MSc Handbook - Empirical Project and Literature Review Guidelines

Synopsis

Most students are required to take an Independent Study Module (ISM). This will typically be an empirical project, although students on some Diploma routes are instead required to carry out a literature review. The project allows you to participate in the design and implementation of a theoretically motivated piece of pure or applied research in psychology and provides training in advanced research methods pertinent to the area in which you will specialise.

You should expect to meet regularly with your project supervisor throughout semester 2 and the summer vacation period. Meetings should be arranged according to the needs of the project and the student but they would normally occur at least every two weeks, and you and your supervisor should arrange meetings as required. Your project supervisor will provide feedback on one draft of your project report (excluding the discussion section). In your feedback meeting you can lead a brief oral discussion with your project supervisor about structure and issues for the discussion.

You will be provided with programme-specific information with full details of the project. Only a brief overview relating to the regulations regarding projects is given here.

Structure

The project is presented as a dissertation comprising:

  • An abstract (no longer than 250 words).
  • An introduction that comprises a review of the relevant literature.
  • A report of the empirical work that includes a Method, Results and Discussion.
  • References.
  • Appendices if necessary. 


The word limit for the entire project is 8,000 words. The word count for your project must be stated at the end of your report (see Assessment for more details of how to calculate your word count). If a project report is found to have exceeded the word limit, 10% of the available marks will be subtracted from the original mark.

The introduction should be an up-to-date, comprehensive review of related work in the field, where possible set within an appropriate theoretical framework. The introduction should culminate with discussion of the rationale for the empirical project.

For students taking some Diploma routes, the literature review should, like the introduction to a project, be an up-to-date, comprehensive review of relevant work in a specific area, where possible set within an appropriate theoretical framework. It should be written clearly and concisely. The literature review should end with a concluding section that outlines clearly the directions for future research.

Both projects and literature reviews should follow APA formatting guidelines by default (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Edition). Helpful and student-friendly notes on the guidelines can be found at the following website: http://tinyurl.com/qy22v.

We request a few differences from APA style regarding formatting of the project. For instance, tables and figures should be inserted in the appropriate places within the document (i.e., close to where they are referred to in the text), not at the end. If in doubt, consult your supervisor.

Please include a statement on your contribution to data collection in your Method section (e.g., we collected all data presented in this report, or we collected data for 20 participants and used data already collected for an additional 20 participants).

Projects should be submitted electronically via the VLE.  For further details on submitting work electronically, please consult the Guide to Online Submission of Work section of the MSc Handbook - Guide to Online Submission of Work page.

Timing of the Literature Review/Project

In the first semester of the programme or soon after, you will be assigned to a faculty member or experienced researcher who will become your project supervisor. You will be required to decide upon an empirical project (with the help of your supervisor) by a particular time specific to the degree programme. It is important to meet the deadline for deciding upon the project so that necessary arrangements can be put into place for the collection of data early in semester 2. You are expected to work on your project through the summer vacation.

Project Recruitment and Budgets


Participants should not normally be paid, and MSc project students are not allowed to ask undergraduates to participate in return for course credit. MSc projects cannot make use of the "SONA" experimental booking system. Projects have a budget of up to £100 per student that can be used for project expenses, such as poster printing, Test Library costs, or DBS checks (but not binding of project reports). In exceptional cases, payment for participant expenses may be claimed as part of this budget, but only where it is clear that participant recruitment could not operate without this money. In these circumstances, the students must seek prior permission from their project supervisor, who will claim the payments from the Academic Administrator.

Archiving of Project Data

Students must maintain an archived copy of all the raw data from their project until after the degree results are released. Raw data includes computer data files, completed questionnaires, completed consent forms, etc.  Students are responsible for keeping the archived data in a secure place. In addition, it may be a good idea to pass on copies of the raw data to the project supervisor, in the event that the project yields publishable results. The Department may request copies of the raw data and any other relevant materials when evaluating a project’s authenticity. This only happens occasionally, but when such requests are necessary they are most likely to be made during the period between submission of the project and the announcement of the degree results. You should therefore ensure that you can be easily contacted during this period. Inability to provide appropriate supporting evidence if requested may result in a penalty which could be as severe as a mark of zero for your project or failure of the entire degree.

Poster

You are also required to present the main results of your project in the format of a poster (A4 landscape format). You should prepare your poster individually, without collaborating with other students, even if you are undertaking a group project. The poster should be prepared to a standard expected for presentation at a scientific conference. For guidance on how to create a scientific poster, see here PosterInformation2019.pdf. Note that there will be no oral poster presentation.

Posters should be submitted (in pdf format) electronically via the VLE.  For further details on submitting work electronically, please consult the Guide to Online Submission of Work section of the MSc Handbook - Guide to Online Submission of Work page


Marking

Your overall project mark is based on assessment of: 

  • The project report (90%)
  • The poster pdf (5%)
  • Your supervisor's assessment of your contribution to the running of the project (5%)

For the third component, your primary supervisor is asked to take into account your:

  • Attendance at supervisor meetings and other project sessions (e.g., testing, analysis, group meetings)
  • Contribution to planning, testing, analysis and management of project (e.g., time management and organisational abilities, innovation and problem-solving, adaptability, attention to detail).
  • Responsiveness to feedback
  • Cooperative behaviour and (where relevant) ability to guide others

Detailed marking guidelines for each of these components are given on the Assessment page of the Handbook

To contact the Student Documentation maintainers please email psychology-student-docs-group@york.ac.uk (use your University of York email address).