Major Progress: Analysis of PSYC 150: Orientation to the Psychology Major
Presenter(s)
Mykala Espinola Guzman, Sophia Moliere, Madison Wetherell
Abstract or Description
PSYC 150: Orientation to the Psychology Major is a required course for all psychology majors at BSU that introduces students to the psychology department and the field of psychology. Topics covered include required courses for the psychology major, career and continuing education options, and opportunities for students while completing their degree such as research involvement and internships. Students taking PSYC 150 complete a survey before and after taking the course that assesses the effectiveness of the course along with collecting information on demographic characteristics, career, and continuing education plans, and perceptions of the psychology major. The PSYC 150 survey coding lab has been working to code open responses and analyze the data collected from these surveys during previous semesters. These findings are useful in understanding more about students majoring in psychology at BSU and the effectiveness of the PSYC 150 course in preparing students for entry into this field.
Mentor
Ashley Hansen-Brown
Comments
Laura Ramsey2 years ago
As a PSYC 150 instructor, I'm happy to see increases between pretest and posttest on these questions, though I wish the posttest means were higher! My question is about the survey questions that were used. You mentioned that they were open-ended, but the results seemed focused on Likert-type questions. Were there other open-ended questions? If so, what were they, and what did you learn from those responses?
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Madison Wetherell2 years ago
Hi Dr. Ramsey,<br />There were a variety of both open-ended and Likert-type questions in the PSYC 150 survey. Some of the open-ended questions included questions about required courses for the psychology major, careers options with a bachelor's in psychology, and what kinds of things can help one to obtain a job or get accepted into graduate school. While we did get some great responses on these questions, none of them were significantly different after taking the course which is why they weren't included in our results.
Mary Ellis2 years ago
I have some of the same questions as Dr. Ramsey does. I was surprised that that post test means were not as high as I would have expected. Will these results be shared with instructors who teach the PSYC150? I would have followed up (perhaps a future survey) and ask students what their expectations of this course are, given the results here.
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Madison Wetherell2 years ago
Hello,<br />We were also hoping for higher post test means! Our mentors for this project, Dr. Ashley Hansen-Brown and Fran Barth, teach the PSYC 150 course and I believe having these results will help with improving both the course and survey in the future!
Max Nixon2 years ago
I am taking this BSU class and coming up on the last week. Do you feel this data states that as time goes on and perhaps even with the collaboration of this data, PSYC 150 will be even more informative to the route of a psych major in the future?
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