Birkbeck College by Royal Charter in 1920
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Dept. of Psychological Sciences M.Sc. in Psychological Research Methods Handbook 2016-17 Contents Contents ............................................................................................................. 2 Introduction......................................................................................................... 3 Term Dates and College Closure ....................................................................... 4 Facilities ............................................................................................................. 5 Core Module Coursework Deadlines for 2016/17 ............................................... 9 Module Details .................................................................................................. 10 Option 1 – choose 1 ......................................................................................... 17 Option 2 – choose 1 ......................................................................................... 20 Option 3 – choose 1 ......................................................................................... 25 Essay Submission Guidelines .......................................................................... 26 Ethics ............................................................................................................... 27 Dissertation Submission Guidelines ................................................................. 28 You and Your Supervisor ................................................................................. 33 Recent Dissertation Titles ................................................................................ 34 Welfare and Student Support ........................................................................... 36 Funding and Financing Your Studies ............................................................... 37 Support for students with Disabilities, Dyslexia and Mental Health Needs 37 Marking Schemes ............................................................................................. 41 Assessment ...................................................................................................... 42 Plagiarism......................................................................................................... 43 Useful Addresses and Contact Numbers ......................................................... 44 Finding Birkbeck ............................................................................................... 45 2 Introduction The Department of Psychological Sciences at Birkbeck, University of London Birkbeck, University of London, was founded in 1823 as the London Mechanics Institution and incorporated into the University of London as Birkbeck College by Royal Charter in 1920. The College is ranked among the leading UK university institutions for its levels of national and international excellence in research in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences. From this base of research excellence Birkbeck provides a unique range of degree and other courses designed specially to meet the needs of mature students. The main part of the Department is located on the fifth level of the Birkbeck main building in Malet Street. Other parts are located on the sixth level of the Birkbeck extension building in Malet Street, at 32 Torrington Square, and in the Henry Wellcome Building. In the last Research Assessment Exercise the School was ranked in the top five departments in the country. It currently comprises over 30 academic staff specialising in a variety of fields within Psychology. There are several Centres affiliated to the School, such as the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, the Birkbeck/UCL Centre for Neuroimaging, and the Institute for the Study of Children, Family and Social Issues. 3 Term Dates and College Closure Term Dates for 2016/17 Autumn Term: Monday 3 October to Friday 16 December 2016 Spring Term: Monday 9 January to Friday 24 March 2017 Summer Term: Monday 24 April to Friday 7 July 2017 College Closure Dates for 2016/17 Christmas Closure: Friday 23 December 2016 to Monday 2 January 2017 College will close at 6pm on Thursday 22 December 2016, and normal services will resume from 9am on Tuesday 3 January 2017. Easter Closure: Thursday 13 April 2017 to Tuesday 18 April 2017. College will close at 6pm on Wednesday 12 April 2017, and normal services will resume from 9am on Wednesday 19 April 2017. 4 Facilities Birkbeck Library Through the Library you have access to a range of resources; books, ebooks, print journals, ejournals, database, audio-visual materials all of which will support your learning throughout your course. You can search for resources and find out about our services through the library website (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/lib/). Remote access from home/work is available using your IT Services username and password. Psychological sciences students have a subject guide which brings together the most relevant resources for your subject (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/lib/subguides/). You also have a Subject Librarian, Emma Illingworth ([email protected]) to answer your questions about finding information, using the resources and making the best use of the library. Web:http://www.bbk.ac.uk/lib/ For up-to-date opening hours, see: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/lib/about/hours Other University Libraries Birkbeck students may also access a number of other university libraries, both in London and throughout the UK. The access schemes that Birkbeck belongs to include: Senate House Library, University of London (Humanities and Social Sciences) Free borrowing. Just go there and register once you have your Birkbeck ID card. University of London libraries You can access many other University of London libraries for reference only, such as UCL and King's College London. Please check their web sites for access arrangements before you visit. UK Libraries Plus A scheme for part-time learning students and sometimes full time postgraduates (depending on the library) allowing borrowing from other member libraries. Institute of Education Birkbeck postgraduates have borrowing rights, otherwise reference use only. For further details of these and other schemes, consult the Birkbeck College library website or ask any member of library staff. 5 Departmental Facilities In addition to College library facilities, all students have access to computing facilities in the Department and around campus. The Department’s PC lab – room 534B – is available from 7am to midnight (except on occasional weekday evenings when booked for undergraduate use). These provide access to the internet, an email account, and various experimental and statistical software packages. Other psychology experimental software is installed in lab room 109. For further details (e.g., on setting up your email) you can call the Department’s IT office on 020 7079 0744 or the College’s Information Technology Services (ITS) on 020 7631 6543. Students may also attend courses in popular areas of computing, run by Birkbeck ITS. Equipment to support your research, including transcribing machines can be borrowed for short periods of time from the Department. To check availability of such equipment and make a booking, consult Harish Patel (020 7631 6348), the Department’s Technical Services Manager. The Department also has a number of testing rooms/interviewing rooms that can be booked in advance. To check the availability of these rooms and for advance bookings, please contact Professor Anne Richards via email: [email protected] or tel: 020 7631 6208 Office Space Office space within the department is extremely limited, but students requiring specialist laboratory space will normally be accommodated with their supervisor’s research group. Otherwise, students are welcome to meet in the main lecture room (room 534) immediately before or after lectures, or at any other time when it is not otherwise in use. Alternatively, students may work in the department’s computer labs (or in any of the College computer labs). If working in these labs, please keep conversation to a minimum and respect other users of the rooms. Students who require secure storage (e.g., for sensitive data) should consult their supervisor or the course director who will provide lockable filing cabinet space. E-mail Access Please make sure you access your e-mail account regularly as important information is often communicated via e-mail. The email account typically used for all correspondence will be the one assigned to your ‘My Birkbeck’ profile. Be sure to update any email changes there accordingly. Printing and Photocopying Printing in the college is accessed via the purchase of credit from Birkbeck IT Services www.bbk.ac.uk/its/services/rooms/printing. 6 The Psychology Subject Panel Students undertaking experimental research have access to the Subject Panel, a departmental database, updated regularly and hosting the details of people willing to participate in an experiment. The database can be accessed on campus through the internet. Access details will be provided to students once their proposed experimental work has been approved by the Department’s ethics committee. TIMETABLE Term 1 MODULE CONVENOR DAY TIME Part Time Year 1 Generic Research Skills Prof Michael Thomas Tuesday 10.00-12.30 Tuesday 14.30-17.00 Advanced Quantitative Methods Professor Naz Derakhshan Friday (optional) 18.00-19.00 Part Time Year 2 Qualitative Methods Professor Jonathan Smith Thursday 14.30-17.00 Full TimeFull Option 1: Neuroimaging Methods Dr Iroise Dumontheil