Overview
This is an introductory unit designed to provide you with the knowledge, skills and values required throughout your studies in psychology and the social sciences. At the end of this unit you will be able to understand, apply and evaluate basic research methods in psychology, including the characteristics of the science of psychology, and describing and evaluating different research methods used by psychologists. You will be able to demonstrate critical thinking skills, which includes sceptical inquiry and the use of the scientific approach to solving problems. You will also demonstrate introductory skills consistent with the application of psychology that involves finding and critically evaluating scientific literature, constructing empirical arguments, generating research questions, conducting ethical research, referencing and formatting in APA style, and preparing research reports.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2018
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Evaluation
Students were given the option of completing the Research Report on a topic voted for by their own cohort, or they could choose the topic used in Term 1. Students indicated that they enjoyed being part of the process of selecting research topics and how this was embedded in the unit. However some students commented that the option of one of two potential topics meant that there was a lot of material (data sets and resources, articles etc.) on Moodle which felt overwhelming. On reflection, the Unit Coordinator agreed that this did result in potential confusion and anxiety for students.
Continue to offer the students the opportunity to vote on the research topic. However only one topic (the winning one for that cohort) will be made available for students to work on for their research report in future terms.
- Describe, apply and evaluate the different research methods used by psychologists
- Explain how the science and practice of psychology is influenced by social, historical, professional, and cultural contexts.
- Evaluate the quality of information, including differentiating empirical evidence from speculation.
- Write a standard research report using American Psychological Association (APA) structure and formatting conventions.
- Reflect on one’s experiences in order to identify and articulate one’s personal and sociocultural values as well as demonstrate insightful awareness of one’s feelings, motives, and attitudes.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) - 10% | |||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 15% | |||||
| 3 - Critical Review - 20% | |||||
| 4 - Report - 50% | |||||
| 5 - Online discussion forum - 5% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||||
| 5 - Team Work | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) - 10% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 15% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Critical Review - 20% | ||||||||||
| 4 - Report - 50% | ||||||||||
| 5 - Online discussion forum - 5% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
An interactive approach to writing essays and research reports in psychology
Edition: 4th (2018)
Authors: Burton, L.
Wiley
Milton Milton , QLD , Australia
ISBN: 9780730344643
Binding: Paperback
The Practical Researcher: A student guide to conducting psychological research
Edition: 3rd (2013)
Authors: Dunn, D. S.
Wiley
Hoboken Hoboken , NJ , USA
ISBN: 978-1-118-36004-0
Binding: Paperback
Publication manual of the American Psychological Association
Edition: 6th (2009)
Authors: American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
Washington Washington , DC , USA
ISBN: 978-1-4338-0561-5
Binding: Other
Additional Textbook Information
Please note, both books (hard copies) are available packaged together at a reduced cost through the CQU Bookstore.
The books are also able to be purchased as E-Texts (electronic copies) direct from the publisher- also as a packaged deal (www.wileydirect.com.au)
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 6th Edition (APA 6th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
b.p.smith@cqu.edu.au
l.lole@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Science and psychology
Chapter
Dunn - Chapter 1 (The why and how of psychological research)
Burton - Chapter 1 (Where to begin?)
Events and Submissions/Topic
-
Module/Topic
Research approaches and generating research questions
Chapter
Dunn - Chapter 2 (Research approaches and generating ideas)
Events and Submissions/Topic
-
Module/Topic
Conducting ethical research
Chapter
Dunn - Chapter 5 (Ethical considerations in the practice of research)
Events and Submissions/Topic
-
Module/Topic
Conducting experimental research
Chapter
Dunn - Chapter 6 (Experimental research)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Applied research and field research
Chapter
Dunn - Chapter 7 (Applied research and field research: Non-experimental approaches)
Events and Submissions/Topic
-
Module/Topic
No lecture (vacation week)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Critically evaluating research evidence
Chapter
Burton - Chapter 3 (Critical thinking)
Events and Submissions/Topic
-
Module/Topic
Searching psychological literature
Chapter
Dunn - Chapter 3 (Searching and reading the psychological literature)
Events and Submissions/Topic
-
Module/Topic
Writing in APA style
Chapter
Burton - Chapter 2 (Writing in APA style)
Burton - Chapter 7 (In-text citations)
Burton - Chapter 8 (Reference list)
Events and Submissions/Topic
-
Module/Topic
Writing in psychology
Chapter
Burton - Chapter 5 (Quantitative research reports)
Burton - Chapter 6 (Qualitative research reports)
Dunn - Chapter 4 (Writing: A first and last consideration)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Data analysis
Chapter
Dunn - Chapter 8 (Planning analysis and displaying data)
Events and Submissions/Topic
-
Module/Topic
More on data analysis
Chapter
Dunn - Chapter 9 (Presenting and publishing research)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The research process in action
Chapter
No set readings for this week
Events and Submissions/Topic
-
Research Report Due: Week 12 Friday (1 June 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Online discussion forum
The aim of this assessment item is to give you a first-hand experience participating in real-life psychological research, and to encourage you to consider the positives and negatives of particular research designs. This assessment task involves two elements: a) participation in a research project being run within the School of Psychology at CQU, and b) writing and submitting a written reflection on this experience. Further details on each element of the task are provided below.
Instructions for research participation
-
In Week 1 you will be able to access a list of research topics, through the School of Psychology Moodle site. You will be able to choose ONE study, in which you wish to participate.
-
After selecting your preferred project, but before you provide your data, you will be required to read the project’s Information Sheet and give your consent to participate.
-
After this, during the data collection process, it is recommended that you pay attention to the project’s aim/s and the way in which it has been designed (you may wish to take notes whilst participating).
-
Upon completion of the research, you will receive a thank you message that will also contain a unique participation code. Please ensure you record this code, as you will be required to report it upon submission of your written reflection, as proof of task completion.
Instructions for reflection task
For the second part of this assessment, you will be required to write a reflection on your experience as a research participant (approximately 400 words), according to the Assessment Criteria provided.
Week 4 Monday (26 Mar 2018) 9:00 am AEST
Week 6 Monday (16 Apr 2018)
Students will receive feedback within two weeks of submission
You are required to do the following:
- Provide your unique participation code
- Briefly summarise the purpose of the study, as well as what were you required to do as a participant [approx. 200 words]
- What were the dependent and independent variable/s?
- Identify at least ONE way that the researcher could have improved the project’s research design. Please provide a justification for this idea (i.e., provide a brief comment why the issue you addressed might have implications for the validity of the results of the study) – see below for potential areas to address [approx. 200 words]
The list of questions below may help you assess the project’s validity; however, you are welcome to discuss issues not on the list provided. Questions for consideration include:
- Was the language used by the task/survey appropriate? Could you understand the question/s and what was being asked of you? Do you think that someone else could have easily understood the requirement/s (e.g., could a person's education, culture, etc., affect the understanding of the materials used?)?
- How engaged were you at different stages of the experiment (e.g., was the time taken to complete your participation too long?)?
- Do you feel that the task/s you were required to complete got an accurate snapshot of you, in relation to what the researchers of the study were trying to measure – or were the questions asked/task requirements outside the scope of the aims of the study?
- Reflect on one’s experiences in order to identify and articulate one’s personal and sociocultural values as well as demonstrate insightful awareness of one’s feelings, motives, and attitudes.
- Communication
- Information Literacy
2 Written Assessment
A list of psychological experiments, and information relating to these, will be made available on the Moodle site after the lecture in Week 1 of term. This assessment requires you to (a) select and research ONE of the ten listed psychological experiments in detail, and (b) write and submit ONE 500 word (+/- 10%) personal reflection on the experiment, according to the Marking Criteria.
This assignment is your chance to add your thoughts and analysis to what you have read and experienced. This piece of writing is meant to illustrate your understanding of the experiment (for example, the ethical implications of why and how it was done), and how it affects your ideas, and how it may possiblly affect your practice in future.
Vacation Week Monday (9 Apr 2018) 9:00 am AEST
Week 7 Monday (23 Apr 2018)
Assignments will be returned within two weeks of submission
This assessment will be graded out of 15 marks. Marks will be allocated, according to each of the following criteria:
- An understanding of the issues and ethics of the particular experiment are demonstrated (5 marks).
- Reference to personal experiences, situations, events, or new information is made (5 marks).
- Response is of sufficient length, and is written with good spelling and grammar (5 marks).
- Explain how the science and practice of psychology is influenced by social, historical, professional, and cultural contexts.
- Reflect on one’s experiences in order to identify and articulate one’s personal and sociocultural values as well as demonstrate insightful awareness of one’s feelings, motives, and attitudes.
- Communication
- Ethical practice
3 Critical Review
This task is designed to help you apply critical thinking principles when reviewing research articles.
You must apply critical evaluation skills and write a critique of a research paper that will be provided to you in Week 1 of term. When writing the review, you must use/answer the following questions (adapted from Dunn, 2013):
- What is the ‘problem,’ or issue, being addressed?
- Is the problem/issue worth investigating (why/why not?)?
- What is the main argument/hypotheses presented in this text?
