Your Psychology Project

The Essential Guide

Jennifer Evans

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9781412922326, 9781412922319
• eBook ISBN: 9781446240748
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

?This guide will serve well as a handbook for undergraduate psychology students working on senior projects or theses. Clear, concise, and well organized, the book instructs the student from the beginning of the project to the final draft and offers advice both specific and general? - Choice

Anxious about your final year Psychology Project? Having trouble getting started?

Your Psychology Project clearly maps out all the requirements of a project in psychology. The definitive survival manual, it guides students through every aspect of a psychology project from conception of an idea, to writing up the final draft. It helps students think through the whole research process by bridging the relationship between the research question, the design, and the use of statistical and qualitative analyses. By using clear practical examples this book provides an invaluable insight into applying theory to practice and equips students with the knowledge, skills and abilty to carry out and write up their thesis project.

Written in a clear and engaging manner Your Psychology Project is essential reading for all students undertaking a psychology research project.

UNIT 1

SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS

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Introduction

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Generally, students of psychology are required to undertake a project in the final year of their degree. This is often a daunting task, using existing knowledge gained throughout the degree usually with minimal supervision. Therefore the successful completion of the psychology project is often the most challenging academic requirement a student will face during their undergraduate degree. The process involves creativity and innovation, critical thinking, persistence, discipline, independence, and also feelings of uneasiness and insecurity. The good news is that it is possible to approach your final year psychology project with an attitude of confidence, and positive, forward thinking as opposed to anxiety and apprehension.

It is comforting to learn that those students who are most successful in completing their psychology projects are those who have set themselves up for success. These are the students who have put the appropriate structures in place, to aid them during the research process. Unit 1: Setting Yourself Up for Success makes it possible for every student to learn how to carefully plan, and lay down, solid and realistic foundations to facilitate successful completion of their research project.

Chapter 1 of this essential guide, The Psychology Project as a Means of Acquiring Knowledge, begins by broadly dealing with psychology as a scientific discipline and demonstrates that the essence of science is described as a way of thinking, the systematic logic used in asking and answering questions, and producing more knowledge. The role of the research project is therefore a means of inquiry; through formulating questions and finding answers to them, students add to the knowledge base.

Chapter 2 entitled Ethics for Research in Psychology deals with the crucial issue of ethics in psychological research, in the planning, execution and reporting of both quantitative and qualitative research. The chapter also highlights the codes of ethics, laid down by a number of major professional bodies, to act as a shared moral framework for making ethical decisions.

Chapter 3, Choosing a Topic and the Research Proposal, deals with the practicalities of evaluating topics from your potential list of topics, in order to choose the most appropriate one. The chapter also focuses on how to formulate a good research question, and the role of creativity and innovation. The functional importance of the research proposal is also highlighted, which is often neglected by undergraduate students.

Chapter 4, A Connected and Convincing Argument, deals with the appropriate style for writing your research project, and describes the importance of your project delivering a convincing and connected argument with an inherent logical structure, in order to produce a seamless piece of work. The importance of clear communication and effective writing is highlighted, and some tips for scientific writing are provided.

Chapter 5, Self-Management, deals with the important skills and metacompetencies that can be developed by students in order to successfully endure the research process, from the conception of an original idea to the final write-up of the psychology project. These foundation chapters demonstrate that completing your project is very much a personal endeavour involving the whole person. Chapter 5 addresses important aspects of self-regulation, as a way of scheduling, being organised, timetabled and self-managed. The importance of goal setting, and the role of short-term wins are highlighted as successful motivational strategies. Building on the theme of self-regulation, different time-management techniques, and strategies for overcoming procrastination are demonstrated. Emphasis is also placed on the role of self-management as a very effective mechanism for managing the stress or anxiety of the undergraduate psychology project, for example setting realistic short-term goals and priorities to help reduce anxiety and create a sense of control and accomplishment. Ways to overcome writer’s block are also included, and the importance of tailoring a system of strategies that meets individual needs will be highlighted throughout.

