PSY 350 (Psychology Research and Data Applications) - Frequently Asked Questions for PSY and BNS Majors
What change is happening?
A new course is being added to the curricula for both Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience majors. This course is designed to enhance students' ability to organize, summarize, analyze, and visualize data. Students will engage in various hands-on activities that will allow them to develop their ability to apply information to solve important problems. In addition, students will learn how to effectively communicate quantitative findings both visually and in writing.
This course will be added to the major's requirements resulting in a 3 credit hour increase (new hours for the major = 39).
This course will be taken instead of Advanced Research in Psychology (PSY 400). The number of credits required of this major will remain the same (the total remains 50 to 57 credit hours).
Why is this change happening?
Developing quantitative skills is best done within a specific domain of interest (like psychology and neuroscience) so that examples can be made relevant and understandable for students. PSY 350 will allow students to practice important quantitative skills within the field of psychology.
Who does this change affect?
All Psychology and BNS majors entering GVSU in the Fall of 2022 and thereafter must take the new course. Current PSY and BNS majors should see below for recommendations.
Psychology majors who entered GVSU prior to Fall 2022 may opt to take PSY 350 as an elective course, but completing it is not required for graduation. PSY 400 continues to be a required course. PSY 350 provides a solid foundation for PSY 400 and is a recommended elective for students who expect to work with data after graduation (e.g., in business, in non-profit settings, or in further graduate study).
BNS majors who entered GVSU prior to Fall 2022 may take either PSY 350 or PSY 400 to satisfy their advanced research graduation requirement. We recommend that BNS majors take PSY 350 instead of PSY 400, because PSY 350 will serve BNS students better in their future careers and education. Given the emphasis placed upon independent research projects in PSY 400, BNS students aiming to complete graduate study in areas related to psychology should consider taking PSY 400 as an additional course.
Students should first take STA 215 (Introductory Applied Statistics) and WRT 150 (Strategies in Writing). Students can then take PSY 300 (Research Methods in Psychology) and PSY 350 (Psychology Research and Data Applications), either sequentially (PSY 300 then PSY 350) or concurrently (both in the same semester). PSY majors must finally take PSY 400 (Advanced Research in Psychology); PSY 400 is optional for BNS majors.