200221 SE Theorie u. Empirie wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens (Klinische Psychologie und Gesundheitspsychologie) 1 (2025S)

Content: Due to its many benefits for physical and mental health, physical activity promotion receives a lot of attention in health psychology, which focuses on uncovering its determinants to develop targeted interventions. Despite pronounced gender differences in health behaviours including physical activity, health psychology has yet to fully adopt a sex and gender perspective when understanding physical activity engagement, for instance by considering sex-salient physiological occurrences such as the menstrual cycle.
In the first part of this seminar (summer semester), we will first delve into the digital methodologies and research designs adopted in the literature to study physical activity, its psychological predictors and the menstrual cycle so to inform and develop a study design and collect data. During the second part (winter semester), students will analyse the collected data statistically and present the results in the form of a poster presentation and a written report.
Aims: Students will learn about digital methods for recording physical activity and its determinants, as well as the menstrual cycle measurements used in research. By the end of the seminar, they can outline the advantages and disadvantages of the methods and apply them in practice. They will acquire skills for successfully completing theses and scientific studies: they will be able to plan, conduct, evaluate and present studies orally and in writing. This seminar specifically prepares students to write their Master thesis with the Health Psychology Group.
Methods: a combination of lectures (by lecturer and students), practical instruction by the lecturer and discussions/group work.