David Mingay's
DSE212 Exploring Psychology page
I know this page is quite dull (e.g., this list of chapters), but if you
go to my A Level page instead, you'll find
all sorts of interesting things. Alternatively, send me something interesting
to put up here.
If you click
here you'll get a rant about the so-called quantitative-qualitative debate
that seems to be quite fashionable in some circles these days. The section headings
in bold are from an OU handout distributed at a Day School once on what some people think
are important differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches; the
arguments under each heading are mine.
Here's another mini-rant,
this time on the use of the word "schema".
From a Summer School tutor (not me):
Conversation
between me and my 17 year old son (heavily into science at school and hoping
to become a doctor):
Me : Steven,
if you and some of your friends sat down and tried to remember a film that you
had just seen recently how would you do it?
Steven: What do you mean?
Me: Well, would you try to remember everything in the order that it had happened
or would you pick things out that you found funny or characters that you had
liked or what?
Steven: Oh, I think I would just pick out bits that I liked, in the order they
filled my head.
Me: Oh. That's interesting.
Steven: Anyway why do you ask?
Me: Well, this is what the students have got to do at Summer School and I have
just read this research paper that got eight people to try to remember the film
ET and looked at how they did it.
Steven: How did they do?
Me: What do you mean — how did they do it or how well did they do?
Steven: I mean how well did they do, of course.
Me: Well that's not what the study was about — they just wanted to see
HOW people did the task.
Steven: That's boring — what's really interesting is how well they did!
Me: Hmm...yes well...
Steven: No seriously.
Me: Yes, but that wasn't what they were looking at.
Steven: Well, all right then, how did they do it then?
Me: They looked at it in order, chronologically.
Steven: Oh right. But it doesn't say how they did?
Me: No.
Steven: So, how many times did they do this?
Me: How do you mean?
Steven: How many repeats did they do?
Me: Well they just did it once — on eight people.
Steven: ONLY ONCE on EIGHT PEOPLE??!! That's not very scientific. What kind
of a journal did this get published in then?
Me: Erm, actually...
Steven: Some CR**** journal?
Me: Well — that's the kind of thing people are interested in nowadays...
Steven: Well it's not science — its just waffle! Cor, psychology must be
a bit of a Noddy subject if that sort of thing gets published!
This might help with chapter 2:
While this is unlikely to help with anything
very much:
Here's
some information about the Open University Psychological Society and the events
they (and their Southern Region branch) are having this year.
Consciousness lecture
overheads from revision day school in September 2002. (Of historical interest only.)
Exercise in writing in your own words from my first tutorial.
The Preparing for the Exam book, condensed into what you need to know, is here, courtesy of David Kaposi.