ID:
509300
Duration (hours):
36
CFU:
6
SSD:
Psicometria
Year:
2026
Overview
Date/time interval
Secondo Semestre (15/02/2027 - 04/06/2027)
Syllabus
Course Objectives
Even though the course deals with statistical methods and data analysis, the teacher will clarify the very tight link that these methods have with the logic of scientific research. Despite this aspect is often neglected or taken for granted in academic psychology courses, it is, as a matter of fact, a real watershed in psychological professions: psychologists who have a firm scientific culture, who routinely apply scientific reasoning and who know its rigorous laws, are better and more appreciated professionals. Statistics is nothing else than a purified form of scientific thought, and to instill such a (precious) type of thought is the indirect aim of the course.
Specific objectives: to make the student able to use technical software of data analysis, and above all, to correctly interpret its results.
Specific objectives: to make the student able to use technical software of data analysis, and above all, to correctly interpret its results.
Course Prerequisites
Standard knowledge of epistemology, methodology, and statistics, as ordinarily taught in
bachelor degrees.
bachelor degrees.
Teaching Methods
By following the official guidelines of the University, the course consists of 30 hours of direct teaching (“DE”), 6 of interactive teaching (DI), and 114 of individual study. The course will be held in “blended” modality. This means that every week the student will study a number of online video-pills, and in-presence activity will be limited to 2 hours (or 4, according to the student’s choice) during which the topics emerging from the video-pills and from the exercises done with the JASP software will be discussed. In those same hours, the teacher will answer the questions that the students will have formulated, and voted, during the week (“Hot Questions”), and will test the learning level by means of Wooclap. PRACTICAL DETAILS ABOUT MODALITY, SCHEDULES, ETC. FOR THESE ACTIVITIES WILL BE NOTIFIED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE COURSE
Assessment Methods
Exams will be held via computer, and will consist of 28 multiple-choice questions delivered with a 45-min time limit. Each question has 5 alternative choices (1 point is granted to a correct response, 0.5 to one of the alternatives, 0 points to the others); the exam is passed with 18 points. Exercises provided as extra activities during the course will have exactly the same format, and will thus be excellent training for the exam itself. Participation to DI extra-activities (JASP exercises, Hot Questions, Wooclap, etc.) can lead to bonuses in the final grade – precise numbers will be given during the course.
While students are formally free to reject a positive grade (18/30 or higher), the general advice is not to do so more than once.
While students are formally free to reject a positive grade (18/30 or higher), the general advice is not to do so more than once.
Texts
Lecture slides, video-pills.
More info will be provided in due course.
More info will be provided in due course.
Contents
Logic of scientific discovery, scientific reasoning basics. Statistical inference, parameter
estimation.
Recapitulation of simple statistical models (t-test, one- and two-way
ANOVA)
Models of simple and multiple linear regression, assumptions and
application contexts.
Regression models including random factors (multilevel models).
Comparison between frequentist and Bayesian analysis methods.
All analysis methods will be presented in practical/applicational form, by
means of dedicated software (more detail in due course).
The topics included in the Course on Statistical Methods will be tackled taking into account the ethical-deontological principles that are specific of the subject. These aspects, which are often neglected despite their relevance, are critical for the activity of the researcher, and more generally of the psychologist, who will often need to manage, analyse, or interpret statistical results. The “replicability crisis” – the fact that about 2/3 of the published results in scientific journals cannot be replicated – demands care and a critical attitude in order to interpret, report, and produce scientific psychological results correctly. This course aims at making the student able to form adequate critical skills to tackle such issues.
[BEWARE NOT TO CONFUSE THIS COURSE, HELD SINCE 2024-25, with the "old", homonymous course, held until 2023-22. Programs and exams differ]
estimation.
Recapitulation of simple statistical models (t-test, one- and two-way
ANOVA)
Models of simple and multiple linear regression, assumptions and
application contexts.
Regression models including random factors (multilevel models).
Comparison between frequentist and Bayesian analysis methods.
All analysis methods will be presented in practical/applicational form, by
means of dedicated software (more detail in due course).
The topics included in the Course on Statistical Methods will be tackled taking into account the ethical-deontological principles that are specific of the subject. These aspects, which are often neglected despite their relevance, are critical for the activity of the researcher, and more generally of the psychologist, who will often need to manage, analyse, or interpret statistical results. The “replicability crisis” – the fact that about 2/3 of the published results in scientific journals cannot be replicated – demands care and a critical attitude in order to interpret, report, and produce scientific psychological results correctly. This course aims at making the student able to form adequate critical skills to tackle such issues.
[BEWARE NOT TO CONFUSE THIS COURSE, HELD SINCE 2024-25, with the "old", homonymous course, held until 2023-22. Programs and exams differ]
Course Language
Italian
More information
Consistently with the University policy on Innovative Didactics, favouring inclusion, the teacher guarantees up to 2 office hours a week for students, to be agreed upon with the teacher himself.
Degrees
Degrees
PSYCHOLOGY
Master’s Degree
2 years
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