Important Note
All Semester II bachelor and master psychology courses and examinations (2020-2021) will be offered in an on-line format.
If it is safe and possible to do so, supplementary course meetings may be planned on-campus. However, attendance at these meetings will not be required to successfully complete Semester II courses.
All obligatory work groups and examinations will be offered on-line during Central European Time, which is local time in the Netherlands.
Information on the mode of instruction and the assessment method per course will be offered in Brightspace, considering the possibilities that are available at that moment. The information in Brightspace is leading during the Corona crisis, even if this does not match the information in the Prospectus.
Entry requirements
Open to MSc Psychology research students with specialisation Clinical and Health Psychology.
Description
In this course, theories on the determinants of health behaviour and on the processes of behavioural change are addressed, including issues such as ‘why do people endanger their health?’ and ‘why are good intentions not enough to change behaviour? In the individual assignments students reflect throughout the course on one main theoretical construct of their interest, how it is embedded in theory, the proposed underlying working mechanisms, and the empirical findings from previous research on the construct. Based on these analyses students determine what the next step should be to increase knowledge on the construct, and formulate a new research question and study design. They then design and pilot-test a questionnaire as a measurement instrument, and present their overall findings during an academic poster session.
Course objectives
After the course students:
Content:
Have basic knowledge and experience with regard to the operationalisation and assessment of theoretical concepts in the field of health promotion;
Understand some of the promises and pitfalls of questionnaire design, including related ethical issues;
Have gained experience with written and oral scientific presentation of research ideas and findings.
Skills that will be trained:
Students will learn to perform an in-depth study of a theory/construct and to generate new theoretical insights and questions based on this analysis. The following skills that are essential for all researchers will be trained:
Critically reading, analyzing and synthesizing of the literature
Generating new ideas based on theory including proposed underlying mechanisms
Writing research proposals
Designing (online) instruments (questionnaires), including ethical considerations related to questionnaire research
Performing (think-aloud) pilot-studies
Designing effective posters
Presenting
Timetable
For the timetables of your lectures, work group sessions, and exams, see the timetables page of your study programme. You will also find the enrolment codes here. Psychology timetables
Registration
Course
Students need to enroll for lectures and work group sessions. Master’s course registration
Mode of instruction
The course will consist of seminars (theories of behavioural change, constructing and testing questionnaires, and designing posters) and workgroups
Assessment method
Attendance during sessions (full attendance is mandatory)
Individual assignments): Research proposal and presentations (40%), Questionnaire design and pilot studies (30%), Poster design and presentation (30%).
Presentations
The Institute of Psychology follows the policy of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences to systematically check student papers for plagiarism with the help of software. Disciplinary measures will be taken when fraud is detected. Students are expected to be familiar with and understand the implications of this fraud policy.
Reading list
Recommended (not mandatory)
- Michie, S. F., West, R., Campbell, R., Brown, J., & Gainforth, H. (2014). ABC of Behaviour Change Theories. To be obtained via: http://www.behaviourchangetheories.com/
Additional reading will be posted on Brightspace.
Contact information
Dr. Winnie Gebhardt gebhardt@fsw.leidenuniv.nl