Think of this guide as a cookery recipe. When cooking, it is important you read the whole recipe before you begin. This helps you know what you are aiming for, allowing you to manage your time. Apply to same logic to this guide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you think this guide can be improved in any way, please email psytech@salford.ac.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disclaimer: Each project is unique, the summary here is only intended as a loose guide. This guide is aimed at undergraduate students.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That means attending lectures and being proactive with your work – For real! If you can’t attend make sure you keep up to date with the materials. The dissertation module is a year-long module, you need to be on it! Now you’re in this mindset let’s move on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n To do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Make contact with your supervisor to introduce yourself, share your research interests and communicate to them how you are feeling about undertaking the dissertation module. Don\u2019t expect your supervisor to tell you what to do \u2013 your supervisor is there to guide you, your dissertation is in your hands. Do this step as soon as possible!<\/p>\n\n\n\n To do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is your opportunity to really take your fate into your own hand. You can choose the topic of your dissertation. Think about what areas of your course have interested you or is there a topic you can cover that aligns with your career goals post graduating? You need to make sure your ideas are realistic and achievable in your timeframe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At this step, you will be finalising your idea with your supervisor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Your ethics submission forms the first major milestone in your dissertation journey. It’s an important piece of work that needs your attention. Your ethics application will bring together everything from the previous steps. The content you write for your application can be used as a basis for your introduction and methods section in your write-up – make it good and be efficient with your time! The ethics application takes more time than you think, you need to really engage to get it submitted for the December deadline. Keep in mind that from submitting your ethics application, it can take 3 weeks to receive ethical approval. Do not be disheartened if you do not receive full ethical approval from your first submission, it is very common for the ethics panel to ask for amendments. You are not permitted to collect any data until you gain ethical approval, however, while you wait for ethical approval you can move on to the next step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is something you can start while you’re waiting to hear back from ethics! Please bear in mind, that you must follow what you wrote in your ethics application. It is your responsibility to ensure you adhere to your ethics form. If any ethics amendments come back, you must ensure you make those changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In this step, you want to make sure everything works as intended. You will want to test it if you were collecting data from a participant. Ask a coursemate to help you test your project. You will want to test the project setup, data collection, and data export – bear in mind this is a loose guide, and psychology research takes many forms. It is key that you understand your exported data!<\/p>\n\n\n\n To do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you receive your ethical approval you can start recruitment! Make sure you communicate your progress with your supervisor!<\/p>\n\n\n\n To do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You can start your data collection now! As you collect data, where possible, ensure you have a backup of your data. While you’re doing this, it’s a great time to be working on writing your introduction and methods alongside. Data collection can be challenging, we really encourage you to reach out to your fellow coursemates and offer to partake in each other’s research project (if eligible). Once you finish data collection, please remove your recruitment advertisements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’ve collected data from a Gorilla, Online Surveys, a dictaphone, or other fashion. You will need to export your data. Make sure you export your data in a format that your device can read. For numerical data, we recommend exporting to excel (.xlsx file).<\/p>\n\n\n\n To do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Contrary to popular belief, your data doesn’t magically get exported in the format you require for data analysis. This can be true for both qual and quant data. For example, for quant data, you may have to score questionnaires and for qual data, you may have to anonymise your transcript. The key to this step is to ask yourself, what format is your data currently in, and then, what format does it need to be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n To do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether it be a thematic analysis or ANOVA, or any other analysis, now is your time to conduct it. First, know what your analysis is. Once you know what your analysis is called it will allow you to find resources on how to conduct that analysis. The best place to find stats support will be your Further Research Method materials. You have to conduct your analysis yourself. Although, if struggling your supervisor will be able to guide you towards appropriate guidance for your analysis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nEngage with the Dissertation Module<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Contact your dissertation supervisor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Start developing your research proposal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Finalise your research area with your supervisor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Fill out and submit your ethics form<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Build your project<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Test your project<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Set up your recruitment and distribute your project<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Recruit participants and collect data<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Export your data<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Process your data<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Conduct your analysis<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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