Research Methods & Statistics Courses

4 pts. 

Prerequisite: PSYC UN1001, and a statistics course (PSYC UN1610 or the equivalent), or the instructor's permission.

Description: An introduction to research methods employed in the study of human social cognition and emotion. Students gain experience in the design and conduct of research, including ethical issues, observation and measurement techniques, interpretation of data, and preparation of written and oral reports. 

Note: Priority is given to majors. Fee: $70. 

[View Syllabus] - Fall 2016 (K. Oschner)

Corequisite: UN1451

PSYC UN1451 is the required lab for UN1450. 

0 pts. 

Note: 
Limited enrollment in each section. Attendance at the first class is essential.

4 pts. N. Bolger

Prerequisite: PSYC UN1001, and a statistics course (PSYC UN1610 or the equivalent), or the instructor's permission.

Description: Methodology and procedures of personality and social psychological research and exercises in data analysis and research design. Ethical issues in psychological research. Statistical concepts such as parameter estimation and testing, measurement reliability and validity, merits and limitations of correlational and experimental research designs, and empirical evaluation of theories.

Note: Fee: $70. 

[View Syllabus] - Spring 2015 (N. Bolger)

Corequisite: PSYC UN1456

PSYC UN1456 is the required lab for UN1455. 

0 pts. 

Note: Limited enrollment in each section.
 

4 pts. 

4 pts. K. Fox-Glassman

Prerequisite: PSYC UN1001, and a statistics course (PSYC UN1610 or the equivalent), or the instructor's permission.

Description: Complement to, rather than substitute for, PSYC UN2235. Introduces research methods employed in the study of the cognitive and social determinants of thinking and decision making. Students gain experience in the conduct of research, including design of simple experiments, individual and group preference elicitation techniques, and the analysis of behavioral data. 

Note: Fee: $75. Attendance at the first class is essential.

[View Syllabus] - Fall 2022 (Fox-Glassman)

Corequisite: PSYC UN1491. 

PSYC UN1491 is the required lab section for UN1490. 

0 pts. 

Note: Limited enrollment in each section. Priority is given to majors. 

3 pts.

Prerequisite: Instructor's permission and UN1610 (or the equivalent). Students should be comfortable with algebra and the basic concepts in classical statistical methods (see syllabus).

Description: This course outlines elements of statistical inference. Students will receive training in the use of software to evaluate both experimental data and psychological theory. In doing so, students will construct models that can both describe scientific results and also predict future outcomes.

[View Syllabus] - Fall 2016 (Jensen)

3 pts. L. Davachi. 

*This course does not count towards the Research Method requirement for the Psychology major, but it does count as a Special Elective* 

Prerequisite: Psychology W1001 or W1010 or equivalent introductory psychology or neuroscience course. An introductory statistics course is recommended, but not required (UN1610, UN1001, UN1101, UN1201, UN1660, or equivalent).

Description: This course has two overarching goals:

1. Acquire a toolbox of research skills including knowledge on how to: conduct a literature review, generate research questions/hypotheses, write a research proposal, use R for data cleaning, analysis, and visualization, administer surveys on Qualtrics, create behavioral tasks in Psychopy, and practice reproducible science.
2. Complete an independent research proposal through scaffolded assignments and provide peer review to others to help demystify the research process.

[View Syllabus] - Fall 2021 (L. Davachi)

4 pts. M. Sisco 

Prerequisites: 

• Science of psychology (PSYC UN1001) or similar 
• AND Introduction to Statistics (PSYC UN1610 or equivalent) (you should be comfortable with simple linear regression models) 
• AND Research methods (PSYC UN14xx or equivalent) or lab experience with research methods 
• AND novice to intermediate R programming experience (you should be familiar with 80% or more of the basic R concepts and functions listed here: https://rstudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/r-cheat-sheet-3.pdf) 
• AND Instructor permission 

Description: This course covers the basic skills and knowledge needed to address psychological research questions using data science methods. Topics cover the full scope of a behavioral data science research project including data acquisition, data processing, and data analysis. 

[View Syllabus] - Fall 2020 (M. Sisco)

Watch a course summary video here.

1 pt.  M. Miozzo & R. Silver

Prerequisite: An introductory course in neuroscience, biology, or psychology are required.

