OU - Exploring Psychology DSE 212 let's chat and worry over assignments!

[muppetgirl]

I?ll start off with an introduction.

I?m Muppet and I?m 32 and have 2 children ( 4.6 and 10 months) I used to be a teacher, early years trained but taught in yr3/4/5. I loved teaching but when I worked in a difficult school I knew I?d found my vocation so would really love to become an Educational Psychologist.

I started this course in Feb. 07 and completed 2 assignments but became pregnant with ds 2 and developed a serious case of baby brain so stopped with a view to re enrolling when I could.

Very excited to start!

Cocodrillo - I know what you mean. I have to say I am getting brain-fuzz now I am at chapter 6 of the methods books. Some of it seems well explained, and then suddenly I get confused. I have actually done most of the stats before with my previous degree, and I was scared of stats then. I an not scared now, and feel ok at not getting it straight away, and just hoping I will get it when I have TMA03 - something concrete - to hang it on to.

Anyone got their TMA02 marks back yet?

No TMA02 yet - but it took nearly three weeks last time.

I don't completely understand the stats either, but I understand how to do them, and, to be honest, I'm happy with that - as long as I know which calculations to do, and what the answers indicate, I'm happy with that.

I have to confess that I have lost my motivation a bit as this course progresses. It isn't as interesting as I had hoped. I liked the evolutionary psych bit, but not the biological. The personality bit totally passed me by, and in perception/attention, the TMA and all the stats stuff is just using up all my brain power with nothing left to just 'get into' the topic.

Ho hum. Having a bit of a negative day. Had to have a tooth out yesterday and it has made me feel surprisingly off colour. Sorry about moaning.

I did this course a few years ago and loved it.

Hope everyone's well.

Good grief. I retract my statement about liking stats. I am completely bogged down and confused by them. I just hope, too, that TMA03 will help me make sense of it all. A bit.

Anyone got their TMA back yet?!

Hi Docket - I thought I was ok with the stats, but then I found the explanations started making less sense and the text book doesn't show how all the stats fit together at all well, does it?

From what I can glean though, we don't need to understand them too well to do TMA03, nor do we need to use them all... not that I have started TMA03 yet lol!

I got my mark back this weekend, I got an A-, which I was pleased with. My methods section let me down again though, which is a worry with TMA03 coming up, but overall, I was happy. I need to get all the marks I can in the assignments as I suspect my exam mark will be pants!

How are you doing with TMA03 and SPSS?

Hi Docket - I thought I was ok with the stats, but then I found the explanations started making less sense and the text book doesn't show how all the stats fit together at all well, does it?

From what I can glean though, we don't need to understand them too well to do TMA03, nor do we need to use them all... not that I have started TMA03 yet lol!

I got my mark back this weekend, I got an A-, which I was pleased with. My methods section let me down again though, which is a worry with TMA03 coming up, but overall, I was happy. I need to get all the marks I can in the assignments as I suspect my exam mark will be pants!

How are you doing with TMA03 and SPSS?

Very well done GreenEggs! Was the mark fairly consistent with your last one then?

I find the lack of examples given in the text book annoying. I can get my head around the stats when things are explained in context but I found a lot of the stuff was just explained as a given and I couldn't understand why it was so (if you see what I mean!?). I've finally come to the conclusion that it's best not to worry about it and you're right, I don't think a lot of it is relevant for TMA03 (which I haven't started either!). Am reading chapter 7 now...

I'm finding SPSS okay I think.

Just got my mark back. I got a B+, same as last time. Did well on the research methods qs (dropped one mark), then 77% on the essay.

Well done on your A-, GreenEggs.

I'm started to panic a bit, as DC3 is due in 3 weeks, and my plan to get ahead and stay ahead has sort of ... failed.

I'm not behind at the moment, but nor am I ahead.

I could be catching up a bit as I've just finished work for maternity leave, but I feel like lying in bed when the kids are at school/the CM - or else I'm running around frantically nesting.

