Summative assessment
a portfolio of work, to be assessed as a whole, comprising:

1. A completed supervision log, providing evidence of structured and planned use of supervisory meetings and sensible time management.
2. A completed ethics form, incorporating a research-plan providing evidence of research-planning and attention to ethics-related issues.
3. A statement from your supervisor confirming that you have provided evidence of data-collection.
4. A research report (with a maximum length of 7000 or, for qualitative projects, 8000 words) detailing rationale, methods, findings and conclusions from the program of research.

Assessment criteria for 4 will require that it shows evidence of all of the listed learning outcomes. Evidence from 1, 2, and 3 is necessary to demonstrate the validity of the report as an assessment of these learning outcomes.

Formative learning
Supervisors will offer feedback on one draft version of the final project. How this is implemented will be by negotiation between the student and supervisor.

This module provides students with the opportunity to conduct, under supervision, independent psychological research in one of a broad range of areas.

There are no specific texts identified as essential reading for this module.

- Online citation indices and other bibliographic databases
- Peer reviewed journal and other relevant scholarly publications in your chosen area of investigation
- Appropriate software to support data analysis

Be registered on any Psychology Award

The Psychology Project is an opportunity for students to apply understanding of psychological theory and research methods in answering specific research questions of their own choosing. During the course of the module you will need to develop a detailed understanding of current psychological theory and research findings in one, narrowly focussed area. You will also need to develop and refine your research skills. These will include skills in literature searching, in research design and planning, in data collection, in data analysis, and in research-reporting. How you go about developing your understanding of the psychology of your research topic, and how you develop your research skills, is very much up to you - you will be responsible for planning and timetabling your own learning. Your leaning will be supported in three ways. First we impose a fairly minimal timetable setting out dates by which provisional research proposals and detailed research plans must be presented. Second, a member of staff will supervise your project, and will be available to provide advice on all aspects of its completion. Although your supervisor may suggest timetabling constraints in addition to those imposed by the department, their principle role is as a source of advice. How you make use of this resource is largely up to you. Third, you learning is supported by the library and electronic infrastructure with which you will already be familiar.

Dissertation projects can take a variety of forms, and so it is difficult to estimate how much time will be spent on different activities. However, as a very rough guide, your time is likely to be divided as follows:

Contact Hours: Introductory lectures - 2 hours; discussing possible projects with potential supervisors- 1 hour; One-to-one supervisory sessions - 6 hours (approximately 30 minutes every two weeks for 24 weeks).

Independent Study: Identifying, reading and understanding relevant literature - 60 hours; research planning and preparation - 40 hours; data collection - 50 hours; data processing and analysis - 81 hours; report planning and writing - 60 hours.