[Auto-generated transcript. Edits may have been applied for clarity.]
Welcome to this first module on research methods and statistics. We're very glad that you are here.

In this video I'll talk you through what this module is about, how it is organised,

what you will be expected to do each week and how you'll be assessed.

I will also talk about how you can ask for help.

So you have just started your psychology degree, but how do we determine what is a true finding in psychological science?

How do we know which theories are well supported by evidence?

I'm a developmental psychologist and there are many ideas about children's development out there on the internet and social media.

But how do we know which ideas are based on evidence? Now,

this is important because parents and educators might believe certain ideas

about child development without knowing whether they are supported by evidence.

Maybe they are myths. And as scientists, I think it's important to promote evidence based practices and debunk fake assumptions.

So what about this one? Showing cognitively stimulating videos to babies boosts their development?

What do you think? Is that a myth or is it a fact? Pause the video and consider whether you think this is true or a myth.

Also ask yourself, why do you think that? It is in fact a myth.

Now, similar effects have been found for different types of cognition.

So for instance, exposures to DVD 15 times over six weeks did not produce any significant increases in word learning in 12 and 15 month olds.

Now, videos can be useful when paired with other types of interactions.

So. Other research has demonstrated that 12 and 18 months olds.

They learned more from videos. If parents watched the videos with them and used questions or labelling during the videos.

Indeed, Myers et al. 2017 they presented 12 to 25 months old Aida with interactive, interactive FaceTime video calls or pre-recorded videos,

and it turned out that the children preferred the FaceTime video calls, and they also recognised a social partner in those video calls.

And they learned novel patterns better when done via FaceTime, but not with video alone.

If you're interested in developmental psychology and wish to learn more about myths that are debunked with more recent research,

I encourage you to have a look at at this book, um, you will find a link on Moodle, Um under library resources in the resource list.

There is a link to this book. Okay, so what is this module about?

In this module, you will develop systematic ways of thinking about and approaching real world issues.

You will learn about how we know what we know. You will get experience with modern tools that help us doing doing research.

And so you will learn how to use guerrilla to build a questionnaire and collect data.

And you will learn how to use the statistical software R or RStudio to visualise and analyse your data.

All of these things learning about psychological research methods, psychological psychology as a science,

learning how to use software to collect data and how to code in R.

It is all a journey and we are very glad that you took to have you along.

Okay, so how does it work? Um, we will introduce key concepts and practices of research, design and data analysis through lectures.

These are pre-recorded like this one, and we recommend that you watch them before you come to the practical class.

Now we've found that in particular for research, design and statistics.

Pre-recorded lectures work very well.

Um, and that is because if it was a person, a lecturer in person, everybody would have to follow along at the same pace.

But you all have different backgrounds when it comes to maths,

and pre-recorded lectures allow you to kind of engage with the material at your own pace.

Now, in addition to the pre-recorded lectures, there may be some reading each week for you to complete,

or there may be some practice tasks or pre lab activities that we recommend you complete before coming to the Practical Laboratory class each week.

And so that's why all of these activities, these three pre-recorded lectures, readings and practice tasks are in blue.

We recommend that you complete them before you come to your timetabled practical laboratory classes, also referred to as labs.

So the labs are in person and a lecturer undergraduate teaching assistant will be on hand to help you.

So in the labs, we will teach you how to design studies and how to handle data, how to perform statistical analyses and report your findings.

And the labs will be very hands on, giving you direct experience of all stages of a research project, including the use of specialised software.

Okay, so what do you need? Um, all the, um, learning materials are in one place.

The Research Methods and Stats Handbook um, and you can see a link on this slide.

There's also a link on Moodle. Um you will also need to log in to the RStudio server.

Again a link is on the slide. A link is also on Moodle. And please note that you will need to be logged in either.

You either need to be on campus, or you need to kind of log in via the VPN to be able to log in to the RStudio server.

So VPN stands for Virtual Personal Network, and it basically allows you to pretend to be on campus even if you're not.

Um, and if you follow the link on Moodle, uh,

then you can you get to instructions from the University of how to set up a VPN if you want to access it while not on campus.

Finally, under Library resources on Moodle, you will find a resource list.

And that list provides, um, links to all the readings mentioned.

Um, so we will regularly refer to a textbook by Howell.

Um, but you don't need to buy a copy of that book. You can access it online.

And there are also some physical copies in the library if you prefer.

So on the slide here, you see a screenshot of the Research Methods and Stats handbook.

So that's an online resource. You would go to year one.

And then kind of the first term module. Which topics will we cover in this module.

We can't cover all of research methods and statistics at once.

So in this module we will focus on observational methods and specifically on questionnaires.

So you will learn how about questionnaire design. You will be collecting and working with observational data.

Um and you will be looking at relationships between variables using correlation and regression analysis.

So after this module, you will be able to describe the research process from design to post publication.

You will have gained experience with specialist software to build relevant tools like a questionnaire for data and data collection.

You will know how to report data in text tables and visualisations, following relevant conventions and good practice.

And when I say conventions, then I am referring to kind of a set of guidelines published by the American Psychological Association.

And we will be using the seventh edition of that. So that's why it's often referred to as APA seven.

They are a set of guidelines of how we report research findings in psychology.

After this module, you will be able to identify statistical tests that are appropriate for an observational, correlational design.

