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 - 2021
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 Student feedback via 'Have Your Say'
"A good aspect of this unit is the breakdown of weekly lectures and how they were uploaded in 3-4 parts that thoroughly covered the weekly the topics. This prevented having to sit through a 2+ hour lecture each week."
Continue splitting the lecture videos for each weekly topics into digestible parts.
Feedback from Student feedback via 'Have Your Say'
"The questions in the APA quiz were quite tricky to read. It felt like they were trying to make it harder than necessary to understand what they wanted."
Review the quiz questions relating to APA referencing and formatting to ensure questions are relevant and instructions are clear.
Feedback from Student feedback via 'Have Your Say'
"...a guide on how to juggle multiple research journals at the same time for the report would be nice."
Provide resources and advice for searching, managing and utilising journal articles for preparing essays, literature reviews, and research reports.
- 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
- 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 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) - 15% | ||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 15% | ||||
| 3 - Critical Review - 20% | ||||
| 4 - Report - 50% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 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 - First Nations Knowledges | ||||
| 11 - 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 | 11 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) - 15% | |||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 15% | |||||||||||
| 3 - Critical Review - 20% | |||||||||||
| 4 - Report - 50% | |||||||||||
Textbooks
Psychology Research Methods
- Edition: 1st (2018)
- Authors: Lorelle J. Burton, C. James Goodwin, Kerri A. Goodwin, Paul E. Jose, John Reece, Judith Gullifer, Amanda Lambros, Mohammed Mussa, Andrea Lamont-Mills
- Wiley
- ISBN: 978-0-730-36325-5
- Binding: Paperback
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
- Edition: 7th (2019)
- American Psychological Association
- ISBN: 978-1-4338-3216-1
- Binding: Paperback
Additional Textbook Information
The prescribed textbook forms an integral part of this unit. The book, which comes as an eCopy or hard copy, can be purchased for around $50-$60 from the CQU bookshop, online bookstores, or direct from the publisher.
Although not required, we strongly encourage you to obtain a copy of the APA publication manual, as it will be a valuable aid for the study of all undergraduate psychology units (including this one).
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Zoom account (Free)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
b.p.smith@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 08 Mar 2021Module/Topic
The science of 'knowing'
Chapter
Chapter 1: The scientific method
Refer to Moodle site for additional recommended reading material
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 2
Begin Date: 15 Mar 2021Module/Topic
Ethical research
Chapter
Chapter 2: Ethics
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 3
Begin Date: 22 Mar 2021Module/Topic
Experimental research
Chapter
Chapter 3: Measurement and validity
Chapter 10: Hypothesis testing and inferential statistics (pp. 279-285)
Refer to Moodle site for additional recommended reading material
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 4
Begin Date: 29 Mar 2021Module/Topic
Observations and surveys
Chapter
Chapter 4: Types of observational analysis
Refer to Moodle site for additional recommended reading material
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 5
Begin Date: 05 Apr 2021Module/Topic
Correlations and quasi-experimental designs
Chapter
Chapter 8: Variations on experimental design
Chapter 9: Correlational research
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 12 Apr 2021Module/Topic
No lecture (vacation week)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
No chat sessions scheduled this week
Week 6
Begin Date: 19 Apr 2021Module/Topic
Navigating the scientific literature: How to find and read journal articles
Chapter
Chapter 12: 'Finding research literature' (pp. 335-370)
Refer to Moodle site for required reading material
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 7
Begin Date: 26 Apr 2021Module/Topic
Critically evaluating research evidence
Chapter
Dunn (2013). Searching and reading the psychological literature (Chapter 3) from 'The practical researcher: A student guide to conducting psychological research'
Refer to Moodle site for required reading material
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 8
Begin Date: 03 May 2021Module/Topic
APA referencing and formatting
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 9
Begin Date: 10 May 2021Module/Topic
Preparing research reports
Chapter
Chapter 12: 'APA guidelines for reporting research' (pp. 326-334)
Chapter 12: 'Preparing a written report' (pp. 344-355)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 10
Begin Date: 17 May 2021Module/Topic
Qualitative research methods
Chapter
Chapter 11: Qualitative methods
Braun and Clarke (2013). Ten fundamentals of qualitative research (pages 19-41) from 'Successful qualitative research'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 11
Begin Date: 24 May 2021Module/Topic
Descriptive statistics
Chapter
Chapter 5: Collecting and organising data (descriptive statistics)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 12
Begin Date: 31 May 2021Module/Topic
Introduction to inferential statistics
Chapter
Chapter 6: Experimental design 1
Chapter 7: Experimental design 2
Events and Submissions/Topic
Review/Exam Week
Begin Date: 07 Jun 2021Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 14 Jun 2021Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 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 400 (min) to 550 (max) word 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 possibly affect your practice in future. You are not required to include references.
