Research Seminar "Social and Cross-cultural Psychology"

Master 2021/2022

Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'

Category 'Best Course for New Knowledge and Skills'

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

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Victoria Nikolaevna Galyapina, Nadezhda Lebedeva, Zarina Lepshokova

Master’s programme: Applied Social Psychology

Language: English

ECTS credits: 8

Contact hours: 96

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

Assessment Elements

Home work 1
Home work 2
Home work 3
Home work 4
Participation in class activities
Final exam - predefence of term paper
The exam is conducted orally (in a form of pre-defense of students’ term papers). The exam is conducted on the zoom platform. Students must connect to the exam according to the schedule of presentations created beforehand. The student's computer must meet the following requirements: a working camera and microphone, and zoom support. To participate in the exam, the student must: appear for the exam according to the exact schedule, and turn on the camera and microphone when answering. During the exam, students can turn off the camera (if its use worsen the connection) and can use notes. A short-term connection failure is considered to be any connection failure during the exam which gives student a possibility to continue showing the presentation of the term paper during the exam 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 exam time. If there is a long-term connection failure, the student cannot continue to participate in the exam. The retake procedure involves the use of the same task and procedure.
Home work 1
Home work 2
Home work 3
Home work 4
Participation in class activities
Final exam - predefence of term paper
The exam is conducted orally (in a form of pre-defense of students’ term papers). The exam is conducted on the MS Teams platform. Students must connect to the exam 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 exam, the student must: appear for the exam according to the exact schedule, and turn on the camera and microphone when answering. During the exam, students can turn off the camera (if its use worsen the connection) and can use notes. A short-term connection failure is considered to be any connection failure during the exam which gives student a possibility to continue showing the presentation of the term paper during the exam 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 exam time. If there is a long-term connection failure, the student cannot continue to participate in the exam. The retake procedure involves the use of the same task and procedure.
Home work 1
Home work 2
Home work 3
Home work 4
Participation in class activities
Final exam - predefence of term paper
The exam is conducted orally (in a form of pre-defense of students’ term papers). The exam is conducted on the MS Teams platform. Students must connect to the exam 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 exam, the student must: appear for the exam according to the exact schedule, and turn on the camera and microphone when answering. During the exam, students can turn off the camera (if its use worsen the connection) and can use notes. A short-term connection failure is considered to be any connection failure during the exam which gives student a possibility to continue showing the presentation of the term paper during the exam 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 exam time. If there is a long-term connection failure, the student cannot continue to participate in the exam. The retake procedure involves the use of the same task and procedure.
Home work 1
Home work 2
Home work 3
Home work 4
Participation in class activities
Final exam - predefence of term paper
The exam is conducted orally (in a form of pre-defense of students’ term papers). The exam is conducted on the MS Teams platform. Students must connect to the exam 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 exam, the student must: appear for the exam according to the exact schedule, and turn on the camera and microphone when answering. During the exam, students can turn off the camera (if its use worsen the connection) and can use notes. A short-term connection failure is considered to be any connection failure during the exam which gives student a possibility to continue showing the presentation of the term paper during the exam 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 exam time. If there is a long-term connection failure, the student cannot continue to participate in the exam. The retake procedure involves the use of the same task and procedure.
presentation, proposal, questionnaire (or interview guide)
revised theory, report on the collected data, sample description
results, empirical part, preliminary defense
Final grade for the 1st year research seminar

Interim Assessment

2020/2021 4th module
0.2 * Participation in class activities + 0.1 * Home work 4 + 0.2 * Home work 3 + 0.1 * Home work 1 + 0.2 * Home work 2 + 0.2 * Final exam - predefence of term paper
2021/2022 3rd module
0.1 * Home work 2 + 0.5 * Home work 4 + 0.1 * Home work 1 + 0.3 * Home work 3

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

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
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
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
Ted Gournelos, Joshua R. Hammonds, & Maridath A. Wilson. (2019). Doing Academic Research : A Practical Guide to Research Methods and Analysis. Routledge.
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

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
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
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
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
Valery Chirkov. (2015). Fundamentals of Research on Culture and Psychology : Theory and Methods. Routledge.
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

Authors

GALYAPINA VIKTORIYA NIKOLAEVNA
LEBEDEVA NADEZHDA MIKHAYLOVNA
BULTSEVA MARIYA ALEKSANDROVNA
RYABICHENKO TATYANA ANATOLEVNA
BUSHINA EKATERINA VALEREVNA
LEPSHOKOVA ZARINA KHIZIROVNA

Course Syllabus