Module Title: Qualitative Psychological Research / Research
Methods in Counselling & Psychotherapy

THE BRIEF/INSTRUCTIONS
• PS4700 / CG4982 is assessed by 40% coursework: written lab report.
• There is a folder in the Moodle area containing the Lab Guidance Document.
• Learning Objectives:
Design a project of your choice that uses qualitative methodology to investigate an area of psychology.
PREPARATION FOR THE ASSESSMENT
• Please use the Moodle area to access information about the Lab Guidance Document
RELEASE DATES AND HAND IN DEADLINE
Assessment Deadline Date and time: Friday, 15.04.2022 at 16:59
Please note that this is the latest time you can submit – not the time to submit!
Your feedback/feed forward and mark for this assessment will be provided 15 working days after submission.
For students with extensions, the return date is 15 working days from the date that you submitted the report.
SUBMISSION DETAILS
Please submit via Turnitin on Blackboard.
HELP AND SUPPORT
• You will find links to lots of useful resources onMoodle.
• If you have not yet made the college aware of any disability, specific learning difficulty, long-term
health or mental health condition, please contact e-aitima@icps.edu.gr.

• If you have any valid mitigating circumstances that mean you cannot meet an assessment
submission deadline and you wish to request an extension, you will need to contact eaitima@icps.edu.gr prior to the deadline.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this assessment brief is correct at time of publication. In the
unlikely event that any changes are deemed necessary, they will be communicated clearly via e-mail and
a new version of this assessment brief will be circulated.
Version: 1
PS4700 Assignment 3 Qualitative Methods Design Exercise
Design a project of your choice that uses qualitative methodology to investigate an area of
psychology. It is not a requirement to focus specifically on the area of psychology that your course
explores, but it may help you to do so. However, you must not use a proposal you have put
together for any other assignment on your course – e.g., your project/dissertation (if you are using
qualitative methodsfor that). This assignment needs to be different, although it could
complement your dissertation e.g.,for your dissertation you might be investigating parenting
styles of mothers with long term health problems or criminal convictions, and for this piece you
might design a study to research people’s experience of growing up with a parent with significant
health problems or growing up in a family where one parent was in prison. Avoiding topics you are
already working on allows you to broaden your research planning skills. If you do choose a topic
that is close to your intended project, please take great care not to include material from one in
the other. To do this would be to commit an offence underthe Academic Integrity policy, which
you can view in the University’s AssessmentHandbook. Also note that you must not re-use
material from assignments you have submitted in earlier modules in this course or in any other
course you have studied.
You may only choose from the three analytic approaches covered in the PS4700 lectures:
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Grounded Theory or Conversation Analysis. This is to
ensure you have sufficient background knowledge to be able to complete the assignment without
feeling the need to read around the area of qualitative methodsto search for an original
approach. Whilst you will need to read the methodological literature, we want you to read for
depth and detail forsection two of this report, rather than broadly and superficially.
Deadline and Submission
The deadline for this assignment is 15th April at 16:59; submit via turnitin in Blackboard. If you
require an extension, please submit a request electronically rather than contacting module staff
.
Rememberthat extensions need to be requested before the deadline date.
What to Include
Think of this as two key questions: what would you do in this piece of research (part 1) and why
would you do it that way (part 2).
Part 1: Project Outline
You will need to describe your proposed project in a similar way to that which you would use to
write up a research report, but in the form of a proposal. Therefore, you will need to use the
future tense (e.g., “participants will be recruited from …”). The project does not need to be
carried out; you should not collect any data or recruit any actual participants. In writing your
proposal, feel free to use headings and subsections that make sense in terms of how you wish to
describe your proposed project. If you are stuck though, you could considerstarting with these
sub-headings:Aims; Design; Participants; Procedures;Analysis.
You must state the project’s aims, list the research questionsto be addressed, and give details of
the design (this may well look quite different from a quantitative design section and should state
the methods used for data collection and analysis in a concise way without describing them).
Details of the participants (e.g., how many, who etc.) and your proposed method for recruiting
them should be given. You should also give details of your proposed procedure (this should
include an outline of the information you intend to give to participants and a fuller description of
how data will be collected). If your proposed project uses any materials, then you can describe
these here. You do not need to prepare any materials (e.g., participant information letters or
interview schedules); you just need to outline what they will include and tell us how they will be
used.
