• to learn the basic concepts of the experimental psychology;
• obtain clear understanding on the overall process of experimental studies in psychology;
• to understand both differences in research approaches as well as the criteria concerning the choice of the corresponding research approach;
• to understand and apply deonthology professional requirements while practicing investigations with human participants.

• master practical knowledge upon the basic concepts of experimental psychology;
• plan and carry out individual experimental investigations;
• analyse and comment upon publications of investigations.

• lectures on the key problems;
• discussions on reading and preparing materials (research examples);
• home work on the experimental planning.

Ethical Principles in the conduct of research with human partitipants, Washington.

Bulgarian Psychological Society (1992),

Ethical principles, Bulgarian Jurnal of Psychology, 2.

Bowlby J. (1969),

Attachment and loss, Vol.1. Attachment, NY, Basic Books.

Campbell, D. T. ( 1957),

Factors relevant to the validity of experiments in social settings, Psychological Bulletin, 54, 297-312.

Campbell, D. T., Stanley, J.C. (1963),

Experimental and Quasiexperimental designs for research, Chicago: Rand McNally.

Cook T.D., Campbel D.T. (1979),

Quasi-Experimentation. Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings, Rand McNally College Publishing Company, Chicago.

Coombs C.H., Dawes R.M., Tverski A,

Psychologie mathématique, P.U.F., 1975.

Edwards A. (1985),

Experimental Design in psychological research, Harper & Row, Publishers, NY.

Glass G.V., Stanley J.C. (1970),

Statistical Methods in Education and Psychology, Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, NJ (in russian Progress, Moskva, 1976).

Grawitz M. ( 1993),

Méthodes des sciences sociales, Précis Dalloz.

Gottsdanker R. (1982),

Experimenting in Psychology, Prentice-Hall, NJ..

Guy R., Edgley Ch., Arafat I., Allen D. (1987),

Social Research Methods. Puzzles and Solutions, Allin & Bacon, Inc.

Guerganov E.,

Memory and sense, Nouka I iskustvo, 1986.

Kantowitz, B.H., Roediger H.L., Elmes D.G. (1988),

Experimental Psychology. Understanding Psychological Research.

Kerlinger, F.N. (1973),

Foundations of Behavioral Research, (2 th ed.), NY: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.

Lassen, C.L. (1973),

Effect of proximity on anxiety and communication in the initial psychiatric interviez, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 81, 226-232.

Leary M. (1991),

Introduction to Behavioral Research Methods, Wadsworth Publishing Company, California.

McGuigan, F.J. (1983),

Experimental Psychology, (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Mednick, S.A. (1969),

A longitudinal study of children with a high risk f or schizophrenia, In M.Zax and G.Stricker (Eds.) The study of abnormal behavior. London, Macmillan.

Robinson, P.W. (1976),

Fundamentals of Experimental Psychology, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Rosenthal R. (1976),

Experimenter effects in behavioral research, (2th ed.), NY., Halsted.

Rosenthal R., Rosnow R. (Eds.) (1969),

Artifact in behavioral research, NY: Academic Press.

Schahter, S. (1959),

The psychology of affiliation, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Stoneman, Z. & Brody , G.H. (1983),

Immediate and long-term recognition and generalization of advertized products as a function of age, Developmental Psychology, 19 (1), 56-61.

Zajonc, R.B., Heingartner A., Herman E.M. (1969),

Social enhancement and impairement of performance in the cockroach, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 13, 83-92.

• basic concepts of the experimental psychology;
• nonexperimental approaches and psychological experiment;
• experimental designs - basic models;
• controlling extraneous variables;
• researche report;
• research ethics.

• McGuigan, F.J. (1983). Experimental Psychology (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, ch.1, 2
• Kantowitz, B.H., Roediger H.L., Elmes D.G. (1988) Experimental Psychology. Understanding Psychological Research, ch.1 Robinson, P.W. (1976). Fundamentals of Experimental Psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall., ch. 1

Additional reading:

• Grawitz M. ( 1993) Méthodes des sciences sociales, Précis Dalloz, livre 2, ch.2

Topic 2: Methods Of Data Collection. Threshold measurement. Scaling techniques. Interviews. Psychological tests. Application of data-collection methods.
Required reading:

• Kantowitz, B.H., Roediger H.L., Elmes D.G. (1988) Experimental Psychology. Understanding Psychological Research, ch.2,
• Grawitz M. ( 1993) Méthodes des sciences sociales, Précis Dalloz, livre 2, ch.1, 2,3
• Robinson, P.W. (1976). Fundamentals of Experimental Psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall., ch.6

Additional reading:

• Sundberg N. (1977). Assessment of persons. The Prentice-Hall Series in Personnality

Topic 3: Nonexperimental Approaches - Alternatives To Experimentation. Quasi-experimental designs. Correlational studies. Case studies. Field studies. Advantages and disadvantages of Nonexperimental designs.
Required reading:

