research skills psychology

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How to Become a Research Psychologist – Schooling and Degree Guide [2024 Guide]

In contemplating psychology as an occupation, thoughts wander to hands-on professions such as counseling and therapy. However, a sizable segment of the field involves little practical work, and is more concerned with theoretical aspects of psychology.

Do you prefer fixed numbers to subjective diagnoses? Scientific observations to patient treatment? If so, perhaps a career in research psychology is for you.

Are You an Analytical Person?

Before jumping on the research psychology bandwagon, ask yourself if you’re truly an analytical person. An indispensable prerequisite for a career in research psychology is having a firm grasp of – and perhaps a natural inclination toward –working with numbers and data. Dictionary.com defines the term analytic thinking as “the abstract separation of a whole into its constituent parts in order to study the parts and their relations,” and that’s exactly what research entails.

Hence, questions it would behoove you to ask are: How did I cope with math in school? Did I do well in my college statistics class? If the answer is negative, could you learn to enjoy it? Are you prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to become a resourceful statistician? In going forward with this profession, a resounding “yes” should be your only answer.

What is a Research Psychologist?

Research psychologists are found in every branch of psychology. It is often not a specific job title, but rather represents an area of emphasis for psychologists when undertaking research in their specific field, such as developmental psychology , industrial-organizational psychology , biological psychology , social psychology , and the like.

For example, a social psychologist might undertake research on the manner in which children are socialized in rural, highly religious communities and compare that to the way children in urban, non-religious communities are socialized.

Another example might be a health psychologist conducting research on nutrition and wellness for a government agency.

Research psychologists are trained in experimental methods and statistics. They utilize the scientific method to formulate and test hypotheses, develop experiments, collect and analyze data, and use that information to develop conclusions and report on their findings.

Two common types of studies research psychologists undertake are:

• Experiments – research psychologists conduct experiments both in controlled lab settings and out in the field. An example might be examining the social behaviors of small groups in a rural town.
• Case studies – psychologists conducting research often utilize this method when studying an individual or small group. Observing how a particular family overcomes the trauma of a natural disaster is an example of a case study.

Despite the significant differences in the ways that research psychologists conduct their studies, the tie that binds research psychologists together across disciplines is that at the heart of their research, they are seeking to understand better how humans and non-human animals feel, think, learn, and act.

What Does a Research Psychologist Do?

A research psychologist carries out many duties as it pertains to studying human behavior. Many research psychologists work for private companies or organizations conducting studies pertinent to the purpose of their employer. For example, a university might employ a research psychologist to explore methods to improve teaching and learning.

Alternatively, a research psychologist working for a non-profit human services organization might study ways to improve the bonding experience between adopted children and their adopted parents.

Research psychologists also conduct much research on behalf of governmental agencies. For example, a psychologist may research the efficacy of psycho-social intervention programs implemented by the Bureau of Prisons, looking for positive outcomes for participants in the program.

Likewise, a research psychologist working for the National Institute of Mental Health may investigate current rates of certain psychological disorders among the general population.

Other psychologists with training in research work in academic settings. Colleges and universities employ research specialists to conduct research or even assist with the development of on-campus policies and procedures regarding psychological research. For example, a research psychologist might devise rules and regulations pertaining to human or animal-based research in the psychology department.

Many research psychologists also teach. Again, colleges and universities – both public and private – might hire a psychologist with training in research to teach undergraduate courses in various genres of psychology.

There would also be opportunity for more specialized teaching assignments, such as those that train graduate or doctoral students to conduct research of their own. Typical course assignments for research psychologists include research psychology, statistics, and ethics.

Yet other research psychologists are employed by private businesses to help them create improved working environments. Research psychologists might be employed to investigate issues like low employee morale or low production rates. They may also seek to improve workplace safety by examining the types of accidents that occur, when and where they occur, and the conditions under which they occur as well.

What are the Degree and Schooling Requirements to Become a Research Psychologist?

A career in psychology usually requires a graduate degree, and the sub-field of research psychology is certainly no different.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most research psychologists need not just a Master’s degree, but a full-out Ph.D. or PsyD, to land a job of pleasing stature. Hence, normally expect 5-6 years of study even after graduating college.

Having completed coursework in experimental psychology and statistics will be of great importance, probably more so than for you than any other type of psychologist.

Obtaining psychology license generally require pre-doctoral and postdoctoral supervised experience, an internship, or a residency program, which may span 12 months or more. Sometimes more than one of them is needed.

Where Does a Research Psychologist Work?

Research psychologists typically work in the following environments:

• Colleges and universities
• Law enforcement agencies
• Consulting and private research firms
• Government research groups
• Government and Private businesses
• War veterans and disaster post-traumatic counseling

What Skills are Required for a Research Psychologist?

Successful research psychologists have the following skills :

• Research skills – It goes without saying that research psychologist must be highly trained in research methodologies, including experimental design, observational techniques, and sampling methods.
• Math and statistics skills – Research psychologists must also have a strong grasp on the statistical methods used to analyze research, including qualitative and quantitative methods of analyzing and interpreting data.
• Computer literacy – Psychologists in this field are required to be highly computer literate. Computers and computer programs are used for all phases of research, from designing research studies to analyzing data to reporting data for publication.
• Speaking and writing skills – Research psychologists must be able to clearly and accurately summarize their findings both in verbal and written forms. Good linguistic skills are also necessary for interacting with other members of the research team and with subjects participating in the study.
• Analytical skills – Analytical skills are necessary because they need to be able to see both the fine details and the bigger picture. Higher-ordered analytical skills assist researchers in identifying patterns, highlighting anomalies, and sifting through mountains of data to come to a logical conclusion.
• Skepticism – It can be difficult for researchers to avoid seeing what they want to see in their research. As a result, research psychologists need to have the ability to critically evaluate their work and the work of others.

What is the Employment Outlook for Research Psychologists?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the job outlook for psychologists as a whole is 6 percent.

Unfortunately, the BLS does not offer details regarding the employment outlook specifically for research psychology. While the field will most likely not grow as quickly as other psychology disciplines, it’s still reasonable to assume that strong growth will occur. This is due in large part to an increased interest in the underlying mechanisms of behavior, such as genetics and environmental factors.

Because research psychologists specialize in conducting studies on popular topics like drug and alcohol addiction, there should be plenty of job opportunities in the coming years. This is especially true of research psychologists that have an advanced degree, like a doctorate, or have additional training in psychological research methods.

What is the Salary of a Research Psychologist?

As of February 2024, research psychologists earn a median salary of $127,818 per year. However, as in many other areas of psychology, salaries fluctuate considerably depending on the number of years of experience in the industry, as well as the sector of employment.

Individuals who go into industrial-organizational psychology average as much as $132,191 annually, which is more than any other area of psychology.

Related Reading

• What is the Difference Between Masters and PhD in Psychology?
• What Can You Do With a Bachelor of Arts Psychology Degree?
• Difference Between Applied Psychology and Experimental Psychology
• What are the Differences Between Research Psychology and Applied Psychology?
• What is the Difference Between Counseling and Clinical Psychology Graduate Programs?

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Skills of a Psychology Major

This article retrieved from the APA web site and was originally published in the 1997 Monitor

The distinctive skills of a psychology graduate Securing a good job requires knowing what skills you have to offer.

By Nicky Hayes, PhD

T he following excerpt from the European Psychologist provides a list of the skills psychology students develop through their training—a list they can use to better market themselves.

Psychology students' general orientation towards psychology usually reflects the orientation of the staff in their department, and of psychology as practiced in their country. But despite differences in the kind of information students receive, there is a great deal that psychology graduates have in common. The study of psychology, in itself, produces a particular type of awareness and some core knowledge that is shared by most, if not all, psychologists. In the list that follows, I have attempted to identify some of that shared awareness, by naming 13 different types of skill or knowledge that a psychology student is likely to acquire by graduation . One of the important factors that makes psychology special is not the psychological skills themselves, which are often relevant to other disciplines as well, nor the specific items of knowledge. It is the sheer number of skills and range of knowledge that makes psychology special. Psychology is distinctive in that it equips its graduates with an extremely rich and diverse portfolio—providing a variety of forms of expertise, which are found in few other disciplines and which can equip psychology graduates to undertake many different types of work.

• Literacy Psychology graduates are highly literate and, moreover, have been trained to write in more than one literacy format. Through their coursework, they become accustomed to writing essays, which allow them to explore issues in detail; but they are also familiarized with the techniques of concise writing within a pre-set format (a skill much valued in commercial and business worlds) as they write up practical research reports.
• Numeracy Psychology graduates are also highly numerate. They are trained to interpret data summaries and to understand probability statements, and they become familiar with a wide range of statistical procedures and processes. When faced with numerical information, they are more likely to respond by seeking to discover what the numbers imply than by avoiding them altogether. By contrast, it is relatively uncommon for degree courses in other disciplines to produce graduates who are simultaneously literate and numerate, yet the psychology graduate is expected to be both.
• Computer literacy Psychology graduates are also generally computer literate. They are familiar with using computers, and can select and learn relevant packages for the tasks they are required to carry out. While relatively few psychology graduates are familiar with computer programming, computer use is required in the modern world, and it is a rare psychology graduate who has not had some training in this area, at the very least in word-processing and statistical analysis.
• Information-finding skills It is sometimes more useful to know where information can be found than to have memorized that information directly, particularly in areas that are developing and changing over time. Undertaking a psychology degree involves a considerable amount of information-finding skill. Psychology students are trained to search through library book collections, journals, CD-ROM databases and a range of other ways of obtaining information. Knowing how to look for information on a particular topic or general area isn't a skill needed for every job, but it is always one worth having.
• Research skills Psychology students are explicitly trained in research methods, and this training spans a range of different techniques. Typically, these include experimental and observational methods, survey and sampling techniques, and more recently, qualitative analysis. Together, these amount to considerable expertise in gathering systematic information about human experience or behavior-expertise that is useful in any number of different fields.
• Measurement skills Measurement skills go hand-in-hand with research skills, and psychology graduates are thoroughly trained in these as well. Through a typical research-methods course, a psychology student learns how to operationalize the measurement of complex process, the principles of psychometric measurement, questionnaire design and how to develop other measurement tools. These skills are familiar to psychology graduates, and are distinctly useful in many walks of life, but they are not easy skills to acquire without explicit training.
• Environmental awareness Knowing how someone's environment can influence their behavior helps us to understand people at work, at home, in education and at leisure. Psychology graduates are familiar with this type of knowledge in many guises, from traditional stimulus-response perspectives to the direct study of the environment, including such phenomena as nonverbal signaling, habit formation and social appropriateness. Many nonpsychologists do not particularly notice environmental factors, yet few psychology graduates are unaware of their importance.
• Interpersonal awareness Psychology students also learn about the mechanisms of social communication and the potential sources of interpersonal conflict. This is not the same as being socially skilled oneself, of course, although it can contribute to it. But such awareness can make a considerable difference to someone dealing with everyday interpersonal problems. Being aware, too, of the sources of conflict or misunderstanding can sometimes result in the ability to perceive ways through difficulties that would not be readily apparent without such knowledge.
• Problem-solving skills From their very first laboratory class, psychology graduates are systematically trained in problem-solving skills. The ability to tackle a range of different types of problems is probably the most distinctive characteristic of the psychology graduate. Psychology graduates learn how to apply different strategies and approaches to understanding problems, and how to identify the practical steps to implement a solution. They can operate on a macro-level, applying different perspectives or levels of analysis to the problem, or at a more basic level in terms of choosing appropriate methods and techniques. It is a valuable skill, and one that psychologists should be more aware of.
• Critical evaluation Psychology students are also explicitly trained in critical evaluation, an emphasis that appears to be particularly strong in Europe. This set of cognitive skills can be viewed as direct training in skepticism: Students are expected to appraise whether evidence for a phenomenon is really what it appears to be; to evaluate, critically, the quality of an argument; to identify the shortcomings and pitfalls of a particular line of action; and to anticipate problems or difficulties. These skills are often devalued by psychology graduates, who sometimes complain that everything that they have learned seems to be negative, yet that same skepticism can be extremely useful to them in their later working life.
• Perspectives On the surface, the ability to examine issues from multiple points of view or to explore phenomena using different schools of thought appears to be a relatively esoteric one. However, it is a skill that can be surprisingly useful in many different contexts. The ability to identify different ideologies or paradigms can clarify social issues and give us a better awareness of the implications of particular arguments or positions. Psychology graduates are directly trained in this skill, but they often do not realize how valuable it can be.
• Higher-order analysis Psychology graduates are skilled at spotting recurrent patterns in human activity, or noticing similarities between situations that seem on the surface to be quite different. This type of higher-order analysis involves being able to extract general principles rather than becoming bogged down with the details of the immediate situation. The psychology student's experience of sifting through vast quantities of experimental evidence and interpreting it in terms of schools of thought and other general principles provides useful training in this skill.
• Pragmatism It does not take much exposure to psychological methodology for psychology students to realize they are never going to achieve the perfect experiment, and that they will simply have to do the best they can with what is practical. Their experiences in this respect tend to give the psychology graduate a pragmatic approach to work and problem-solving: a valuable skill, and one that is not particularly common.

It will be apparent, I think, that this portfolio of skills is one that can be valuable for many types of work apart from the profession of psychology itself. But this is not the whole story. As John Radford argues, psychology provides its students with an extensive education, training them in thinking and reasoning skills, and encouraging the student to explore a broad range of ideas and assumptions. In the old-fashioned sense, studying psychology can be seen as a liberal education, as well as a modern training. It is far more than simply a skill-based training for professional work—it is an education in its own right. Unfortunately, psychologists themselves often fail to recognize what skills they actually have, or find it very difficult to articulate what these are. As sports psychologists have long recognized, expertise is not a primarily conscious process: It involves deeply learned, automated routines, which come into play at the appropriate times without conscious decision-making on the part of the person concerned. Psychological knowledge has a tendency to become very deeply internalized and once this has happened, it is hard for an individual psychologist to recognize that knowledge, and to realize when they are applying it.

