La innovación educativa desde la metodología: Mejora de las actitudes y competencias científicas de los alumnos (Educational innovation in research methodology: Improving students' scientific skills and attitudes)

A programme of educational innovation was implemented to improve the attitude toward research methods for psychology students. Students used real data to test their own hypotheses using different statistical methods. Specifically, they implemented two key methodological principles in research methods: sample size and ordinal claims (Frick, 1996). Students had to work in teams, using Internet data bases for developing the theoretical background of the study, the definition of the objectives, the definition of variables, data analysis, and discussion of results. We assessed the attitudes towards research methods before and after the study. Results showed that: 1) the students improved their skills in research methods, and 2) the attitudes towards methodology were more positive.