Module Catalogue 2024/25

Pre Requisite Comment

None

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

The aim of this module is to teach open and transparent research design and analysis techniques to improve the integrity and reproducibility of psychological findings. Students will learn about key issues that are currently present in psychology, and the open science framework This will facilitate student’s ability to critically examine scientific claims in psychology.
Alongside this, students will gain specific experience in how to design and conduct qualitative research. Students will be taught the philosophy of qualitative research, and its application to a real-life context.

Outline Of Syllabus

The research methods component of this module will teach the importance of scientific practice, critically appraising key issues that are currently present in experimental psychology (e.g. replication crisis, decolonising research), and the promotion of the open sciences practices and framework. This component of the syllabus will provide practical experience in scientifically rigorous research design and the introduction to data processing and visualisation.

The practical component of this module provides students with the opportunity to gain experience on how to design and conduct a qualitative research project. This will include learning how to design a semi-structured interview, the interview process itself, and the role of the researcher during the interview process. This will be applied to a real-life context. Students will learn to carry out thematic analysis as a qualitative analysis technique and gain first-hand experience extracting and interpreting meaning from written text. This will be communicated in a summative laboratory report.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

By the end of this module, students should be able to:
•       Identify and apply open science practices within psychological research
•       Critically appraise different research methods with scientific rigour and integrity.
•       Distinguish between quantitative and qualitative designs in psychology.
•       Identify the philosophical underpinnings of differing approaches to research
•       Transfer theoretical qualitative concepts and analysis skills to real-world applications.
•       Analyse textual data thematically

Intended Skill Outcomes

By the end of this module, students should be able to:
•       Write components of a qualitative laboratory report in the style of the American Psychological Association (APA)
•       Design and observe semi-structured interviews
•       Analyse qualitative data from semi-structured interviews
•       Extract, infer and interpret meaning from written text through thematic analysis
•       Carry out data organisation and visualisation in Excel or other statistical packages.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The rationale for the teaching infrastructure of this module is to introduce a scientific theme each week during the lecture. Each theme will be taught by an expert within the teaching staff at the School of Psychology. The content of the lectures will then be consolidated in the small group teaching and practical workshops. These sessions will provide students with the opportunity to put what they have learned in the classroom into action. Students will work in small groups with a demonstrator and complete weekly activities to a current ‘real-world’ application. This will equip students with the experience of a researcher’s workflow from theory, method, and analysis, and practice their own open and transparent research practices. Students will continue to complete their learning outcomes through independent study with background reading, and bitesize activities to complete before participating in workshops.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Student’s academic success on this module requires passing both components below. Students will receive informal formative feedback within their technical and research methods workshops during their relevant workshop series. The summative assignment will build upon the feedback received from their formative work, and students will be required to submit a qualitative laboratory report of 1000 words that will contribute 50% of the final mark. This will test their understanding of qualitative research design procedures, and the basics of report writing and written communication skills.

To demonstrate their knowledge of scientific practices and the open science framework, students will
complete problem-solving exercises designed to assess the current state of student’s practical knowledge of research design, Excel use and visualisation. This will also contribute to 50% of the final mark. The exercises will be equally spaced throughout the semester with the expectation being students complete them during teaching sessions. Failure to submit a minimum of 4 of these exercises will result in the portfolio mark being capped at 40%. If a student completes all exercises, the four best marks will be used to calculate the component mark.

In order to pass this module, students are required to attain a pass mark in both of the assessment components.

If the module is failed or deferred students will resit failed or deferred assessments in the same format during the August resit period.

General Notes

N/A