You must also have a section, called ‘analysis’ or ‘analytic strategy’, which describes in more detail
how you intend to analyse the data. So, in the ‘design’ section, you might simply state that you
will use Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (or whatever), while here you will give a little
more detail about the actual steps and practical activities that this will involve.
It is entirely up to you whether youwish write in the first person (e.g., “I will analyse the data with
…”) although our view is that this is far more readable than the passive voice version that avoids
the first person (e.g., “the project data will be analysed with …”). You will need to refer to the
relevant methodological literature in this section to show that you are aware of best practice etc.,
but you should avoid long descriptions of qualitative methods if they are not relevant to describing
the methodology that you will use. In this section, you are describing WHAT you wish to do. The
second section is where you will provide a fuller justification for your project methodology – the
WHY.
Part 2: Theoretical and Methodological Rationale.
In the second part, you should move on to providing a justification for the proposed project and its
methods (with more emphasis on the latter than the former). This will involve providing a brief
justification for the aims/research questions that you will attempt to answer. To do this, you will
need to make reference to the relevant literature in your chosen area. However, you are not
expected to provide a comprehensive literature review on the topic as we want you to focus more
on your methodological rationale; this is a methods assignment after all. In providing a theoretical
rationale, referto no more than three published studies so that we can see that there is some
evidence to support your justification for the research questions, but without getting too bogged
down in this element.
You should then move onto the methodological rationale – and this really is the key elementof
section two. It is fine for you to do these two parts of the rationale as two sub-sections if that
feelsmore logical for you. If you would preferto weave them togetherin a single rationale,
then that is OK as well.
Here are a few questions to give you ideas of what we are looking for in the methodological
rationale:
• Why should we use these methods to study that aspect of the phenomenon understudy?
• What makes these methods appropriate for your research questions?
• How can we be sure that these methodswill give the kind of data you need to answer the
kind ofresearch questions you have?
You need to show how the methodology that you propose will answerthe research questions and
aims that you identified in section one. You must make reference to relevant literature on
qualitative methodsto do this. It is very important that you present a specific rationale for the
methods you use, rather than (or in addition to) a generalrationale for the use of qualitative
methods. Why interviews, or focus groups, or analysis of media reports, or observation (or
whateverother method of data collection) specifically? Why, for example, grounded theory, or IPA
specifically? When you do this you need to focus on why the chosen analytic technique is the
correct choice, rather than describing other approaches and saying why they are not.
Remember: the project you design for this assignment must not be the same as your MSc
Dissertation project.
How Much to Write
The first section should be shorter than the second section. You might aim for around 750 words
in the first part and 1500 in the second part. These are only guidelines; however your report
should be no longer than 2,250 words, excluding the reference list at the end. Your report can be
shorter than 2,250 words, but you must include all the elements noted in the instructions in
sufficient detail for your proposal to be clear.
Reading
You will need to read around the topic area that you choose to focus your proposed study on;
howeverdo not spend too much time on this. Use the library resources, or reading lists from
other modules if relevant, to find sources for this. Also, you need to read about the methods that
you choose to use. To do well on this assignment, you will need to show more than general
understanding of the specific methods you choose to apply (and certainly not just general
understanding of qualitative methods). You can use the readings lists from the qualitative lectures
on this module to start you off on this. Finally, you will also probably find it useful to read about
qualitative research design. Usefulsourcesfor this include:
Robson, C. & McCartan, K. (2016) Real World Research Chichester: A Resource for Users of Social
Research Methodsin Applied Settings, 4
th Ed. Wiley. [This edition or earlier ones are all suitable –
available from the library; the 4
th Ed is available as an e-book. Robson uses the term ‘flexible
designs’ when discussing qualitative methods.]
Sullivan, C. Gibson, S. and Riley, S. (2012) Doing Your Qualitative Psychology Project London: Sage.
[This is aimed primarily at people doing qualitative dissertations but it has chapters on things like,
designing research questions and planning a research project, which should help you. In the
library and available as an eBook.]
