Delivered at:: School of Psychology

Course type:: Elective course

When:: 2 year, 1-3 module

Instructors

Galyapina, Victoria N.

Lebedeva, Nadezhda

Lepshokova, Zarina

Full Syllabus

Abstract

The course is designed for master students, and is based on the previously learned courses (“Social psychology”, “Cross-cultural psychology”, “Research Methods in Psychology” and “Experimental psychology”). The research seminar of the 1st year is aimed to facilitate students' work during first several stages of planning and conducting the research. During the 1st year students will learn about the standards of contemporary scientific research, will know how to plan and organize their own research in the area of social and cross-cultural psychology, will develop their own project proposals, will train to create convincing presentations of their studies in order to participate in the scientific discussion. During the second year, students consistently prepare their master's theses and discuss with teacher and group parts of their work: plan of empirical research, research tools, results of preliminary mathematical processing, final results of mathematical processing, text of the dissertation. Novelty of this two-years course lies in the facts that (1) the course is aimed to integrate international and Russian standards of scientific work, which is a new practice in the training of master students in the field of psychology in Russia; (2) the integration is achieved through the adjustment of APA standards for conducting and presenting psychological study to the requirements of Higher School of Economics for master’s thesis; (3) course format is usual for master students training in Higher School of Economics, however it does not have analogues for master students training in “Social and Cross-Cultural Psychology” area in Russia. Methodical novelty of the course may be explained in terms of (1) use of reviews as an instrument for understanding and differentiating a good quality research; (2) group discussions at all stages of the development of students’ research projects (this gives students a unique opportunity to receive feedback not only from teachers, but also from the group, which helps to understand the weaknesses of the project, and improve it); (3) all work is organized in a way that students can always connect the tasks with their own research interest, which increases students’ motivation significantly.

Learning Objectives

To help students to develop their own research projects;
To introduce to students the international standards of good quality research in the field of social and cross-cultural psychology;
To develop students' abilities to participate in the scientific discussion;
To teach students how to plan and organize their own research.
The 2nd year research seminar is aimed to introduce the international standards of good quality research in the field of social and cross-cultural psychology to students. During the seminar students will learn how to develop their own research projects, how to plan and organize their own research in the area of social and cross-cultural psychology. They also will obtain the skills of participation in scientific discussions. Specific topics addressed are: (1) Relevance of methods and data processing to hypotheses of the study; (2) Development a questionnaire or design of experiment for main study; (3) Development of the project proposal: revised structure and content; (4) Development of a timetable with the description on stages and timing of main research; (5) Data collection and analysis; (6) Finalizing of master theses; (7) Development of the skills of presentation of master theses.

Expected Learning Outcomes

Are able to critically analyze existing theories and articles in order to generate own text
Are able to describe and justify chosen research design and methodology
Are able to formulate problem statement, research questions, and hypotheses of the proposed study
Are able to participate in the scientific discussion
Are able to present effectively the results of the study
Are able to structure scientific text in a coherent way
Know how to develop their own research projects
Know how to plan and organize their own research
Know the international standards of high quality research in the fields of social and cross-cultural psychology
Students are able to assess the correctness of applying the selected processing methods to the data, which were obtained
Students are able to collect empirical data after approval of the study plan at the workshop
Students are able to critically analyze and discuss empirical methods of each student’ thesis
Students are able to describe of methods, sample and time frames of the empirical study
Students are able to understand whether the selected design is adequate to test the proposed hypotheses
Students are able to understand whether the selected design is adequate to test the proposed hypotheses. Students are able to prepare questionnaires.
Students are able to use in their research the latest methods of mathematical- statistical data (SEM, multilevel analysis).
Students possess techniques of group discussions, brainstorming to discuss novelty of master dissertation, formulation of research problem, and research hypotheses.

