The aim of this course is to teach students in the research master programme – regardless of their area of specialisation – about a variety of approaches and methods that can be used in psychological research. This is intended to broaden students’ views regarding the possibilities to operationalise different kinds of research questions.
The course meetings and assignments are intended to make students more aware of the added value of creatively combining different research traditions, and to enhance their ability to combine and apply multiple methodologies in a single research design.
The overall goal of this course is that students acquire skills to think critically about the value and potential contribution of different methodologies and to enhance their ability to introduce ‘novel’ methodologies into their own area of research, instead of simply adopting the ‘standard procedures’.
Coördinator
Dr. L. Colzato
Room 2A41
Phone 071-5273407
E-mail: colzato@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
Doelstelling(en)
Students will be taught about different ways to design an empirical study, and will learn how to select a design that suits a specific research question.
Students will gain an overview of the different types of methods to operationalise constructs, that are used in psychological research.
Students will learn to reflect upon the strengths and weaknesses of different measures in order to assess their suitability to address a particular research question.
Studiemateriaal
The literature will consist of a selection of method-oriented chapters and papers, as well as examples of more content-oriented papers in which these methods are applied. The assigned reading will be made available through blackboard.
Toetsing
Themes: Theory of mind and stress
Module 1: Heuristic issue: how can I develop a scientific idea?
Carrying out empirical research presupposes a research question, but where do such questions come from? The first two sessions will focus on this problem and discuss various ways to find and strategies to generate research questions.- Teacher: B. Hommel
- Literature:
- Hershey, DA, Jacobs-Lawson, JM & Wilson, TT (2006). Research as a script. In TL Leong&JT Austin(esd), The psychology research handbook: A guide for graduate students and research assistants. Sage.
- FTL Leong & DJ Muccio (2006). Finding a research topic. In TL Leong & JT Austin (eds.), The psychology research handbook: A guide for graduate students and research assistants. Sage.
Module 2: Exploring the conscious mind (questionnaire)
Once we have developed our theoretical perspective on a phenomenon, and we know what we wish to investigate: how do we operationalize the relevant contructs?
In two two-hour workshops students will become acquainted with some important methodological issues related to questionnaire design as a means of gathering data. Through several exercises students will work on a step-by-step approach to questionnaire development. Specific attention will be paid to merits of the method, but also to pitfalls and theoretical and practical difficulties that researchers encounter when developing and administering a questionnaire.- Teacher: dr. A. Homan
- Literature: to be announced
Module 3: Exploring the brain (fMRI)
Functional neuroimaging can be a useful tool to test psychological theories. This class will cover the methodological aspects of designing an experimental task for the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). The class will focus on the following questions:- Which theories can be tested with fMRI and which cannot?
- What are the experimental requirements for testing these theories?
- What do we learn from fMRI results?
These questions will be illustrated with real data examples from reports in the domain of cognition, social orientation, development and psychiatry. - Teacher: E. Crone
- Literature:
- Poldrack, RA (2006). Can cognitive processes be inferred from neuroimaging data? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10, 64-69.
- Henson, R (2006). Forward inference using functional neuroimaging: dissociations versus associations. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10, 64-69.
- Poldrack, RA (2007). Region of Interest analysis for fMRI. Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2, 67-70.
Module 4: Investigating subjects who do not communicate and do no listen (animal and baby research)
Infancy research has gone through a revolution in understanding early perceptual and social-cognitieve development in the last 30 years. New theories were proposed and novel techniques (most of them based on infants’ looking behavior) were developed. In this class we will take a close look at these different techniques through some representative study examples of the field. We will focus on the methodological and theoretical issues that have to be considered when one chooses a particular technique and designs an experiment to test a research question.- Teacher: S. Biro
- Literature:
- Hayhoe, MM (2004). Advances in relating eye Movement and Cognition. Infancy, 6(2), 267-274.
- Lamb, ME & Bornstein, MH (2004). Development in Infancy: Mehtods of Research in Infancy (Chapter 3), Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, p. 53-83
Module 5: Investigating therapeutic interventions (single case and individual differences)
Theories of psychopathology lead to therapeutic interventions, which need to be tested in clinical practice.This class will cover the strengths and limitations of the designs that may be chosen to test a newly developed intervention in psychiatric populations. The emphasis will be on randomized clinical trials (RCTs), and we will also discuss the question of what terapeutic trials can and cannot tell us about theories of psychopathology.- Teacher: W. van der Does
- Literature (subject to change):
- Chapters from: Kazdin, A (2002). Research Design in Clinical Psychology. Allyn & Bacon.
From January 1, 2006 the Faculty of Social Sciences has instituted the Ephorus system to be used by instructors for the systematic detection of plagiarism in students’ written work. Please see the Additional Rules and Regulations, section 6.
Ingangseis/advies
MPhil students
Onderwijsvormen
5 modules (each module composed by 2 classes weekly of 2 hours each)
Inschrijving
Introduction and enrollment for courses of the first semester will take place August 28th 2008. Introduction and enrollment for courses of the second semester will take place in January 2009. More information will be available at the website of the Department of Psychology.
NB: Exam registration will take place via U-Twist, and will be open between a month and a week before the (re)exam. Students who don’t register, cannot participate in the exam.
Blackboard
Literature will be made available on Blackboard.
Rooster
MPhil: General Courses (pdf)