Marking
The mark awardedwill be in accordance with limited percentage scale marks, as published by the
university.
The criteria that will be used to mark your coursework are as follows:
Criterion What doesit mean?
Relevance Relevance hasthreemain aspects:
1. First, it is about the extent to which your work includes material and ideas that
are relevantto the topic. So, this includes how clearly you focus your own writing
on the topic that is under discussionand the relevance of the studies and writings
of other authorsthat you cite in your work. In thinking through the relevance you
need to think about what it is that the material needsto be relevantto. This means
thinking about the main point of any document, section or paragraphyou are
writing. You will need to think about how relevantthe material isto the paragraph
it sitsin and how relevantit is, more widely, to the essay you are writing or the
introduction section of your lab.
2. Relevance is alsoabout the amount of detail you gointo when introducing ideas
or information in your writtenwork. You need to work out where it is useful and
important to go into more detail and when to introduce and discussthings more
briefly. If you are critiquing a study thatsomebody else has done then you might
need to go into quite a bit of detail in describing thatstudy so that you canbuild a
very clear, specific and persuasive argument about the strengths andweakness of
that study. At other times you might not need to go into much detail in order to
make the point that you need to make. This demandsthat you think about how
central the material is to the point you are trying to making or the message you
wish to convey to the reader.
3. Relevance is alsoabout the extent to which you draw out the relevance of the
material for your argument. Youneed to make sure that you draw out explicitly the
relevance of all thematerial you include. Don’tleave your readerto work out how
something is relevant – tell them! So, for example, if you have cited a study in an
essaybecause you believe it contributesto your overall argumentthat childhood
experiences are relatedto adult mental health then say so. Don’tjust cite the study
and then leave your readerto work out how it contributes to your argument.
Rather, you might wantto say something like “this study showsthat childhood
experiences are sometimeslinked to adult mental health”.
Quality of
Argumentation
There are four main aspects ofthe ‘quality of argumentation’ criterion:
1. First, this is about the use of argumentationin your writtenwork. That is,
showing that you can go beyond simply describing things (like theories or other
people’s empirical work) and actually constructing your own arguments. This
involves you making a decisionabout your own view and arguing this view with
good arguments. One of the biggest challengesinthis area is working out the
difference betweenunsubstantiated personalopinion (which the marker will not
rewardyou for) and evidence-based argumentation(whichthey will rewardyou
for). The key to differentiating between these is the quality of your arguments
(more on this below) and whether you have used evidence.
Criterion What doesit mean?
2. The secondaspect of the argumentationcriterionrelatestothe quality of the
argumentsthat you make. Making good quality arguments willhelp you to avoid
falling into the trapof offering up unsubstantiatedopinion. One of the most
important things about good argumentsisthatthey are supported with appropriate
evidence. Thisis partly about using good and reliable sources of evidence (so,
refereed journal articles, reportsfromreputable sources or appropriate textbooks)
and it is alsoabout whether you use this evidence well (so, does the evidence
actually support your argument as well as you think it does?). Good arguments also
are those that are logical. So, the different bits of your argument need to fit
togetherin a logical fashion. The conclusion that you draw must follow on logically
from the premises you present (thatis, the building blocks of your argument).
3. Also, this criterion is about the overall coherence of the narrative produced.
Good academic arguments are coherent and form a ‘story’ thatlogically flows
towards a consistent conclusion. So, for example, you should try not to contradict
yourself in the report. Sometimesthe evidence that you will be reviewing when
you write is contradictoryand you need to find a wayof picking up on this and
commenting on it while still keeping your own argumentfree from contradictions.
4. It isreally important that you take a position and argue your case as well as you
can. Try and rememberthat your position – the conclusion of your argument –
might be something like “we can’t be sure if x is related toy because the evidence is
inadequate” but you can still take that position and argue it strongly. Markers want
to see that you canmake an informed choice about your own position (providing it
is one that is logical and can be supported withevidence) and that you can argue it
well. It is quite often less about being ‘right’ as about your ability toshow that you
can construct anargument and defend your position. Your markers will be happy
to see you argue something thatis different from their own position aslong as you
do it well andwith some confidence.
