Curtin University Homepage
  • Library
  • Help
    • Admin

    espace - Curtin’s institutional repository

    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Theses
    • View Item
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Theses
    • View Item

    Engaging Undergraduate Psychology Students with Research Methods and with the Process of Conducting Research

    Allen Peter 2017.pdf (9.576Mb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Allen, Peter James
    Date
    2016
    Supervisor
    Assoc. Prof. Lynne Roberts
    Type
    Thesis
    Award
    PhD
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Faculty
    Health Sciences
    School
    Psychology and Speech Pathology
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/54162
    Collection
    • Curtin Theses
    Abstract

    A strong understanding of quantitative research methods is a pre-requisite to psychological literacy and evidence-based practice in psychology. Quantitative research methods are also an area of weakness for many psychology students. Furthermore, many students have relatively little interest in reading and conducting research, hold negative attitudes toward research methods, struggle to see the relevance or utility of methods and statistics courses, and experience high levels of statistics anxiety. Consequently, efforts have been undertaken to reform traditional research methods and statistics pedagogy, with the objective of making these subjects more applied, relevant and engaging for students. Many of these reforms are based on active learning principles, and the idea that, as much as is practicable, students should be ‘doing’ research, rather than merely reading about it, or listening to instructors talking about it. In an undergraduate psychology degree, ‘doing research’ can manifest in multiple activities, of which the current thesis focuses on three: (1) participating in authentic research; (2) working with authentic data; and (3) conducing an original research project. The first two papers herein focus on understanding and quantifying undergraduate psychology students’ perspectives on the educational value of participating in authentic research, which is a ‘rite of passage’ in most research active schools of psychology. The third describes the development and evaluation of an active learning exercise in which students participated in a class experiment, then analysed the data it generated. Papers 4-7 address issues arising from the supervision of final year dissertations projects, including the quality of student collected data, and the ethics of surveying online. Finally, paper 8 explores the difficulties faced by students (but not ‘experts’) when required to identify statistical tests and procedures appropriate to their research questions and hypotheses, while paper 9 describes the development of a mobile application specifically developed to support this process. Combined with the exegesis that precedes them, the nine papers in this thesis offer a range of insights into, and strategies that promote the engagement of undergraduate psychology students with research methods, and with the process of conducting research.

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Towards the identification of modifiable personal predictors of low back pain in nursing students
      Mitchell, Timothy (2008)
      Low back pain (LBP) remains one of the most common and challenging primary care issues in the developed world. Manual occupations such as nursing are known to involve a high risk of occupational LBP, which is associated ...
    • "Having to shift everything we’ve learned to the side”: Expanding research methods taught in psychology to incorporate qualitative methods
      Roberts, Lynne ; Castell, Emily (2016)
      In Australia the tradition of conducting quantitative psychological research within a positivist framework has been challenged, with calls made for the inclusion of the full range of qualitative and quantitative methodologies ...
    • Difficult Decisions: A Qualitative Exploration of the Statistical Decision Making Process from the Perspectives of Psychology Students and Academics.
      Allen, Peter; Dorozenko, Kate; Roberts, Lynne (2016)
      Quantitative research methods are essential to the development of professional competence in psychology. They are also an area of weakness for many students. In particular, students are known to struggle with the skill ...
    Advanced search

    Browse

    Communities & CollectionsIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument TypeThis CollectionIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument Type

    My Account

    Admin

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Follow Curtin

    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 

    CRICOS Provider Code: 00301JABN: 99 143 842 569TEQSA: PRV12158

    Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy statement | Accessibility

    Curtin would like to pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of our community by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which the Perth campus is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation; and on our Kalgoorlie campus, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields.