Research Methods in Psychology MSc

About the course

This degree is ideal for those wishing to improve their research skills to a professional level to support applications for a Ph.D. or for a clinical or educational professional training programme. It develops expertise in planning, conducting and critically appraising research, and offers a Research Apprenticeship with a senior researcher as part of the course.

You will be introduced to fundamental methodological principles of research, learn how to write a convincing research proposal and how to effectively organise a research project. Emphasis in training will be given to the following:

• primary research skills necessary to conduct a new study and generate scientific evidence based on data analysis
• secondary research skills necessary to critically appraise scientific evidence already published
• communicative and writing skills to effectively present and disseminate research findings

The course has been designed as a foundation year for a PhD within the new funding policy of the ESRC. It offers a set of transferable skills for a variety of research settings involving:

• presentation of information,
• evaluation of data,
• communication of results,
• effective use of information technology
• and also teaching skills

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Why choose this course?

• Advanced statistical data analysis with SPSS and LISREL
• Introduction into a range of qualitative research methods in psychology
• Research Apprenticeship 

Study routes

• Part Time, 2 Years
• Full Time, 1 Years

Locations

• University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield

Careers

This course can be used as the basis for professional training in research, and gives you transferable skills that are of great value in pursuing a career as a researcher. It is also ideal for those who would like to complete a professional doctorate in psychology.

Teaching methods

Teaching includes lectures, seminars, practical's, workshops and individual supervision. Assessment is based on course work, examinations, essays, oral presentations, a literature review and the research dissertation.

This degree comprises eight taught modules plus a research dissertation (four modules). The degree has a set of mandatory elements but is flexible enough to allow individual tailoring to particular interests or career aspirations.

Professional Accreditations

The MSc in Research Methods in Psychology has received approval from the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) as a postgraduate research training programme in conjunction with its new 1+3 funding policy for PhD students.

Structure

Year 1

Core Modules

• Core Research Skills - Psychology

  Core Research Skills is a course where students will receive advanced training in essential research skills involving general and specific IT-skills, bibliographic skills, literature searching skills as well as scientific writing, presentation and communication skills. Aims and procedures of systematically reviewing published research will be discussed in detail a well as possible limiting factors when reaching conclusions. Students will also learn how to generate programs for running computerised experiments and how to apply for grants and write a grant proposal. Finally, ethical standards in research will be discussed, in particular criteria enabling to judge whether a research proposal could be ethically approved.

• Critical Appraisal of Research

  Students will study selected areas of psychology and critically appraise selected published papers in those areas. Students will learn to effectively peruse published research, to properly summarize and present the key parts of a journal article, and to write a critical appraisal of it.

• Research Apprenticeship in Psychology

  The apprenticeship enables students to gain working experience in an academic research setting and provides opportunities to develop team working and professional skills.

• Research Methods and Data Analysis in Psychology

  This module provides an overview about quantitative research methodology and provides training in a range of primary research skills. The principal aims of non-experimental and experimental investigations in psychology will be discussed and also how to phrase specific research questions, select an appropriate study design and obtain reliable measurements. Particular emphasis is given to teaching and training in statistical data analysis for various types of variables and to the interpretation and presentation of statistical results in terms of confidence intervals and effects sizes. Lectures are mixed with practicals involving data analysis in SPSS enabling students to gain 'hands-on' experience and train their data analysis skills.

• Research Project in Psychology

Optional

• Advanced Methods of Quantitative Data Analysis

  The module familiarizes students with advanced statistical methods for solving complex research problems on the basis of either an exploratory or a confirmatory data analytic strategy. An overview of multivariate statistical procedures will be given explaining their aims together with examples of their application. Next, the General Linear Model (GLM) as a general framework for normal regression models will be introduced enabling students to analyse quantitative as well as categorical predicators. Logistic regression will then be discussed as an example of regression models that enable the analysis of categorical dependent variables. Another major part of the module is devoted to structural equation modelling (SEM). Starting off with classical path analysis, students will then learn how to run a confirmatory factor analysis using a SEM programme.

• Advanced Topics in Thinking

  This module presents and examines recent research into how knowledge of things in the world may be organised and how basic mental abilities such as the evaluation of similarity and difference may affect a number of cognitive processes. Students will be asked to review and evaluate current published research in these areas.

