This course provides an opportunity to learn how to conduct and evaluate research in psychology, with particular emphasis on Human Science approaches. It begins with consideration of philosophical and epistemic assumptions of research (quantitative and qualitative), including the social context out of which these ideas spring, and moves to specific techniques and practices for conducting research.
In addition to seminar work, the class is also a human science research laboratory in which each student will design and conduct their own primary research. This may take the form of joint or individual projects and include collaborative design and implementation. Uncovering and managing the students own subjectivity will be one center around which the experiential laboratory work will orbit.
 

Objectives

1. General understanding of research methods appropriate to psychology with particular emphasis on Human Science approaches.

2. Specific understanding and application of qualitative methodology though the completion of a pilot research project.

3. Understanding the role of researcher subjectivity in research and specifically one’s own subjectivity in relation to the research project.

4. Ability to analyze and critique research design.
 

Evaluation

1. Students will be required to design, conduct, critique and present the results of a pilot research project (including background literature review). This will require a formal paper as well as an oral presentation.

2. Students will collaborate as research design consultants to other class members in laboratory experience and be assessed by the instructor.

3. Individual subjectivity and self knowledge will be described in a research journal to be turned in at the end of class.

4. In-class oral critique of selected research design will be evaluated by the instructor.
 

Texts:
Bogdan, R.& Taylor, S. J. (1998). Introduction to qualitative research methods... New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Selected sample research articles as well as theses and dissertations.
 

Topics:
Epistemology: Goals, assumptions, and means of knowing.
Different types of research -- Qualitative and Quantitative
(Interpretive statistics, Phenomenology, etc.)
Socio-political norms, social justice and knowledge at the margins
Research as an intentional, naturalistic process
Transferability and implications
Designing a project
Methods. (e.g. Interviewing, focus groups, ethnography, questionnaires, participant-observation, experimentation, hybrids, etc.)
The self and subjectivity; conceptual baggage.
Analysis and interpretation -- goals , methods, models
Writing it up (research report development)
Evaluation and needs assessment
Creativity in research design
Forming a question
Domains of inquiry
Organizing data
Literature reviews
Examples of research
Ethics