Psy2005: Applied Research Methods &
Ethics in Psychology
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Week 22 (next week): Opportunity to work on your
analysis and get in-class support from tutors.
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It is almost The End of Research Methods!!
(we still have Week 23)
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Aims and Learning Outcomes
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Aim: This session aims to introduce students to the key
parts of writing up a qualitative lab report.
At the end of this session, students will be able to:
Identify the requirements of each section of the
qualitative lab report
Know where to find additional resources
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The Remit
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To write a 2,500 word qualitative lab report based on
the interviews of ill physical health and universityrelated
stress:
Transcribe the interviews
Decide on a research question
Choose an analytical method – IPA or NA (see examples
from previous weeks)
Conduct your analysis
Write up your interpretation – these are the findings (see
example write-ups under the NA and IPA lab materials)
Write up the lab report
See tutors for feedback!!
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WHAT are you interested in researching?
The topics:
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Ill physical health
Or
University-related stress
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HOW are you interested in researching what you
are interested in?
Two possible methods
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Narrative analysis: Understanding how people construct
their sense of self and their reality; exploring the life of
individuals and how it affects their sense of self
(relativist and social constructionist approach)
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: Understanding
in detail personal lived experience and how people make
sense of this; understanding the meaning of the experience
(critical realist and interpretivist stance)
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Positions in relation to each other:
Epistemology and Ontology
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Different knowledge claims arise from different ways of
engaging with the world:
IPA
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NA
Bringing WHAT and HOW together:
CHOOSE ONE
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Ill physical health:
Narrative Analysis: How do second-year psychology students
construct their sense of self through narratives of ill physical
health?
IPA: How do second-year psychology students describe their
experiences of ill physical health?
University-related stress:
Narrative Analysis: How do second-year psychology students
construct their sense of self through narratives of university stress?
IPA: How do second-year psychology students describe their
experiences of university stress?
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Writing Up the Qualitative Lab Report
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Sections of your lab report
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Title: Best written at the end, once you have finished your
report. What is this report about, in one succinct sentence?
What are the main words you want to use, so that if someone
was looking for a paper in a related area, your one would come
up in their search?
Your research question is NOT the title.
Abstract: 150-200 words
A summary of the research study. Key points. Aims, participants,
data collection method, analytical approach. State key findings.
Suggest the implications of these findings and how they are
discussed in the report
Also best written at the end
Key words: 3-5 words
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Sections of your lab report
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Introduction: 500-600 words
This is the same as a quant lab report.
Once you have decided on your research question, find and discuss relevant
literature to your research question and build a rationale for your study.
Build critical arguments that serve as a platform for why your own study is
necessary.
Don’t mention your own study in the Introduction
Use both quant and qual studies here (you are not limited to only using qual
studies)
Do NOT include anything about your methodology here!
Easy way to lose marks!
Final paragraph – can draw the key points/arguments you have created
throughout, and then state the aim (you have to write this) and the research
question (we have given you this).
This is the only place you should mention your own study in the Introduction.
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Method (composed of 4 sub-sections): 600-800 words
Participants:
How many participants in total (participants, not interviews)
How and where recruited from
Approach to sample selection (e.g.: snowballing, purposive,
etc),
How may you selected and why these
Homogenous if IPA and what makes them so.
Rationale for everything.
Details of individual participants.
You could present participant details in a table – APA style.
If present this in a table, don’t repeat the same information
in the paragraph.
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Method continued:
Procedure:
Describes how the study was conducted.
Rationale for method of data collection (e.g.: semi-structured
interview).
Citation to support this.
Inclusion of semi-structured interview schedule as appendix.
Refer to the relevant appendix when you mention the interview,
e.g.: (see Appendix A). APA style.
Mention ethical considerations, and refer to as appendices (e.g.
Information Sheet etc).
Brief outline of equipment e.g. audio recorders.
Check/ask yourself/ask someone else: can someone repeat my
Procedure from my description of it? Are there any details missing?
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Method continued:
Analytical approach:
Rationale for adopting qualitative approach and the technique of analysis
used.
Citation to support this.
Mention what the epistemological and ontological stance for method
applied.
Citation to support this.
Don’t describe what ontology and epistemology themself are!
Sentence of why the method of analysis is most appropriate to the study in
line with research question.
Citation to support this.
Brief description of how the data was analysed
Citation to support this.
Can the reader repeat your analysis based on what you have written about the
steps?.
We expect to see relevant citations in this section.
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Method continued:
Reflexivity:
Situating oneself in the research context and acknowledging the
implication of one’s subjectivity.
Goes beyond your subjective demographics to consider positionality,
your experiences and values, and how these shaped your analysis and
interpretation.
How you engaged in reflexive practice:
Include example(s) of your awareness of your subjective influence, how
it may have influenced, and what you did to limit this influence
Do not mention unbiased, objectivity etc.
If you feel you can be unbiased and objective with this research, you need to
revisit this concept and what qualitative research is all about, as this shows
you have not understood this, and it will affect the quality of your report.
See Week 20’s slides; see chapter 4 in your Kortext on Reflexivity
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Findings: 800-1000 words
Presentation of interpretation of analysis.
Remember, you analyse your entire dataset, but you present a
representation of that analysis in the Findings section.
Introductory paragraph at start of section, reminding the reader of
your research question. And state what the key findings were:
IF IPA, refer reader to the table and state each superordinate/master theme and
their corresponding subordinate/sub themes will be discussed in turn.
IF NA, tell the reader the main ways in which participants have constructed their
sense of selves.
