1 Weekly overview
Lab 1 (w/c 29 Sep)
Content
Chapter 3 introduces the lecturers and demonstrators.
Chapter 4 explains how to use this book.
Chapter 5 lists the dates and times of your weekly lab classes and gives an overview of what we’ll cover this academic year. It also describes the expected workload for this module.
Chapter 6 explains how this module will be assessed (including the Research Participation Scheme, or RPS). It also introduces academic misconduct, extenuating circumstances, and support plans.
Chapter 7 introduces the core book for this module, explains how to get a copy, and suggests additional reading resources.
Chapter 8 describes how you can get help outside the lab classes, including the help desk, Moodle forum, email, and Teams chat.
Chapter 9 covers how to set up your computer for the lab classes.
Chapter 10 describes additional computer skills and software you might find useful.
Chapter 11 offers general advice on studying psychology and what to aim for in your first year.
Chapter 12 describes an activity we’ll complete in the first lab class.
Learning objectives
- To learn key facts about this module.
- To collaboratively brainstorm psychological questions that illustrate the scope of psychology as a discipline.
To do outside the lab
- Complete the self-study sections for Chapter 5 to Chapter 11, and confirm their completion on Moodle.
- Install the recommended software, if you do not have it already installed on your computer (see Chapter 9).
- Get access to Beth Morling’s book (see Section 7.1).
- We would recommend to read Chapters 1 to 3 in Beth’s book before Lab 2. If you read them, you will not only be better prepared for Lab 2, but you will also have less reading to do in the coming week.
Lab 2 (w/c 6 Oct)
Content
Chapter 13 is an introduction to psychological research basics. It covers empiricism, measured and manipulated variables, conceptual and operational definitions, types of claims, reliability and validity.
Chapter 14 describes the differences between research producers and research consumers.
Chapter 15 contains information about the first summative quiz.
Chapter 16 describes activities and exercises for Lab 2.
Learning objectives
- To acquire the basic vocabulary necessary to describe and evaluate psychological studies.
- To demonstrate understanding of this vocabulary in multiple-choice quizzes.
- To apply this vocabulary when evaluating research and designing a study.
To do outside the lab
- Read Chapters 1 to 3 and 5 in Beth Morling’s book.
- Complete the self-study part in Chapter 13.
- Read Chapter 14.
- Complete the Food for Thought activity in Chapter 16.
- Complete the summative quiz. Deadline: Thursday, 16 October, 3pm.
Lab 3 (w/c 13 Oct)
Content
Chapter 17 displays the list of the psychological questions generated in Lab 1, each rated for how easily it can be investigated empirically.
Chapter 18 discusses some key issues and guidelines for conducting research ethically.
Chapter 19 describes activities and exercises for Lab 3.
Learning objectives
- To evaluate how amenable the questions from Lab 1 are to empirical investigation.
- To apply ethical principles when conducting research.
- To use your knowledge of psychological measurement to assess a scale.
To do outside the lab
- Complete the psychological measurement activity.
Lab 4 (w/c 20 Oct)
Content
Chapter 20 introduces psychological experiments, specifically simple and choice reaction time tasks.
Chapter 21 introduces interference tasks. It explains how interference tasks typically have a relevant and an irrelevant dimension. The information conveyed by the irrelevant dimension can conflict with the information conveyed by the relevant dimension. As we are typically unable to fully ignore the irrelevant dimension, participants tend to be slower and make more errors when there is conflict. This is referred to as the interference effect.
Chapter 22 showcases a couple of interference examples from the University of Nottingham.
Chapter 23 is a very brief introduction to the history of experimental psychology.
Chapter 24 describes the second summative quiz.
Chapter 25 describes the activity for Lab 4.
Learning objectives
- To be introduced to some classic psychological experimental paradigms: simple and choice reaction time task, Stroop task, and flanker task.
- To learn about interference effects and cognitive control.
- To practice reading empirical research articles and retrieving key pieces of information from them.
To do outside the lab
- Read Chapters 10, 11 and 14 in Beth Morling’s book.
- Complete the self-study section in Chapter 21.
- Read Chapter 22 and Chapter 23 in the HHG and complete the activities in these chapters.
- Complete the summative quiz. Deadline: Thursday, 6 November at 3pm.
Lab 5 (w/c 3 Nov)
Content
Chapter 26 explains how to open, run, quit and save PsychoPy experiments.
Chapter 27 describes the PsychoPy Builder.
Chapter 28 covers PsychoPy routines.
Chapter 29 describes PsychoPy components.
Chapter 30 explains the main properties of the Text component, the Image component and the Keyboard component.
Chapter 31 contains formative PsychoPy quiz questions.
Chapter 32 features a video of me building a Stroop task in PsychoPy.
Chapter 33 describes a range of different exercises you will work on in the lab class.