• Cognitive Neuropsychology - 1

  Cognitive Neuropsychology I covers the history, background and current clinical and research aspects of human neuropsychology. Neuropsychology is the study of brain-behaviour relationships. One central aspect of this is the study of people with brain damage (children as well as adults). Brain scanning of healthy individuals (performing cognitive tasks while in the scanner) also provides valuable new evidence. Topics covered will include the history, brain damage, cognitive theory and clinical assessment of: 1) aphasia (language disorders) 2) apraxia (movement disorders) 3) agnosia (perceptual disorders) 4) amnesia (memory disorders)

• Cognitive Neuropsychology - 2

  Cognitive Neuropsychology 2 develops students' knowledge of brain mechanisms of cognition relevant to cognitive neuropsychology, focusing on published accounts of experimental studies. Students are guided to read selected publications illustrating a range of experimental methods used to investigate a particular cognitive brain system, for example functional neuroimaging, the effects of brain damage in humans, electrophysiological recordings and the effects of brain lesions and pharmacological manipulations in animals. The material discussed provides students with a broad cognitive neuroscience base that informs and extends beyond traditional human cognitive neuropsychology.

• Core Research Skills - Psychology

  Core Research Skills is a course where students will receive advanced training in essential research skills involving general and specific IT-skills, bibliographic skills, literature searching skills as well as scientific writing, presentation and communication skills. Aims and procedures of systematically reviewing published research will be discussed in detail a well as possible limiting factors when reaching conclusions. Students will also learn how to generate programs for running computerised experiments and how to apply for grants and write a grant proposal. Finally, ethical standards in research will be discussed, in particular criteria enabling to judge whether a research proposal could be ethically approved.

• Critical Appraisal of Research

  Students will study selected areas of psychology and critically appraise selected published papers in those areas. Students will learn to effectively peruse published research, to properly summarize and present the key parts of a journal article, and to write a critical appraisal of it.

• Current Topics in Cognitive Neuropsychology

  Current Topics in Cogntive Neuropsychology may cover topics such as cognitive neuropsychiatry, neurogenetics, single case statistics and the role of animal research in human cognitive neuropsychology. The topics will vary from year to year, in response to the developments in the field. Students will be actively involved in debating and presenting various sides of the different issues explored.

• Health Psychology

  Health psychology is the practice and application of psychological research into: the promotion and maintenance of health; prevention and treatment of illness; the analysis and improvement of the health care system and health policy formation. This module introduces some of the key theories and principles of health psychology in relation to the maintenance of health, the adoption of healthy behaviours as well as the development of, recovery from and adaptation to illness. In particular the emphasis will be on health in its broadest sense, i.e. a state of social, physical and mental well-being, rather than simply the absence of illness.

• Psychology of Performing Arts

  The content will include: The psychology of magic, humour and charisma, theatre and human expression, social facilitation, the psychology of role preparation, delivery and role-play, the psychology of memory and language in the theatre and the therapeutic use of drama and dance.

• Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology

  The module aims at familiarising students with the principles of qualitative research in psychology. Qualitative research is not a homogenous area of scientific inquiry but encompasses various methodological orientations. Students will learn to distinguish different approaches (i.e. Grounded Theory, discourse and conversation analysis) in terms of their specific goals. The module focuses on the open interview as the method for the collection of textual data. Group work provides student with opportunities to develop a proposal for a an open interview study, to develop their interviewing skills, to carry out qualitative data analysis and to present the results visually in tables or figures. Finally, strategies are discussed on how to ensure robustness of the interpretation resulting from a qualitative data analysis.

• Research Apprenticeship in Neuropsychology

  The apprenticeship enables students to gain working experience in an academic research setting and provides opportunities to develop team working and professional skills.

• Research Apprenticeship in Psychology

  The apprenticeship enables students to gain working experience in an academic research setting and provides opportunities to develop team working and professional skills.

• Research Methods and Data Analysis in Psychology

  This module provides an overview about quantitative research methodology and provides training in a range of primary research skills. The principal aims of non-experimental and experimental investigations in psychology will be discussed and also how to phrase specific research questions, select an appropriate study design and obtain reliable measurements. Particular emphasis is given to teaching and training in statistical data analysis for various types of variables and to the interpretation and presentation of statistical results in terms of confidence intervals and effects sizes. Lectures are mixed with practicals involving data analysis in SPSS enabling students to gain 'hands-on' experience and train their data analysis skills.

• Research Project in Neuropsychology

  Students carry out a scientific investigation under supervision in an area of their interest in psychology. Skills in planning, implementing, writing, discussing and presenting research will be developed to the level appropriate for an independent investigator.

• Research Project in Psychology

• Topics in Psychopathology

  The course addresses substantive and methodological issues relating to mental illness from a cognitive perspective.

Fees & funding

Fees 2013

UK/EU Students

Full time: £5,250 for the 2013 academic year

International Students

Full time: £10,500 for the 2013 academic year

Discounts are available for International students if payment is made in full at registration

View detailed information about tuition fees

Other financial support

Find out more about other financial support available to UK and EU students

Living costs / accommodation

The University of Hertfordshire offers a great choice of student accommodation, on campus or nearby in the local area, to suit every student budget.

View detailed information about our accommodation

How to apply