Module: PSY4002-20 Introduction to Psychological Research Design and Analysis

Level: 4

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Alison Wadeley

Module Tutor Contact Details: A.Wadeley@bathspa.ac.uk

Please note that this module is a pre-requisite for the Level 5 module PSY5001-20 Quantitative Psychological Research Design and Analysis and for the Level 6 module PSY6000-20 Dissertation: Design and Pre-registration.

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This module provides you with a general introduction to research methods and statistics in Psychology as prescribed by the BPS in preparation for advanced modules in Psychology. The focus will be on the following areas:

Fundamentals of descriptive and inferential data analysis and presentation of findings.

Practical aspects of research design e.g. experimentation, observation and correlational studies.

Reporting research.

Methodological issues in psychology e.g. ethics in research.

Development of research-related skills valued by potential employers as set out in the Higher Education Academy’s Psychology Student Employability Guide (2011).

2. Outline syllabus:

Practical aspects of research design.

Problem definition and hypothesis formulation. Independent and dependent variables. Sampling techniques. Experimental designs, manipulation and control, including control of participants' expectations and experimenter effects. Internal and external validity. Quasi-experiment and the question of causality. Non-experimental research design including observation and correlational research.

Descriptive and inferential data analysis and presentation

Descriptive and summary statistics: measures of central tendency and dispersion. Graphing, including frequency histograms and cumulative frequency plots. Skew and kurtosis. Exploratory data analysis including stem and leaf, boxplots and scatterplots. Non-parametric tests: the sign test, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed ranks test, Mann-Whitney test. z-tests and t-tests of means for single sample, independent samples and related samples. Confidence intervals for the population mean and the difference between two population means. Chi-squared tests for goodness of fit and association. Choice of appropriate statistical analysis: levels of measurement, normality, homogeneity of variance, linearity, transformations of data. Robustness and power efficiency. Correlation coefficients: Pearson's, Spearman's and Kendall's. Partial correlation. Probability and statistical significance.

Reporting research.

Methodological issues in psychology including ethics in research.

The use of statistical software for data analysis.

3.Teaching and learning methods:

Teaching will take the form of lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials. Seminars and preparation for them comprise a variety of student-centred activities including individual, small group and large group work and computing exercises. The course documentation gives recommended reading and preparation for each week to support the work covered in the lectures and seminar sessions.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: CW
• Description: Practical Report 1 (3000 words)
• % Weighting: 75%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: EXAM
• Description: Seen exam (one hour)
• % Weighting: 25%