Course Contents

First year, topic 1. Writing an introduction
After students finish the classess dedicated to the topic 1 , they write the 1st test.
First year, topic 2. Writing a theoretical overview: information search and quality standards
After students finish the classess dedicated to the topic 2 , they write the 2nd test.
First year, topic 3. Research design and methods in social psychology
After students finish the classess dedicated to the topic 3 , they write the 3rd test.
First year, topic 4. Finalizing a year essay
Second year, topic 1. Writing and discussing the project proposal of the research in the master thesis.
Second year, topic 2. Developing a design of empirical study, questionnaire’s preparation.
Second year, topic 3. Critical analysis of planned master study methodology.
Second year, topic 4. Discussing research design of the master thesis.
Second year, topic 5. Analysis and discussion of sampling plan of the master study.
Second year, topic 6. Discussing final plan of empirical study of master thesis.
Second year, topic 7. Presentation of first results of mathematical-statistical analysis of empirical study.
Second year, topic 8. Presentation of final results of mathematical-statistical analysis from empirical study.
Second year, topic 9. Preliminary defense of the master thesis.

Assessment Elements

Test on the 1st topic
Only students who have passed the 1st home task are allowed to take the 1st test.
Test on the 2nd topic
Only students who have passed the 2nd home task are allowed to take the 2nd test.
Test on the 3rd topic
Only students who have passed the 3rd home task are allowed to take the 3rd test.
Test on the 4th topic
Only students who have passed the 4th home task are allowed to take the 4th test.
Participation in class activities
Students may get a detailed feedback from the tutors on particular parts of their term paper during the relevant class activities or during the consultations. However, tutors will not give any feedback just in a written form via e-mail except for some special cases related with students absence due to some valid reason.
Predefence of term paper
In the period of pandemic pre-defense is conducted on the MS Teams platform. Students must connect to the pre-defense according to the schedule of presentations created beforehand. The student's computer must meet the following requirements: a working camera and microphone, and MS Teams support. To participate in the pre-defense, the student must: appear for the pre-defense according to the exact schedule, and turn on the camera and microphone when answering. During the pre-defense, students can turn off the camera only if its use worsen the connection, and can use notes. A short-term connection failure is considered to be any connection failure during the pre-defense which gives student a possibility to continue showing the presentation of the term paper during the scheduled time. A long-term connection failure is considered to be a connection failure which doesn’t give student any possibility to continue showing the presentation of the term paper during the scheduled time. If there is a long-term connection failure, the student cannot continue to participate in the pre-defense. The retake procedure involves the use of the same task and procedure.
Final presentation of the method section
Presentation of the final version of the method section and questionnaire/interview guide + word file with description of the method section and questionnaire/interview guide
Presentation the results of data collection
Description of the sample, procedure, measures with examples of questions indicators of suitability (Cronbach' alpha, CFA, etc.), descriptive statistics
Preliminary defense of master thesis
Manuscript of Master Thesis + presentation of Master Thesis.

Interim Assessment

2021/2022 4th module
0.2 * Participation in class activities + 0.15 * Test on the 3rd topic + 0.15 * Test on the 1st topic + 0.15 * Test on the 4th topic + 0.2 * Predefence of term paper + 0.15 * Test on the 2nd topic
2022/2023 2nd module
0.5 * Final presentation of the method section + 0.5 * Presentation the results of data collection
2022/2023 3rd module
1 * Preliminary defense of master thesis

