Research Methods in Psychology | Enroll Anytime

PSYC 303 provides the foundation you need to understand how scientific discoveries in psychology are made — and how to evaluate them critically.

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What will I learn in the psychology research online course?

This course will introduce you to methods of gathering knowledge in psychology with a special emphasis on the experimental method. The course consists of both lecture and lab components and will initiate you to the procedures involved in conducting psychological research. These skills are essential in psychology and all sciences and will give you an edge in most fields of work. As you begin to understand how research is conducted, you will also be better able to think critically about scientific research. Scientific discoveries continue to shape decisions about public policy, parenting, education, personal growth issues, etc. As such, familiarity with research methods used in the behavioral sciences is an increasingly valuable skill set.

This course has 20 content lessons and 5 proctored exams. You can take one exam per week, finishing the course in as little as 6 weeks or taking up to 9 months. Please allow an additional 7-10 business days to process registration, and 3-5 days for the final grade to appear on your transcript.

What You’ll Learn

By the end of this online psychology research course, you should be better able to:

• Explain how the scientific method is applied to psychological science
• Describe the history of ethics codes for scientific research with human participants and summarize the American Psychological Association Ethics Code—especially as it relates to informed consent, deception, debriefing, research with nonhuman animals, and scholarly integrity.
• Define reliability and validity as they apply to psychological measurement, articulate the different types of reliability and validity, and describe how they are assessed.
• Compare and contrast the different research methods used in psychological science (experimental, non-experimental, survey, quasi-experimental, and single-subject) and articulate the advantages and disadvantages of each.
• Interpret results from factorial designs.
• Describe the four big validities in psychological research and recognize when claims are made about these validities.
• Use your understanding of the four big validities to evaluate research studies and media claims about scientific research findings.
• Articulate the distinction between descriptive and inferential statistics and the circumstances under which each are used.
• Describe null hypotheses significance testing (NHST) and list some criticisms of this framework.
• Choose the appropriate statistical technique for basic research designs.
• Utilize software programs (Excel and SPSS) as a tool to organize data and compute statistics, and interpret SPSS output for descriptive statistics, t-tests, correlations, and ANOVAs.
• Read and interpret graphs and tables containing numerical results from research studies.
• Identify components of different sections of an empirical psychology paper.
• Use library resources to locate and organize psychology literature.
• Incorporate APA format (especially citations and references) into written work.

Research Methods in Psychology Course Textbook

Research Methods in Psychology, 4th edition by Rajiv S. Jhangiani; I-Chant A. Chiang; Carrie Cuttler; and Dana C. Leighton. This textbook is freely avialable online, or you may purchase a print copy.

How will the course appear on my transcript?

You may enroll at any time and have up to 9 months to complete this online course. The credits earned will be recorded on your UND transcript based on the date you registered for the course. It will appear on your transcript in the same way as a course taken during a regular semester. There is no indication that the course was taken online or that you completed it at your own pace. 

Consult the table on our How Enroll Anytime Courses Work page for a current listing of Enroll Anytime Registration Dates and the semester information that will appear on a UND transcript.

Why Take Online Classes at UND?

Here are a few reasons why you should take an online enroll anytime course at UND:

• Great customer service – Our registration team is ready to answer questions quickly so you can focus on your coursework.
• Affordable – UND's enroll anytime courses are priced at North Dakota's affordable, in-state tuition rate.
• Accredited – UND is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
• Easily transfer credits – Transferring credits is always at the discretion of the institution to which the credits are being transferred. In general, credits from schools/universities that are regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission transfer to other regionally accredited institutions. UND's online courses appear on your UND transcript in the same way as other courses.

Flexible 100% Online Course

You'll take this online course at your own pace. Some students thrive in this environment, while other students may struggle with setting their own deadlines. If you have successfully taken an independent study or correspondence course previously, UND’s enroll anytime courses may be right for you. Still not sure? Take our online quiz to help determine if online enroll anytime courses are right for you.

Course information including tuition, technology requirements, textbooks, lessons and exams is subject to change without notice.