Bryan K. Saville et al.
158
as a question we have about psychology, then knowing that we have a particular strategy
we need to adopt to answer that question becomes more valuable and worthwhile to learn.
Although the progression of teaching many of our statistical concepts makes sense to us as
instructors (e.g., moving from one-sample t tests to dependent- and independent-samples
t tests), we always need to keep in mind what it is like to be a student, especially if we want
them to think deeply and critically about what we are teaching.
Conclusion
Statistics and research methods are arguably two of the most important—if not the most
important—courses in traditional psychology curricula, simply because they serve as the
cornerstone on which students subsequently build knowledge of other psychological phe-
nomena. In addition, statistics and research methods are ideal courses in which instructors
can begin to teach their students how to think critically about information they encounter
both in and out of the classroom. In fact, Barron and Halonen (2005) found that
psychology majors reported engaging in critical thinking more in their statistics and
research methods courses than they did in their other psychology courses. However,
because of the nature of these courses, instructors will likely encounter several barriers that
may preclude them, at least initially, from teaching their students important critical think-
ing skills. Thus instructors should not attempt to teach these skills until they have addressed
the barriers that may interfere with their ability to do so effectively. We hope that some of
the ideas contained in the present chapter will help statistics and research methods instruc-
tors to sidestep some of the roadblocks they may encounter on their way to teaching their
students to think critically. In time, your students will not only become better at thinking
critically about the information they encounter in their psychology courses, but maybe
even more importantly, they will become better at thinking critically about the information
they encounter as they step outside the hallowed halls of academia.
References
American Psychological Association, Task Force on Psychology Major Competencies. (2007). APA
guidelines for the undergraduate psychology major. Washington, DC: Author.
Appleby, D. C. (2005). Defining, teaching, and assessing critical thinking in introductory psychol-
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(pp. 57–69). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Barron, K. E., Benedict, J. O., Saville, B. K., Serdikoff, S. L., & Zinn, T. E. (2007). Innovative
approaches to teaching statistics and research methods: Just-in-Time Teaching, Interteaching,
and Learning Communities. In D. S. Dunn, R. A. Smith, & B. C. Beins (Eds.), Best practices
for teaching statistics and research methods in the behavioral sciences (pp. 143–158). Mahwah,
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Barron, K. E., & Halonen, J. (2005, September). Programmatic assessment of critical thinking. Paper
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