Entry requirements
Elective module to be completed during students’ first year after enrollment in the MSc Psychology (research) program.
Course objectives
Aim of the Research Apprenticeship Psychology (RAP) is that students gain hands-on research experience in their area of interest by learning from expert staff members in the institute. This elective module takes place and is completed in the first year of the two-year master’s program, allowing students to contribute to an ongoing research project at an early stage of their studies. Students are encouraged to choose a project that is clearly different from the Research Internship and the Thesis project that they intend to do in their second year of their master’s program (e.g., a different topic, method, supervisor and/or in a different research group).
Mode of Instruction
During the RAP students will gain experience with several aspects of research planning, data collection, data analysis and other practical aspects of conducting psychological research under the supervision of staff from the Leiden University Psychology Institute. In scheduling the workload, the student and supervisor will consider the planning and constraints of the research project as well as the coursework of the student. Students may be involved in making a research plan, writing a proposal for the ethics committee, preparing research materials (including informed consent and debriefing texts), recruitment, instruction and testing of research participants, operating research equipment (e.g., EEG system, eye-tracker), data management, time-keeping, etc..
Assessment
Before the start of the RAP the supervisor and student draft and sign a working plan in which the student’s activities, the rough planning, and assessment criteria are registered. To complete the RAP students write a final report about their research activities and the challenges they faced in the day-to-day practice of their research project to acquire the skills, knowledge and professional attitude (i.e., the learning goals phrased in the working plan). The assessment is based on the student’s work throughout the RAP and his or her reflection in the final report. Note that only staff members who hold a phd are held responsible for the supervision and do the final assessment and grading. Phd candidates can be involved in daily supervision of the project.
The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences has instituted that instructors use a software programme for the systematic detection of plagiarism in students’ written work. All students are required to take and pass the Scientific Integrity Test with a score of 100% in order to learn about the practice of integrity in scientific writing. Students are given access to the quiz via a module on Brightspace. In case of fraud disciplinary actions will be taken.
Literature
No prescribed literature. Starting from September, up-to-date information about the research projects open for Research Apprenticeships, the working plan template and guidelines for the final report are provided in the Brightspace module ‘Research Apprenticeship Psychology’.
Application
To participate in one of the research projects contact the supervisor of your preferred RAP project. Contact details of supervisors are included per available project on the Brightspace module ‘Research Apprenticeship Psychology’. If you have a match with a RAP project, fill in the work plan together with your supervisor and send a signed work-plan to the RAP coordinators at RAP@fsw.leidenuniv.nl.
Contact information
Dr. Melle van der Molen, Dr. Ruthie Pliskin RAP@fsw.leidenuniv.nl