Chapter 6, Maximising Supervision, deals with this often-neglected area. Students often under-estimate the valuable resource that supervision is. This chapter deals with how to maximise the benefits of supervision, by focusing on the establishment of the student–supervisor relationship, and on practical approaches to maximising feedback.

Chapter 7, How to Handle the Research Literature, deals with ways of handling the research literature, from sources of the literature to evaluating it. The role of the research literature for psychology as a science, and the importance of reading academic journals as opposed to popular journals that may not adhere to scientific rigour are highlighted. Students are often intimidated by the vastness of the research literature in psychology and the related social sciences, so some of the major sources of the academic literature are provided, in order to give the student some visibility in the literature fog. The main journals in psychology are also dealt with, along with the major electronic databases that are available. Some tips are also given for using the search engines of the major electronic databases. Finally, the chapter illustrates useful ways to organise the literature you have reviewed, in order to use time as effectively as possible.

Chapter 8, How to Write a Good Introduction, deals with the introduction chapter of your psychology project. It highlights how writing the literature review comprises science and art. This section also deals with practical issues, such as what to include, and how long the literature review should be. It is demonstrated that length should not be used as a substitute for tight organisation and clear writing. Advice from Sternberg (2003) regarding the importance of reliability, validity and internal consistency in the literature review is also given. The chapter also presents five useful strategies to highlight the importance of your study, and focuses on the importance of making your hypotheses very explicit at the end of the introduction.

Chapter 9, Sampling Considerations, this brief chapter deals with the important issue of sampling for your research project. Sampling issues are important for both quantitative and qualitative methods of inquiry, but they are considered at different times during the research process. For example, in qualitative research they are generally most important during the simultaneous data analysis and data-collection phase, while in quantitative research they are most important during the planning and design stage of the research process. Some popular probability and non-probability techniques are also illustrated.

Chapter 10, entitled Sourcing Materials and Measures for Psychological Research, provides useful information on how to source both published and unpublished tests and measures, and therefore to save valuable time for the undergraduate researcher of psychology. The chapter also deals with the very important issue of ethics for test users. Issues of reliability and validity are also dealt with in an attempt to aid the undergraduate student in becoming an objective and knowledgeable consumer of the vast number of psychological materials and measures that are available.

1

THE PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT AS A MEANS OF ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE

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Objectives

On reading this chapter you should:

• understand how psychology operates as a scientific discipline;
• understand the role of the undergraduate psychology project as a means of acquiring knowledge; and
• be aware of the usefulness of viewing qualitative and quantitative research situations as opposite ends of a continuum, as opposed to two distinctly separate approaches to inquiry.

Overview

Section 1.1 deals broadly with how psychology operates as a scientific discipline, and demonstrates how science can be viewed as a way of thinking (which involves asking and answering questions) and to produce more knowledge. Section 1.2 goes on to consider the psychology project as a means of acquiring knowledge. Section 1.3 deals with acquiring knowledge in psychology both quantitatively and qualitatively – it is proposed that it is useful to view the two approaches as research situations on opposite ends of a continuum, as opposed to two distinct approaches to research and inquiry within psychology. Finally Section 1.4 gives a brief overview of the importance of your research question in choosing a quantitative or qualitative method of inquiry.

1.1 What is the Purpose of Science for Psychology?

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Often when people think of the word ‘science’, the first image that comes to mind is one of test tubes, computers and people in white laboratory coats. Some sciences, such as physics and chemistry, deal with the physical and...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Brief Contents
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• UNIT 1 SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
• UNIT 2 QUANTITATIVE METHODS OF INQUIRY
• UNIT 3 QUALITATIVE METHODS OF INQUIRY
• UNIT 4 THE FINAL TOUCHES
• Appendix A Students’ Personal Experiences of their Psychology Project
• Appendix B Carrying Out Common Statistical Analyses Using SPSS V14
• References
• Index