PSYM222
Research Methods
Practical Report
Required Task
You will write a practical report with a word count of 2000 words. The practical report is worth 50% of the course mark. The 2000-word limit is very strict, and there will be a 5% penalty for going over, plus a further 5% penalty for every 50 words thereafter. Thus, a report of 2400 words would receive a mark of 0.
Your task is to use the headings listed below to structure your practical report. The report must adhere to American Psychological Association (7th Edition) for formatting and referencing. Please refer to resources on the ELE, and
https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/tutorials-webinars
This task does not require you to conduct your own study. Instead, you will write a report based on a study information provided to you (e.g., research questions, methods, participant details, interview excerpts).
The below documents will help you complete the report:
1. Assignment brief (current document) describing the task and marking criteria
2. Report template outlining and specifying parts of the report
3. Study description detailing the key information about the study, including potential research questions
4. Interview excerpts with highlighted themes
The goal of this assignment is for you to experience writing a report about a qualitative research study. The quality of your interview analysis is not assessed.
Proposed structure of the practical report:
Title page
Introduction
Method
Design
Participants
Data collection
Procedure
Data analysis
Ethical considerations
Results
Discussion
References
Appendices
Title: You will be provided with a research topic and will develop this into a research question during the practical sessions on this module. Your title should concisely describe the proposed research in no more than 12 words. The title page is not included in the word count. Note, you must submit this report anonymously so do not include your name anywhere on the report (see also submission information below).
Introduction: Around 600 words (suggested word count)
Think of your introduction in terms of a funnel. You must start with research in the general area of your topic. You should use relevant research to support your argument. By the end of your introduction, you should have narrowed down your literature to focus on the particular aspect you want to write about.
In your introduction, consider answering the following questions:
Why is this topic important? What do we know about the topic? Where is the gap in the literature?
Your introduction should end with your research question(s) (it is fine to have more than one). You should ensure that your research question is informed by the psychological literature which you will review in your introduction.
As this is a qualitative report, and typically qualitative research is more exploratory, you may not have any predictions (which are more common in quantitative studies). However, if the literature you review suggests certain themes and relationships within your topic, you could include them and specify how this study contributes to the existing literature. For example, are you exploring if the same themes come up in a specific context or for a specific population?
Method: 300 - 600 words (suggested word count)
You will not collect data and so this section will describe the methods used to collect the interview data you are provided with: you will build the report on a Study description (document 3), including participant details, and Interview excerpts (document 4) that you will analyse.
Design: State and justify the approach to the study. Describe it’s design. This section is brief.
Participants: You should describe the characteristics of your sample (Number of participants; age; gender; etc), and any other information relevant to your research question.
You might like to present this information in a table. Details presented in a table are excluded from the overall word count.
Data collection: Briefly describe the measures and how they were developed. Was an existing interview schedule used? Was it based on previous research? Was a new interview protocol used? Was it piloted? Were there any adjustments to the interview schedule following the pilot?
You could include an example question from the interview schedule here but then provide further information in an Appendix, for example a screenshot or copy of the protocol. Be explicit about what you have included in any appendix and direct the reader. (E.g., A full list of the questions used in this study can be found in Appendix A).
Procedure: Here is where you describe the participants experience from start to finish. Keep this succinct. You should describe:
What strategies were used to recruit participants?
Where did the study take place and how long did it last?
Be mindful of detail – do not include irrelevant details. The procedure must be
detailed enough that any other researcher reading it could in theory replicate the study, but do not include irrelevant details.
Data analysis: You should describe the approach you take to analyse the provided interview extracts, the conventions used in this approach (with citations), and the necessary steps carried out in data analysis. This should be informed by previous research, so you should include a citation here.
Ethical considerations: Are there are any ethical considerations that need to be included here? (Hint – there are always ethical considerations so do not leave this section out). Take care not to repeat information here from other sections.
Results: 200-300 words (suggested word count)
You may be able to come up with many themes. For the purpose of this report, pick up only 1 (or max 2 themes) to report in the Results section. You will discuss this theme/finding in the Discussion section.
You will present your findings in the Results section and can choose either of the below approaches:
- a graphics to display relationships of key themes,
- a table to show your codes, categories and themes,
- or full coding scheme in the Appendices. Be explicit and guide your reader what information can be found in the Appendix, e.g., A full coding scheme (or mind
map of the codes and categories) can be found in Appendix B.
You will include a very plain description of the theme(s) that you identified. Include a quote(s) from the interview extracts to illustrate your finding(s). Identify the source of your data. Avoid interpreting your results, you will do that in Discussion.
Discussion: 500 words (suggested word count)
The funnelling is opposite to how you structured the introduction. You start with what you have found from your study. So, this is a very narrow focus.
After presenting your findings in a factual way, consider what this may mean in relation to the literature you reviewed in the introduction. How do your findings support, refute, or expand the literature that your reviewed in the introduction? Do not over interpret your findings and avoid speculating or ‘trying to get inside the head of the respondent.’ Offer a discussion that stays within the limits of your data.
For this assignment, try not to bring in any new literature at this point – discuss your results in direct relation to your introduction. This is all about linking the two sections. So you are critically evaluating your results in relation to the literature. You should widen the discussion further by considering ways to apply your findings to practice or inform. policy.
You should then consider the strengths and limitations of your research.
Finish with a concluding sentence/s. Do not underestimate the importance of this. In this section, you could suggest a future direction for the research or a replication of your study with some adjustments or improvements. Try to include citations that support these ideas.
Referencing & References:
In-text citations form. part of the word count, but the Reference section itself does not, nor does the title or other peripherals such as your name and student ID number.
Make sure you adhere to APA 7 form. of referencing in the body of your practical report. Please use all resources available to help you with this, and you can use the link below.
https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/tutorials-webinars
Appendices
You can attach the interview schedule and/or your coding scheme in Appendices. If you do, refer to the appendix clearly when describing your protocol in the measures section. This is not included in the word count, but it should not exceed more than 3 sides of A4.
Submission
Your assignment must be submitted on ELE by the stated deadline. For instructions on how to do this, please see the Submissions Instructions document in the Assessment section of the module ELE page.
If you do not submit your summative assignment on time, your mark will be capped at 50% (up to two weeks after the original deadline; after which a score of zero will be awarded) . This is unless you have valid mitigation (please visit thePersonal And Pastoral Supportand Mitigation FAQsfor more information.)
Please ensure that your name DOES NOT appear anywhere in the document including removing author details from the file where applicable, but that your personal ID number is included. You should submit your work as either a MS Word, .doc, .docx or PDF file.
The naming of your file must follow the format below:
ID number_ModuleCode_AC year
E.g. 690000000_PSY1206_2019-20
In submitting this you are declaring the work is your own independent piece of work, not produced in collusion with a fellow student or plagiarized from a fellow student, or a web site, or a text book, or any other information source. You must demonstrate good referencing practise and ensure you have sufficiently paraphrased all sources of information. Failure to do so may result in being referred to an academic misconduct panel which has the power to grant penalties based on specific criteria. For more details please revisit the Academic Honesty and Plagiarisminformation on ELE.
Skills assessed
This assignment aims at developing your key academic skills in writing a qualitative research report. Specifically:
• Literature searching and selection
• Reading papers and synthesising ideas
• Logical and coherent argument construction
• Writing clearly and succinctly
• Critical appraisal
• Practical Report writing
• Understanding the structure of a qualitative report
• Plagiarism and referencing
Note: the assignment assesses your report writing skills, NOT the quality of your interview analysis.