Description: Understanding the significance of experimental findings requires knowledge of research designs and an appreciation of the methods used in the study. Reaching a thorough understanding of scientific methods is especially challenging in neuroscience, a field that is highly multidisciplinary and relies increasingly on specialized techniques. The course aims to review the foundations of experimental design and to present some of the primary methods used in neuroscience. In this course, students meet with neuroscientists working on different subfields who provide a firsthand perspective on a variety of methods. The course is organized in two-week modules. The invited neuroscientist participates in the first class of a module, where s/he introduces the scientific questions that s/he addresses, illustrates a few key experiments and provides 2-3 suggested readings. The second class is devoted to examining the experiments presented in the first class. In preparation for the first class, students read a scientific paper to familiarize themselves with the research topic. In preparation for the second class, students review the experiments presented in the previous class. Specifically, each student is asked to define the hypotheses, design, data, and statistics of one experiment according to guidelines provided by the instructors. Each student presents his/her review in the second class. The presentation and discussion of the experiment reviews aim to help students to understand main aspects of the experimental designs as well as the applicability of key methods used in neuroscience. The first class of the course is devoted to reviewing the different experimental designs. In the last class, each student presents one of the methods introduced in the course, highlighting its strength and weaknesses.  

[View Syllabus] - Spring 2022

DeMoya 4 pts

Course Prerequisites: Instructor permission is required to take the course. PSYC1001 is a prerequisite for this course. Students must have already taken or must concurrently be enrolled in either PSYC2430/2450/2470.

Course Description: Research Methods in Neuroscience: Circuits and Cells offers students a unique opportunity to combine theoretical knowledge with practical skills development. This course pairs a weekly lecture with hands-on laboratory experiences, giving students a chance to see what day to day neuroscience research entails. The first three weeks of the semester will cover introductory topics in neuroscience, the scientific method, and experimental design. Then students will participate in three 3-week long modules covering human cognition, animal behavior, and neurological disease. The last two weeks of the course will be spent preparing students for a successful undergraduate research experience. Throughout the semester students will read scientific review articles to deepen their understanding of the lecture material and to contextualize that week’s lab experience.

[View Syllabus] - Spring 2025

4 pts. K. Ruggeri

Prerequisites: Students should have completed at least one semester of research methods and/or one semester of statistics, as part of a minimum total of 16 credits in a behavioral subject (psychology, neuroscience, economics, sociology, public health, or public policy). Students that have not met these requirements but are interested in the program should contact the instructor as early as possible.

Description: As part of the Columbia Global Scholars Program, this course builds on fundamentals of psychological and behavioral science by exploring reproducibility and replication on a global level. Students will learn from a wide range of studies and their real-world implications, while having the chance to contribute to original research through an interactive program in New York, Paris, and Cambridge (UK).

[View Syllabus] - Spring 2020 (Ruggeri)

4 pts.

Prerequisites: Frontiers of Justice: An introduction and an intro to statistics course preferred. Permission of instructor required

Description: The course will provide the rigorous data science training and core content knowledge students need to use data science to effect meaningful policy change in the direction of a more just society. The course will leverage the academic expertise of psychologists, lawyers  and data scientists, the perspectives and experiences of community members and students affiliated with the Center for Justice, and policymakers from government agencies and community organizations. The focus will be on collaborating with community and government organizations to propose research-and-data-informed solutions that center problem-solving on those most impacted by the problem.

[View Syllabus] - Spring 2022 (Downey & Bolger) 

4 pts. 

Prerequisites: The course is open to advanced undergraduate students who have taken an introductory psych course (e.g., PSYC 1001), a research methods and/or one statistics course, and a course in neuroscience or neuropsychology (e.g., UN2430/2450/2470). Graduate students in the Psychology department or other related departments interested in learning the basics of human neuroimaging can also enroll. Instructor permission is required to be officially enrolled in the course, by either emailing Dr. Spagna or Dr. He.

Description: Fundamentals of human brain imaging is a new advanced course open to undergraduates students from the Psychology, Neuroscience, Engineering, and Statistics Departments, that traces the key steps of the recent “neuroimaging revolution”, and introduces the various methodologies and associated analytic approaches that are now available in the field of cognitive neuroscience. Specifically, the course develops around three main questions, currently under-represented in our undergraduate curriculum: 1) What is the advantage to study human cognition using correlational methodologies (e.g., EEG, MEG, fMRI)? 2) Which is the particular contribution of each method in the understanding of brain/behavior relationship? 3) Which are the most common ways to approach the analyze the neuroimaging data? By promoting an inclusive environment and implementing active learning strategies, this course stimulates critical thinking and fosters collaboration among students from different departments. 

[View Syllabus] - Fall 2022 (A. Spagna & X. He)