Learning objectives
- Learn PsychoPy basics:
- Learn how to open, run, quit and save PsychoPy experiments.
- Understand the role of components, routines and the flow in the Builder.
- Know the main properties of Text, Image and Keyboard components.
- Apply your knowledge when completing the exercises.
To do outside the lab
- Complete the self-study sections in Chapter 26 and Chapter 27.
- Work through Chapter 28, Chapter 29 and Chapter 30.
- If you did not complete all exercises in the lab, complete the remaining exercises from Chapter 33.
Lab 6 (w/c 10 Nov)
Content
Chapter 34 explains how conditions files, loops and component properties interact when changing stimuli across trials.
Chapter 35 explains conditions files in more detail.
Chapter 36 explains loops in more detail.
Chapter 37 explains the prerequisites for modifying component properties across trials.
Chapter 38 contains formative PsychoPy quiz questions.
Chapter 39 describes the formative PsychoPy assignment.
Chapter 40 describes the exercises for this lab class.
Learning objectives
- To learn how to combine conditions files, loops and variable component properties to modify stimulus properties across trials.
- To apply this knowledge when completing the exercises.
To do outside the lab
- Work through the self-study sections in Chapter 36 and Chapter 37 in the HHG.
- Complete the formative PsychoPy assignment. Deadline: Thursday, 20 November at 3pm
Lab 7 (w/c 17 Nov)
Content
Chapter 41 explains how to determine response accuracy and how to give accuracy feedback using PsychoPy.
Chapter 42 describes various useful bits of information about PsychoPy.
Chapter 43 contains formative PsychoPy quiz questions.
Chapter 44 is a reflection on the content validity of a nature connectedness scale.
Chapter 45 describes the exercise for this lab class.
Learning objectives
- To learn how to determine response accuracy and how to give feedback in PsychoPy.
- To apply this knowledge when completing the exercise.
To do outside the lab
- Work through the self-study sections in Chapter 41 and Chapter 42 in the HHG.
Lab 8 (w/c 24 Nov)
Content
You will receive feedback on the formative PsychoPy assignment in this lab class. The slides will be made available in Chapter 39.
Chapter 46 covers PsychoPy output files. It explains where these files are stored, how they get their file name, and what is stored in the rows and columns.
Chapter 47 contains key information about the summative PsychoPy assignment.
Chapter 48 describes the exercises for this lab class.
Learning objectives
- To learn about common problems found in the formative PsychoPy assignment submissions and how to avoid them.
- To learn how to interpret PsychoPy output files.
- To apply this knowledge when completing the exercise.
To do outside the lab
Complete the summative PsychoPy assignment. Deadline: Thursday, 11 December, 3pm.
Lab 9 (w/c 1 Dec)
Content
Chapter 49 is an introduction to using Excel.
Chapter 50 introduces Excel formulas and some Excel functions that are relevant for us.
Chapter 51 contains formative Excel quiz questions.
Chapter 52 provides some information relevant in the context of the exam in January, including a link to the practice quiz.
Chapter 53 describes the exercises for this lab class.
Learning objectives
- To learn Excel basics.
- To learn how to use Excel formulas and functions.
- To learn about the January exam.
To do outside the lab
Continue working on the summative PsychoPy assignment.
Lab 10 (w/c 8 Dec)
Content
Chapter 54 explains the rationale behind data preprocessing.
Chapter 55 shows how to preprocess PsychoPy output files with Excel. It explains how to remove trials with extreme RTs, incorrect trials and trials with outlier RTs.
For those interested, Chapter 56 shows how to preprocess PsychoPy output files with R.
Chapter 57 describes the exercise for this lab class.
Learning objectives
- To learn how to use Excel to analyse a PsychoPy output file, including:
- Removal of trials with extreme RTs.
- Removal of incorrect trials.
- Removal of trials with outlier RTs.
- To learn how to calculate means, medians and standard deviations using Excel.
To do outside the lab
- Continue working on the summative PsychoPy assignment.
- Revise for the exam in January.
Lab 11 (w/c 26 Jan)
Content
Chapter 58 is an introduction to SPSS. Among other things, it introduces SPSS file types, explains how to get data into SPSS and how to compute new variables in SPSS. It also mentions some free alternatives to SPSS.
Chapter 59 covers some steps that should be completed before calculating descriptive or inferential statistics using SPSS. Specifically, it describes how to check measurement levels and how to define missing values.
Chapter 60 has a couple of exercises related to the material covered in this lab.
Learning objectives
- To learn some SPSS basics, including:
- Getting data into SPSS.
- Computing new variables.
- To learn about SPSS alternatives.
- To learn how to:
- Check measurement levels.
- Define missing values.
- Add variable and value labels.
To do outside the lab
Revise the Excel material from Labs 9 and 10. There will be a summative quiz on this material next week!