Trying to force myself to get on and write TMA 03!! I've roped DH and my parents into being 'participants' so far. Not sure how ethical I've been - I told DH I'd divorce hime if he didn't take part .

Got my mark back: A- this time, better than last time, dropped 3 marks on the methods section. I'm very pleased. My tutor's comments are that she's looking forward to seeing how I do with an assignment that requires a more formal writing style. Mmm, I think my background in journalism is maybe showing up a little too much for her liking, as she hinted that my writing was a bit chatty last time too.

Kicking myself, as my dad visited me yesterday and I forgot to recruit him as a participant (thought it'd be good to have an older participant to make my data more representative). Have so far got my husband and his friend to do it, although i know his friend didn't listen to the instructions properly and this affected his result (not sure whether to still include him, what do you reckon?)

Coco, my DH couldn't resist taking the mickey (sp?) when I asked him to take part - said, "Is there any payment involved... cash... or in kind?" Don't think that would be too ethical either!

I'm finding it difficult to get hold of adult participants who aren't either surrounded by small children, and so not able to concentrate, or who haven't had a few drinks, which will surely affect response times!

I'd say keep your DH's friend's results in, unless you have loads of other would-be participants around. If he signed the consent form and claimed to have understood the instructions read to him, then he's a valid participant I reckon.

Yes, I guess he is a valid participant. He (typically for him, as he's a bit contrary) managed the experimental condition quicker than the control condition, but I guess that's valid too. It's interesting to think how one or two 'odd' results can affect your overall data. Maybe I will need to discuss this in my write-up.

Cocodrillo and iheartbuckbees - it is a bit tricky getting participants, I am relieved we don't have to get 20! My dp pulled the same 'reward' question too .

As for your tricky participant/DH - I guess that is grounds for discussing why you need a lareger sample group for it to be a valid piece of research...

Re my TMA02 -I got a B- for TMA01, so my A- was an improvement. However, while I got 88% for the essay, I dropped 7 points on the methods section. Obviously the TMA03 is a methods assignment, so I am worried! I am not too good at 'scientific' type writing iykwim?
I thought I had done better on the methods section that I actually did, which narked me too!

Hi,

I am doing DD100 and want to do DSE212 in October 2009. But is it ok if I join here please.

Hi Seayork - welcome!
I suspect most DSE212-ers are a bit tied up in TMA03 at the moment to say hi though .

Speaking of which, how is everyone with the TMA? I have not written all of it up yet, but have done my results and would love to chat about them to see if I am on the right track...

Also, the rationale for the experiment - I sort of know what I am going to say, but worry I am missing something!

Anyone about?

Hi GreenEggs,
I am at the same point as you: I have my results, and did the paired-samples t-test. My p value was 0.02, which is statistically sig, but I haven't work out the effect size yet.

I need to refresh my memory about what else I should check. Do we check whether the samples are normal distributions? If so, how??????

Also, are you doing anything with the age and sex? I tried to do some graphs but they didn't seem to tell me anything.

I am having a bit of a wobbly about the rationale for the experiment. Not sure whether they've just subtly changed the Stroop test in order to avoid us repeating something that's now old hat, or whether we're actually testing a variation of the Stroop test i.e. words that desribe colours will interefere, words that have colour associations will also interfere, but not to the same degree. Also, not quite sure how to lead up to the Stroop stuff in the intro. Are you going to discuss the background stuff, like Broadbent and early filtering etc?

Hope these questions aren't too specific. Wouldn't it be great if we could just get round the table with a cup of coffee and chat about it like a tutorial?

Hiihearthuckabees (what does that name relate to btw?)
I have only done the t-test and related results and error bar charts, as there isn't really any room in the word count for more. While we could make comments on results on gender and sex, I am not sure that they are needed, or that we would do them statistical justice iyswim?

I haven't thought about distribution - , will do so.