- Think about the authors of this text – are they authoritative/expert? Do they have a biased agenda or perspective (did they declare a conflict of interest, and how might this impact the study or its findings?)? Is the text up-to-date?
- Have the key terms been properly defined (could a lay audience understand it?)?
- Are the key arguments based on sound theory (and what are the theories?)?
- Have testable hypotheses been proposed? What are they?
- Have alternative sides of the arguments been addressed (and how did the authors deal with them?)?
- Can you identify any fallacies in the arguments (are the arguments believable?)?
- Is the methodology ethically sound? What might some of the ethical issues be?
- Was the research methodology appropriate (e.g., does the study design enable the research question to be adequately tested?)?
- Have you identified who the participants were and how they were recruited? How might this influence the findings?
- Do the participants form a representative sample, and can the results be generalised to the wider target population with confidence?
- Have the appropriate analyses been used (e.g., have they answered the main research question/s?)?
- Are the results presented clearly (e.g., are data easy to follow?)?
- What are the major findings?
- Do the results support the hypotheses?
- Have you ruled out any alternative explanations for the results (what might some be?)?
- Are the conclusions based on logical reasoning (are you convinced by the author's conclusions?)?
- Has the study made an important contribution to the research topic? If so, what is it?
Week 9 Tuesday (8 May 2018) 9:00 am AEST
Week 12 Monday (28 May 2018)
Assignments will be returned within two weeks of submission
This assessment will be graded out of 20. One (1) mark is allocated to each of the twenty (20) questions listed above. There is no word limit for this assessment, however, responses to each item must be given in at least one or two sentences: one word responses will not be accepted.
- Describe, apply and evaluate the different research methods used by psychologists
- Evaluate the quality of information, including differentiating empirical evidence from speculation.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
4 Online Quiz(zes)
Academic conventions and copyright law require that you acknowledge when you use the ideas of others. In most cases, this means stating which book or journal article is the source of an idea or quotation. There are many ways to present this information (referred to as referencing styles). In psychology, we use the American Psychological Association (or APA) referencing style. It is currently in its 6th version. All of your assessments in psychology will require the use of APA formatting and referencing. This task is designed to test your knowledge of the APA referencing style.
The quiz will consist of ten (10) multiple choice questions. Questions will be related to various aspects of the use of the APA referencing style (e.g., in-text citations, reference list). The quiz will be available from Monday Week 6 until Monday week 11, and you may complete the quiz at any time within this period. You will only be given one opportunity to complete the quiz. The quiz will not be timed.
Week 11 Monday (21 May 2018) 9:00 am AEST
Week 12 Monday (28 May 2018)
Feedback provided upon completion of the quiz
One (1) mark will be given for each correct response. The quiz is not timed, but you will only be given one opportunity to complete the quiz.
- Write a standard research report using American Psychological Association (APA) structure and formatting conventions.
- Information Literacy
5 Report
The aim of this assessment is to enable you to practice writing and preparing a research report. You should be able to demonstrate that you can critically evaluate the literature on a given topic, communicate a research aim, construct a hypothesis, and discuss research findings. You will be required to complete a survey provided by the course coordinator over the first two weeks of the term. Results of the experiment will be made available in Week 5.
You will be required to write a 1500-2000 word research report on this data including an abstract, introduction and literature review (brief), a methods and procedure section, a results section, a discussion section, and a reference list. No statistical analysis will be required (this will be provided to you); however, some general descriptive data may need to be calculated (e.g., demographic data, and basic means and standard deviations for some variables). For the literature review five (5) references will be provided to you, but at least five (5) more must be found, and referred to, in your report. The report must be written in APA format.
Week 12 Friday (1 June 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Exam Week Friday (15 June 2018)
Students will receive feedback within two weeks of submission
The report will be graded out of 50 marks. Marks are divided according to the following criteria:
- Title: 2 marks
- Abstract (summary of research and findings): 5 marks
- Introduction (discussion of research problem, aims, hypotheses): 10 marks
- Methods (subjects, methodology, procedure): 6 marks
- Results (clarity of reporting, inclusion of appropriate graphs/tables, summary of findings): 6 marks
- Discussion (summary of findings, implications, criticisms, future directions): 10 marks
- References (using APA style, including 5 additional references): 6 marks
- General (formatting, style, spelling, etc.): 5 marks
More detail (and marking rubric) will be provided on the Moodle site.
- Describe, apply and evaluate the different research methods used by psychologists
- Evaluate the quality of information, including differentiating empirical evidence from speculation.
- Write a standard research report using American Psychological Association (APA) structure and formatting conventions.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Technology Competence
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
