SUBJECT

Title

Research Field Practice in Social Psychology

Type of instruction

practice

Faculty

Faculty of Education and Psychology

Part of degree program

Psychology BA

Typically offered in

Autumn/spring semester

Course description

Aim of the course:

The main goal of the course is to put theory into practice: students are
required to conduct an empirical research (or part of it).
Major research paper: Students are required to complete a small empirical study on an issue
relevant to social psychology and to present it in a research paper (introduction based on the
literature, questions and hypotheses, method, results, discussion, maximum 15 pages and it has
to be minimum 8 pages without references and appendices, single spaced, 1 inch margins). It is
an independent work under the supervision of the instructor, but the topic of the research and
data collection can be connected to the ongoing empirical research projects of the instructor.
A Minor Research Skills Paper offers students the opportunity to gain some practice in research
by taking an active role in the ongoing research work of the instructor. Students do not need to
submit an actual paper, only a summary of the tasks they completed during the course.

Learning outcome, competences

knowledge:

Knows the theoretical background of the topic of the research paper
Knows the methodology and measures of the research paper

attitude:

Shows ethical sensitivity to the research project
Shows opennes and sensitivity to the participant’s questions and problems

skills:

Able to design and conduct a social psychological research
Able to process the literature independently

Topics of the course

Selection of the topic
Design the research
Conduct the research
Statistical analysis of the research data
Interpretation of the results
Oral and written presentations of the research

Readings

Compulsory reading list
Breakwell, G.M. (Ed.) (2004). Doing Social Psychology Research. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
American Psychological Association (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. Washington: American Psychological Association.

Recommended reading list
Smith, E.R., Mackie, D.M., Claypool, H.M. (2014). Social Psychology 4th edition. New York,
NY: Psychology Press