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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences : Psychology

Postgraduate Course: Postgraduate Dissertation in Psychology of Language (PSYL11062)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)
Course typeDissertation AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits60 ECTS Credits30
SummaryThe student will conduct a research project in a field relevant to the study of the psychology of language.
Course description The course consists of preparing for, carrying out and writing up a dissertation, in collaboration with the supervisor. The topic for the project, and thereby supervisor, can be selected from among those offered by the Department; alternatively, students can suggest their own projects to available supervisors. Typically, the topic and supervisor selection are completed by January; planning is completed by the end of April and the whole project is completed by late July. Typically, the project involves setting up a rationale and hypotheses / specific research questions for an empirical project; collecting and analysing data, or re-analysing existing data, to address the hypotheses / questions; and writing the rationale, methods and results up, alongside a discussion and similarly to a journal article. The dissertation is up to 6,000 words long. Students can work in pairs to prepare for the project and collect data, but the dissertations are written and marked individually.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Students MUST have passed: Univariate Statistics and Methodology using R (PSYL11099) AND Multivariate Statistics and Methodology using R (PSYL11098) AND Psychological Research Skills (PSYL11065)
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2023/24, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  None
Course Start Block 5 (Sem 2) and beyond
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 600 ( Lecture Hours 10, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 12, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 578 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) We recommend that a typical dissertation is around 6000 words long, excluding any appendices and the abstract. However, it can be shorter or longer depending on what is most appropriate for the particular project (the supervisor can advise on this). The dissertation will be marked based on the quality of the work and not on the number of words, and you should aim to be concise where possible. The maximum word count is 8000; exceeding this requires the supervisor's permission
Feedback Supervisors, collaborating students and, where applicable, other staff members provide feedback on the rationale for the project, hypotheses / research questions, empirical work and data analysis. No formative feedback is provided on the discussion part of the dissertation as this will reflect student¿s independent work.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. design and set up a research project
  2. manage data collection and apply appropriate analysis techniques to the data
  3. interpret and report data in the style appropriate for publication
  4. write up a dissertation
Reading List
Reading list depends entirely on the nature of the specific project and is agreed upon with the supervisor.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Skills for accessing, synthesizing and critical evaluation of academic literature.
KeywordsResearch project,Psychology of language
Contacts
Course organiserProf Martin Pickering
Tel: (0131 6)50 3447
Email: Martin.Pickering@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Olivia Coltman
Tel:
Email: ocoltman@ed.ac.uk
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