Experimental Design and Methods for Behavioural Science ECON5144

  • Academic Session: 2024-25
  • School: Adam Smith Business School
  • Credits: 10
  • Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
  • Typically Offered: Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: No
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No

Short Description

The course covers concepts, methods and principles for learning how to design and implement experimental projects either in a real word setting or in laboratories. Additionally, the course will focus on experimental good practices, ethical concerns, transparency and reproducibility of experimental research.

Timetable

Lectures (4x2 hours) in 4 consecutive weeks. These are interactive lectures that include asynchronous quizzes to help students with their preparation.

Workshops (1x2 hours) and 3x1 hour).

Tutorials (2x1 hour).

On campus.

Requirements of Entry

Students must be registered on one of the associated programmes listed in this course specification.

Excluded Courses

None.

Co-requisites

None.

Assessment

ILOs

Assessment

Weighting

Word length/Duration

3,4

Report

30%

800 words 

Main Assessment In: April/May

Course Aims

The course aims to:

- introduce the main concepts and techniques for conducting various types of experiments on human behaviour, from the experimental design up to its implementation.

- present students with the following topics: elements of an experiment, types of research design, causality, differences between online, lab and field experiments, pre-analysis, power analysis, pre-registration, ethical approval form, reproducibility, and transparency.

- provide students with the theoretical toolbox to allow them to develop their experimental studies in their academic and non-academic futures.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Compare and analyse the different types of experimental research design.

2. Develop and convert an idea into research questions and formulated hypotheses.

3. Demonstrate the ability to apply for a justifiable ethical approval of an experiment. 

4. Compose experiment pre-registration form

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.