Universität Wien

200079 SE Bachelor thesis (2020W)

11.00 ECTS (3.00 SWS), SPL 20 - Psychologie
Continuous assessment of course work

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

As communicated and discussed already at the end of the FLS, the class will be held in-person (in a larger room to be able to keep distance). However, there will be only 6 classes where attendance is required. In the first class you will be given detailed information.

In the remaining classes, we will discuss writing in more detail. This will be a "flipped classroom" format where you can come with problems that you encounter during writing and we will together as a class try to find a solution. The attendece to these classes is optional. In principle, these classes will also be held in-person but this topic will be discussed in the first class.

  • Monday 05.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0618
  • Monday 12.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0618
  • Monday 19.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0618
  • Monday 09.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0618
  • Monday 16.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0618
  • Monday 23.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0618
  • Monday 30.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0618
  • Monday 07.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0618
  • Monday 14.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0618
  • Monday 11.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0618
  • Monday 18.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0618
  • Monday 25.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal C Psychologie, NIG 6.Stock A0618

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The point of the class is that students learn the skills they need to write a bachelors thesis (or really any scientific article). This means that the aim of the course is to teach how to:

- formulate hypotheses
- create an appropriate research design
- come up with an analysis plan
- connect your methodological design with your underlying theory
- interpret (hypothetical) results
- transfer your ideas into writing
- give & receive/use feedback

Or, shortly said, to "design, analyze, interpret".
Thus, the final bachelorthesis will not include an experimental part but it will include planning an appropriate analysis and to form interpretations of the results. Though this may seem rather abstract, it is similar to what is known as “registered reports”. Registered reports are papers that are submitted with an introduction, a method section, and proposed analyses (and their interpretation, like a pre-registration). For more detail see e.g., https://www.cos.io/our-services/registered-reports, but we will also discuss this topic in class.

Assessment and permitted materials

Continous assessment in the form of prepatory assignments for classes and reading before classes as well as a graded peer-review assignment and active participation in class. See minimum requirements and assessment criteria for details.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Maximum of 1 missed class (without special arrangement made with lecturers before missed class).

There will be small assignments that you will have to do before classes, these have to be done & handed in but will not be graded. They will be checked for meeting the formal requirements of the assignment. (Mainly this means not handing in an empty word file but e.g. if the task is to hand in a research question to actually hand in a research question and not e.g. an essay on a different topic or as noted above an empty file).
Failure to hand-in assignments or comply with formal requirements will lead to failing of the class.

As in the Fachliteraturseminar (FLS), there will be a peer review assignment that will count for 10%.
When given in person, 10% of the grade is class participation. This is because a lot of the class requires active participation and also that you come prepared (e.g. that you have read the literature if you were supposed to do so).
If given digital, the digital version of the in-class assignments will be handled the same as the small assignments to do before class. I.e. that you have to do them but you do not get a grade.

The final paper will be your Bachelorthesis (counting for 80% if the course is given normally and 90% if given digitally). It specifies a research question and provides a literature review (the part you already prepared in the FLS). Furthermore, it outlines an hypothesis, an analysis plan, and provides an interpretation (and discussion) of hypothetical results. This second part is the new part you will write which is 3000 words with a 20% leniency (meaning between 2400-3600 words). Together this means that the final Bachelorthesis will has to be between 4000 and 6000 words. The thesis has to be written APA style.

Examination topics

Reading list

Class 2
Read the design/methods section of all Stage 1 Manuscripts*

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02674-6

Kiyonaga, A., & Scimeca, J. M. (2019). Practical Considerations for Navigating Registered Reports. Trends in Neurosciences, 42, 568–572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2019.07.003

Class 5
Read the analysis section of all Stage 1 Manuscripts*

Steegen, S., Tuerlinckx, F., Gelman, A., & Vanpaemel, W. (2016). Increasing Transparency Through a Multiverse Analysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(5), 702–712. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616658637

Class 6
https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/why-preregistration-makes-me-nervous

https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/preregistration-replication-and-nonexperimental-studies

Nosek, B. A., & Lakens, D. (2014). Registered reports: A method to increase the credibility of published results. Social Psychology, 45(3), 137-141. http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000192

Chambers, C. D., Feredoes, E., Muthukumaraswamy, S. D., & Etchells, P. (2014). Instead of" playing the game" it is time to change the rules: Registered Reports at AIMS Neuroscience and beyond. AIMS Neuroscience, 1(1), 4-17. Doi: 10.3934/Neuroscience2014.1.4

Yamada, Y. (2018). How to crack pre-registration: Toward transparent and open science. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 1831.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01831/full#b11

Class 9
Read the interpretation section of all Stage 1 Manuscripts*

*Stage 1 Manuscripts refer to the registered reports noted in the aims and contents of the course.
At the moment we're still finalizing which ones we will use, but you will be given approx. 3 examples.

Background & Optional Literature:

General
https://www.cos.io/our-services/registered-reports

van t'Veer, Anna E. and Giner-Sorolla, Roger (2016) Pre-Registration in Social Psychology —a Discussion and Suggested Template. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 67, 2-12.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2016.03.004

Class 2
MacCallum, R. C., Zhang, S., Preacher, K. J., & Rucker, D. D. (2002). On the practice of dichotomization of quantitative variables. Psychological Methods, 7(1), 19–40. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.7.1.19

Example of Stage 1 report for existing data
Pritchard, V. E., Malone, S. A., Burgoyne, K., Heron-Delaney, M., Bishop, D. V., & Hulme, C. (2019). Stage 1 Registered Report: The relationship between handedness and language ability in children. Wellcome open research, 4, 30. https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15077.1

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Tu 06.10.2020 09:29