Research Methods & Statistical Analysis

The through-line

The temptation in a research methods unit is to teach it as vocabulary. It isn't. The unit has one job: get students to the point where they can look at any claim about human behavior and ask, "how would you know that?" Three moves carry the whole unit: the sentence frame ("They're testing the effect of ______ on ______"), the recurring flawed study (the Legless Rats, returned to as new vocabulary arrives), and the opening deception (Day 1's psychic demo, debriefed with "how would you test whether I really have this?").

Pacing

Written as 15 class meetings. If you only have 12, the master plan's "12-day compression" names exactly what to cut and why.

How to use the lesson pages

• Same conventions as every unit in this course — one path per slot, 90-minute blocks, bold non-negotiables, alternates in the appendices. The full how-to is on the course page.

What it is

Sixteen short homework readings replace the Chapter 2 reading for this unit. Each takes 5 to 8 minutes, has check-in questions as students read, and ends with an “Am I ready?” checklist. Students read one or two a night, always the ones due before the next class.

The readings live on the Unit 1 readings hub, which also carries the student guide: nightly expectations, quiz rules, and grading, ready to hand out. Students open it with an access code.

Which readings, which night

Readings 1–2 are assigned on Day 1. After that, each lesson's Homework names the next set and links to it: 3–4 after Day 2, 5–6 after Day 3, 7 after Day 4, 8 after Day 5 (due Day 7, since Day 6 is the ethics wrap), 9 after Day 7, 10–11 after Day 8, 12 after Day 9, 13–14 after Day 10 (due Day 12, since Day 11 is methods comparison and FRQ practice), and 15–16 after Day 12.

Running a class

• Questions window, 5 minutes, every class. Students ask about last night's reading, and you answer fully.
• Then a pop quiz, or not. Whether a quiz happens never depends on whether anyone asked a question, so asking can't become a way to stall it. Choose the quiz days yourself and don't announce them.
• The quiz: three questions, about 6 minutes, handwritten, each read aloud twice or shown on a slide. One recall, one explain, one apply to a new scenario.
• Format: lined paper; name, date, and “Pop Quiz: Reading #” top right; numbered answers with a line skipped; complete sentences; pen or dark pencil.
• Scoring: 2 points per question plus 1 for format, 7 in all, recorded as a minor grade.

The question bank is teacher-only and isn't posted here, because students can reach this page.

Earned notes, and an engagement option

Students may use their own handwritten notes on a pop quiz if they've shown engagement and investment in class. Typed or printed notes never count. By default that call is your judgment, and the student guide says only that the teacher decides.

Option: an operational definition of engagement. Define engagement as behaviors you can observe and count: for example, asked or answered a question in the 5-minute window, brought a question from the “Am I ready?” checklist, or finished the day's in-class activity.

The cost is bookkeeping every class, which is why it's optional. The payoff is a live research-methods lesson. In this unit it lands on the day it's taught: on Day 3, when Reading 3 covers operational definitions, have the class write the definition themselves. Then ask whether it's reliable (would two observers agree? that's inter-rater reliability, Reading 8) and valid (does it measure investment, or only talking?).