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PIA 137: Psychological Statistics

4 credits

This course is designed to give a general understanding of how statistics can be used to help answer questions in psychological research. The course presents descriptive and inferential statistics and their applications. The laboratory component of this course will give you an opportunity to develop skills in using statistical software.

Distribution Requirement

• Mathematics, Computing & Logic

Learning Goals

• Quantitative Reasoning

(1) Understand basic concepts of psychological statistics and how it is used to answer questions in psychological research. (2) Summarize numeric data by computing descriptive statistics (e.g., mean, variance) and by creating tables and graphs.(3) Compute various inferential statistics (e.g., t-score). (4) Test hypotheses applying probability theory.(5) Explain the differences among various statistical techniques and identify an appropriate technique for a given set of variables and research questions.(6) Interpret basic statistical results and distinguish between statistical significance and practical significance.(7) Evaluate the validity of conclusions presented in research reports and in the media.(8) Understand and utilize a statistical software package (SPSS for Windows) and Excel for Windows for data organization, display and computation of statistical procedures discussed in the lecture.

Sections Offered: Fall 2026