You will present the findings in different ways depending on the
analytical method:
IPA = table of super-ordinate with corresponding sub-ordinate themes.
NA = coded stories in tables – present around 3 (no less than 3, no more than 4).
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Findings continued: 800-1000 words
Present a theme/narrative as relevant. Describe it. Present illustrative
quote to support. A little more description (perhaps) and then your
interpretation:
Sign-posted to the reader by key words such as ‘this suggests that…’, ‘this
illustrates that…’
Interpretation is where you will get your marks! We cannot give many
marks for a descriptive Findings section – this is where many previous
students have gotten low marks in their reports.
Remember that although your analysis is of your entire dataset, you will
only be able to present some of it in the lab report – choose the most
illustrative! Quotes do not count towards word count.
No lists of quotes! 1 (2 max) per point being made, and another to
support the point.
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Common problems in the Findings section:
Taken from the Patter blog, by Pat Thomson
Too much description and not enough analysis.
Too much description is where the writer spends most of their word budget telling
the reader in great detail what the participants said, or what each set of results in the
survey were, or how the research cases varied from one another. Minutiae. Repeated
variations of the same quotation. Long slabs of narrative. Protracted reporting of field
notes.
What’s the problem? Well, without any analysis from the writer, the reader is left to
make their own interpretation of what this all means, if they can be bothered…
Too little description and too much abstraction.
What’s the problem? The reader is left wondering what the categories and themes
refer to. Has the writer just made them up? Plucked them out of the air? It’d be nice
to have an example of what these abstractions actually meant. Would it be too much
to ask for a bit of evidence to back up these claims?
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Discussion: 500-600 words
This is the same as a quant lab report. Show how the research question has been addressed,
the theoretical frameworks within which the findings can be interpreted. Return to papers
cited in introduction and further papers if relevant to findings. Summary of the key findings.
First paragraph is a summary of the key findings.
Discuss your findings in relation to the results of the existing literature. It
should be a critical discussion. Where your findings do not support the
findings of other studies, you will need to discuss why you think this may be
and support it with literature depending on the point being made.
Do NOT discuss individual participants here – refer to the findings as a whole.
No quotes here!
Evaluation – strengths and limitations (do not state lack of generalisability or
small sample size for qual research as a limitation!).
Directions for future research. Although you may discuss these in
conjunction with the limitations depending on how you write it up.
Conclusion paragraph that draws your whole report together.
No new information here. A summary.
What is the take-home message you want to leave your reader with about your entire
report?
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References:
We will check whether these match the citations in the report.
Need to be in APA format.
Check the formatting of each different type of source
Each one will be different!
APA blog helpful and show examples
Needs to be quite extensive to reflect the reading you have done
Appendices:
Needs to include all appendices:
e.g. semi-structured interview schedule, Information Sheet, Consent Form,
Debriefing form.
APA format – label each one in accordance and refer to them in the
text, e.g. ‘a semi-structured interview was used to… (see Appendix A).’
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REMINDER: Opportunity to gain extra marks
for the Qual Lab Report:
You can gain a bonus 5% on your Qual Lab Report grade if you
include a reflexive piece, detailing how you used the feedback
provided to you on your Quant Lab Report to improve for the
Qual one.
The focus is on how you have utilised the feedback – be specific
in how you have done so.
Include at the beginning, after the Cover Page but before the title
and abstract etc.
Write around 300-400 words.
You will not be penalised if you do not do this.
If you did not submit Lab Report 1, you can use the feedback from
another piece of work to do this (from another module).
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When you submit, it needs to be anonymous =
Do not include your name anywhere on your report, just your
student number.
We will be marking your reports anonymously (but cannot do so
if you include your name!)
Save your file by the method of analysis and your student
number when you upload it to Turnitin. Example:
NA M00112233
IPA M00445566
ONLY! Nothing else. Nada!
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Qual Lab Report Template: found in Lab Week 21 and in
relevant folder under ‘Summative assessment Hendon’
Need to state YOUR word count for each section
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Document on how to write-up: found in Lab Week
21 and in relevant folder under ‘Summative
assessment Hendon’
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Examples of Good Practice
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IPA: Smith, J. and Osbourne, M. (2007) Pain as an assault on the self: An
interpretive phenomenological analysis of the psychological impact of chronic
benign low back pain. Psychology and Health, 22(5), 517-534.
NA: Bailey-Rodriguez, D. (2017). “We’re in the trenches together”: A pluralistic
exploration of attachment behaviour dynamics in a heterosexual couple
relationship across the transition to second-time parenthood. Unpublished
doctoral thesis. London: Middlesex University.
Also see paper on My Learning in the Week 21 folder called: ‘For the lack of a
boilerplate: Tips on writing up (and reviewing) qualitative research.’
Use these slides on the different sections of report as a template/checklist
too.
See also ‘Qualitative Lab Report Write-up’ doc
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Underestimation of how long it takes
to do the analysis…
Start as soon as possible!
And finally… Support with your qual
lab report
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Qual Report Deadline:
Monday 6th April at 9am
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Come and see us for tutorials on your work:
Tutorial sign-up on module MyLearning page.
Come to the tutorial prepared to show us new work
each time, and with specific questions.
Each tutorial = 10 minutes.
Email tutor to cancel if you cannot make it.
Remember that the closer it is to the deadline, the more
booked up we will be!
Do not leave this to the last minute! Analysis takes a long
time in qualitative research.
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Complete Workbook 2b if you have not yet done so and
submit.
Individually, complete the ‘Exit Ticket’ slip and hand in
Next week = working on the lab report in class.
Opportunity for in-class feedback/support from tutors.
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Next steps…
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