• Robinson, P.W. (1976). Fundamentals of Experimental Psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall., ch.3, 7
• McGuigan, F.J. (1983). Experimental Psychology (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, ch.12
• Gottsdanker R. (1982) Experimenting in Psychology, Prentice-Hall, NJ., ch.9
• Kantowitz, B.H., Roediger H.L., Elmes D.G. (1988) Experimental Psychology. Understanding Psychological Research, ch.2
• Grawitz M. ( 1993) Méthodes des sciences sociales, Précis Dalloz, livre 3, ch.1-3

Additional reading:

• Mednick, S.A. (1969). A longitudinal study of children with a high risk for schizophrenia. In M.Zax and G.Stricker (Eds.) The study of abnormal behavior. London, Macmillan.

Topic 4: Formulating The Hypothesis. The characteristics of an experimental hypothesis - synthetic statements, testable statements, parsimonious statements etc.The inductive model. The deductive model. Combining iduction and deduction. Building on prior research. Serendipity and the windfall hypothesis. Intuition.
Required reading:

• McGuigan, F.J. (1983). Experimental Psychology (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, ch.3
• Gottsdanker R. (1982) Experimenting in Psychology, Prentice-Hall, NJ., ch.5

Additional reading:

• Bowlby J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol.1. Attachment, NY, Basic Books

Topic 5: The Basics Of Experimentation. Independent and dependent variables. Some research examples. Independent variable, environmental variables, task variables, subject variables. Dependent variables. Identifying variables. Operational definitions. Defining the independent variable: experimental operational definitions. Defining the dependent variable: measured operational definitions. Defining construct operationally. Hypothetical constructs. Defining nonconstruct variables. Defining scales of measurement, level of measurement. Ratio scale, interval scale, ordinal scale, nominal scale. Evaluating operational definitions: validity and reliability. Evaluating the experiment: internal validity, external validity. Control groups. Experimental condition, experimental group. Control condition, control group. Experiment without troue control groups. Extraneous variables and confounding. Selecting subjects.
Required reading:

• Robinson, P.W. (1976). Fundamentals of Experimental Psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall., ch. 8,
• Gottsdanker R. (1982) Experimenting in Psychology, Prentice-Hall, NJ., ch.2, 8
• McGuigan, F.J. (1983). Experimental Psychology (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, ch.4,7
• Kantowitz, B.H., Roediger H.L., Elmes D.G. (1988) Experimental Psychology. Understanding Psychological Research, ch.3
• Campbell, D. T., Stanley, J.C. (1963). Experimental and Quasiexperimental designs for research. Chicago: Rand McNally
• Campbell, D. T. ( 1957). Factors relevant to the validity of experiments in social settings. Psychological Bulletin, 54, 297-312

Additional reading:

• Schahter, S. (1959). The psychology of affiliation, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
• Zajonc, R.B., Heingartner A., Herman E.M. (1969). Social enhancement and impairement of performance in the cockroach.
• Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 13, 83-92.

Topic 6: Experimental Designs. Two-Group Designs. What are experimental designs? Types of experimental designs. One independent variable. Logical analysis of two-group designs. Types of two-group designs. Two independent groups designs. Random assignement. Forming independent groups. Block randomization. When to use a two independent groups design. Two matched groups design. Matching before and after an experiment. Precision matching, range matching. When to use two matched groups. Advantages and disadvantages of two-group designes.
Required reading:

• McGuigan, F.J. (1983). Experimental Psychology (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall,ch.5,8
• Robinson, P.W. (1976). Fundamentals of Experimental Psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall., ch.9

Additional reading:

• Zajonc, R.B., Heingartner A., Herman E.M. (1969). Social enhancement and impairement of performance in the cockroach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 13, 83-92.

Topic 7: Analising Results: Two Group Examples. Organising data. Summarising data: using descriptive statistics - raw data, summary data, descriptive statistics. Measures of central tendency. Measures of variability. Which test do I use? Levels of measurement. Selecting a test for a two-group experiment.The t-test. Effects of sample size. Degrees of freedom. The critical value of t. Using the t-test. The t-test for independent groups. The t-test for matched groups. Using the SPSS.
Required reading:

• Glass G.V., Stanley J.C. (1970). Statistical Methods in Education and Psychology, Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, NJ (in russian Progress, Moskva, 1976).
• Kantowitz, B.H., Roediger H.L., Elmes D.G. (1988) Experimental Psychology. Understanding Psychological Research, Appendix B.