Undertaking a psychology degree can generate distinctive approaches to social and interpersonal issues, yet many psychology graduates leave their courses believing they are no more perceptive or knowledgeable than other people. They do not feel knowledgeable, partly because their knowledge is automatized rather than conscious, and partly because one of the things they have learned is not to accept 'knowledge' without question. On the other hand, a psychology graduate venturing into the outside world is often surprised at how other people appear to overlook the obvious. The style of thinking that one acquires while studying for a psychology degree may feel intuitively obvious, but it actually involves a long and arduous process of discarding prior assumptions. And those automatized skills are a vital contribution to the psychologist's problem-solving abilities. Becoming aware of what we have learned through a psychology degree is made even more difficult by the way that many of the cognitive skills that we acquire from the study of psychology are negative rather than positive, such as the skill of not immediately jumping to conclusions, and of reserving judgment about alternative possibilities. Psychology students quickly learn that a single event can be usefully conceptualized in several alternative ways, and that there may be multiple psychological origins for a given problem. This is a valuable cognitive skill, but it is one that is relatively uncommon in lay cognition. A psychology degree, then, is actually rather special. Psychology integrates areas of knowledge that span the arts and the sciences, and in the process it provides students with a liberal education, as well as a particularly wide range of practical and professional skills. The automatized skills that psychology provides are often difficult to articulate, but they are nonetheless significant. It would be not a bad thing, in my view, if some serious psychological research were to be devoted to the identification and measurement of these distinctive but elusive skills.

Nicky Hayes, PhD, is Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom, and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. She specializes in the teaching and learning of psychology. Her current research is on student revision practices and social representations in organizations.

This article was excerpted from the June 1996 issue of the European Psychologist (Vol. 1, No. 2, p. 130_34), published by Hogrefe & Huber Publishers. To subscribe to the European Psychologist, contact APA's Subscription Department, (202) 336-5500.

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Research Skills

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Educational Experience

Research is the basis for practice in Clinical Psychology. Learning to select appropriately, judge critically and use relevant aspects of psychological research is an integral part of training and is one of the profession’s key strengths. The MSc Programme was developed to provide students with the necessary research and other generic skills to allow them to read research reports with critical understanding and to conduct research relevant to the field of Clinical Psychology. The objectives of the research training programme are:

• to familiarise students with the research base of the profession of Clinical Psychology
• to facilitate the development of skills of critical analysis of the research base
• to acquire competence in core aspects of research design and statistical analysis
• to enable students to independently develop, design and execute a research dissertation
• to teach students skills to communicate research findings for different audiences (e.g. presentations, writing papers, press releases).

Core research skills (modules RESM 6009, 6010, 6011 and 6012) are provided in joint teaching sessions with other postgraduate research students in the Psychology AU.

• 1 Data Analysis: training and facilities
• 2 Ethical Issues in Research
• 3 Research Governance
• 4 Disclosure and Barring Service check
• 5 Risk assessment

Data Analysis: training and facilities

Students have access to computing facilities provided by the Programme and by the Department (including site licences for SPSS, for use at home or on placement). Research Co-ordination Research teaching is provided by four members of the Programme team.  The Module Lead for PSY 6022 is responsible for coordinating and supporting  the research activity of students  leading to the submission of the dissertation.  All members of the research team are research active, and members of research groups based within the Department of Psychology .

Ethical Issues in Research

All research projects carried out in the Department of Psychology should meet the BPS requirements for ethical research. No project may be carried out without formal approval from the relevant ethics committee(s); these include the Psychology Ethics’ Committee, Research Governance and, if appropriate, the National Research Ethics Service (NRES). Ethical issues in research are introduced to students in the first year Applied Research Methods training and can be found in the Code of Ethics and Conduct published by the British Psychological Society. Prior to conducting their research dissertation, students are required to obtain approval from the Psychology Ethics Committee and University’s Research Governance Office. Applications are submitted through the on-line portal, Ethics Research Governance Online (ERGO) at: http://www.ergo2.soton.ac.uk/.  Where necessary, applications to NRES should be submitted through the Integrated Research Application System (IRAS) (see https://www.myresearchproject.org.uk/ ).

Research Governance

Once an ethical application has been approved by the Department of Psychology, it will be automatically sent electronically to the Research Governance office (RGO). The aim of the RGO is to provide researchers with sponsorship and insurance for their research projects. The University of Southampton stipulates that any member of the university should not carry out research without having received confirmation from the RGO of their sponsorship and insurance.  Further details can be found at: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/corporateservices/rgo/index.html

Disclosure and Barring Service check

DBS check documentation should be attached to any ethics’ application that is for a study that will involve vulnerable populations.

Risk assessment

A completed Risk Assessment form should accompany all submissions to the Psychology Ethics Committee. This form should outline potential risks to researchers and participants. British Psychology Society (BPS) Ethical guidelines and support can be found at:  www.bps.org.uk

National Research Ethics Service (for NHS ethical approval)

If research involves participants or resources linked to the NHS then in addition to going through internal ethics and research governance procedures a further application to the NRES is needed. An NRES application is typically required if the proposed research participants fall into one of the following categories:

• They are patients or users of the NHS
• They are individuals who have some relationship to users of the NHS (such as carers of patients)
• They have access to past or current information about NHS patients (including “data, organs or other bodily material, fetal material and IVF”)
• They have recently died on NHS premises.

Or if the research involves:

• Using NHS facilities or premises
• Using NHS staff.

See  http://www.southampton.ac.uk/corporateservices/rgo/  for regular updates. The National Research Ethics Service also provides guidance on informed consent and research with adults unable to consent http://www.nres.nhs.uk/applications/

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Understanding Methods for Research in Psychology

A Psychology Research Methods Study Guide

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Emily is a board-certified science editor who has worked with top digital publishing brands like Voices for Biodiversity, Study.com, GoodTherapy, Vox, and Verywell.

Types of Research in Psychology

• Cross-Sectional vs. Longitudinal Research
• Reliability and Validity

Glossary of Terms

Research in psychology focuses on a variety of topics , ranging from the development of infants to the behavior of social groups. Psychologists use the scientific method to investigate questions both systematically and empirically.

Research in psychology is important because it provides us with valuable information that helps to improve human lives. By learning more about the brain, cognition, behavior, and mental health conditions, researchers are able to solve real-world problems that affect our day-to-day lives.

At a Glance

Knowing more about how research in psychology is conducted can give you a better understanding of what those findings might mean to you. Psychology experiments can range from simple to complex, but there are some basic terms and concepts that all psychology students should understand.

Start your studies by learning more about the different types of research, the basics of experimental design, and the relationships between variables.

Research in Psychology: The Basics

The first step in your review should include a basic introduction to psychology research methods . Psychology research can have a variety of goals. What researchers learn can be used to describe, explain, predict, or change human behavior.

Psychologists use the scientific method to conduct studies and research in psychology. The basic process of conducting psychology research involves asking a question, designing a study, collecting data, analyzing results, reaching conclusions, and sharing the findings.

