PSY1013 : Research Methods and Data Analysis A
- Offered for Year: 2024/25
- Module Leader(s): Dr Jessica Baggaley Clay
- Co-Module Leader: Dr Hannah Roome
- Owning School: Psychology
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 1 Credit Value: | 20 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
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.
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 11 | 2:00 | 22:00 | PiP lectures |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 61 | 1:00 | 61:00 | Assessment preparation for the formative and summative assignments |
| Structured Guided Learning | Academic skills activities | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | Non-synchronous online components as pre-learning for the seminars and workshops (formative practice activities, quizzes, literature reading exercises) |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Small group teaching | 11 | 2:00 | 22:00 | PiP seminar discussions of the key components of the lecture for that week |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | PiP research practical sessions |
| Guided Independent Study | Student-led group activity | 2 | 1:00 | 2:00 | Data collection: Semi-structured interview practice |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 70 | 1:00 | 70:00 | General module reading |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Module talk | 1 | 1:00 | 1:00 | Non-synchronous online recorded lecture to introduce the module |
| Total | 200:00 |
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 Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | 1 | M | 50 | Qualitative Lab Report 1 x 1000 word practical report including the methods and results from the thematic analysis carried out |
| Prob solv exercises | 1 | M | 50 | 5 problem solving tasks to be completed in small group teaching seminars to test their understanding of research design, data management, data analysis. Students must complete a minimum of 4 of these, otherwise their portfolio mark will be capped at 40%. |
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 students will resit failed assessments in the same format during the August resit period.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- PSY1013's Timetable