You will be able to perform statistical analyses using a statistical software package, and we use R and RStudio.

You will be able to interpret the output and report the results again following those conventions.

And you will be able to explain what open science practices are and why they are important.

And throughout the module, we will encourage you to apply evidence based reasoning and critically engage with empirical research.

And finally, you will be you will you will participate in research both as an experimenter but also as a research study participant.

So where does this module sit within the rest of the curriculum?

Now you are currently here at the start of your journey.

And the modules in this visualisation that we created over the summer in collaboration with a first

year design student at Lancaster University and one of our um students who has just graduated.

And the modules in this visualisation are represented by villages that increase in complexity as you progress further.

Um, and it's your job to explore these villages, to gain necessities, to progress to your final research project.

Um, so the idea is that you progress through these villages through year one and year two, and then you get to, um, your final project.

That is what all of these, um, all of the things we teach you in research methods and statistics lead up to.

So in the first village, the current module we will explore.

Um, so that's let me find my cursor. There we are.

Um, so that is here. and we will explore variation and investigate associations between variables in the next village over here.

Um, so that is the second module of year two or level four.

It is also referred to you will learn about experimental research designs to

find out how groups of people differ in a psychological process or behaviour.

In the first term of year two or level five, you will kind of build on that and develop more advanced experimental research.

Um, methods. Um,

you will be introduced to a range of experimental research design with either the same or different people completing different conditions of a study,

and you will learn how to analyse those data obtained using the analysis of variance or Anova technique.

Now in the second term of year two. So now we're up here.

Um, you will turn your attention to, um, qualitative and mixed research methods.

So you will, um, take a journey to Planet Crawl, as we've labelled it.

Um, and you will learn how to develop and conduct interviews and how to analyse data from interviews.

You will then come back to effective questionnaire design and reflect on the methodological and statistical approaches you've learned so far,

and mix approaches, uh, to generate the best methods to answer a particular research question.

Um, so then you're over here, and then you're basically ready to, uh, conduct your first independent research project,

um, by yourself, obviously with help from a supervisor, um, in the final year of your undergraduate degree.

So that is your final project. And during your dissertation, you will develop your own research question.

Select and implement appropriate methods to investigate that question and report your findings in your dissertation.

Now on this journey,

you will be collecting different tools coding tools that are used to read and clean and work with large or messy data sets and create visualisations.

Critical thinking tools to to understand what the patterns of in the data mean, and writing tools to communicate your findings.

And throughout this journey you will collect these different runes and they stand for the

the different statistical analyses that you will become familiar with on this journey.

And you are not alone on this journey. So you can collect scrolls from these towers.

The towers represent the lecturers, so we are there to help you along on this journey.

And you collect all of these things in your backpack so that once you get through to here,

you are ready to kind of explore the, the, the unknown world of, of your final year project.

So that's the idea. Anyway. I would like you to take kind of two take home messages from this.

First of all, it is a journey and all everything we teach you in research methods and

statistics during year one and year two or level four and level five feeds into,

um, you becoming an independent researcher in your final year project.

And secondly, you are not alone on this journey. We are there to help you along.

Okay, So how will you be assessed? Um, each module, uh, during a kind of year one and year two, um, consist of, uh, kind of multiple assessment types.

Um, so in year one or level four. So these two modules, term one and term two.

Um, you will have an exam that counts towards 50%. And you will submit a research report that counts for 35%.

And in addition to that, you will need to collect what are called Sona credits by participating in research studies.

Um, and the number of Sona credits that you collect will contribute for 15% of your overall grade on the module.

So that is um, this year, basically, um, in year two or at level five, uh, again, you will do an exam and you will write a research report.

So then the exam counts for 60% and the research report counts for 40% of your grade.

And you don't have to do so in accreditor anymore. And then at level six or in your final year there is a dissertation.

As I said, you are not alone on this journey.

So how do you ask for help? Now we've designed the teaching space, the Levy lab, where your labs happen.

We've designed it in such a way that it facilitates collaboration.

So you are encouraged to work with other students on your table.

Make sure you ask others to explain how they've solved an exercise, or help out others where you can do.

Try to make sure that you understand how a particular bit of code or exercise.

Um, you know that you understand the how and don't simply be satisfied with the correct answer.

In the labs there are always a GTA and a lecture present, so they are there to help you as well.

There are no stupid questions in research methods and stats, so just ask either the GTA or the lecturer any question about what you're doing.

For each module, there's also a Q&A forum on Moodle. Um, so that is a great way to ask a question outside of lab sessions.

It might seem scary to ask a question on the forum, but please, please, please don't be afraid to do this.

If you have a question, you can bat um, that 30 other students also have that same question.

So by asking the question on the forum,

you help out many more people on the module and either a GTA or a lecture will answer your question as soon as possible.

And we aim for kind of within 48 hours during the working week.

So from Monday to Friday now in year one or at level four.

So for this module for one, for one and also for for 242 each week we also hold an live online Q&A session.

So there is a link to that on Moodle. Um, and there we will try and resolve any general queries or problems that you might want to ask about.

So anything that you're struggling with or are confused about,

you can you can ask questions during the live online Q&A session and you can do so in an anonymous way.

Um, that's it for now. I hope you are excited to get started.