The Scientific Method in Psychology Research

The steps of the scientific method in psychology research are:

• Make an observation
• Ask a research question and make predictions about what you expect to find
• Test your hypothesis and gather data
• Examine the results and form conclusions
• Report your findings

Research in psychology can take several different forms. It can describe a phenomenon, explore the causes of a phenomenon, or look at relationships between one or more variables. Three of the main types of psychological research focus on:

Descriptive Studies

This type of research can tell us more about what is happening in a specific population. It relies on techniques such as observation, surveys, and case studies.

Correlational Studies

Correlational research is frequently used in psychology to look for relationships between variables. While research look at how variables are related, they do not manipulate any of the variables.

While correlational studies can suggest a relationship between two variables, finding a correlation does not prove that one variable causes a change in another. In other words, correlation does not equal causation.

Experimental Research Methods

Experiments are a research method that can look at whether changes in one variable cause changes in another. The simple experiment is one of the most basic methods of determining if there is a cause-and-effect relationship between two variables.

A simple experiment utilizes a control group of participants who receive no treatment and an experimental group of participants who receive the treatment.

Experimenters then compare the results of the two groups to determine if the treatment had an effect.

Cross-Sectional vs. Longitudinal Research in Psychology

Research in psychology can also involve collecting data at a single point in time, or gathering information at several points over a period of time.

Cross-Sectional Research

In a cross-sectional study , researchers collect data from participants at a single point in time. These are descriptive type of research and cannot be used to determine cause and effect because researchers do not manipulate the independent variables.

However, cross-sectional research does allow researchers to look at the characteristics of the population and explore relationships between different variables at a single point in time.

Longitudinal Research

A longitudinal study is a type of research in psychology that involves looking at the same group of participants over a period of time. Researchers start by collecting initial data that serves as a baseline, and then collect follow-up data at certain intervals. These studies can last days, months, or years. 

The longest longitudinal study in psychology was started in 1921 and the study is planned to continue until the last participant dies or withdraws. As of 2003, more than 200 of the partipants were still alive.

The Reliability and Validity of Research in Psychology

Reliability and validity are two concepts that are also critical in psychology research. In order to trust the results, we need to know if the findings are consistent (reliability) and that we are actually measuring what we think we are measuring (validity).

Reliability

Reliability is a vital component of a valid psychological test. What is reliability? How do we measure it? Simply put, reliability refers to the consistency of a measure. A test is considered reliable if we get the same result repeatedly.

When determining the merits of a psychological test, validity is one of the most important factors to consider. What exactly is validity? One of the greatest concerns when creating a psychological test is whether or not it actually measures what we think it is measuring.

For example, a test might be designed to measure a stable personality trait but instead measures transitory emotions generated by situational or environmental conditions. A valid test ensures that the results accurately reflect the dimension undergoing assessment.

Review some of the key terms that you should know and understand about psychology research methods. Spend some time studying these terms and definitions before your exam. Some key terms that you should know include:

• Correlation
• Demand characteristic
• Dependent variable
• Hawthorne effect
• Independent variable
• Naturalistic observation
• Placebo effect
• Random assignment
• Replication
• Selective attrition

Erol A.  How to conduct scientific research ?  Noro Psikiyatr Ars . 2017;54(2):97-98. doi:10.5152/npa.2017.0120102

Aggarwal R, Ranganathan P. Study designs: Part 2 - Descriptive studies .  Perspect Clin Res . 2019;10(1):34-36. doi:10.4103/picr.PICR_154_18

Curtis EA, Comiskey C, Dempsey O. Importance and use of correlational research .  Nurse Res . 2016;23(6):20-25. doi:10.7748/nr.2016.e1382

Wang X, Cheng Z. Cross-sectional studies: Strengths, weaknesses, and recommendations .  Chest . 2020;158(1S):S65-S71. doi:10.1016/j.chest.2020.03.012

Caruana EJ, Roman M, Hernández-Sánchez J, Solli P. Longitudinal studies .  J Thorac Dis . 2015;7(11):E537-E540. doi:10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2015.10.63

Stanford Magazine. The vexing legacy of Lewis Terman .

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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Research Skills in Psychology (307C8)

15 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Autumn teaching

This module introduces you to the skills necessary for conducting psychological research. It explores analysing the data obtained from experimental and quasi-experimental studies in psychology.

You will be taught how to analyse data quantitatively, using statistical techniques as well as under what circumstances various statistical tests are appropriate. You will be shown how to produce written reports of your findings as set out by the American Psychological Association. You'll develop various research-related IT skills, including how to use statistical software packages to perform statistical tests and display data.

Contact hours and workload

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Key Research and Study Skills in Psychology

• Sieglinde McGee - University of Dublin Trinity College, Ireland
• Description

'I am happy to recommend this to my students as it covers jargon without using jargon and explains all those simple things that many academics take for granted. It also gives good examples of how to get the best from your time studying psychology from how to write good essays to the rules of writing lab reports.'

Dr Joy Coogan, University of East London

This book provides students with a wide range of research and study skills necessary for achieving a successful classification on a psychology degree course. It replaces the stress and fear experienced when encountering essays, reports, statistics and exams with a sense of confidence, enthusiasm and even fun.

Sieglinde McGee presents indispensable instruction, advice and tips on note making and note taking, evaluating academic literature, writing critical essays, preparing for and doing essay and MCQ exams, understanding research methods and issues associated with conducting research, writing and presenting reports and research and also some important computer skills. Examples provided will show how to score well on assignments and exams and also the sort of approach, layout, errors, omissions or answer-style that would achieve a lower grade. Practical exercises and interactive tasks are integrated throughout to clarify key points and give the students a chance to practise on their own.

This is a useful resource for students taking modules in study and research skills in psychology and an essential guide for all other students studying on psychology programmes.

Dr Sieglinde McGee is an Associate of the School of Psychology at Trinity College, Dublin, where she taught for several years.

'I am happy to recommend this to my students as it covers jargon without using jargon and explains all those simple things that many academics take for granted. It also gives good examples of how to get the best from your time studying psychology from how to write good essays to the rules of writing lab reports' - Dr Jay Coogan University of East London

The book is very approachable, has some great information, and students seem to enjoy it at first glance. I had several students tell me that they had read and written in the book almost immediately upon receiving it. Even before the assigned readings were due.

I did not like the style of writing in this book. I also felt it made assumptions regarding the readers abilities i.e. it was pitched at too high a level. It was a short read - maybe too short? Not sure at what level the book is aimed and I think it suffers because of this.

nice easy to read book that may encourage students to think further...

Seems to be pretty good, the author has clearly stated all the information related to Research & study skills. Most of the students are very much concerned about research skills and this will give a better understanding to them.

Good comprehensive coverage of tools and the necessary skills required to achieve success.

Useful book to provide an overview of research and study skills in psychology using real examples from the field. It is good to introduce the students to a wide range of research. Especially the report writing section something the students often have difficulty with.

Book is too basic for 3rd year students. Have however recommended it to colleague who coordinates tutorials for 1st year students.

This is an excellent book to recommend to university students studying psychology as it is written by a lecturer in the field and from the point of view of someone who struggled with study skills as an undergraduate.