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Beins, B. (2012). APA Style Simplified : Writing in Psychology, Education, Nursing, and Sociology (Vol. 1st ed). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=443323
Benefits and challenges of qualitative methodologies in cross-cultural psychology studies. (2016). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsnar&AN=edsnar.oai.dspace.library.uu.nl.1874.350860
Coolican, H. (2014). Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology (Vol. Sixth edition). East Sussex: Psychology Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=753537
Cross-cultural methods of research. (2016). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483346274
Davidson, L. (2007). Qualitative research methods in psychology: Introduction through empirical studies. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 38(1), 151–154. https://doi.org/10.1163/156916207X190292
Goodwin, C. J., & Goodwin, K. A. (2017). Research in Psychology : Methods and Design (Vol. Eighth edition). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1639428
Green, B. N., Johnson, C. D., & Adams, A. (2006). Writing narrative literature reviews for peer-reviewed journals: secrets of the trade. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.86A0B01A
Improving the conduct and reporting of statistical analysis in psychology. (2016). Psychometrika, 81(1), 33–38. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11336-015-9444-2
Making methods meet: Mixed designs in cross-cultural research. (2010). Wiley. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsnar&AN=edsnar.oai.tilburguniversity.edu.publications.161d7038.6df1.45ee.8728.12d0d1571ba9
McGuire, W. J. (1997). Creative hypothesis generating in psychology: Some useful heuristics. Annual Review of Psychology, 48(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.48.1.1
References/Bibliography APA Based on the “Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association ” 6 th edition. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.BC8916D8
Rosenthal, R., & DiMatteo, M. R. (2001). META-ANALYSIS: Recent Developments in Quantitative Methods for Literature Reviews. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 59. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.59
Sullivan, G. B. (2008). Dennis Howitt & Duncan Cramer (2005). Introduction to Research Methods in Psychology. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 9(1), 1–6. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=sih&AN=29973411
Susan B. Smith. (2012). A Guide for Writing APA Style Research Papers. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.BCE37201
Ted Gournelos, Joshua R. Hammonds, & Maridath A. Wilson. (2019). Doing Academic Research : A Practical Guide to Research Methods and Analysis. Routledge.
Twenge, J. (2014). PSY 610 Advanced Research Methods in Psychology. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.75746F4E
Use APA style, 6th edition. (2015). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.523B4292
White, L. (2005). Writes of Passage: Writing an Empirical Journal Article. Journal of Marriage & Family, 67(4), 791–798. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2005.00175.x

Recommended Additional Bibliography

Advanced research methods in psychology, Giles, D. C., 2004
Aneas, M. A., & Sandín, M. P. (2012). Intercultural and Cross-Cultural Communication Research: Some Reflections about Culture and Qualitative Methods. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.F35BECF0
Cross-cultural research methods in sociology. (2015) (Vol. 5). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-097086-8.44014-6
Gavin, H. (2008). Understanding Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications Ltd. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=518813
Hastings, C., & Herbert, B. E. (2016). Effective Strategies in Writing and Research: Workshop Presentations. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.29A7997F
Horst, J. S. (2016). The Psychology Research Companion : From Student Project to Working Life. London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1067605
Howitt, D. (2016). Research Methods in Psychology. [N.p.]: Pearson. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1419871
Janusheva, V. (2017). Choice and Formulation of the Topic in the Five-Paragraph Essay and Quality of the Students’ Written Expression in Rm. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.2BC3AF8
Javalgi, R. (Raj) G., Granot, E., & Brashear Alejandro, T. G. (2011). Qualitative Methods in International Sales Research: Cross-Cultural Considerations. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 31(2), 157–170. https://doi.org/10.2753/PSS0885-3134310204
Kaul, A. (2005). The Effective Presentation : Talk Your Way To Success. New Delhi: Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=283706
Langdridge, D., & Hagger-Johnson, G. (2013). Introduction to Research Methods and Data Analysis in Psychology 3rd Edn : UEL (Vol. Third edition). Harlow: Pearson. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1417938
Monica W. Tracey, & Kelly L. Unger. (2010). Cross Cultural Instruction: An Instructional Design Case. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.23B5A631
Patten, M. L. (2017). Educational and Psychological Research : A Cross-Section of Journal Articles for Analysis and Evaluation (Vol. Third edition). London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1360606
Read, K. (2015). Formatting a Paper in APA Style. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.D9B32F60
Valery Chirkov. (2015). Fundamentals of Research on Culture and Psychology : Theory and Methods. Routledge.
Wagner, W., Hansen, K., & Kronberger, N. (2014). Quantitative and qualitative research across cultures and languages: cultural metrics and their application. Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 48(4), 418–434. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-014-9269-z
Ylijoki, O.-H. (2001). Master’s Thesis Writing from a Narrative Approach. Studies in Higher Education, 26(1), 21–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070020030698

Master’s Programme 'Applied Social Psychology'

Research Seminar "Social and Cross-cultural Psychology"