Learning Objectives
- Get acquainted with the purpose, principles, policies of the Psychology 1002A Learning Labs
- Get students into their Learning Lab Groups for the term.
- To understand how Psychologists work to quantitatively measure seemingly abstract constructs
- o understand what makes a good operational definition and be able to develop one.
Materials
- Whiteboard markers and erasers
Overview
This lab will serve as an overview of Learning Lab policies, alongside the first activity on the topic of operational definitions. During this lab, students will also be put into groups -these will remain their groups for the duration of the semester.
Time Allocation
| Activity | Time Allocation |
|---|---|
| TA Introductions | 5 Min |
| Review of lab format & course/attendance policies | 10 Min |
| Assign Students to Groups | 5 Min |
| Activity 1: Making Constructs Measurable | 20 Min |
| Wrap-Up/Take Home Message | 5 Min |
| Question Submission | 5 Min |
Introduction (5 Min)
- Greet Students, have them take a seat anywhere they would like in class
- Introduce yourselves! Tell them a bit about yourself (ex: where you are from, what your research interests are, or any “fun facts” you’d like to share).
Review of Lab Format, Policies, and Procedures (10 Min)
Describe the concept and purpose of the Learning Labs
- Hands-on activities meant introducing the students to a variety of topics in psychology, in an interactive and team-based approach.
- Social support—rather than being 1 of 3000 intro psych students, the Learning Labs provide a peer group that they will interact with throughout the semester, and TAs who are familiar to/with them
Review topics/schedule for the term.
- Review Course policies re: attendance, participation, submission etc.
- Ask students if they have any questions
Assigning Students to Groups (5 min)
- Each student will be seated at one of the tables (there should be 6-7 students per table. Randomly assign each student a number from 1-7, then have them regroup according to their number (so all “1s” at a table, all “2s” at a table etc.). These will be their groups for the duration of the semester.
- Give the students a few minutes to introduce themselves to their group, and chat a bit amongst themselves, until they feel more comfortable with each other.
Making Constructs Measurable (20 minutes)
In this part of the lab, students will be asked to come up with an operational definition for a new topic, which will have been decided by a different group. They will then come up with a simple hypothesis and experiment where this operational definition might fit in.
Before the activity, you will start by going over a brief introduction to the topic. We will first introduce it through a question (“How do psychologists’ study seemingly abstract concepts like “aggression”, or “happiness”?) to encourage students to give their ideas, before moving on to the next slide with some key points.
For the activity itself, we will first start by asking students to, as a group, come up with a topic or concept that is interesting to them. We will then surprise them by asking them to switch topics with a group next to them. This way, we are also able to have them comment on what they expected to be done when initially coming up with the topic, and what they colleagues came up with.
Groups are reminded to consider:
- How can you make this “topic” measurable?
(Ex: Our operational definitions for “Aggression”) - What would be the hypothesis of an experiment that uses this?
(Ex: Being hungry increases aggression) - What would be dependent and independent variables in your study?
(Ex: Aggression, Hunger) - What sort of inferences can be drawn from potential results? What would be limitations?
Students will probably be daunted by the task…ask questions related to the items above to help prompt discussion and get the ball rolling. There are also some notes for TAs on the PowerPoint slides, to help facilitate this.
Circulate, eavesdropping on tables and questioning them as needed to consider important design issues. Students may not get through all considerations, and this is okay!
As you wrap up the activity, please ask students to take a picture of their whiteboard before erasing it.
Take-Home Message (5 mins)
- Designing a valid study requires careful attention, starting from how the topic is even measured. When interpreting the outcome of a study, careful attention to its design, how variables are measured, and how the results can be interpreted is critical. Defining how a given construct is to be measured is an important step in this process, especially in Psychology.
Final Submission (5 mins)
Have the students access the lab materials in OWL and submit their answer to the final submission (which will be the question on the slides). Remind them that these should be short reflections on the lab’s content. They will not be deducted points for being “wrong”, but they will be marked on their “attempt”. That is, they should accurately reflect and relate to the experiences during the day’s lab and what were the key points they learned.
Prompt:
Write a short reflection on the importance of operational definitions for research in Psychology.