PSY-30061 - Module Specification
School of Psychology
Faculty of Natural Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2024/25

The Final Year Project module, which runs over Autumn and Spring Semesters, offers the opportunity to put into practice all the scholarship and research methods skills developed over the Psychology Course. Successful completion of the Final Year Project is a prerequisite for a psychology degree to confer British Psychological Society Chartership, which is necessary to pursue any professional career in psychology. You will identify a supervisor from Psychology Academic Staff with specialist knowledge in an area in which they wish to conduct research. After consulting with your supervisor, you will design, conduct and write-up a piece of original empirical work. You will also engage in a project planning discussion with your supervisors about your research project at the end of the first semester. The Project Research Report and project planning discussion marks contribute to the module assessment, while the academic, logical, numerical, IT, communication and organizational skills developed and practiced on this module are vital for postgraduate study in psychology and are regarded highly by potential employers.

The aim of this module is to give students the opportunity to carry out and report a sound empirical investigation of a research topic of personal interest to the student.

Intended Learning Outcomes

design research complying with BPS ethical requirements, which is required for study approval by the School of Psychology Student Project Ethics Committee: 1,2,4
select, locate and critically review a pertinent research literature to identify gaps in existing knowledge: 2,4
initiate and design an empirical study that tests the research hypotheses/questions identified: 2,4
develop stimuli/materials pertinent to the research question: 4
identify and communicate key aspects of their project to an informed audience using visual and verbal presentation skills: 2,3
collect data, select and carry out an appropriate form of analysis: 4
discuss the implications of the results and critically evaluate the quality of the research: 3,4
write up their project research following APA report writing conventions: 4
critically review and assess contemporary scientific understanding of a chosen area of psychology from which the student can develop hypotheses or research questions that can be tested empirically within the time available: 2,3,4
Conduct themselves in a professional manner throughout the duration of their project (for example, record-keeping, contributing in meetings, engaging in planning/discussions, time-keeping etc): 5

Study hours

300 hours:
Supervision - 10 hours
Skills workshops - 11 hours
Poster Mini-Viva - 1 hour (maximum)
Independent study (including applying for ethical approval, preparing project poster, private study, data collection and report preparation) 278 hours.

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment