Section 5 PSYC 210: Statistical Principles of Psychological Research

Essential Question: What are some essential DEI topics I can teach in PSYC 210?

Abstract: Many of the founders of statistics and psychometrics were not only white men but also blatant supporters of the eugenics movement. Today, the field of quantitative psychology and methods still struggles to incorporate diversity broadly. It is important to teach students about the contextual impact of white supremacy on statistics and psychometrics, while also highlighting the work of diverse scholars when teaching a statistics and/or methods course.

Class Topics and Learning Objectives

• Topic: History of Statistics and Psychometrics and Future Directions
  • Objective: The purpose of this slide deck is to recap on how the Eugenics movement shaped much of early statistics. Further, this slide deck also discusses some possible ways the field can move forward given this dark history, with a specific emphasis on recruitment and retention of historically excluded scientists.
  • Slide Deck: Here.
  • Resources
    • Clayton, A. (2020, October 28). How Eugenics Shaped Statistics. Nautilus. http://nautil.us/issue/92/frontiers/how-eugenics-shaped-statistics

• Topic: T-tests
  • Objective: The purpose of this slide deck is to demonstrate how to incorporate the work of diverse scholars into PSYC 210 topics. The beginning of this slide deck provides a general introduction to t-tests, but in the final subsection titled “T-tests in research” we highlight the work of Dr. Shauna Cooper in demonstrating ways t-tests are used to real application. This particular example uses t-tests descriptively, allowing students to critically think through limitations of this particular test, moving us to more complicated methods such as multiple regression and ANOVA.
  • Slide Deck: Here.
  • Resources To find examples of statistical test in published research that highlights BIPOC scholars, refer to this list.

• Topic: Regression and Correlation
  • Objective: Regression and correlation are topics that have particularly nefarious beginnings with the eugenics research by Sir Francis Galton and Karl Pearson. The slide deck covers regression and correlation, more generally. Slide 32 can be used to introduce and discuss ethical issues with correlation and regression.
  • Slide Deck: Here.
  • Resources
    • Stanton, J. M. (2001). Galton, Pearson, and the Peas: A Brief History of Linear Regression for Statistics Instructors. Journal of Statistics Education, 9(3).
    • Cleather, D. (2020, March 12). Is Statistics Racist? Medium. https://medium.com/swlh/is-statistics-racist-59cd4ddb5fa9
    • Cain, C. (n.d.). Karl Pearson praised Hitler and Nazi Race Hygiene. https://profjoecain.net/karl-pearson-praised-hitler-nazi-race-hygiene/

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Teaching by UNC Psychology & Neuroscience DEI Education Subcommittee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.