Week 5 Tuesday (6 Apr 2021) 9:00 am AEST
To be submitted in Moodle by Tuesday April 6, 9:00am AEST (week 5).
You will receive feedback two weeks after 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 a particular experiment is demonstrated (5 marks).
- Reference to personal experiences, situations, events, or new information is made (5 marks).
- The response is of sufficient length (i.e. adheres to word limit) and is written with good spelling and grammar (5 marks).
- Evaluate the quality of information, including differentiating empirical evidence from speculation
- 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
2 Critical Review
This task is designed to help you gain familiarity with journal articles, and applying critical thinking principles when reviewing research articles.
Using the list of ten (10) questions provided, you must apply your critical evaluation skills to write a critique of a research paper. The article will be provided to you in Week 1 of the term. Provide a response to each of the questions (in a Question and Answer style format). There is no word count.
Week 10 Monday (17 May 2021) 9:00 am AEST
To be submitted in Moodle by Monday May 17, 9:00am AEST (week 10).
You will receive feedback two weeks after submission.
This assessment will be graded out of 20. Two (2) marks will be allocated to each of the ten (10) questions. There is no word limit for this assessment, however, responses must be adequately addressed (e.g., responses to each item must be given in at least one or two sentences).
- Evaluate the quality of information, including differentiating empirical evidence from speculation
- 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.
- Critical Thinking
3 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 7th 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 thirty (30) multiple-choice questions. Each question is worth 0.5 marks. Questions will be related to various aspects of the use of the APA referencing style (e.g., in-text citations, reference list, general formatting of documents). The quiz will be available from Monday Week 1 until Friday 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.
1
Other
Week 11 Friday (28 May 2021) 9:00 am AEST
Quiz will remain available from Monday of week 1, and close on Friday of week 11 (9:00am AEST).
Marks will be provided to you at the completion of the quiz.
Half a mark (0.5) mark will be given for each correct response. There are a total of 30 questions. The quiz is not timed, but you will only be given one opportunity to complete the quiz.
- Describe, apply and evaluate the different research methods used by psychologists
- Write a standard research report using American Psychological Association (APA) structure and formatting conventions
- Information Literacy
4 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. A research topic and survey will be developed as a class. You will be required to complete the survey during the first few weeks of the term. Results of the experiment will be made available during the term so that you can integrate them into your report.
You will be required to write a 1500 (min) to 2000 (max) word research report on this data including an abstract, introduction, and brief literature review, 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 7th format.
Week 12 Friday (4 June 2021) 11:55 pm AEST
To be submitted in Moodle by Friday June 4, 11:55pm AEST (week 12).
You will receive feedback two weeks after submission.
The report will be graded out of 50 marks. Marks are divided according to the following criteria:
- Title: 2 marks
- Abstract: 5 marks
- Introduction: 10 marks
- Methods: 8 marks
- Results: 4 marks
- Discussion: 10 marks
- References: 6 marks
- General (formatting, style, spelling, word count): 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
- Write a standard research report using American Psychological Association (APA) structure and formatting conventions
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Ethical practice
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?
