• Academics
• Undergraduate Program
• Graduate Programs
• Ph.D. Programs
• Certificate Programs
  • Quantitative Research Methods
  • Health Psychology
  • Occupational Health Psychology
• Grad Student Resources Class Schedules

Quantitative Research Methods Certificate

Program Faculty:

• James A. Dixon  (PAC, Psychology)
• Till Frank   ({PAC, Psychology)
• James A. Green   (Developmental, Psychology)
• Blair T. Johnson   (Social, Psychology)
• David A. Kenny   (Social, Psychology)
• Vicki J. Magley   (I/O, Psychology)
• Betsy McCoach (Educational Psychology)
• Stephanie Milan  (Clinical, Psychology)
• Felicia Pratto   (Social, Psychology)
• David Weakliem  (Sociology)

• James A. Dixon
• James A. Green
• David A. Kenny
• Vicki Magley
• Stephanie Milan

QRM admissions procedures

Program Description

The program in Quantitative Research Methods is a graduate certificate program administered by faculty in the Departments of Psychology, Sociology, and Educational Psychology but drawing students from many other departments and schools.  The general structure and policies of this program follow the guidelines for graduate certificate programs specified in the University of Connecticut Graduate Catalogue. Enrollment in the program is open to graduate students in any of the six graduate programs in Psychology, and to graduate students from other Departments outside Psychology. The program's mission is to provide students with a thorough background in quantitative research methods in the psychological sciences that extends the basic research methods training required by their respective graduate programs. Participants who enroll in and successfully complete the program will receive a certificate in Quantitative Research Methods from the Graduate school of the University of Connecticut.

Program Requirements

The program requirements are as follows:

1. Prerequisite courses. Prerequisites for participation in the program are STAT 3115Q and STAT 5105, or equivalent courses. Students who wish to substitute equivalent coursework for STAT 3115Q and/or 5105 need to submit a petition to the Executive Committee of the program (see above). The petition should include a syllabus of the equivalent course and other documentation if available (e.g., exam examples), to support the petition and facilitate the decision making by the Committee.
2. Credits. Participants in the program complete 12 credits of graduate coursework in quantitative methods.  Nine credits are selected from a list of program courses (Table 1) and 3 credits are obtained by completing Psyc 6136 (see below). Students who wish to petition for a course that is not listed may do so by submitting a petition with sufficient documentation of the content of the course to the Executive Committee (syllabus, exam examples).  Such courses can not be from other institutions, and there will be no substitutions for Psyc 6136.
3. Research paper. Participants in the program must complete one semester of PSYC 6136 (“Quantitative Research Methods Seminar").   This required course will be offered in the Spring of 2010, and thereafter in the Spring of even-numbered years.  Members of the program Executive Committee will teach this course on a rotating basis. This is a practicum seminar in which students will work on specific problems of data analysis, simulation, or statistical theory or methods. In this seminar, students will also work on the research paper required by this certificate program; students will present their quantitative project to the group, and students and faculty will bring in relevant literature, examples, or other expertise relevant to the projects. Projects can consist of creative or innovative secondary statistical analyses of existing data, simulations, or pure statistical papers.  The project should involve more than the application of a statistical technique that has been learned in the student’s coursework.  Rather, the project should involve a novel technique or application of existing method in novel ways.  Any topic with a significant quantitative or research methods component that is in principle suitable for a statistical or quantitative journal is acceptable as a class project. (There is no room for original data collection in this class.) The end product of the seminar will be a paper reporting the project and formatted in APA, or other professional, style.  (The manuscript should be in a form that is, in principle, ready for submission to a quantitative journal.)  The manuscript will be approved by the class instructor.  Two additional readers are selected for final approval of the paper as fulfilling the requirements of the certificate; these readers may be other Program faculty (see listing on the Psychology Department Web site) or other members of the graduate faculty with expertise in the topic. 
4. Plan of study. Students interested in the program should design an individualized plan of study, in consultation with their major advisor, which serves their research needs, interests, and career goals. Students may also wish to consult with one or more members of the Executive Committee of the program (listed on the Psychology Department’s web site) about the courses they plan to take and their expected date of completion of Psyc 6136.  Students should enroll officially by completing appropriate forms at the Graduate School.  A final plan of study, along with an approved Research Paper should be submitted to the Coordinator of the QRM Program prior to graduation.  
5. Students interested in the QRM Certificate Program should contact Debbie Vardon, Room 100B Bousfield, to ensure that appropriate forms and records are initiated early in the graduate career.  Program participants must plan to take Psyc 6136 and complete their research papers in one of the spring semesters after most of their other coursework is completed.  The seminar will only be offered in the Spring of even-numbered years commencing in 2010.

The QRM Plan of Study can be downloaded here.

Table 1 Qualifying Courses (2008 course numbers in parentheses, where known)

Note. Please also check graduate catalog, department websites, and instructors for course availability. Not all courses are available in each academic year.