Handbook : Unit informationEdith Cowan University

Faculty of Health, Engineering and Science

School: Psychology and Social Science

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

• Unit Title

  Research Skills

• Unit Code

  PSY5128

• Year

  2015

• Enrolment Period

  1

• Version

  2

• Credit Points

  15

• Full Year Unit

  N

• Mode of Delivery

  On Campus
  Online

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Description

The aim of this unit is to consolidate and extend knowledge of research methods gained at undergraduate levels. The course assumes competence with basic descriptive and inferential statistics and with elementary research designs. Students will apply this knowledge to critical appraisals of relevant research domains and to generating researchable questions. Students will further their knowledge of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) through an intensive residential school.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

1. Critically evaluate reported research in terms of methodology, design, analysis and conclusions.
2. Demonstrate an awareness of ethical principles in the conduct of research and professional practice.
3. Demonstrate competence in the interpretation and reporting of both manual and computerised data output.
4. Generate research questions in relevant domains.
5. Propose appropriate research designs to examine research questions.
6. Select and apply appropriate statistical tools for data analysis, including multivariate and other advanced techniques.

Unit Content

1. Critical examination of a range of research methods and research designs used in psychology, including qualitative techniques.
2. Ethical issues in research and professional practice. Policy of Edith Cowan University for the conduct of ethical research involving human subjects. Code of professional conduct of the Australian Psychological Society.
3. Introduction to SPSS for Windows.
4. Introduction to other advanced statistical techniques, such as: Cluster Analysis, Multidimensional Scaling, Discriminant Analysis, Canonical Correlation, and Causal Modelling.
5. Students are expected to review basic research designs (experimental and quasi experimental; survey research methods; observational methods), and basic statistical techniques: descriptive and inferential analysis including parametric and nonparametric methods, measures of central tendency, measures of variance, t tests, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Chi Square, Correlation, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis.
6. The development of a research proposal to answer research questions including a review of the literature, hypotheses (research questions), method and proposed analysis.
7. The identification of research questions in relevant domains from course units.
8. Use of advanced statistical techniques: Multiple regression, Multivariate Analysis of Variance and Covariance (MANOVA and MANCOVA), and Factor Analysis.

Additional Learning Experience Information

Online delivery supported by discussion groups, study modules and prescribed texts with an on-campus residential school (Joondalup campus).

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant Board of Examiners.

Text References

• ^ Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using SPSS (4th ed.). London: Sage.
• Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2014). Using Multivariate Statistics (6th ed.). Harlow, Essex: Pearson.

Journal References

• Multivariate Behavioural Research

^ Mandatory reference

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