MRes Research Methods in Psychology

This module seeks to provide you with a critical and flexible approach to methodological issues in psychology and to equip you with the skills required for the collection and analysis of qualitative data from within a psychological framework.

This module encourages students to engage with cutting edge research and to consider this research within the context of wider psychological knowledge. The module seeks to foster skill in evaluating both the content and methods of a particular piece of research and to develop critical thinking concerning research findings.

Students are required to select a research article on any topic of their choice, and to write a critical review of this article. Students are also required to attend as much of the Department’s Invited Speakers’ Series as possible and to identify, in consultation with their supervisor if needs be, the talk of one speaker that will form the focus of an essay. A major part of this process of critical analysis requires that a particular piece of research is considered within a wider psychological context, so it is anticipated that related research would be identified through a search of the relevant literature and by consideration of the background work cited by the speaker during the course of the talk.

To provide understanding and critical skills related to research design and analysis for quantitative and qualitative studies.

Lecture topics will include: psychology as science and the hypothetico-deductive account, basic concepts (e.g., validity, reliability, sampling, and measurement), experimental designs, quasi-experimental and specialised designs, survey design and analysis, single-case designs, introduction to key concepts of qualitative research, thematic approaches and methods of qualitative research (including , thematic analysis, grounded theory and IPA), and discursive approaches to qualitative research (incl. narrative analysis and discourse analysis).

A student-led seminar series, consisting of 10, two-hour seminars on design and statistics as principled argument will run alongside the lectures.

This module covers the primary statistical analyses used in psychology including:

• multivariate data
• screening and cleaning
• power and sample size determination
• factor analysis
• multiple regression
• analysing contrasts
• univariate and multivariate repeated measures
• ANCOVA and MANCOVA.

This module acquaints you with the philosophical foundations of psychological knowledge, and allows you to evaluate how this relates to science as a whole. In addition, the module provides an overview of different forms of psychological understanding and how these may be combined into an integrated view of human nature.

Current controversies and methods are explored to consider the limits of current psychological understanding.

Topics include:

• rationalism and empiricism in philosophy;
• the development of psychological science;
• science versus non-science;
• verifiability and falsifiability;
• subjectivity, inter-subjectivity and objectivity;
• scope and limits of reductionism;
• current issues and controversies in psychology;
• differing levels of psychological explanation.

This module builds on the introductory level of statistics and probability theory and aims to provide students with theory and practice in the application of advanced quantitative methods across multiple areas of psychology and neuroscience.

Topics include: using R and Matlab in psychological research, logistic regression, resampling and Monte Carlo methods, psychological model fitting, Bayesian inference, structural equation modelling, time series analyses, open science tools.

This module acquaints you with the philosophical foundations of psychological knowledge, and allows you to evaluate how this relates to science as a whole. In addition, the module provides an overview of different forms of psychological understanding and how these may be combined into an integrated view of human nature.

Current controversies and methods are explored to consider the limits of current psychological understanding.

Topics include:

• rationalism and empiricism in philosophy;
• the development of psychological science;
• science versus non-science;
• verifiability and falsifiability;
• subjectivity, inter-subjectivity and objectivity;
• scope and limits of reductionism;
• current issues and controversies in psychology;
• differing levels of psychological explanation.

The aim of this advanced module is to provide practical hands-on training in methods and techniques used for cognitive neuroscience research. Lectures cover the following topics: Brain stimulation – lectures and practical sessions will train you in the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS); Brain recording – lectures and practical sessions will train you in the use of Electroencephalography (EEG), the analysis of EEG data and the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data.

This module covers brain anatomy and functions and modern experimental techniques to study the neural basis of behaviour.

Tutors: Professor Joydeep Bhattacharya and Dr Gianna Cocchini

This module encourages students to engage with cutting edge research and to consider this research within the context of wider psychological knowledge. The module seeks to foster skill in evaluating both the content and methods of a particular piece of research and to develop critical thinking concerning research findings.

Students are required to select a research article on any topic of their choice, and to write a critical review of this article. Students are also required to attend as much of the Department’s Invited Speakers’ Series as possible and to identify, in consultation with their supervisor if needs be, the talk of one speaker that will form the focus of an essay. A major part of this process of critical analysis requires that a particular piece of research is considered within a wider psychological context, so it is anticipated that related research would be identified through a search of the relevant literature and by consideration of the background work cited by the speaker during the course of the talk.

This module will provide a systematic introduction to behavioural genetics. Areas covered include: behavioural genetic techniques; behavioural genetic research into a range of different topics (e.g. psychopathology, cognitive abilities and disabilities); associations between genetic and environmental influences; and ethical issues in respect of behavioural genetic research.

This module will provide detailed study of the scientific investigation of attention, a highly topical aspect of human cognition that plays a fundamental role in our awareness of the world and our engagement with it. Theories of attention will be introduced and cross-cultural and individual differences in attention and awareness considered in the light of these theories. Finally, the relevance of attention research to educational practice will be discussed.

Lecture sessions will often contain periods of guided discussion (focused on key readings reviewed in the lecture). They will be supplemented by an overview or revision lecture (focused on the exam) and two, one-hour tutorials (focused on the coursework). 

Topics covered will include background and models of attention, attention and culture, attention and emotion, attention and social psychology, attention and individual differences, and attention and modern media.

You will also be welcome to attend an additional more advanced lecture on the neurophysiological underpinnings of attention in clinical populations.

This module aims to provide students with an introduction to the psychology of art appreciation, beauty and human preference, both from a basic science and an applied psychology perspective.

The lectures will focus on a wide range of topics, including aesthetic perception across the senses, including visual and auditory aesthetics, as well as the attractiveness of human faces and bodies. We will approach these topics from a wide range of theoretical and methodological angles, including neuroscience, cross-cultural and evolutionary perspectives. We will also focus on applications of aesthetic science in the real world, as in advertising and marketing.

The module will be structured to cover:

• Psychological theories of aesthetic appreciation
• Aesthetics across the senses: vision, audition, taste/smell and touch
• Attractiveness of faces and bodies
• The role of expertise, personality and cross-cultural differences in aesthetic perception

This module aims to provide students with a comprehensive introduction to MATLAB, a widely-used software package for data analysis. The module will start in the Autumn term of 2018 and will be suitable for third year undergraduate students in psychology as well as for students in other programmes.

Each 1 hour lecture will introduce the topic, associated functions, and theory and will be followed by a 2 hour lab session with hands-on training and exercises using MATLAB. Weekly homework will help to further consolidate the material.

Tutors: Devin B Terhune and Maria Herrojo Ruiz