PSYC 2211: Introduction to Psychological Research

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:  PSYC 2211: Introduction to Psychological Research
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This open textbook is being utilized in a psychology course for undergraduate students by Jason Reimer at Cal State, San Bernardino. The open textbook is an all-digital research methods instructional resource for research methods courses. The main motivation to adopt an open textbook was to provide students with an opportunity to interact with the course information in a manner that allows them to examine their assumptions and test their knowledge. Most student access the open textbook in as a digital platform through Canvas.

Course Title and Number:  PSYC 2211: Introduction to Psychological Research
Brief Description of course highlights:  The course provides an introduction to the science of psychology and its research methods. It is the first of a two-course series in psychological research methods that is required in the psychology major. The course is offered in Fall and Spring semesters, as well as during the summer sessions and the winter intersessions. The course is a required course in the psychology pre-major. Students must earn a grade of “C” or better in the class to become a psychology major. The course is a pre-requisite for PSYC 3311.

Student population: The majority of the students who take the course are pre-psychology majors who have had little to no previous courses in psychology research methods.
Learning or student outcomes:  Course Learning Objectives:

1. Differentiate science from other ways of knowing (i.e., non-science).
2. Demonstrate psychology information literacy.
3. Use scientific reasoning to interpret psychological phenomena.
4. Describe the scientific method and differentiate psychology research designs.
5. Critically evaluate psychological claims and research so you can be a good consumer of research.
6. Theories, hypotheses, and hypothesis testing in psychological research.
7. Ethical Principles in Psychological Research (human and non-human).

Key challenges faced and how resolved: Usually students don’t have much understanding of the ways that knowledge is generated. Multiple topics in the course cover this topic.

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: PsycLearn: Research Methods Digital Platform, published by the American Psychological Association

Brief Description:  (From publisher website) PsycLearn is a complete, all-digital instructional resource for research methods and statistics courses in the undergraduate psychology curriculum. With content created by psychology professors and professionals with extensive teaching experience, PsycLearn’s robust curricular material and unique design allow instructors to go deeper with classroom instruction.

PsycLearn assists instructors by offering an affordable, flexible, and highly interactive alternative to traditional textbooks. It helps students develop a deeper understanding of course material and build metacognitive learning skills to benefit their lives and careers. PsycLearn was designed around three principles, helping instructors immerse students in a personalized learning experience to enrich psychology instruction.

Please provide a link to the resource
Student access:   Students access the learning modules through links posted on Canvas. 

Supplemental resources: Instructor test bank, Learning Activities, Learning modules and assessments.  

Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook.  $91.25
License:  Copyrighted

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option.  Save students money and improve the learning materials.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? The APA had a representative came to CSUSB to present information regarding the digital platform.

Sharing Best Practices: Explore options and consider non-traditional learning materials.

Describe any challenges you experienced, and lessons learned. Sometimes the textbook adoption process can be challenging when adopting this type of textbook. It is helpful to stay in contact with the book/platform publisherThis is a required question

Instructor Name Jason F. Reimer, Prof. of Psychology
California State University, San Bernardino

My research interests include executive functions, cognitive control, working memory plasticity, and visual word recognition. https://www.csusb.edu/profile/jreimer

Courses I teach.
Undergraduate:
Introduction to Psychological Research
Research Methods in Psychology
Experimental Psychology Advanced Lab
Cognitive Development
Psycholinguistics
Developmental Psychology
Introduction to Child Development
Middle Childhood Development
Introduction to Psychology                                  

Graduate
Advanced Cognitive Development
Advanced Methods in Psychological Research 

Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy centers on helping students develop critical thinking skills and the ability to integrate new information into their existing knowledge structures and apply this new knowledge in a way that is relevant to them both personally and professionally. In the classroom this is accomplished primarily by engaging and challenging students through lecture, classroom discussions and activities, and assignments.