PSYC08025 2019 Research Methods for Psychology

General Details

Full Title

Research Methods for Psychology

Transcript Title

Research Methods for Psycholog

Code

PSYC08025

Attendance

N/A %

Subject Area

PSYC - Psychology Studies

Department

SOCS - Social Sciences

Level

08 - NFQ Level 8

Credit

10 - 10 Credits

Duration

Semester

Fee

€

Start Term

2019 - Full Academic Year 2019-20

End Term

9999 - The End of Time

Author(s)

Dr. Allison Gillen

Programme Membership

SG_HENGL_H08 201900 Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Humanities in Joint Major: English and Psychology SG_HJOIN_H08 000000 Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Humanities in Joint Major: English and Psychology SG_HENGL_H08 202000 Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Humanities in Joint Major: English and Psychology

Description

Recognising the methodologically diversity of current psychological research this module takes a broad approach exploring the key theoretically assumptions which underpin the positivist, or, quantitative method of inquiry and the interpretative, or, qualitative method. Exploring the advantages and disadvantages of the respective methodological paradigms, the application of mixed methods as a pragmatic way of using both approaches will be discussed. The topics of research design, sampling, data collection, problem definition, analysis, inference issues and validity within both the quantitative and qualitative paradigms will be examined and debated. Throughout the course emphasis will be placed on students’ acquiring the methodologically skills to successfully design their own research project. Through participation in research practice based workshops and laboratory work students will acquire the competency and practical skills, to analyse both qualitative and quantitative data with appropriate computer software.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module the learner will/should be able to;

Understand the key theoretical assumptions which underpin positivist and interpretative methods of enquiry.

Discuss the methodologically weaknesses and strengths of qualitative and quantitative methods of enquiry in the field of psychology.

Demonstrate an understanding of key issues as they relate to research design in qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research project.

Demonstrate a competency in analysing quantitative and qualitative research data.

Discuss the ethical dilemmas that may be involved when undertaking research in the field of psychology.

Design and present a research proposal to the required professional standard.

Teaching and Learning Strategies

Material will be covered through lecturing and class-based discussion. Through participation in research practice based workshops and laboratory work, students will acquire the competency and practical skills, to analysis both qualitative and quantitative data with appropriate computer software.

Module Assessment Strategies

Assessment 1: Quantitative Research Report (30%)

Students will complete a structured Quantitative Research Report which will demonstrate the quantitative data analysis skills learned in the module.

Assessment 2: Qualitative Research Report (30%)

Students will complete a structured Quantitative Research Report which will demonstrate the qualitative data analysis skills learned in the module.

Assessment 3: Psychology Research Proposal (40%)

Students will complete a Psychology Research Proposal based on their learning from the module. This Psychology Research Proposal will incorporate a theoretical and contemporary psychology-based research literature driven rationale for the subsequent Research Aims and Research Hypotheses/Research Questions. There will be a clear Method section to include aspects such as sampling, draft research instruments (such as a survey or interview schedule), procedure, data analysis, and ethical considerations.

Repeat Assessments

As per Department guidelines. Repeat requirements will be dependent on failed components.

Indicative Syllabus

Principles and origins of positivist and interpretive research.
Ethical considerations in psychology research.
Research design in psychological studies: Sampling, data collection, problem definition, analysis, inference and validity.
Working with quantitative data: Descriptive and inferential statistics, parametric and non-parametric test, confidence intervals, analysis of variance and linear regression.
Working with qualitative data: Case study, observation, ethnography, inductive and deductive qualitative interviewing. Thematic analysis, grounded theory, narrative analysis, discourse analysis and interpretative phenomenological approaches.
Mixed methods research: Methodological and analytical issues.
Analysis of qualitative and quantitative data with computer software.

Coursework & Assessment Breakdown

Coursework & Continuous Assessment

100 %

Coursework Assessment

	Title	Type	Form	Percent	Week	Learning Outcomes Assessed
1	Quantitative Research Report	Continuous Assessment	Assessment	30 %	Any	1,2,3,4,5
2	Qualitative Research Report	Continuous Assessment	Assessment	30 %	Any	1,2,3,4,5
3	Psychology Research Proposal	Continuous Assessment	Assessment	40 %	Any	5,6

Full Time Mode Workload

Type	Location	Description	Hours	Frequency	Avg Workload
Lecture	Lecture Theatre	Lecture	2	Weekly	2.00
Laboratory Practical	Computer Laboratory	Laboratory Practical	2	Weekly	2.00

Total Full Time Average Weekly Learner Contact Time 4.00 Hours

Module Resources

Non ISBN Literary Resources

Essential Reading

Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2014). Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners. London, UK: Sage.

