Undergraduate Course: Critical Analysis (PSYL10102)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | The general aims of the course are:
- To facilitate critical reading and analysis of psychological research reports
- To show how design principles and statistics are applied in psychological research and how research is actually done
- To encourage careful, deep consideration the value of published research studies |
| Course description |
The course's aims will be achieved principally via a series of 3 tutorials and 1 short assignment each semester, plus one 1h lecture at the beginning of semester 1. The opening lecture will provide students with a basic framework for how to approach a research paper. The assignment in each semester will provide students with practice applying the ideas presented in the lecture and in the tutorials. Each tutorial session will be devoted to discussing a single research paper, which will be distributed to all students in advance of the session. The tutor will provide discussion points, which will draw on the aims and learning outcomes of the course in a manner which is appropriate for the paper under discussion and the stage of the course (i.e., questions will be more generic towards the start of the course and more specific and focused as students gain in analytic skills).
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Psychology 2A (PSYL08011) AND
Psychology 2B (PSYL08012)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Data Analysis for Psychology in R 2 (PSYL08015) is recommended. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 1,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 12,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
85 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Essay (20%)
Essay (20%)
Essay (60%) |
| Feedback |
Students will receive written feedback on assignments submitted throughout the course, as well as formative feedback during tutorial discussions. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Review published research articles comprehensively and critically.
- Understand the rationale, logic and purpose of a research study.
- Assess the suitability of the study design and statistical treatment of the results.
- Identify potential shortcomings in studies and propose solutions to these.
- Evaluate the overall value and contribution of a piece of research.
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Reading List
| An appropriate research paper will be distributed before each tutorial. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This is a skills based course, as it gives students the tools and knowledge to support their Honours courses, and certain career paths. They will learn how to evaluate the quality and importance of psychological research. In tutorials, they will develop their critical analysis skills, working as a group to assess the validity of a research study. Students will develop their data analysis skills by assessing whether the data supports the arguments presented. Students will continue developing their written communication skills through completing assignments, writing concisely and adapting their writing style to the assessment type.
Core skills gained on this course:
Critical analysis, collaboration, written communication, writing concisely (within limited word counts), debating/discussing respectfully, resilience, data analysis. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Sergio Della Sala
Tel: (0131 6)51 3242
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Anna Jarvis
Tel:
Email: |
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