It is clearly laid out and covers points relevant to psychology students, but in a language that other students could understand as well. Some good examples of sample essays are provided, which is what the students ask for most often. Other relevant areas covered include improving writing, critical thinking and exam preparation.

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The Use of Research Methods in Psychological Research: A Systematised Review

Salomé elizabeth scholtz.

1 Community Psychosocial Research (COMPRES), School of Psychosocial Health, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

Werner de Klerk

Leon t. de beer.

2 WorkWell Research Institute, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

Research methods play an imperative role in research quality as well as educating young researchers, however, the application thereof is unclear which can be detrimental to the field of psychology. Therefore, this systematised review aimed to determine what research methods are being used, how these methods are being used and for what topics in the field. Our review of 999 articles from five journals over a period of 5 years indicated that psychology research is conducted in 10 topics via predominantly quantitative research methods. Of these 10 topics, social psychology was the most popular. The remainder of the conducted methodology is described. It was also found that articles lacked rigour and transparency in the used methodology which has implications for replicability. In conclusion this article, provides an overview of all reported methodologies used in a sample of psychology journals. It highlights the popularity and application of methods and designs throughout the article sample as well as an unexpected lack of rigour with regard to most aspects of methodology. Possible sample bias should be considered when interpreting the results of this study. It is recommended that future research should utilise the results of this study to determine the possible impact on the field of psychology as a science and to further investigation into the use of research methods. Results should prompt the following future research into: a lack or rigour and its implication on replication, the use of certain methods above others, publication bias and choice of sampling method.

Introduction

Psychology is an ever-growing and popular field (Gough and Lyons, 2016 ; Clay, 2017 ). Due to this growth and the need for science-based research to base health decisions on (Perestelo-Pérez, 2013 ), the use of research methods in the broad field of psychology is an essential point of investigation (Stangor, 2011 ; Aanstoos, 2014 ). Research methods are therefore viewed as important tools used by researchers to collect data (Nieuwenhuis, 2016 ) and include the following: quantitative, qualitative, mixed method and multi method (Maree, 2016 ). Additionally, researchers also employ various types of literature reviews to address research questions (Grant and Booth, 2009 ). According to literature, what research method is used and why a certain research method is used is complex as it depends on various factors that may include paradigm (O'Neil and Koekemoer, 2016 ), research question (Grix, 2002 ), or the skill and exposure of the researcher (Nind et al., 2015 ). How these research methods are employed is also difficult to discern as research methods are often depicted as having fixed boundaries that are continuously crossed in research (Johnson et al., 2001 ; Sandelowski, 2011 ). Examples of this crossing include adding quantitative aspects to qualitative studies (Sandelowski et al., 2009 ), or stating that a study used a mixed-method design without the study having any characteristics of this design (Truscott et al., 2010 ).

The inappropriate use of research methods affects how students and researchers improve and utilise their research skills (Scott Jones and Goldring, 2015 ), how theories are developed (Ngulube, 2013 ), and the credibility of research results (Levitt et al., 2017 ). This, in turn, can be detrimental to the field (Nind et al., 2015 ), journal publication (Ketchen et al., 2008 ; Ezeh et al., 2010 ), and attempts to address public social issues through psychological research (Dweck, 2017 ). This is especially important given the now well-known replication crisis the field is facing (Earp and Trafimow, 2015 ; Hengartner, 2018 ).

Due to this lack of clarity on method use and the potential impact of inept use of research methods, the aim of this study was to explore the use of research methods in the field of psychology through a review of journal publications. Chaichanasakul et al. ( 2011 ) identify reviewing articles as the opportunity to examine the development, growth and progress of a research area and overall quality of a journal. Studies such as Lee et al. ( 1999 ) as well as Bluhm et al. ( 2011 ) review of qualitative methods has attempted to synthesis the use of research methods and indicated the growth of qualitative research in American and European journals. Research has also focused on the use of research methods in specific sub-disciplines of psychology, for example, in the field of Industrial and Organisational psychology Coetzee and Van Zyl ( 2014 ) found that South African publications tend to consist of cross-sectional quantitative research methods with underrepresented longitudinal studies. Qualitative studies were found to make up 21% of the articles published from 1995 to 2015 in a similar study by O'Neil and Koekemoer ( 2016 ). Other methods in health psychology, such as Mixed methods research have also been reportedly growing in popularity (O'Cathain, 2009 ).

A broad overview of the use of research methods in the field of psychology as a whole is however, not available in the literature. Therefore, our research focused on answering what research methods are being used, how these methods are being used and for what topics in practice (i.e., journal publications) in order to provide a general perspective of method used in psychology publication. We synthesised the collected data into the following format: research topic [areas of scientific discourse in a field or the current needs of a population (Bittermann and Fischer, 2018 )], method [data-gathering tools (Nieuwenhuis, 2016 )], sampling [elements chosen from a population to partake in research (Ritchie et al., 2009 )], data collection [techniques and research strategy (Maree, 2016 )], and data analysis [discovering information by examining bodies of data (Ktepi, 2016 )]. A systematised review of recent articles (2013 to 2017) collected from five different journals in the field of psychological research was conducted.

Grant and Booth ( 2009 ) describe systematised reviews as the review of choice for post-graduate studies, which is employed using some elements of a systematic review and seldom more than one or two databases to catalogue studies after a comprehensive literature search. The aspects used in this systematised review that are similar to that of a systematic review were a full search within the chosen database and data produced in tabular form (Grant and Booth, 2009 ).

Sample sizes and timelines vary in systematised reviews (see Lowe and Moore, 2014 ; Pericall and Taylor, 2014 ; Barr-Walker, 2017 ). With no clear parameters identified in the literature (see Grant and Booth, 2009 ), the sample size of this study was determined by the purpose of the sample (Strydom, 2011 ), and time and cost constraints (Maree and Pietersen, 2016 ). Thus, a non-probability purposive sample (Ritchie et al., 2009 ) of the top five psychology journals from 2013 to 2017 was included in this research study. Per Lee ( 2015 ) American Psychological Association (APA) recommends the use of the most up-to-date sources for data collection with consideration of the context of the research study. As this research study focused on the most recent trends in research methods used in the broad field of psychology, the identified time frame was deemed appropriate.

Psychology journals were only included if they formed part of the top five English journals in the miscellaneous psychology domain of the Scimago Journal and Country Rank (Scimago Journal & Country Rank, 2017 ). The Scimago Journal and Country Rank provides a yearly updated list of publicly accessible journal and country-specific indicators derived from the Scopus® database (Scopus, 2017b ) by means of the Scimago Journal Rank (SJR) indicator developed by Scimago from the algorithm Google PageRank™ (Scimago Journal & Country Rank, 2017 ). Scopus is the largest global database of abstracts and citations from peer-reviewed journals (Scopus, 2017a ). Reasons for the development of the Scimago Journal and Country Rank list was to allow researchers to assess scientific domains, compare country rankings, and compare and analyse journals (Scimago Journal & Country Rank, 2017 ), which supported the aim of this research study. Additionally, the goals of the journals had to focus on topics in psychology in general with no preference to specific research methods and have full-text access to articles.

