Master 2020/2021

Research Seminar "Economic and Organizational Psychology"

Type: Elective course (Applied Social Psychology)

Area of studies: Psychology

Delivered by: School of Psychology

Where: Faculty of Social Sciences

When: 2 year, 1-3 module

Mode of studies: offline

Instructors: Dmitrii Dubrov, Dmitry Grigoryev, Alexander Tatarko

Master’s programme: Applied Social Psychology

Language: English

ECTS credits: 8

Contact hours: 96

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The research seminar is aimed to introduce to students the international standards of good quality research in the field of economic psychology and organizational psychology, to help them to develop appropriate study design, use appropriate measurement instruments and methodological tools on chosen topic of their own study and to facilitate their work during main and final stages of planning and conducting the research. 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. There is no special literature for each of the topics proposed due to students work on and discuss their theses at seminars for the second year.

Learning Objectives

• 1) Introducing students with main research directions in the field of economic and organizational psychology;
• 2) developing skills for theoretical analysis in the field of economic and organizational psychology;
• 3) developing skills to conduct surveys and data processing;
• 4) preparing students’ master theses.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Students possess techniques of group discussions, brainstorming to discuss novelty of master dissertation, formulation of research problem, and research hypotheses.
• Students are able to describe of methods, sample and time frames of the empirical study
• Students are able to use in their research the latest methods of mathematical- statistical data (SEM, multilevel analysis).
• Students are able to critically analyze and discuss empirical methods of each student’ thesis
• Students are able to understand whether the selected design is adequate to test the proposed hypotheses
• Students begin to collect empirical data after approval of the study plan at the workshop.
• Students are able to critically analyse their preliminary obtained results
• Sudents are able to assess the correctness of applying the selected processing methods to the data, which were obtained
• Successful preliminary defense of students' theses

Course Contents

• Topic 1. Introduction. Presentation of the theoretical bases of master study. Formulation of hypotheses
  1st module, 8 contact hours, 18 self-study hours Introduction to the course: thematic plan, homeworks’ structure and content, methods of assessment and grading procedures. Lecture on APA standard, its requirements for manuscripts. Discussion on the subject, object, objectives and hypotheses of the study. Discussion about novelty of master's research, as well as its practical and theoretical significance. Final discussion of the theoretical foundations of students’ theses, and formulation of the final version of the research hypotheses.
• Topic 2. Writing and discussing the plan-prospect of the research in the master thesis
  1st module, 8 contact hours, 18 self-study hours Students prepare and present the plan-prospect of empirical research. This plan should include description of methods, sample and time frames of the empirical study.
• Topic 3. Measurement instruments
  1st module, 18 contact hours, 28 self-study hours Presentation of the study's hypotheses, variables and questionnaire, designed according to the APA standards. Presentation and discussion of final versions of the questionnaire for the main study.
• Topic 4. Methodological part of dissertation.
  2nd module, 8 contact hours, 18 self-study hours During seminar teacher and group critically analyze and discuss empirical methods of each student’ thesis. Students need to clearly the sample, procedure, and measures according to the APA standards and explain the whole content and structure of master thesis
• Topic 5. Discussing research design of the master thesis
  2nd module, 8 contact hours, 18 self-study hours Discussion on the design of the whole study. During the discussion, it is important for students to understand whether the selected design is adequate to test the proposed hypotheses.
• Topic 6. Discussing final plan of empirical study of master thesis
  2nd module, 8 contact hours, 18 self-study hours Discussion of the final and complete version of study plan: tools, sample, time frame. Students begin to collect empirical data after approval of the study plan at the workshop.
• Topic 7. Presentation of first results of mathematical-statistical analysis from empirical study
  3rd module, 8 contact hours, 18 self-study hours Students present preliminary results of mathematical and statistical processing of collected data. The results are put under critical analysis and discussion at the class. Further ways of data processing are outlined.
• Topic 8. Presentation of final results of mathematical-statistical analysis from empirical study
  3rd module, 22 contact hours, 38 self-study hours Discussion of the final results of mathematical and statistical processing. Assessed the correctness of applying the selected processing methods to the data, which were obtained by the student.
• Topic 9. Preliminary defense of the master thesis
  3rd module, 8 contact hours, 34 self-study hours Students pass the standard procedure of preliminary defense of their theses, including report on the main results of student research work, questions, and free discussion

Assessment Elements

• Preliminary defence
• Homework 1
• Homework 2
• Preliminary defence
• Homework 1
• Homework 2

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (3 module)
  0.5 * Preliminary defence + 0.5 * Preliminary defence

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2008). The Craft of Research, Third Edition (Vol. 3rd ed). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=272563
• 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
• Guidebook and Regulations for Graduate Study in Research Methodology. (2013). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.6EC28709
• 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
• 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
• Thomas, R. M., & Brubaker, D. L. (2000). Theses and Dissertations: A Guide to Planning, Research, and Writing : A Guide to Planning, Research, and Writing. Westport, Conn: Praeger. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=303423
• Thyer, B. A. (2012). Quasi-Experimental Research Designs. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=422245

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2003). The Craft of Research (Vol. 2nd ed). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=228256
• CRĂCIUN, A. (2014). Fundamental Statistics for Behavioral Sciences. Romanian Journal of Experimental Applied Psychology, 5(2), 61–62. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=asn&AN=118569304