Research Methods in Psychology
From Summer 2016 - Spring 2018, I taught 5 sections of Research Methods in Psychology to undergraduate students at the University of Tennessee. Beginning Spring of 2017, I taught this course themed around understanding race and racism and the ways that psychology can help us better engage in anti-racist work. Syllabi, assignments, and general materials are provided below. If you would like more information/examples please contact me directly.
Race & Racism
An introductory research methods course with a new twist. To better apply and understand the content of this course, we focus here on race and racism in both research and popular media. Research methods can help us use evidence to challenge existing beliefs. This course was designed to challenge understandings of race and racism and allow the opportunity for students to critically apply course content to a subject that psychologists regularly study.
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In-class examples, articles, and homework focused on race/racism so students could become beginning experts on how psychology is used to study race. We used both scholarly sources as well as popular media (e.g., Ted Talks, news articles) to discuss how to apply our understanding of research methods tools. Weekly, students read articles on a specific topic (e.g., microaggressions), wrote a reflection paper (.e., "Ticket In"), and participated in a small group discussion on Friday. These discussions had both methodological components (e.g., how do we operationalize colorblind racism?) and reflective components (e.g., what microaggressions have you seen in your own life?). At the end of the semester, students wrote two papers summarizing their experience: a Tie-Together, where they talked about content from across the class and what they learned conceptually, and a Final Reflection, where they talked about what it was like to have a class focused on race discussions.
Provided below are sample materials used in the teaching of this class, including sample syllabi, assignments, and many of the materials used to facilitate Friday Discussions (e.g., minute writing, discussion questions) and Ticket-In Papers (e.g., discussion contracts, sources of information). For further information or access to other resources, please contact me directly.