Lab 12 (w/c 2 Feb)
Content
Chapter 61 focuses on categorical data, including selecting and sorting variables, calculating descriptive statistics for categorical data and recoding variables.
Chapter 62 focuses on continuous data, including calculating descriptive statistics for continuous data, boxplots and removing participants.
Chapter 63 describes the third summative quiz.
Chapter 64 includes a couple of exercises related to the material covered in this lab.
Learning objectives
To learn how to:
- Use Frequencies in SPSS to screen data and to compute descriptive statistics.
- Recode variables.
- Use boxplots to identify outliers.
- Remove and filter participants.
To do outside the lab
Complete Quiz 3. Deadline: Friday, 13 February, 4pm.
Please note that the information below has not yet been updated for 2025/26. It is provided to give you an idea of what we plan to do in future labs. However, the links may not work, and the content of some labs may still change.
Lab 13 (w/c 9 Feb)
Content
?sec-intro-inferential is an introduction to inferential statistics, including a formative quiz.
?sec-one-sample-ttest covers how to run, interpret and report one-sample t-tests.
?sec-lab13-exercise is an exercise that involves computing a t-test step-by-step using Excel.
Learning objectives
Learn how to…
- Run and interpret a one-sample t-test using SPSS.
- Compute a one-sample t-test step-by-step using Excel.
- Report the results of a one-sample t-test.
To do outside the lab
- Before the lab class: Take the formative quiz in ?sec-intro-inferential and read the chapter if you cannot answer all quiz questions correctly. We will not cover this chapter in the lab class and will assume that you are familiar with this material.
- Make sure to complete Quiz 3 by Thursday, 13 February at 3pm.
Lab 14 (w/c 23 Feb)
Content
?sec-corr-test covers how to run, interpret and report a Pearson correlation test.
?sec-corr-thoughts adds some thoughts on the Pearson correlation coefficient. It also includes links to two Shiny apps, one for visualising simple correlation examples included in the chapter and another for playing a “Guess the regression line” game.
?sec-lab14-exercise is an exercise that involves computing a correlation test step-by-step using Excel.
?sec-excel-spss-quiz describes the Excel and SPSS quiz.
Learning objectives
Learn how to…
- Run and interpret a Pearson correlation test using SPSS.
- Report the results of a Pearson correlation test.
To do outside the lab
Complete the Excel/SPSS data analysis quiz. Deadline: Thursday, 6 March, 3pm.
Lab 15 (w/c 2 Mar)
Content
?sec-lab-report-prep covers steps you should complete before writing a lab report.
?sec-lab-report-writing is an introduction to writing lab reports.
Learning objectives
Learn how to prepare for, structure and write a lab report.
To do outside the lab
Complete the Excel/SPSS data analysis quiz. Deadline: Thursday, 6 March, 3pm.
Lab 16 (w/c 9 Mar)
Content
?sec-template-rubric introduces the lab report template and the lab report marking rubric.
?sec-lab16-exercise is an exercise focusing on how to structure introduction sections.
?sec-summative-exp introduces the experiment for the summative lab report.
?sec-formative-report covers the formative lab report.
Learning objectives
- To familiarise yourself with the lab report template and the marking rubric.
- To learn how to structure an introduction section.
To do outside the lab
- Complete the experiment for the summative lab report. Deadline: Thursday, 20 March.
- Start working on the formative lab report. Deadline: Thursday, 27 March, 3pm.
Lab 17 (w/c 16 Mar)
Content
?sec-lab17-exercise is an exercise focusing on how to structure discussion sections.
Learning objectives
To learn how to structure a discussion section.
To do outside the lab
- Complete the experiment for the summative lab report, if you haven’t already done so. Deadline: Thursday, 20 March.
- Continue working on the formative lab report. Deadline: Thursday, 27 March, 3pm.
Lab 18 (w/c 23 Mar)
Content
?sec-lab18-exercise is an exercise focusing on APA-style referencing.
?sec-charts showcases a chart created with jamovi and ESCI and explains its advantages.
?sec-summative-lab-report introduces the summative lab report.
Learning objectives
To practise APA referencing.
To do outside the lab
After 27 March, 3pm: Start working on the summative lab report. Deadline: Monday, 12 May, 3pm.
Lab 19 (w/c 27 Apr)
Content
?sec-formative-fb includes the formative lab report feedback presentation.
Learning objectives
Learn about commonly identified issues in the formative lab reports and how to address these.
To do outside the lab
Continue working on the summative lab report.
Lab 20 (w/c 4 May)
Content
?sec-lab-report-examples includes examples of past formative lab reports.
?sec-lab20-exercise is a lab report marking exercise.
Learning objectives
- To see how other students wrote their formative lab reports.
- To have a go at marking others’ lab reports.
- To critically reflect on your own lab reports by comparing them with other lab reports.
To do outside the lab
- Compare your own lab reports with the formative lab report examples.
- Continue working on the summative lab report.