Psychological Science, Research Methods of

This M.Sc. programme consists of a series of five “core” courses:

• two in Research Methods
• one in Statistics
• one in Professional Skills
• a research project

Additionally students will complete one of a potential eight optional courses in:

• Visual Perception and Cognition
• Psychology of Language
• Formal Models and Quantitative Methods for Psychology
• Human Computer Interaction
• Introduction to Social Theory for Researchers
• Issues in Drug Use Research
• Brain Imaging
• Introduction to Matlab programming.

Additional course elements include attendance at SUPPORT (Scottish Universities Psychology Postgraduate Research Training) meetings, school research seminars and journal clubs. We also provide a large range of additional training and workshops in various specialist areas.

Summary of Core Courses

The following courses are core to either the M.Sc. Research Methods or the M.Sc. Brain Imaging programme: Research Methods 1, Research Methods 2, Brain Imaging Methods, Statistics, Professional Skills, and the Research Project.

Research Methods 1

A series of seminars given by researchers in the school based upon methods used within their own area of expertise. The methods topics will cover a broad range of research areas chosen to outline aspects of research strategy. The aim is to provide a survey of common designs and techniques important to the broadly trained psychologist rather than to provide practical experience with these techniques.

Research Methods 2

This course is designed to give students a detailed practical knowledge of advanced techniques in the behavioural sciences. The techniques include: signal detection theory and its applications; eye-tracking as applied to cognitive research; advanced design issues in psychology; recording and pre-processing of MEG data; advanced Matlab programming.

Brain Imaging Methods

This course will introduce students to key issues in brain imaging, namely: Mechanisms of generation of EEG-MEG signals, topographical distribution, relation between evoked magnetic fields and electric potentials, relationship to cognition; Physical basics of Magnetic Resonance imaging (anatomical images, gradients, RF); Basics of functional MRI – blood oxygenation contrast (BOLD, neurophysiological basis, neuronal responses, local field potentials, etc); Basics of fMRI experimental design (block design, event related design, adaptation); Recent advances in understanding the brain-behaviour relationship by non-invasive transcranial brain stimulation.

Statistics (Advanced Statistics and Research Design)

This course is designed to provide a detailed understanding of the use of descriptive statistics and ANOVA in psychological research. A particular emphasis is put on robust methods and how they can help alleviate problems associated with parametric techniques. The course also gives a non-technical account of multiple regression techniques and multivariate statistics and explain their uses in experimental psychology and in survey-based methodologies.

Professional Skills

This course is designed to introduce students to a range of professional skills necessary for a career in psychological research; to familiarise students with the range of opportunities for psychological research careers in universities in the UK and elsewhere, in industry and the sources of available funding for research in psychology; to provide training in a number of different professional skills such as spoken presentations, written academic papers and conference presentations, CV, web home page preparation and grant proposal writing.

Research Project

This course is designed to give students the experience of performing a cutting-edge research project under close supervision of academic staff in psychology and neuroscience laboratories of international standing, and writing up the results appropriately for peer-reviewed publication.

Summary of Optional Courses

Students have the opportunity to supplement their curriculum by choosing from 3 optional courses offered in the School of Psychology that are listed below. Students can choose to validate one of the 3 options instead of Research Methods 2. Students can also attend a large range of final year undergraduate options. Attendance should be discussed with the option supervisor. In addition to the above options, some options offered by other schools might be attended if deemed necessary by the student and his/her supervisor.

Qualitative Research Methods

This course provides practical hands-on familiarisation with applied research methods. The course is designed to introduce students to qualitative research methods, the ethics of research and practical report writing. Topics covered are: Varieties of interview technique, archival research, observation techniques, questionnaire design, focus groups, content and discourse analysis, ethics in social research, computer assisted qualitative data analysis, broadcast content analysis, researching internet use.

Visual Perception and Cognition

This course introduces students to detailed aspects of current research projects related to visual perception and cognition, thereby providing grounding for the research project.

Psychology of Language

This course introduces students to detailed aspects of current research projects related to the psychology of language and communication, thereby providing a grounding for the research project.

Introduction to Matlab Programming

This course introduces students to the Matlab environment through hands-on sessions providing a mix of lectures and in class exercises. In the first 5 weeks, students create and manipulate Matlab variables, program functions, data analysis scripts and experiments. In the last 5 weeks, students explore data sets using descriptive and inferential statistics, as well as graphical representations. A particular emphasis is put on robust statistical methods.