The following list of top five journals in 2018 fell within the abovementioned inclusion criteria (1) Australian Journal of Psychology, (2) British Journal of Psychology, (3) Europe's Journal of Psychology, (4) International Journal of Psychology and lastly the (5) Journal of Psychology Applied and Interdisciplinary.

Journals were excluded from this systematised review if no full-text versions of their articles were available, if journals explicitly stated a publication preference for certain research methods, or if the journal only published articles in a specific discipline of psychological research (for example, industrial psychology, clinical psychology etc.).

The researchers followed a procedure (see Figure 1 ) adapted from that of Ferreira et al. ( 2016 ) for systematised reviews. Data collection and categorisation commenced on 4 December 2017 and continued until 30 June 2019. All the data was systematically collected and coded manually (Grant and Booth, 2009 ) with an independent person acting as co-coder. Codes of interest included the research topic, method used, the design used, sampling method, and methodology (the method used for data collection and data analysis). These codes were derived from the wording in each article. Themes were created based on the derived codes and checked by the co-coder. Lastly, these themes were catalogued into a table as per the systematised review design.

Systematised review procedure.

According to Johnston et al. ( 2019 ), “literature screening, selection, and data extraction/analyses” (p. 7) are specifically tailored to the aim of a review. Therefore, the steps followed in a systematic review must be reported in a comprehensive and transparent manner. The chosen systematised design adhered to the rigour expected from systematic reviews with regard to full search and data produced in tabular form (Grant and Booth, 2009 ). The rigorous application of the systematic review is, therefore discussed in relation to these two elements.

Firstly, to ensure a comprehensive search, this research study promoted review transparency by following a clear protocol outlined according to each review stage before collecting data (Johnston et al., 2019 ). This protocol was similar to that of Ferreira et al. ( 2016 ) and approved by three research committees/stakeholders and the researchers (Johnston et al., 2019 ). The eligibility criteria for article inclusion was based on the research question and clearly stated, and the process of inclusion was recorded on an electronic spreadsheet to create an evidence trail (Bandara et al., 2015 ; Johnston et al., 2019 ). Microsoft Excel spreadsheets are a popular tool for review studies and can increase the rigour of the review process (Bandara et al., 2015 ). Screening for appropriate articles for inclusion forms an integral part of a systematic review process (Johnston et al., 2019 ). This step was applied to two aspects of this research study: the choice of eligible journals and articles to be included. Suitable journals were selected by the first author and reviewed by the second and third authors. Initially, all articles from the chosen journals were included. Then, by process of elimination, those irrelevant to the research aim, i.e., interview articles or discussions etc., were excluded.

To ensure rigourous data extraction, data was first extracted by one reviewer, and an independent person verified the results for completeness and accuracy (Johnston et al., 2019 ). The research question served as a guide for efficient, organised data extraction (Johnston et al., 2019 ). Data was categorised according to the codes of interest, along with article identifiers for audit trails such as authors, title and aims of articles. The categorised data was based on the aim of the review (Johnston et al., 2019 ) and synthesised in tabular form under methods used, how these methods were used, and for what topics in the field of psychology.

The initial search produced a total of 1,145 articles from the 5 journals identified. Inclusion and exclusion criteria resulted in a final sample of 999 articles ( Figure 2 ). Articles were co-coded into 84 codes, from which 10 themes were derived ( Table 1 ).

Journal article frequency.

Codes used to form themes (research topics).

These 10 themes represent the topic section of our research question ( Figure 3 ). All these topics except, for the final one, psychological practice , were found to concur with the research areas in psychology as identified by Weiten ( 2010 ). These research areas were chosen to represent the derived codes as they provided broad definitions that allowed for clear, concise categorisation of the vast amount of data. Article codes were categorised under particular themes/topics if they adhered to the research area definitions created by Weiten ( 2010 ). It is important to note that these areas of research do not refer to specific disciplines in psychology, such as industrial psychology; but to broader fields that may encompass sub-interests of these disciplines.

Topic frequency (international sample).

In the case of developmental psychology , researchers conduct research into human development from childhood to old age. Social psychology includes research on behaviour governed by social drivers. Researchers in the field of educational psychology study how people learn and the best way to teach them. Health psychology aims to determine the effect of psychological factors on physiological health. Physiological psychology , on the other hand, looks at the influence of physiological aspects on behaviour. Experimental psychology is not the only theme that uses experimental research and focuses on the traditional core topics of psychology (for example, sensation). Cognitive psychology studies the higher mental processes. Psychometrics is concerned with measuring capacity or behaviour. Personality research aims to assess and describe consistency in human behaviour (Weiten, 2010 ). The final theme of psychological practice refers to the experiences, techniques, and interventions employed by practitioners, researchers, and academia in the field of psychology.

Articles under these themes were further subdivided into methodologies: method, sampling, design, data collection, and data analysis. The categorisation was based on information stated in the articles and not inferred by the researchers. Data were compiled into two sets of results presented in this article. The first set addresses the aim of this study from the perspective of the topics identified. The second set of results represents a broad overview of the results from the perspective of the methodology employed. The second set of results are discussed in this article, while the first set is presented in table format. The discussion thus provides a broad overview of methods use in psychology (across all themes), while the table format provides readers with in-depth insight into methods used in the individual themes identified. We believe that presenting the data from both perspectives allow readers a broad understanding of the results. Due a large amount of information that made up our results, we followed Cichocka and Jost ( 2014 ) in simplifying our results. Please note that the numbers indicated in the table in terms of methodology differ from the total number of articles. Some articles employed more than one method/sampling technique/design/data collection method/data analysis in their studies.

What follows is the results for what methods are used, how these methods are used, and which topics in psychology they are applied to . Percentages are reported to the second decimal in order to highlight small differences in the occurrence of methodology.

Firstly, with regard to the research methods used, our results show that researchers are more likely to use quantitative research methods (90.22%) compared to all other research methods. Qualitative research was the second most common research method but only made up about 4.79% of the general method usage. Reviews occurred almost as much as qualitative studies (3.91%), as the third most popular method. Mixed-methods research studies (0.98%) occurred across most themes, whereas multi-method research was indicated in only one study and amounted to 0.10% of the methods identified. The specific use of each method in the topics identified is shown in Table 2 and Figure 4 .

Research methods in psychology.

Research method frequency in topics.

Secondly, in the case of how these research methods are employed , our study indicated the following.

Sampling −78.34% of the studies in the collected articles did not specify a sampling method. From the remainder of the studies, 13 types of sampling methods were identified. These sampling methods included broad categorisation of a sample as, for example, a probability or non-probability sample. General samples of convenience were the methods most likely to be applied (10.34%), followed by random sampling (3.51%), snowball sampling (2.73%), and purposive (1.37%) and cluster sampling (1.27%). The remainder of the sampling methods occurred to a more limited extent (0–1.0%). See Table 3 and Figure 5 for sampling methods employed in each topic.

Sampling use in the field of psychology.

Sampling method frequency in topics.

