Honours Thesis A
Overview
This unit prepares students to develop, design, and undertake an empirical research project. Students will learn advanced library skills and write a substantial critical literature review that justifies their individual research questions/hypotheses. They will also gain an understanding of the ethical issues involved in conducting human research and steps necessary to obtain ethical approval. Students will produce a research methods proposal, prepare ethics applications, and monitor project progress.
Requisites
Rules
Pre-requisite
300 Credit Points and Admission into BH-PSY Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) Standard Entry
OR
Admission into BH-PSYSC Bachelor of Psychological Sciences (Honours)
OR
Admission into BH-PSY1 Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) Graduate Entry
01-June-2025
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Explain the components of good research and analyse the trade-offs in different research designs
- Conduct independent research
- Communicate a research design in written format
- Work collaboratively with a supervisor on a research project
- Work independently to conduct an empirical literature review
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live Online Class | 2.00 | 8 weeks | 16 |
| On-campus Lecture | 2.00 | 2 weeks | 4 |
| Specified Activities Supervisor Meetings | 1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| Unspecified Activities Various | 5.00 | 12 weeks | 60 |
| Unspecified Activities Independent Learning | 16.67 | 12 weeks | 200 |
| TOTAL | 292 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Literature Review | Individual | 60% | 1,2,3,4,5 |
| Online Quiz | Individual | 20% | 1,2,4 |
| Project Proposal | Individual | 20% | 1,2,3,4 |
Content
- Formulation of research questions and hypotheses
- Approaches to reviewing research literature
- Designing empirical research studies
- Ethical issues in research with human participants
- Project planning
- Logical and critical thinking skills
- Using the library and other information sources
- Research and data gathering tools
- Advanced research skills
- Graduate Attribute 2 (Communication 2 - Communicating using different media)
- Graduate Attribute 5 (Digital Literacies 1 - Information literacy)
- Graduate Attribute 6 (Digital Literacies 2 - Technical literacy)
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.