Your Undergraduate Psychology Project : A BPS

Your Undergraduate Psychology Project: A BPS Guide has been designed with the needs of the student in mind. Packed with hints and tips, and written in a simple, informal style, this 'second supervisor' is designed to ease you further into the world of research.

Mark Forshaw is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Leeds Metropolitan University. He is a Chartered Health Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He is the author of Essential Health Psychology (2002), Advanced Psychology: Health Psychology (2003) and Understanding Headaches and Migraines (2004).

Preface

ix

Acknowledgements

xi

1 PLANNING RESEARCH

1

(50)

Choosing a Research Topic

1

(4)

The Textbook Method

2

(1)

The Television Method

3

(1)

The Pub Chat or Coffee Bar Method

4

(1)

The Internet Method

4

(1)

Think Again!

5

(1)

Self-Interest

5

(1)

Replication Versus Novelty

6

(1)

Pure Versus Applied Research

7

(1)

Researching the Project: Finding Literature

8

(6)

Using Internet Search Engines

8

(1)

Snowballing and Searching via Citations

9

(1)

Using Electronic Databases

10

(1)

Boolean Operators

11

(1)

Narrowing Searches

12

(1)

Storing Search Results

13

(1)

How Many References?

13

(1)

Statistics on the Internet

14

(1)

Choosing a Method

14

(9)

Single-Case Designs

15

(1)

Case Studies

16

(1)

Choosing Qualitative Methods

16

(4)

Differences or Relationships?

20

(1)

Primary or Secondary Data?

20

(1)

Observational Methods

21

(1)

Protocol Analysis

22

(1)

Multiple Methods

23

(1)

Control Groups

23

(1)

Matching Methods to Analysis

24

(1)

Power Analysis

25

(1)

Developing Materials

25

(9)

Experimental Stimuli

26

(1)

Questionnaires

27

(4)

Looking Professional

31

(1)

Interviews

32

(1)

Cross-cultural Studies and Translation of Materials

33

(1)

'Borrowing' Materials

34

(1)

The Internet as a Research Tool

35

(1)

Managing Time: Keeping on Track

36

(6)

Start Early

36

(1)

Match the Project to the Time Available

36

(1)

Over-planning

37

(1)

Plan B

37

(2)

Response Rates

39

(1)

Your Supervisor's Time

40

(1)

Project Milestones

40

(1)

Tips on Managing Time

41

(1)

Writing a Proposal

42

(2)

Research Ethics

44

(4)

Informed Consent

45

(1)

Undue Pressure

45

(1)

Deception

46

(1)

Protection of Participants from Harm and 'Acceptable' Risk

46

(1)

Incentives

46

(1)

Withdrawal

46

(1)

Confidentiality

47

(1)

Debriefing

47

(1)

Personal Safety

47

(1)

Obtaining Ethical Clearance

48

(1)

Getting Started

49

(2)

2 DOING RESEARCH: COLLECTING DATA

51

(22)

Student-Supervisor Relations

51

(2)

Pilot Studies

53

(1)

Dealing with People

54

(10)

Being an Ambassador

55

(2)

Working with Participants

57

(6)

When Participants Don't Understand or Make Mistakes

63

(1)

Conducting Interviews: The Practicalities

64

(1)

Observational Studies

64

(1)

Relying on Equipment

65

(1)

Making Backups

66

(1)

Adjusting Your Project Milestones

66

(1)

Taking Part Yourself

67

(1)

Revisiting Data

68

(1)

Transcribing Interviews

68

(1)

The Paper Trail

69

(1)

Knowing When to Stop

70

(1)

Data Preparation

70

(1)

Conducting Statistical Analyses

71

(2)

3 WRITING UP RESEARCH

73

(44)

An Overview

74

(1)

Notes on Style

74

(1)

A Note on Plagiarism

75

(1)

Section by Section

76

(27)

Title

76

(2)

Abstract

78

(1)

Introduction

79

(3)

Method

82

(8)

Replicability

90

(1)

Results

90

(5)

Discussion

95

(4)

Generalising Your Findings

99

(1)

References

100

(3)

Appendices

103

(1)

Qualitative Reports

103

(3)

The First Person

104

(1)

Introduction

104

(1)

Methods

104

(1)

Results/Analysis/Discussion

105

(1)

First, Second and Third Drafts

106

(1)

Common Mistakes

107

(7)

Affect and Effect

107

(1)

Data

108

(1)

Experiment and Study

108

(1)

Joining Words Together

108

(1)

Incorrect Apostrophes

108

(1)

Incorrect Sentences

109

(1)

Latin Phrases and Other Borrowings

110

(1)

Non-significant

111

(1)

Number and Amount

111

(1)

Prefixes

112

(1)

Presenting Numbers

112

(1)

Proof

112

(1)

Reporting Probabilities

113

(1)

Separating Words

113

(1)

Significant Differences

113

(1)

Spelling IV and DV

114

(1)

When It's All Over

114

(3)

References

117

(2)

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Your Undergraduate Psychology Project : A BPS Guide

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

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