As for the rationale - it is a bit hard to get hold of. My take is that we are testing a version of the Stroop test, but only to see if it works with colour-related words rather than colour-name words. Not really sure that it tells us anything new really? I haven't written my intro yet, but expect I will need to mention filtering, but not in much detail.

It is a bit tricky - I am not quite sure I have got what they want us to do? I had a look on the DSE212 forum, and it would seem I am not alone in that...

How is everyone else getting on?

Hi GreenEggs and everyone,

GreenEggs, ihearthuckabees was a movie a couple of years back. I haven't even seen it, so don't know what possessed me to choose it as a nickname!

I have been trying to figure out the rationale of the experiment for a couple of days now. This is the reasoning I can come with:

The Stroop exp shows that reading (automatic) interferes with naming colour (controlled). It also shows that reading a colour name that contradicts the ink colour interferes more than just reading a word. Our experiment could support the second point if a) our colour-related words condition had a slower response time than colour-neutral and b) we make the assumption that colour-related words are the same/similar to colour names.
From this test, I don't think we can say much more than that, but I was thinking that the level of interference for colour-related compared to simple colour names would be interesting i.e. does the suggestion of a colour interfere even more, because we have to first recognise that it's colour related and then also think of what that colour is, as opposed to just thinking of the colour straightaway. Alternatively, because it's not such a direct message e.g. red, blue, it causes less interference, because we can sort of filter it out more easily (quickly?), as it's merely a suggestion of a colour. The thing is, we haven't tested for this hypothesis anyway - maybe it could be discussed as part of the results, as further study needed.
That's the best I've been able to come up with. If anyone wants to discuss it more, I'm game.

iheartbuckabees - I had exactly the same thoughts myself about the colour words vs colour-related words. I also wondered about non colour words that had 'automatic' associations like Fire, danger - whether the brain would take longer to respond to those as it has to disregard the association. Hwr, as you said, we aren't testing this. From what I can see, what we have been asked to test tells us very litle, so I am worried about what I am going to write in the discussion section! Not much I fear.
Maybe the idea is to get us to critique the experiment design, in which case I can talk about the two different particpant groups, selection of participants, small sample size, but not sure what else?
Anyone?

Hi everyone

GreenEggs and iheart - I am in a bit of a pickle about the TMA (mainly because I haven't really got going with it yet, eeek so can't get my head around it all).

Re the sex, age thing I am not going to do anything with SPSS, although I may make comment if it looks like something really stands out.

Will be back later when (hopefully) I've got a grip....

That's it, I've submitted the bloody thing. I found that really hard! I could have spent more time on it but my eyes were going square last night and I just had to get shot of it. I'm so relieved to be moving on to something else now.

How's everyone else doing?

Hi Docket - bet you feel relieved!

I am nearly there but struggling finishing it as it is cr*p! I hate reading through it because it just doesn't read well, but I am also at that point where I can't do anymore because I am so fed up with it... Grr!
From what I can see on the OU forum, this one has caused people a lot of headaches, and it sounds like a few have dropped out...

I have accepted I am going to get a much lower grade for this than my other assignments, and just hope I can pull my marks up again on the essays to come.

As for thinking about the exam - aargh!

Hello!

I suppose it's good to know that lots of people have found it hard too! I'm aiming my sights lower too in terms of the mark I know I'm going to get. Ho hum and onwards and upwards

GreenEggs,

I'm the same as you - still trying to make the darned thing make sense. Finding the intro hard, although the other bits have been ok (haven't tackled the discussion yet).

Gotta get it done today.

I am also dreading the exam - feel like I've skimmed so much of the text book.

Well, my TMA03 is in. Glad to see the back of it!
Best of luck to those still working on it - not long now

Cocodrillo - how are you doing? Is the fact you've not been on here down to a new babe making it's arrival?

Just finished, with 10 hours to go. Hope you all have got through it.

I resolve not to think about psychology for the whole of the half-term holiday, starting tomorrow.