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M45 Research and Professional Skills

Aims and Learning Outcomes

This module aims to provide students with practice-based skills that will transfer into working environments;

By the end of this modules students are expected:

  • to have an advanced knowledge and understanding of different research strategies and design; history of scientific method in psychology;
  • to be trained in ethical conduct of research and practice and to conduct themselves in a professional manner;
  • to be able to undertake critical reading of research, to have an appreciation of methods sufficient to make choices fit for research purposes, gain knowledge of techniques and tools and to apply these to a variety of problems within a range of work and policy making contexts;
  • to be able to plan a research project, to enable consideration of the practicalities when conducting research in applied settings, to be able to manage research effectively;
  • to have sufficient knowledge of statistical procedures necessary for analysing data at a basic level;
  • to be trained in disseminating the results of psychological assessments and research to academic, professional and other relevant audiences including the media;
  • to be able to reflect on their personal and career development.

Course Convenor

Dr Henriette Hogh

Other Contributors

Professor Chris Fife-Schaw,
Dr Lynne Purvis, Professor Jane Ogden, Professor David Uzzell, Dr David Rose, Jean Portman, Jeanette Holt

Contact Hours

30

Required Prerequisite Study

Undergraduate Statistics

Completion Requirement

Completion of the module (and acquisition of 15 course credits) requires a total of 30 contact hours in the form of lectures and seminars. Students are also required to invest a minimum of 90 hours of study time in completion of the module.

Assessments

 Ethical Scenarios (40% of marks)
A series of hypothetical dilemmas that the student is required to correctly identify and provide an appropriate behavioural response and reference to sections of the British Psychological Society Code of Ethics and Conduct.

Examination (60% of marks)
An examination of the materials covered in the module, with the majority of the content of the exam focusing on experimental design and basic statistics techniques covered in weeks 7 to 11 in semester 1.

Survey (pass/fail marking)
Students will design their own survey evaluating the M45 module on one sheet of A4.

Re-sit for exam:
Students who get a mark below 40 will need to re-sit the exam. Students who get a mark between 40-49 will need to resit the exam only if their overall module average falls below 50. If their overall mark for the module exceeds 50 they will not be able to retake the exam.

Readings

Core

Breakwell, G.M., Hammond, S., Fife-Schaw, C. & Smith, J.A. (2006). Research Methods in Psychology (3rd Ed.). London: SAGE Publications.

Field, A. (2009). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (3rd Ed.). London: SAGE Publications.

Suggested

American Psychological Association (2009). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th Ed.). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Bell, J. & Opie, C. (2002). Learning from Research: Getting more from your data. Buckinham: Open University Press.

British Psychological Society (1993). Ethical principles for conducting research with human participants. The Psychologist, 6, 33-35.

Coolican, H. (2009). Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology (5th Ed.). London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Denscombe, M. (2003). The Good Research Guide: For Small-Scale Social Research Projects. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Field, A. & Hole, G. (2006). How to design and report experiments. London: SAGE Publications.

Hart, C. (2003). Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination. London: SAGE Publications.

Oliver, P. (2003). The Student’s Guide to Research Ethics. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Pallant, J. (2007). SPSS Survival Manual: Version 15 (3rd Ed.). Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Sternberg, R. J. (2003). The Psychologist Companion: A guide to scientific writing for students and researchers (4th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Shaughnessy, J. J., Zechmeister, E. B. & Zechmeister, J. S. (2008). Research methods in psychology (8th Ed.). London: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.