These modules will equip you with skills required for the effective scientific study of psychology. Some of these skills are practical ones, such as computer skills and presenting results of experiments, whilst others are more conceptual, for example on how best to structure an essay or to critique a scientific paper.

These modules will be taught in Semester 1 in Year 1 and Year 2.

Year 1

In Year 1, this module is taken by Dr Alex Benjamin and Dr Maurice Waddle, and will teach you about experimental design, data and statistics in psychology, including the use of statistical software. We are aware that statistics is an area many students feel nervous about: we do not assume any maths knowledge above GCSE level and we aim to support all our students to graduate happy and confident dealing with data. Topics covered include

Experimental design
Descriptive statistics
Significance testing
T-tests
Chi Square Tests & Binomial Tests
Correlation
Qualitative analysis

Year 2

In Year 2, the module is taken by Dr Alex Benjamin and Prof Paul Bishop. It covers more advanced statistical analysis. These are essential tools for analyzing and interpreting the data that you will gather for your third year empirical research project – valuable methods used in published psychological experiments and a wide range of scientific and social research. This very practical part of the course strikes a balance between providing grounding in key statistical concepts and theories while also developing the skills needed to carry out analyses using statistical software and to interpret and report the results. Topics covered include

Simple and linear regression
Principle Components Analysis
ANOVA
Power Analysis

Text Books

For the blocks covered in the first term, we recommend Research Methods I: Collected Readings (2017) compiled by Gavin Phillips. Pearson. The e-book can be accessed for FREE.

For the following terms, we recommend reading about the topics covered in Dancey, Christine P. (2007). Statistics without maths for psychology. Pearson Prentice Hall, as a gentle introduction to statistics used in Psychology

In Year 2 we recommend Andy Field, Discovering Statistics Using SPSS: Third edition