Designs were categorised based on the articles' statement thereof. Therefore, it is important to note that, in the case of quantitative studies, non-experimental designs (25.55%) were often indicated due to a lack of experiments and any other indication of design, which, according to Laher ( 2016 ), is a reasonable categorisation. Non-experimental designs should thus be compared with experimental designs only in the description of data, as it could include the use of correlational/cross-sectional designs, which were not overtly stated by the authors. For the remainder of the research methods, “not stated” (7.12%) was assigned to articles without design types indicated.

From the 36 identified designs the most popular designs were cross-sectional (23.17%) and experimental (25.64%), which concurred with the high number of quantitative studies. Longitudinal studies (3.80%), the third most popular design, was used in both quantitative and qualitative studies. Qualitative designs consisted of ethnography (0.38%), interpretative phenomenological designs/phenomenology (0.28%), as well as narrative designs (0.28%). Studies that employed the review method were mostly categorised as “not stated,” with the most often stated review designs being systematic reviews (0.57%). The few mixed method studies employed exploratory, explanatory (0.09%), and concurrent designs (0.19%), with some studies referring to separate designs for the qualitative and quantitative methods. The one study that identified itself as a multi-method study used a longitudinal design. Please see how these designs were employed in each specific topic in Table 4 , Figure 6 .

Design use in the field of psychology.

Design frequency in topics.

Data collection and analysis —data collection included 30 methods, with the data collection method most often employed being questionnaires (57.84%). The experimental task (16.56%) was the second most preferred collection method, which included established or unique tasks designed by the researchers. Cognitive ability tests (6.84%) were also regularly used along with various forms of interviewing (7.66%). Table 5 and Figure 7 represent data collection use in the various topics. Data analysis consisted of 3,857 occurrences of data analysis categorised into ±188 various data analysis techniques shown in Table 6 and Figures 1 – 7 . Descriptive statistics were the most commonly used (23.49%) along with correlational analysis (17.19%). When using a qualitative method, researchers generally employed thematic analysis (0.52%) or different forms of analysis that led to coding and the creation of themes. Review studies presented few data analysis methods, with most studies categorising their results. Mixed method and multi-method studies followed the analysis methods identified for the qualitative and quantitative studies included.

Data collection in the field of psychology.

Data collection frequency in topics.

Data analysis in the field of psychology.

Results of the topics researched in psychology can be seen in the tables, as previously stated in this article. It is noteworthy that, of the 10 topics, social psychology accounted for 43.54% of the studies, with cognitive psychology the second most popular research topic at 16.92%. The remainder of the topics only occurred in 4.0–7.0% of the articles considered. A list of the included 999 articles is available under the section “View Articles” on the following website: https://methodgarden.xtrapolate.io/ . This website was created by Scholtz et al. ( 2019 ) to visually present a research framework based on this Article's results.

This systematised review categorised full-length articles from five international journals across the span of 5 years to provide insight into the use of research methods in the field of psychology. Results indicated what methods are used how these methods are being used and for what topics (why) in the included sample of articles. The results should be seen as providing insight into method use and by no means a comprehensive representation of the aforementioned aim due to the limited sample. To our knowledge, this is the first research study to address this topic in this manner. Our discussion attempts to promote a productive way forward in terms of the key results for method use in psychology, especially in the field of academia (Holloway, 2008 ).

With regard to the methods used, our data stayed true to literature, finding only common research methods (Grant and Booth, 2009 ; Maree, 2016 ) that varied in the degree to which they were employed. Quantitative research was found to be the most popular method, as indicated by literature (Breen and Darlaston-Jones, 2010 ; Counsell and Harlow, 2017 ) and previous studies in specific areas of psychology (see Coetzee and Van Zyl, 2014 ). Its long history as the first research method (Leech et al., 2007 ) in the field of psychology as well as researchers' current application of mathematical approaches in their studies (Toomela, 2010 ) might contribute to its popularity today. Whatever the case may be, our results show that, despite the growth in qualitative research (Demuth, 2015 ; Smith and McGannon, 2018 ), quantitative research remains the first choice for article publication in these journals. Despite the included journals indicating openness to articles that apply any research methods. This finding may be due to qualitative research still being seen as a new method (Burman and Whelan, 2011 ) or reviewers' standards being higher for qualitative studies (Bluhm et al., 2011 ). Future research is encouraged into the possible biasness in publication of research methods, additionally further investigation with a different sample into the proclaimed growth of qualitative research may also provide different results.

Review studies were found to surpass that of multi-method and mixed method studies. To this effect Grant and Booth ( 2009 ), state that the increased awareness, journal contribution calls as well as its efficiency in procuring research funds all promote the popularity of reviews. The low frequency of mixed method studies contradicts the view in literature that it's the third most utilised research method (Tashakkori and Teddlie's, 2003 ). Its' low occurrence in this sample could be due to opposing views on mixing methods (Gunasekare, 2015 ) or that authors prefer publishing in mixed method journals, when using this method, or its relative novelty (Ivankova et al., 2016 ). Despite its low occurrence, the application of the mixed methods design in articles was methodologically clear in all cases which were not the case for the remainder of research methods.

Additionally, a substantial number of studies used a combination of methodologies that are not mixed or multi-method studies. Perceived fixed boundaries are according to literature often set aside, as confirmed by this result, in order to investigate the aim of a study, which could create a new and helpful way of understanding the world (Gunasekare, 2015 ). According to Toomela ( 2010 ), this is not unheard of and could be considered a form of “structural systemic science,” as in the case of qualitative methodology (observation) applied in quantitative studies (experimental design) for example. Based on this result, further research into this phenomenon as well as its implications for research methods such as multi and mixed methods is recommended.

Discerning how these research methods were applied, presented some difficulty. In the case of sampling, most studies—regardless of method—did mention some form of inclusion and exclusion criteria, but no definite sampling method. This result, along with the fact that samples often consisted of students from the researchers' own academic institutions, can contribute to literature and debates among academics (Peterson and Merunka, 2014 ; Laher, 2016 ). Samples of convenience and students as participants especially raise questions about the generalisability and applicability of results (Peterson and Merunka, 2014 ). This is because attention to sampling is important as inappropriate sampling can debilitate the legitimacy of interpretations (Onwuegbuzie and Collins, 2017 ). Future investigation into the possible implications of this reported popular use of convenience samples for the field of psychology as well as the reason for this use could provide interesting insight, and is encouraged by this study.

Additionally, and this is indicated in Table 6 , articles seldom report the research designs used, which highlights the pressing aspect of the lack of rigour in the included sample. Rigour with regards to the applied empirical method is imperative in promoting psychology as a science (American Psychological Association, 2020 ). Omitting parts of the research process in publication when it could have been used to inform others' research skills should be questioned, and the influence on the process of replicating results should be considered. Publications are often rejected due to a lack of rigour in the applied method and designs (Fonseca, 2013 ; Laher, 2016 ), calling for increased clarity and knowledge of method application. Replication is a critical part of any field of scientific research and requires the “complete articulation” of the study methods used (Drotar, 2010 , p. 804). The lack of thorough description could be explained by the requirements of certain journals to only report on certain aspects of a research process, especially with regard to the applied design (Laher, 20). However, naming aspects such as sampling and designs, is a requirement according to the APA's Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS-Quant) (Appelbaum et al., 2018 ). With very little information on how a study was conducted, authors lose a valuable opportunity to enhance research validity, enrich the knowledge of others, and contribute to the growth of psychology and methodology as a whole. In the case of this research study, it also restricted our results to only reported samples and designs, which indicated a preference for certain designs, such as cross-sectional designs for quantitative studies.

