Abstract:

The "Psychometric Bootcamp" project consists of a program designed to teach R programming focused on the Psychometrics course within the Psychology Degree at the Autonomous University of Madrid. The program's objective is to promote the use of R among students, highlighting its advantages over other available software, such as its open-source nature, flexibility, and reproducibility capabilities. During the academic year 2023/2024, a survey was conducted involving approximately 200 students enrolled in the course to gather their opinions on R. Subsequently, students were provided access to the R package 'psychbootcamp', which includes a repository of databases from various areas of Psychology, along with a detailed guide presenting resources and challenges to foster R learning using these databases, as well as a complete example of psychometric analysis in R. Those students interested in improving their final grade in the course had the opportunity to complete an R-based assignment using the provided materials. Group and individual tutorials were conducted with these students to monitor their progress and define tasks to be completed. After the assignment submission, a second survey was administered to these students to evaluate the materials and their impact on the perception of R. In summary, the project aims to implement a practical and effective methodology for teaching R and Psychometrics, equipping students with the necessary skills for data analysis in Psychology. The results indicate that the materials developed for this purpose have successfully met this objective.

Keywords:

Teaching Resources, R Instruction, Programming, Psychometrics.