Honours thesis in psychology

Finding a supervisor

1. Once you have an offer you may approach potential supervisors to discuss supervision possibilities.
2. However, please be aware that final allocations of students to supervisors will not be confirmed until after Honours Thesis Workshop 1, at the end of Week 1, Semester 1.
3. Students may not get your preferred supervisor/topic due to the need to equitably balance staff workloads.
4. Have an initial discussion with your supervisor about how you will work together, including what you expect of each other, when and how often you are going to meet, contact details, etc.

Developing a topic

1. Generate (brainstorm) and discuss possible topics
2. Try to phrase your topics as research questions
3. Consider the pros and cons of each question, including conceptual and methodological issues
4. Narrow selection down (e.g., by merging or grouping some questions, dropping questions, or writing new, improved questions)
5. Do some background reading, e.g., identify ~4-10 key articles
6. Decide on final topic - express the topic as clear research question(s)
7. Define key (independent and dependent) variables
8. Draft hypotheses

Research proposal

Overview

1. Developing a research proposal and getting peer review is a critical step in a scientific research project.
2. It is better to find out about potential research design flaws early on, while they can still be addressed, than to find out later (e.g., from examiners).
3. Research proposals are not assessed, but they are a requirement for completion of the unit.

Format

1. The proposal should be presented as a poster:
   1. Electronically (create a new discussion thread post with an attached file via Moodle)
   2. Hard copy poster: Provide easy to read, key details about about the proposed study to help reviewers understand the study and provide critique. Keep it simple. There is no need for glossy printing, lamination etc. For example, 9 A4 sheets (in a 3 x 3 layout) consisting of large font (min. 18 pt) bullet-points prepared as a word-processing document could be very effective.
   3. 5 minute verbal précis of the proposal to reviewers and interested fellow students.
2. Have copies of relevant additional information available to reviewers (e.g., draft survey)
3. Reviewers will discuss your proposal with you and provide some written comments for further discussion with your supervisor. Obtain at least two reviews from academic staff. Fellow students may provide additional feedback. If appropriate, make adjustments to the study's focus and design.

Sections

These sections are recommended for thesis proposals (check with your supervisor for further advice):

1. Title page
   1. Working title
   2. Student name
   3. Supervisor name
   4. Date
2. Introduction: A brief review of the literature and justification for why the topic is important.
3. Aims & Hypotheses: Concise statement of research question(s) (aims) and briefly how these aims fit into the literature area (justification of your aims). Clearly state the study’s hypotheses (Note: Hypotheses need to be testable – see also Analyses).
4. Method:
   1. Design: Describe the research design (e.g., experimental, quasi-experimental, or non-experimental, between-subjects or within-subjects, etc.). Consider potential confounds and how they will be dealt with (internal validity).
   2. Participants: Consider the target population, sampling frame, sampling technique, anticipated return rate, sample size and power (demonstrate how the sample size is adequate for your design). Note whether you or your supervisor have a dependent relationship with this target population. Describe how participants will be recruited.
   3. Materials/Measures: Describe how the independent and dependent measures are to be operationalised and the psychometric properties of proposed measures.
   4. Procedure: How will the study be carried out? How will the data be collected? What steps will be followed with participants? What will be done with the data?
   5. Ethical issues: Summarise potential ethical issues and explain how they will be dealt with. Consider whether approval is required from the University’s Committee for Ethics in Human Research or any other organisation.
   6. Costs: Provide details of any project costs, such as equipment, and how these will be paid. Where possible, students are encouraged to use free materials.
5. Analyses: Summarise the planned data analytical techniques for addressing the hypotheses.
6. Timeline: Outline key project milestones and their due dates, including ethical clearances. See timeline for more information.
7. References
8. Appendices: e.g., a copy of the instrumentation to be used, informed consent statement

Human ethics research application

How to prepare and submit an HREC application will be covered by:

1. 7375 Research Methods and Professional Ethics Part A
2. Your supervisor

<!- Traditional thesis format

Sections

A traditional thesis typically has the following sections:

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Drafting

1. Thesis structure
2. Introduction

Lit. review plan

Developing a 2-3 page plan for the lit. review and reviewing it with me is one of your current thesis tasks.

These are some notes about how to prepare the lit. review plan, although they haven't been adapted for the stand-alone lit. review (which can be longer and doesn't include specific research questions / hypotheses):

http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/~s613374/Thesis+-+Introduction

Style and format

1. Present the thesis in APA style (6th ed.), including being double-spaced, one side of the page only, with appropriate margins
2. Word count: 10,000 to 12,000 words
3. Binding can be plastic or metal comb, heat sealed, or hard cover

Accessing past theses

To access past theses, options include:

1. Ask your supervisor - s/he may have spare copies of past theses that you can borrow
2. Ask your supervisor - s/he can arrange access to the hard copy library of past theses - 2008-2009 thesis titles and supervisors

Submitting

1. Submit three hard copies of the thesis to the Psychology Administrative Assistant (3B25) together with a completed Thesis Cover Sheet by 3pm, Wednesday of Week 10, Semester 2. A copy goes to each of two examiners for marking, and one remains in the Centre for Applied Psychology Thesis Collection.
2. You will also need to provide a fourth hard copy to your supervisor along with an electronic copy of your thesis and the final dataset used.
3. Make at least one additional hard copy of the thesis to keep yourself.

Timeline

This Gantt chart provides some indicative time ranges which should be negotiated between student and supervisor for each project and presented as part of the research proposal:

Semester 1

Week 0

1. Supervisor/topic allocation

Week 1

1. Group meeting with supervisor
2. Topic brainstorm

Week 2-6

1. Topic and proposal development in consultation with supervisor

Week 7

1. Proposal presentation and review

Week 8

1. Review poster proposal feedback
2. Plan data collection

Semester 2

Week 5

Workshop - thesis preparation

• Thesis preparation and organisation - long thesis vs. literature review and manuscript
• Examiners
• Word count
• Printing and binding
• Submission
• Examination
• Submission for publication

Week 10

• Print
• Submit

Help

1. Post on the Moodle discussion forum
2. Ask your supervisor

See also

• Guidelines for a 4th year Honours thesis in psychology
• Marking criteria guidelines
• Word processing for a thesis
• How do I get my thesis published?