PY0795 - Practical Research Skills and Techniques

You will participate in a combination of lectures, workshops, demonstrations and tutor guided learning, led by experienced senior researchers and designed to provide breadth and depth of knowledge of research skills relevant within psychology. As well as experiencing lectures which will incorporate practical exercises, much of the learning on this module will be experiential, including student-led workshops where you will work collaboratively in small groups. For example, in semester 1 you will build an experiment in different software packages and examine the temporal precision of each using the scripting language Python. You will be required to exhibit independent learning of skills outside of taught classes. In addition to contact time during taught sessions, a series of recorded lectures and screen recordings will be provided to challenge thinking and give you the opportunity to practise what you have learned in class. In both semesters, the course will be delivered by a core set of academics, but you will also benefit from certain topics being presented by experts in their own field. You will also develop employability skills by gaining access to a range of experiences, resources and by developing an awareness of potential career pathways.

Resources will be available via the e-learning portal, including lecture slides, related supplementary materials, workshop materials, recommended readings and free-to-download relevant software packages. Announcements and discussion boards via Blackboard will be set up to encourage staff-student communication. Staff will be available to contact via e-mail or via arranged face to face meetings outside of class.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:
KU1: Understand the ways in which research programmes are designed, conducted, and assessed, with an understanding of their impact on wider society.

KU2: Summarise and critically evaluate current knowledge, theory and evidence relevant to a range of specialist techniques within psychology.

KU3: Learn to use open-source research tools in accordance with sustainable, open-science practices.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
IPSA1: Apply a variety of techniques, advanced research methods and technological skills to promote independent research

IPSA2: Identify and reflect on your research skill development and competency.

IPSA3: Understand how to communicate with a wide range of audiences, disseminating research effectively in a range of outputs.

Personal Values Attributes:
PVA1: Synthesise research, theory and skills through reflective practice to enhance self-awareness, employability and professional identity.

Formative assessment:
The development of a participant recruitment advert, a summary of a PhD research proposal, responding to a referee’s comments, and a social media exercise using LinkedIn. KU1, IPSA2, PVA1.
Feedback will be given to the group in class at the end of each class or in the following class, and will be summarised in written form on Blackboard.

Summative assessment:
The module assessment will comprise three components:

Part 1 – Part 2 – 25%: A psychology programming practical that will require you to build and demonstrate a working psychology experiment to a provided specification. This will provide an opportunity to achieve the learning outcomes KU3, IPSA1 and IPSA3

Part 2 – 25%: a 2000 word written critical literature review citing at least one technique presented in semester 1, which will provide the opportunity for students to demonstrate their achievement of learning outcome KU2.

Part 3 – 50%: a reflective blog which highlights the student’s skill set and learning progress during the course of semester 2, and accompanying commentary which will provide the opportunity for students to demonstrate their achievement of learning outcomes KU1, IPSA2,IPSA3; PVA1.

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This year-long module is designed to provide you with two distinct learning experiences. In semester one, you will learn new and innovative techniques for programming psychology experiments, as well as state of the art techniques such as electroencephalography (EEG), Motion Capture, and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). In semester two, content will pertain to practical research skills- everything you need to know to become a successful psychology researcher. This mix of weekly lectures, workshops and practical activities include the topics of project planning, research ethics, funding, employability skills, publication and review, conference presentation skills and media awareness. This module is research led, and research oriented, meaning that you will spend time learning about research methods, but also develop skills learning how to conduct your own research. In student-led sessions, small groups will be encouraged to work collaboratively. Assessments will comprise a critical literature review of a particular research technique, a psychology programming practical, and a reflective blog and accompanying commentary which will highlight your existing skill set and learning progress during the course. The reflective blog will enable you to build up a repository of personal skills which can aid in building on future education or employability skills.