Research Methods and Techniques II: quantitative Methods

6 ECTS credits
180 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1007335BNW for working students in the 2nd semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester

2nd semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

For this course you have to meet certain enrolment requirements. For an overview of the enrolment requirements check https://www.vub.be/en/studying-vub/practical-info-for-students/study-guidance/study-path/individual-study-path#paragraph--id--71647 Students must have taken ‘Research Methods and Techniques I: psychometrics’ AND 'Statistics II: probability Theory and inductive Statistics' before they can enroll in ‘Research Methods and Techniques II: quantitative Methods’. Students who are enrolled in a shortened study program can take this course unit. Registration for this course is only possible for working students. Day students can register for courses whose code ends with an R. At Inschrijven / studentenadministratie@vub.be you must be registered at the VUB as a working student for the current academic year.

Taught in

English

Faculty

Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences

Department

Experimental and Applied Psychology

Educational team

Tim Vantilborgh (course titular)
Safâa Achnak
Juul Vossen
Evy Kuijpers

Activities and contact hours

30 contact hours Lecture
12 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
36 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

The goal of this course is to learn how to critically evaluate psychological research. This course stimulates critical reflection about research. You will learn how to systematically evaluate the validity of claims in research.

The following topics will covered in the course:

- The research process

- Internal, external, conclusion, and construct validity

- Ethics in research and open science practices

- Characteristics of good measurement

- Survey research

- Sampling

- Correlational research

- Experimental research

- Quasi-experimental research

- Replicability and generalizability of research

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : Slides and additional study material are available, Canvas
Handbook (Required) : Research methods in psychology, Evaluating a world of information, Morling, B, 5de, W.W. Norton & Company, 9781324033318, 2021
Handbook (Required) : Concise Guide to APA Style, American Psychological Association, 7de, American Psychological Association, 9781433832734, 2019

Additional info

All Students:

Materials:

Morling, B. (2022). Research methods in psychology: Evaluating a world of information (5th ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393643602
American Psychological Association. (2019). Concise Guide to APA style. (7th ed.) American Psychological Association. ISBN13: 978-1-4338-3273-4

Slides on Canvas

Extra materials will be made available on Canvas

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

- The student can identify research questions

- The student can categorize studies into research making claims about frequenties, relationships, and causal relationships

- The student can systematically evaluate research on internal, external, conclusion, and construct validity

- The student can evaluate the reliability and construct validity of measures

- The student can distinguish experimental, quasi-experimental, and correlational research, and knows the advantages and disadvantages of each

- The student understands why experimental research is able to establish causality

- The student can interpret results from experimental designs

- The student can evaluate whether results of a study can be generalized

- The student can evaluate whether a study follows ethical guidelines

- The study can communicate on research in line with the APA-guidelines

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 70% of the final mark.
LEC Paper determines 30% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Written exam multiple choice with a relative weight of 70 which comprises 70% of the final mark.

Within the LEC Paper category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Paper with a relative weight of 30 which comprises 30% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Evaluation:

Written exam with multiple-choice questions (70%)
Paper (30%)

Learning materials: two groups of students can be distinguished, based on prior knowledge:
- GROUP 1: Normal trajectory (= applies to most students)
Parts that should be known: PART 1 and PART 2 + lectures + practical exercises

- GROUP 2: Partial exemption for non-experimental research methods based on prior education (eg. master in Adult Educational Sciences, Criminology, Economy, (Business) Engineer). Students need to apply for a partial exemption via the faculty administration.
Parts that should be known: PART 2 + lectures + practical exercises

Part 1 = Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Part 2 = Chapters 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context