Originality Originality is about the extent to which your work reveals your ability to think and
write independently. This is about threemain things:
1. First, originality is aboutthe extentto which you show independent thinking by
the constructionof your own arguments andideas – although don’t forgetthat
thesemust be good argumentsthat are basedon appropriate evidence (as
discussed above). So, for example, a piece of work in which the author describes a
number of studies done by other people and discussestheir own ideas about what
these studies tell us about the matterin hand would be showing evidence of
originality in terms of independent thought.
2. Another way in which you candemonstrate original is by sensibly critiquing the
material that you include in your written work – that is, the theories or empirical
studies that you are reading and reviewing in your work. Evaluating material,
ratherthan simply describing it,showsthat you have the capacity to think for
yourself. You need to show that you can see the strengths andweaknesses in the
work of others, think about whether it islogical, consider its implications and think
about whether evidence from other sources is consistent with it or not (that is,
weigh up the work of others in relation toevidence).
Criterion What doesit mean?
3. Another key aspect of originality is novelty. In this report this might be about the
extentto which you introduce originality or novelty with the designof your study.
Have others conducted very similar studies tothe one you propose? Where is your
original slant on it? Or, you mightshow that you have readwidely – reading for
yourself, ratherthan just regurgitating material fromyour lecture, or perhaps going
beyond the reading list given to you. Rememberthough, that reading books and
journal articlesthat were notrecommended by your lecturer is only one way to
introduce originality in your work and you have got to be carefulthat the things you
read are stillrelevant and useful. And your lecturer will have pointed you towards
certainkey reading for a reason. It is perhaps more important to focus on showing
independent thinking and critical analysis (as discussedabove) thanto seekout
large numbers of fairly obscure references.
Knowledge and
Content
Knowledge and Contentis about the extent to which the writtenwork shows good
knowledge of the relevanttopic area. This is about the contentthat is included and
whetherit shows a good breadthof knowledge in the relevant area. So, this is
about whether you have included information on all relevant areas, or just on some
of them. Often this will alsobe about whether you have included studies or
theoriesthat are criticalfor showing awareness andunderstanding of a topic. For
example, it would be unusual to write anessayon the social psychologyof
conformity without making reference to the work of Milgram. Also, this is about
the extent to which what is written showssufficient understanding of the material
that is presented. This canbe shown by things like summarising the implications of
studies that have been reported, writing about how the material applies to some
kind of novel or applied situationand criticallyevaluating material. Itis hard to
evaluate things and to consider themin detail if you don’t also have good
knowledge and understanding so how well you critique things, andthe degree of
sophisticationin your discussionof ideas canhighlight the level of your knowledge
and understanding. This criterion is also about whether you make factual errorsin
your written work, or whetherthere are any signsthat you have misunderstoodthe
work of others when you are citing it.
Quality of
Explanation
The Quality of Explanationcriterion is about how well you explain things in your
writtenwork. So, it is about how thoroughyour explanations are, how accurate
they are, how clear and easy to read and understandthey are. In this reportthis
might include how you explain the way you plan todo something, a theory, the
empirical work done by somebody else or the premises and conclusion of an
argumentthat you are trying to make.
Style ‘Style’ relatestoa number of areas:
1. First,style is about the basic quality of your writing. So, this is about how good
the spelling and grammar are in your work and includes things like spelling,
punctuation, structure, correct wordusage etc. If you use an electronic spellchecker, watchout for things thatit might not pick up (such asthe difference
between ‘their’ and ‘there’). Also, this relates towhether your work is structured
appropriately – so, in an essay, doyou have a proper introduction and conclusion
and, in all work, does your argument flow logically and clearly throughout the
sectionor piece of work.
Criterion What doesit mean?
2. Also, it is about the broaderissue of whether you are writing using an appropriate
style. Thisincludes the style of language: using technical terms appropriately
without using unnecessary jargon; using plain English when necessary andpossible;
adopting a style of language that issufficiently formal; and, writing that is
economical and easy to understand. It alsoincludes other features of your writing
such astables, referencing andthe appropriate use of sections. Are these clear,
accurate, neat andappropriately structured, formatted andpresented?