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Content: The Psychology Research Project must be empirical in nature and entail the investigation of a psychological research question. Projects can generate new data, involve secondary data analysis, a meta-analysis, or be a replication study. The Research Proposal involves students answering several questions about the research aims, methodology, and planned analyses. It is compulsory to submit, but does not carry any marks. The Research Project is the formal write-up of the project and approximates a paper that you would see in a psychology journal.

Projects must observe the Code of Ethics and Conduct of the British Psychological Society and students must provide evidence that any data analysed was collected with appropriate ethical approval.

Teaching delivery: There are usually 5 compulsory hours of project workshops spaced through both terms, with additional optional workshops offered through the Writing Lab and the ACC. There are not set times for students to meet with their supervisor, as this will depend on the demands of each individual project and the availability of the supervisor. Students will usually meet with their supervisor regularly to discuss the project. This may be in-person or online, as agreed between the supervisor and their student(s).

Indicative Topics: The topics offered for these projects vary each year and details of possible topics will be provided by the Project Tutor in the summer term preceding the third year (usually in late May, with a deadline in early June to submit preferences).

Module Aims: Students will develop and demonstrate an understanding of the research process in psychology, including research design and ethical principles of research through the performance and writing up of a novel piece of empirical research under expert supervision. The learning outcomes are that at the end of the module, students will:

• Have developed and demonstrated an understanding of the research process in psychology including research design and ethical principles of research.

• Have successfully analysed and interpreted a novel data set.

• Have completed a major piece of writing comparable to a published journal article.

This module aims to develop the following skills:

• Effective communication. This involves developing a cogent argument supported by relevant evidence and being sensitive to the needs and expectations of an audience. In this course, this is accomplished through the writing of a research proposal and a scientific report.

• Research study design.

• Understanding and use of data. This skill is at the core of the project work.

• Use of data analysis and other software tools as appropriate to the project.

• Searching and making effective critical use of the literature and other published information sources relevant to the project.

• Problem-solving and reasoning scientifically include the identification of research questions developed from theory and from data and the consideration of alternative approaches to their solutions; to evaluate others and original findings through critical judgements and logical argument.

• Effective personal planning and project management skills.

• Working under supervision.