Topic 8: Experimental Designs. Within-Subjects Designs. Advantages and disadvantages of within-subjects designs: practical limitations. Inference between conditions. Origin of Small N designes. Logical analysis of Small N designs. ABA Small N designs. Other types of Small N designs. Comparison of Small N designs - Large N designs. Small N designs in the applied setting.
Required reading:

• Robinson, P.W. (1976). Fundamentals of Experimental Psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall., ch.12
• McGuigan, F.J. (1983). Experimental Psychology (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, ch.11

Additional reading:

• Pedalino, E. & Gamboa, V. (1974). Behavior modification and absenteeism: Intervention in one industrial setting. Journal of Applied Psychology, 59, 694-698

Topic 9: Experimental Designs. Multiple-Group Designs With One Independent Variable. Multiple-group design. Multiple independent groups design. Choosing treatments. Logical analysis of one-way ANOVAR designs using an F test. Types of ANOVAR designs. Advantages and disadvantages of one-way ANOVAR designes.
Required reading:

• Robinson, P.W. (1976). Fundamentals of Experimental Psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall., ch.10

Additional reading:

• Lassen, C.L. (1973). Effect of proximity on anxiety and communication in the initial psychiatric interviez. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 81, 226-232

Topic 10: Experimental Designs. Factorial Designes - More Than One Independent Variable.Types of factorial designs. Statistical analysis of factorial designs. The choice of a correct error term. Main effects and interactions. The importance of interactions. Advantages and disadvantages of factorial designs.
Required reading:

• McGuigan, F.J. (1983). Experimental Psychology (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, ch.10
• Robinson, P.W. (1976). Fundamentals of Experimental Psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall., ch.11 Gottsdanker R. (1982) Experimenting in Psychology, Prentice-Hall, NJ., ch.8

Additional reading:

• Stoneman, Z. & Brody , G.H. (1983). Immediate and long-term recognition and generalization of advertized products as a function of age. Developmental Psychology, 19 (1), 56-61
• Guerganov E.(1986). Memory and sense, Nouka I Iskustvo.

Topic 11: Analising Results: Multiple-Group And Factorial Experiments. Analysis of variance. Within-groups variability. Between-group variability. Sourses of variability. Error. F ratio. A one-way analysis of variance. Within-groups variance. Sum of squares (SS). Mean square (MS). Between-groups variance. Grand mean. Computing and evaluating the f-ratio. Preparing a summary table. Graphing the results. Interpreting the results. Analyzing data from a factorial experiment. A two-way analysis of variance. Evaluating the ratios.
Required reading:

• Glass G.V., Stanley J.C. (1970). Statistical Methods in Education and Psychology, Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, NJ (in russian Progress, Moskva, 1976).
• Guerganov E.(1986). Memory and sense, Nouka I Iskustvo.

Topic 12: Controlling Extraneous Variables. Physical variables. Elimination. Constancy of conditions. Balancing. Personality variables. Response style: willingness to answer, position preference, yea-saying and nay-saying. Guarding against response style. Response set. Social variables. Demand characteristics. Controlling demand characteristics: single blind experiment, placebo effect. Experimenter bias - Rosental effect. Controlling experimenter bias: double blind experiments.
Required reading:

• McGuigan, F.J. (1983). Experimental Psychology (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, ch.6

Additional reading:

• Rosenthal R. (1976). Experimenter effects in behavioral research (2th ed.), NY., Halsted
• Rosenthal R., Rosnow R. (Eds.) (1969) Artifact in behavioral research, NY: Academic Press

Topic 13: Controlling Within-Subjects Deesigns. Controlling for order effects, practice effects, progressive error: counterbalancing. Subjeect-by-subject counterbalancing. Across-subjects counterbalancing: complete, partial, randomized. Carryover effects. Choosing among counterbalancing procedures.
Required reading:

• Rosenthal R. (1976). Experimenter effects in behavioral research (2th ed.), NY., Halsted
• Rosenthal R., Rosnow R. (Eds.) (1969) Artifact in behavioral research, NY: Academic Press

Topic 14: The Logical Bases Of Experimental Inferences. Inferences from the evideence report to the hypothesis.Generalization. Explanation. Prediction in experimentation.
Required reading:

• McGuigan, F.J. (1983). Experimental Psychology (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, ch.13,15

Topic 15: Writting The Research Report. The written report: purpose and format. Major sections. Looking at a journal article. Preparing your manuscript: procedural details. Making revisions.
Required reading:

• Kantowitz, B.H., Roediger H.L., Elmes D.G. (1988) Experimental Psychology. Understanding Psychological Research, ch.4

Topic 16: Research Ethics. Research ethics. Informed consent. The Bulgarian Psychological Association Guidelines. Deception and full disclosure. Debriefing. Anonymity and confidentiality. Protecting the welfare of animals subjects. Plagiarism.
Required reading:

• McGuigan, F.J. (1983). Experimental Psychology (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, ch.16
• American Psychological Association. (1982). Ethical Principles in the conduct of research with human partitipants. Washington
• Bulgarian Psychological Society (1992) Ethical principles. Bulgarian Jurnal of Psychology, 2 Additional reading:
• Schahter, S. (1959). The psychology of affiliation, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

• Multiple choice test;
• Task for experimental research planning;

Grading procedure:

• test - 50%;
• task - 50%.