Talking About Numbers:
Communicating Research Results to Others
A First-Year Seminar
Psychology 053
Fall 2006
We're meeting in Room 347 Davie Hall (the Psychology Building) from
9:30-10:45am.
Brief Course Description
This first-year seminar introduces the many ways that research results are disseminated to the public in our everyday lives -- through advertising and mass media, the Internet, research-based policy statements, oral presentations, and scientific journal articles. We examine both effective and ineffective means of communicating numerical information and emphasize modern approaches that may clarify reporting. Among other topics, students learn how to graphics to visualize patterns in data, think about sampling and the generalizability of findings, explore issues and controversies surrounding survey methodology and polling, and consider political issues regarding data access and archiving, especially as related to the Internet. All statistical concepts developed in class are presented in a way to facilitate discussion about each major communication mode. Students use computers to learn basic skills related to data organization, presentation, and reporting, as well as the use of the Internet.
If you would like to access course materials, click below.
Note: To access
the Talking About Numbers portion of the this web site, you will need to
enter p053 for the username and a special access code that was distributed during the first class period. If you do not have the code and are interested in seeing the course materials, you should contact Dr. Panter at
panter@unc.edu.
What Will You Find Here?
Among other items, this portion of the web site contains: Talking about Numbers News, a class list and special topics lists, the course syllabus and philosophy, detailed descriptions of exercises and assignments, course lecture materials, information about preparing a Talking about Numbers project, step-by-step instructions on how to use SPSS for windows, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Powerpoint, various handouts and guides for preparing the project, information about quantitative talks/workshops and web sites, and contact information.
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