Coolican, H. (2014). Research methods and statistics in psychology (6^th ed.). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.

Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics (4^th ed.). London, UK: Sage.

Flick, U. (2014). An introduction to qualitative research (5^th ed.). London, UK: Sage.

Pallant, J. (2016). SPSS: Survival manual (6^th ed.). Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.

Ritchie, J., Lewis, J., Nicholls, C. & Ormston, R. (2014). Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and researchers. London, UK: Sage.

Recommended Reading

Berg, B. & Lune, H. (2012). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences. Harlow, UK: Pearson.

Hinton, P. R. (2014). Statistics explained (3^rd ed.). Hove, UK: Routledge.

Howitt, D. & Cramer, D. (2008). Introduction to statistics in psychology (4^th ed.). Gosport, UK: Ashford Colour Press Limited.

Howitt, D. & Cramer, D. (2011). Introduction to SPSS in psychology: For version 19 and earlier. Harlow, UK: Prentice Hall.

Marshall, C. & Rossman, G. (2011). Designing qualitative research. London, UK: Sage.

Salkind, N. J. (2011). Statistics for people who (think they) hate statistics (4^th ed.). London, UK: Sage.

Seale, C., Gobo, G., Gubrium, J. & Silverman, D. (2012). Qualitative research practice. London, UK: Sage.

Silverman, D. (2013). Doing qualitative research. London, UK: Sage.

Silverman, D. (2011a). Interpreting qualitative data: A guide to the principles of qualitative research. London, UK: Sage.

Silverman, D. (2011b). Qualitative research: Issues of theory, method and practice (3^rd ed.). London, UK: Sage.

Tisdall, K. & Davis, J. (2009). Researching with children and young people. London, UK: Sage.

Willig, C. (2008). Introducing qualitative research in psychology (2^nd ed.). Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press/McGraw-Hill.

Further Reading

Dancey, C. P. & Reidy, J. (2011). Statistics without maths for psychology (5^th ed.). Harlow, UK: Prentice Hall.

Gavin, H. (2008). Understanding research methods and statistics in psychology. London, UK: Sage.

Greene, J. & D’Oliveira, M. (2005). Learning to use statistical tests in psychology (3^rd ed.). London, UK: Open University Press.

Lindsey, J. K. (1999). Revealing statistical principles. London, UK: Hodder Education Publishers.

Mayers, A. (2013). Introduction to statistics and SPSS in psychology. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education Limited.

Tufte, E. R. (2001). The visual display of quantitative information (2^nd ed.). Connecticut, US: Graphics Press.

Additional Reading Suggestions: Research Design

Bowling, A. (2014). Research methods in health: Investigating health and health services (4^th ed.). Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.

Boyce, J. (2004). Marketing research (2^nd ed.). Boston, US: McGraw-Hill.

Cone, J. & Foster, S. (2006). Dissertations and theses from start to finish (2^nd ed.). Washington, US: American Psychological Association.

Goodwin, C. J. (2012). Research in psychology: Methods and design (7^th ed.). New York, US: John Wiley.

Harris, P. (2008). Designing and reporting experiments in psychology (3^rd ed.). Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.

Polgar, S. & Thomas, S. A. (2013). Introduction to research in the health sciences (6^th ed.). Edinburgh, UK: Churchill Livingstone.

Stangor, C. (2006). Research methods for the behavioural sciences (3^rd ed.). Boston, US: Houghton Mifflin.

Tharenou, P., Donohue, R. & Cooper, B. (2007). Management research methods. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Additional Reading Suggestions: Questionnaire Design

De Vaus, D. A. (2014). Surveys in social research (6^th ed.). Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin.

Dawis, R. V. (1987). Scale construction. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 34, 481-489. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.34.4.481

DeVellis, R. F. (2012). Scale development: Theory and applications (3^rded.). Thousand Oaks, California, US: Sage.

Gable, R. K. & Wolf, M. B. (1993). Instrument development in the affective domain: Measuring attitudes and values in corporate and school settings. Boston, US: Kluwer Academic.

Kline, P. (1986). A handbook of test construction. New York, US: Methuen.

Kline, T. J. B. (2005). Psychological testing: A practical approach to design and evaluation. Thousand Oaks, California, US: Sage.

Robinson, J. P., Shaver, P. R. & Wrightsman, L. S. (1991). Measures of personality and social psychological attitudes. Hillsdale, NJ, US: Academic Press.

