Studying at York
Research Methods for Psychology in Education II - EDU00098M
Module summary
This module is the second of two core research methods modules for the MSc Psychology in Education programme.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 2 2024-25 |
Module aims
This module builds on the material taught in Research Methods for Psychology in Education I during semester one.
It continues to develop students’ methodological knowledge, skills and understanding to a point where they will be fully equipped to identify their own research questions, find and critique the literature related to those questions, design appropriate studies to address them, gather quantitative and qualitative data, analyse that data using appropriate techniques and write reports of empirical investigations in APA style.
Students will also continue to develop their understanding of the ethical issues involved in conducting psychological research and will be able to reflect on ethical issues in their own work.
Module learning outcomes
This module will further develop the knowledge, skills and experience of research methods developed in Research Methods for Psychology in Education I during semester one.
Subject content
By the end of this module students will be able to:
- Recognise and determine how and when to use statistical techniques including descriptive statistics, t-tests, correlations, regression and ANOVA.
- Justify selection of particular research methods and analytic techniques, and understand the assumptions surrounding them.
Academic and graduate skills
Students will have gained experience in:
- Conducting a systematic literature review.
- Using a range of research methods and analytic techniques
- Developing a coding framework
- Disseminating research findings in a range of effective ways.
Module content
Week 1 - Standardised psychometric tests
Lecture
- Construction and standardisation of IQ, Memory and Personality tests.
- Ethical perspectives on strengths and limitations of psychometric testing.
- Reliability and validity of standardised tests.
Practical
- Administration, scoring and interpretation of popular tests (e.g., WAIS, WMS, MCMI, MMPI).
Week 2 - Experimental design, RCTs
Lecture
- Experimental designs including RCTs.
- Consideration of treatment fidelity.
- Critically evaluating experiments.
- Ethical issues with RCTs.
Practical
- Developing a testable hypothesis rooted in literature.
- Designing an experiment to test the hypothesis.
Week 3 - Inferential statistics 1: t-tests
Lecture
- t-tests (dependent, independent).
Practical
- Interpreting outputs and reporting results in APA format.
- Identifying correct procedures for different situations.
Week 4 - Inferential statistics 2: ANOVA and interactions
Lecture
- One-way ANOVA.
- Two-way ANOVA.
- Interactions.
Practical
- Computing One and Two-way ANOVA using SPSS.
- Interpreting the output and reporting the results in APA format.
- Identifying the correct procedure in different contexts.
Week 5 - Inferential statistics 3: Simple and multiple regression
Lecture
- Simple Regression.
- Multiple Regression.
Practical
- Computing simple and multiple regressions using SPSS.
- Interpreting the output and reporting the results in APA format.
- Identifying the correct procedure in different contexts.
Week 6 - Qualitative research 4
Lecture
- Effect sizes vs statistical significance.
- Confidence intervals.
Practical
- Computing confidence intervals using SPSS and other software.
Week 7 - Qualitative research 5
Lecture
- Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)
- Analysing qualitive data continued.
Practical
- Critiquing and applying qualitative data analysis techniques.
Week 8 - Psychometrics
Lecture
- How to make an academic poster (this skill will be used in the option module).
- How to prepare and deliver an oral presentation.
Practical
- Communicating research findings tasks.
Week 9 - Communicating research findings
Lecture
- What is a systematic literature review?
- How to conduct a systematic literature review.
Practical
- Establishing search terms for a systematic literature review.
- Using search terms to conduct a small systematic review.
Week 10 - Systematic literature reviewing
Lecture
- Developing valid and reliable research instruments.
- Introduction to factor analysis.
Practical
- Conducting an Exploratory Factor Analysis.
- Conducting a Principal Component Analysis.
- Reporting findings in APA style.
Week 11 - How to design and execute a great dissertation
Lecture
- How to design and execute a great dissertation – factors to consider.
Practical
- Consolidation of portfolio tasks.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Individual written feedback reports with follow-up tutor discussion if necessary. The feedback is returned to students in line with university policy. Please check the Guide to Assessment, Standards, Marking and Feedback for more information.
Indicative reading
Publication manual of the American psychological association. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2001.
British Psychological Society. (2006). Code of ethics and conduct. BPS.
Coolican, H. (2014). Research methods and statistics in psychology. Psychology Press.
Field, A. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS. Sage publications.
Sanders, L.D. (2010). Discovering Research Methods in Psychology. BPS Blackwell.
Silverman, D. (2013). Doing qualitative research: A practical handbook. Sage publications.