ABSTRACT

Statistics and research methods courses provide the empirical foundation of psychology for undergraduate majors. This chapter presents basic principles of good syllabus design specific to the content of statistics and research methods courses. It summarizes the findings from review of 37 statistics syllabi, and they also include their recommendations for best practices. Although there can certainly be overlap between the concepts discussed in a statistics course and the research methods course, the authors present ideas from course syllabi that seem more specifically tied to the research methods course, including information about frequency of use and our opinion about best practices. Statistics and research methods courses form the methodological core for many (or most) undergraduate psychology departments. Interestingly, faculty use a variety of approaches to achieve course goals. They also recommend that more instructors consider submitting their course syllabi to a vital resource.