Streiner, D. L. & Norman, G. R. (2015). Health measurement scales: A practical guide to their development and use (5^th ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Additional Reading Suggestions: Basic Statistics

Barton, B. & Peat, J (2014). Medical Statistics: A guide to data analysis and critical appraisal. Oxford, UK: John Wiley and Sons.

Cooper, D. R. & Schindler, P. S. (2013). Business research methods (12^th ed.). Boston, US: McGraw-Hill.

Gravetter, F. J. & Wallnau, L .B. (2012). Statistics for the behavioural sciences (9^th ed.). Belmont, CA, US: Wadsworth.

Norman, G. R. & Streiner, D. L. (2014). Biostatistics: The bare essentials (4^th ed.). Shelton, CT, US: People's Medical Publishing House.

Motulsky, H. (2013). Intuitive biostatistics: A nonmathematical guide to statistical thinking (3^rd ed.). New York, US: Oxford University Press.

Pagano, R. R. (2013). Understanding statistics in the behavioural sciences (10^th ed.). Belmont, CA, US: Wadsworth.

Peat, J. (2001). Health science research: A handbook of quantitative methods. Sydney, US: Allen & Unwin.

Additional Reading Suggestions: Advanced Statistics

Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E. & Tatham, R. L. (2009). Multivariate data analysis (7^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ, US: Pearson Education.

Pett, M. A., Lackey, N. R., & Sullivan, J .J. (2003). Making sense of factor analysis: The use of factor analysis for instrument development in health care research. Thousand Oaks, California, US: Sage.

Stevens, J. (2009). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences (5^th ed.). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Tabachnick, B. G. & Fidell, L. S. (2013). Using multivariate statistics (6^th ed.). Boston, US: Pearson Education.

Additional Reading Suggestions: Basic General Qualitative Research

Barbour, R. (2014). Introducing qualitative research: A student’s guide (2^nd ed.). London, UK: Sage.

Butler-Kisber, L. (2010). Qualitative inquiry: Thematic, narrative and arts-informed perspectives. London, UK: Sage.

Creswell, J. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. London, UK: Sage.

Denzin, N. & Lincoln, Y. (2013). Strategies of qualitative inquiry. London, UK: Sage.

Journal Resources

Assessment: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/asm

Behaviour Research Methods: https://link.springer.com/journal/13428

British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)2044-8317

Discourse Analysis Online: https://extra.shu.ac.uk/daol/index.html

Discourse Studies: https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/journal/discourse-studies

Ethnography: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/eth

Field Methods: https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/journal/field-methods

Frontiers – Quantitative Psychology and Measurement: http://journal.frontiersin.org/journal/all/section/quantitative-psychology-and-measurement#

Grounded Theory Review: An International Journal: http://groundedtheoryreview.com/

International Journal of Psychology: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/pijp20#.Vk-BTtKrRpg

International Journal of Qualitative Methods: https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/ijqm/index.php/IJQM/index

Journal of Applied Behavioural Science: https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-journal-of-applied-behavioral-science/journal200967

Journal of Contemporary Ethnography: https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/journal/journal-contemporary-ethnography

Journal of the American Statistical Association: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uasa20#.Vk-%20BitKrRpg

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society): http://rss.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-985X/

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Statistical Methodology): http://rss.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-9868/

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series C (Applied Statistics): http://rss.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-9876/

Journal of Mathematical Psychology: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-mathematical-psychology/

Journal of Multivariate Analysis: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-multivariate-analysis

Journal of Nonparametric Statistics:http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/gnst20/current

Methodology: https://us.hogrefe.com/products/journals/methodology

Narrative Inquiry: https://benjamins.com/catalog/ni

Qualitative Health Research: https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/journal/qualitative-health-research

Qualitative Inquiry: https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/journal/qualitative-inquiry

Qualitative Psychology: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/qua/

Qualitative Research: https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/qualitative-research/journal201501

Qualitative Research in Psychology: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uqrp20

Quantitative Psychology: http://www.apa.org/research/tools/quantitative/

Quality and Quantity: International Journal of Methodology: https://www.springer.com/political+science/journal/11135

Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal:

http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hsem20/current

URL Resources

The Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) has many useful resources for students including the PSI's Code of Professional Ethics, resources such as writing style and links to publications and journals. (https://www.psychologicalsociety.ie/).

The British Psychological Society (BPS) has various sections providing resources such as the BPS Research Digest, links to journals, publications and ethical guidelines. (www.bps.org.uk).

The American Psychological Association (APA) has various divisions and useful resources for students and practitioners. The website provides resources such as writing style and ethical guidelines, links to publications and journals. (www.apa.org)