Entry requirements
Open to Master’s and Research Master’s students from Psychology.
Course Multivariate Data Analysis at introductory level.
Description
Many psychologists study relationships between constructs. In mediation and moderation analysis, we examine how these relationships occur, and when they occur. For example, the relationship between stress and depression might be moderated by the degree of social support. Topics addressed in this course are mediation and moderation analysis with a continuous and a categorical variable, mediation in longitudinal research, moderator effects between multiple variables, and treatment-subgroup interactions. Both confirmatory as well as exploratory approaches are captured. The emphasis lies on conceptual knowledge and practical skills.
Course objectives
The general goal of this course is to develop insight in the possibilities of mediation and moderation analysis.
After this course the students will be able to:
explain the concepts of mediation, moderation, and moderated mediation, and related issues (e.g., mean centering, causal steps approach);
choose the appropriate analysis for different research questions involving mediation and/or moderation;
perform mediation, moderation, and moderated mediation analysis in SPSS with categorical and/or continuous variables, and
interpret the results of such mediation, moderation, and moderated mediation analyses.
Timetable
For the timetable of this course please refer to MyTimetable
Registration
Education
Students must register themselves for all course components (lectures, tutorials and practicals) they wish to follow. You can register up to 5 days prior to the start of the course.
Exams
It is mandatory for all students to register for each exam and to confirm registration for each exam in My Studymap. This is possible up to and including 10 calendar days prior to the examination. You cannot take an exam without a valid pre-registration and confirmation in My Studymap. Carefully read all information about the procedures and deadlines for registering for courses and exams.
Exchange students and external guest students will be informed by the education administration about the current registration procedure.
Mode of instruction
Seven 2-hours (web-)lectures and seven 2-hours work group sessions (of which three are computer practicals). Attendance to the work group sessions is mandatory.
Assessment method
Two take-home assignments;
Final written exam including interpretation of practical examples.
Mandatory literature for the exam: Book by Hayes (see below), a few additional articles, lecture slides, and solutions to the exercises.
The final grade will be a weighted average of the exam grade (0.70) and the take-home assignments (0.15 each). The exam grade should be 5.0 or higher.
Reading list
Hayes, A. F. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (2nd Ed.). New York: The Guilford Press.
Articles on Brightspace.
Contact information
Dr. P. de Heus deheus1@fsw.leidenuniv.nl