corso|33581

General aims Teaching aims to provide students with theoretical and practical skills aimed at understanding and using statistical tools for research and evaluation in psychology, with emphasis on aspects relevant to basic, diagnostic, and intervention effectiveness research. The expected learning outcomes are: competence in critically understanding scientific articles, research reports, and evaluations of effectiveness; competence in planning and conducting statistical analyses. The face-to-face lectures provide students with knowledge of the basic principles guiding the planning, evaluation, and analysis of research designs in psychology, particularly considering the contexts on which the Course of Study focuses. The laboratory offers students the opportunity to plan, execute and interpret the statistical analyses covered in the course, and to touch upon the practical consequences of validity and reliability issues. The laboratory thus ensures the acquisition of practical and technical skills in the field of planning and conducting research, and data analysis. Attendance at laboratory classes should be considered mandatory. Specific aims Knowledge and understanding Passing the exam ensures that you are able to understand and use the most widely used and important methodological tools of data analysis for research and evaluation in psychology and psychopathology, and that you are able to develop analysis and research problems in an original way. Applying knowledge and understanding Passing the exam ensures that you know how to use the specific techniques of research and analysis in the contexts on which the Course of Study focuses, as well as how to apply the same tools of practical analysis to situations specific to other psychological, social and health disciplines. Making judgements Passing the exam implies acquiring the ability to critically and creatively judge research designs and methodologies employed in data analysis, in order to be able to recognize critical issues, limitations and possible improvements in the methods of investigation of psychological processes covered in the Course of Study. These skills are acquired during teaching through the presentation of complex cases of data interpretation, both in lectures and during the laboratory. Communication skills Passing the exam involves the ability to effectively use the communicative tools inherent in scientific publications, projects and research reports. These skills are acquired during teaching through emphasis on scientific terminology and technical rhetoric-and its limitations-both in lectures and in the laboratory. Learning skills Passing the exam implies the acquisition of learning skills that are cross-cutting and common to the logic and practice of scientific inquiry, which will enable the student to deepen throughout his or her academic and professional career the principles and use of research designs and data analysis techniques. Learning skills are acquired during teaching by placing emphasis-in the lectures-on alternative ways of investigating and testing the same empirical hypothesis, and by proposing-in the laboratory-cases of data analysis whose procedures and results can be generalized to similar cases in different contexts and disciplines. Prerequisites For a fruitful study of the subject, and for an adequate understanding of the teaching materials, the following can be pointed out as prerequisites: a) notions of descriptive statistics (important); b) notions of inferential statistics (useful), c) notions about bivariate and univariate statistical tests (useful). The teaching in each case will provide the elements to acquire the listed skills for all students.