t-test are suitable for analyzing data

Knowledge:

• Describe what scientific plagiarism is
• Describe the principles of informed consent, compliance with guidelines for research ethics, and main criteria for scientific sustainability

• Describe the principle of frequency-based probability distributions
• Describe what confidence intervals represent
• Describe the principles of significance testing
• Describe the concept of statistical power

General competence:

• Being able to carry out a t-test, and report the results according to the APA standard
• Being able to carry out a correlation analysis and report the results according to the APA standard

Language of instruction and examination

Lectures are held in English

Exams can be answered in English, Norwegian, Danish or Swedish.

Teaching methods

Teaching in this course takes place in every Autumn semester. In addition, seminars are organized for smaller groups of students. Seminars also include exercises of data analysis using a statistical software.

Lectures and group work are recommended, but are not compulsory.

All teaching is relevant to the students' development as skilled professionals.

Thus, students are encouraged to participate in all teaching activities that are offered.