Your Undergraduate Psychology Project

Mark Forshaw is Director of Endpoint Development and Outcomes Assessment at Adelphi Values, UK, having previously been a Principal Lecturer and Deputy Director of the Centre for Health Psychology at Staffordshire University. He is Chair of the BPS Membership Standards Board, and a Trustee of the BPS, and the winner of the BPS Division of Health Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Advancement of Health Psychology 2011. He is the author of many books, including Critical Thinking for Psychology: A Student Guide (Wiley, 2012).

• Preface xiAcknowledgements xiii1. Planning Research 1Choosing a Research Topic 1The textbook method 2The television method 3The pub chat or coffee bar method 4The internet method 5The lecturer method 5Think again! 5Self-interest 6Replication versus Novelty 7Pure versus Applied Research 8Researching the Project: Finding Literature 9Using internet search engines 10Snowballing and searching via citations 10Using electronic databases 12Boolean operators 12Narrowing searches 13How many references? 15Statistics on the internet 16Choosing a Method 16Single-case designs 17Case studies 17Choosing qualitative methods 18Differences or relationships? 21Primary or secondary data? 22Observational methods 23Protocol analysis 24Multiple methods 25Control Groups 25Matching Methods to Analysis 26Power Analysis 27To Pilot or Not to Pilot 28Developing Materials 29Experimental stimuli 29Questionnaires 31Looking professional 35Interviews 36Cross-cultural studies and translation of materials 39‘Borrowing’ Materials 40The Internet as a Research Tool 40Managing Time: Keeping on Track 42Start early 42Match the project to the time available 42Overplanning 43Plan B 43Response rates 45Your supervisor’s time 46Project milestones 46Tips on managing time 47Writing a Proposal 51Research Ethics 52Informed consent 53Undue pressure 55Deception 55Protection of participants from harm and ‘acceptable’ risk 55Incentives 56Withdrawal 56Confidentiality 56Debriefing 57Personal safety 57Obtaining Ethical Clearance 58Getting Started 592. Doing Research: Collecting Data 61Student–Supervisor Relations 62Pilot Studies 65Dealing with People 66Being an ambassador 67Working with participants 70When participants don’t understand or make mistakes 75Conducting Interviews: The Practicalities 76Focus Groups 77Observational Studies 78Relying on Equipment 81Making Back-ups 81Adjusting Your Project Milestones 82Taking Part Yourself 82Revisiting Data 83Transcribing Interviews 84The Paper Trail 85Knowing When to Stop 86Data Preparation 86Conducting Statistical Analyses 873. Writing Up Research 91An Overview 92Notes on Style 93A Note on Plagiarism 94Section by Section 96Title 96Abstract 99Introduction 100Method 103Replicability 112Results 113Discussion 120Generalising your findings 123References 124Appendices 128Qualitative Reports 129The first person 129Introduction 130Methods 130Results/Analysis/Discussion 131First, Second and Third Drafts 132Common Mistakes 133Affect and effect 134Data 134Experiment and study 134Joining words together 134Incorrect apostrophes 135Incorrect sentences 136Latin phrases and other borrowings 137Non-significant 137Number and amount 137Prefixes 138Presenting numbers 139Proof 139Reporting probabilities 140Separating words 140Significant diff erences 141Spelling IV and DV 141When It’s All Over 1434. How To Lose Marks Instantly 145List of Things NOT to do! 145Go it alone and ignore your supervisor’s advice 145Be precious about your work 146Ignore the required format 146Conduct research with no point to it 146Bite off more than you can chew 147Ignore relevant literature, or fail to look hard enough for it 147Run out of time 147Use the wrong reference format 148Argue yourself out of a perfectly good result 148Plagiarise 149Conduct the wrong analysis 149Collect data without ethical approval 149Set out the entire project with a massive design flaw in it 150The Moral of the Tale 150References 151Further Reading 153Index 155