Peer Review

Online Psychology Laboratory

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Reviewed:: Jan 20, 2015 by Psychology

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Ratings

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Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

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Overview:: The Online Psychology Laboratory (OPL) is a peer-reviewed collection of resources for teaching the principles of psychological research. The site allows students to participate in research studies, thus exposing them to different levels of variables, data collection in general, as well as some of the additional information collected in experiments (such as demographics). OPL provides a unique active-learning approach for introducing learners to the tenets of psychological research, and it can be used with high school students or undergraduate students. Of particular note: "OPL represents the first National Science Foundation funded entry for psychology in the National Science Digital Library. The APA Education Directorate also provides support for this project."(Retrieved from http://opl.apa.org/About.aspx).
Type of Material:: This resource is a collection of data sets, tutorial videos, tutorial documents, interactive tools, presentation slides, and data collection tools.
Recommended Uses:: OPL is appropriate for in-class demonstrations and in-class/out-of-class projects: a) Students interested in research can participate in studies; b)faculty can assign students to participate in different studies; c) data can be downloaded from a faculty member’s own class for statistical analysis and interpretation.
Technical Requirements:: • One peer reviewer reported using OPL for a class assignment. Firefox, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer all were used with no problems. • Adobe Flash Player and Java also are required.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: • Students will learn how to conduct psychological research • Students will achieve a greater appreciation for the science of psychology.
Target Student Population:: • The site could be used with high school students or undergraduate students who are learning about psychological research. College students would benefit from this site the most given the opportunities for data analysis, but high school students studying psychology would also benefit from the exposure to experimentation.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: • Overall, it would be helpful for students to have some introduction to the objectives and methods of psychological research; basic familiarity with some psychological topics would likely be helpful. • However, prerequisites are not strictly indicated as each study provides the basic information needed to complete it. The results are presented with a basic explanation. A deeper explanation along with an understanding of the analyses would require additional support from an instructor.

Content Quality

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Strengths:: • OPL is an excellent source of material on various topics in psychological research. • It demonstrates methods of analysis and applications of research methodologies, and students will benefit from the exposure to different types of experiments. • Certain areas such as memory, social, as well as sensation and perception are well covered.
Concerns:: • Material descriptions are not always clear, and some of the materials appear to no longer function (perhaps outdated links). • It would be helpful to have links to further reading on specific topics. • It would be an even stronger site were more areas covered.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

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Strengths:: • The site provides various activities to help students learn about and apply concepts. • Students can complete studies on their own time and download data that allows practice with statistical analyses using real data sets. • An instructor can locate specific topics and produce assignments that use the materials.
Concerns:: • Constructing lessons using the materials will require some consideration. Students will need additional instruction in order to use the data sets, and an instructor-provided sequence of steps will help facilitate learning with these materials. • Specific learning objectives are not always provided, and it is not always clear what knowledge (if any) the student requires prior to viewing some of the materials. • Materials are not currently presented/sequenced to facilitate building of knowledge (i.e., this is a collection of materials).

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

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Strengths:: • The included studies are well-organized and easy to complete.
Concerns:: • The site incorporates a Help link with technical FAQs and links for plug-ins. However, some possible technological problems may emerge in using the site (e.g., out of date software).

Other Issues and Comments:: • OPL offers an excellent active learning opportunity. • Some schools may be concerned that there is no IRB approval needed at the individual school level; however, this should not be a concern since no one is able to be identified through the website. The Privacy Policy can be accessed from all pages in the OPL website.
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