Data collection and analysis were for the most part clearly stated. A key result was the versatile use of questionnaires. Researchers would apply a questionnaire in various ways, for example in questionnaire interviews, online surveys, and written questionnaires across most research methods. This may highlight a trend for future research.

With regard to the topics these methods were employed for, our research study found a new field named “psychological practice.” This result may show the growing consciousness of researchers as part of the research process (Denzin and Lincoln, 2003 ), psychological practice, and knowledge generation. The most popular of these topics was social psychology, which is generously covered in journals and by learning societies, as testaments of the institutional support and richness social psychology has in the field of psychology (Chryssochoou, 2015 ). The APA's perspective on 2018 trends in psychology also identifies an increased amount of psychology focus on how social determinants are influencing people's health (Deangelis, 2017 ).

This study was not without limitations and the following should be taken into account. Firstly, this study used a sample of five specific journals to address the aim of the research study, despite general journal aims (as stated on journal websites), this inclusion signified a bias towards the research methods published in these specific journals only and limited generalisability. A broader sample of journals over a different period of time, or a single journal over a longer period of time might provide different results. A second limitation is the use of Excel spreadsheets and an electronic system to log articles, which was a manual process and therefore left room for error (Bandara et al., 2015 ). To address this potential issue, co-coding was performed to reduce error. Lastly, this article categorised data based on the information presented in the article sample; there was no interpretation of what methodology could have been applied or whether the methods stated adhered to the criteria for the methods used. Thus, a large number of articles that did not clearly indicate a research method or design could influence the results of this review. However, this in itself was also a noteworthy result. Future research could review research methods of a broader sample of journals with an interpretive review tool that increases rigour. Additionally, the authors also encourage the future use of systematised review designs as a way to promote a concise procedure in applying this design.

Our research study presented the use of research methods for published articles in the field of psychology as well as recommendations for future research based on these results. Insight into the complex questions identified in literature, regarding what methods are used how these methods are being used and for what topics (why) was gained. This sample preferred quantitative methods, used convenience sampling and presented a lack of rigorous accounts for the remaining methodologies. All methodologies that were clearly indicated in the sample were tabulated to allow researchers insight into the general use of methods and not only the most frequently used methods. The lack of rigorous account of research methods in articles was represented in-depth for each step in the research process and can be of vital importance to address the current replication crisis within the field of psychology. Recommendations for future research aimed to motivate research into the practical implications of the results for psychology, for example, publication bias and the use of convenience samples.

Ethics Statement

This study was cleared by the North-West University Health Research Ethics Committee: NWU-00115-17-S1.

Author Contributions

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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What are research skills?

Last updated

26 April 2023

Reviewed by

Broadly, it includes a range of talents required to:

Find useful information

Perform critical analysis

Form hypotheses

Solve problems

It also includes processes such as time management, communication, and reporting skills to achieve those ends.

Research requires a blend of conceptual and detail-oriented modes of thinking. It tests one's ability to transition between subjective motivations and objective assessments to ensure only correct data fits into a meaningfully useful framework.

As countless fields increasingly rely on data management and analysis, polishing your research skills is an important, near-universal way to improve your potential of getting hired and advancing in your career.

Make research less tedious

Dovetail streamlines research to help you uncover and share actionable insights

What are basic research skills?

Almost any research involves some proportion of the following fundamental skills:

Organization

Decision-making

Investigation and analysis

Creative thinking

What are primary research skills?

The following are some of the most universally important research skills that will help you in a wide range of positions:

Time management — From planning and organization to task prioritization and deadline management, time-management skills are highly in-demand workplace skills.

Problem-solving — Identifying issues, their causes, and key solutions are another essential suite of research skills.

Critical thinking — The ability to make connections between data points with clear reasoning is essential to navigate data and extract what's useful towards the original objective.

Communication — In any collaborative environment, team-building and active listening will help researchers convey findings more effectively through data summarizations and report writing.

What are the most important skills in research?

Detail-oriented procedures are essential to research, which allow researchers and their audience to probe deeper into a subject and make connections they otherwise may have missed with generic overviews.

Maintaining priorities is also essential so that details fit within an overarching strategy. Lastly, decision-making is crucial because that's the only way research is translated into meaningful action.

• Why are research skills important?

Good research skills are crucial to learning more about a subject, then using that knowledge to improve an organization's capabilities. Synthesizing that research and conveying it clearly is also important, as employees seek to share useful insights and inspire effective actions.

Effective research skills are essential for those seeking to:

Analyze their target market

Investigate industry trends

Identify customer needs

Detect obstacles

Find solutions to those obstacles

Develop new products or services

Develop new, adaptive ways to meet demands

Discover more efficient ways of acquiring or using resources

Why do we need research skills?

Businesses and individuals alike need research skills to clarify their role in the marketplace, which of course, requires clarity on the market in which they function in. High-quality research helps people stay better prepared for challenges by identifying key factors involved in their day-to-day operations, along with those that might play a significant role in future goals.

• Benefits of having research skills

Research skills increase the effectiveness of any role that's dependent on information. Both individually and organization-wide, good research simplifies what can otherwise be unwieldy amounts of data. It can help maintain order by organizing information and improving efficiency, both of which set the stage for improved revenue growth.

Those with highly effective research skills can help reveal both:

Opportunities for improvement

Brand-new or previously unseen opportunities

Research skills can then help identify how to best take advantage of available opportunities. With today's increasingly data-driven economy, it will also increase your potential of getting hired and help position organizations as thought leaders in their marketplace.

• Research skills examples

Being necessarily broad, research skills encompass many sub-categories of skillsets required to extrapolate meaning and direction from dense informational resources. Identifying, interpreting, and applying research are several such subcategories—but to be specific, workplaces of almost any type have some need of:

Searching for information

Attention to detail

Taking notes

Problem-solving

Communicating results

Time management

• How to improve your research skills

Whether your research goals are to learn more about a subject or enhance workflows, you can improve research skills with this failsafe, four-step strategy:

Make an outline, and set your intention(s)

Know your sources

Learn to use advanced search techniques

Practice, practice, practice (and don't be afraid to adjust your approach)

These steps could manifest themselves in many ways, but what's most important is that it results in measurable progress toward the original goals that compelled you to research a subject.

• Using research skills at work

Different research skills will be emphasized over others, depending on the nature of your trade. To use research most effectively, concentrate on improving research skills most relevant to your position—or, if working solo, the skills most likely have the strongest impact on your goals.

You might divide the necessary research skills into categories for short, medium, and long-term goals or according to each activity your position requires. That way, when a challenge arises in your workflow, it's clearer which specific research skill requires dedicated attention.

How can I learn research skills?

Learning research skills can be done with a simple three-point framework:

Clarify the objective — Before delving into potentially overwhelming amounts of data, take a moment to define the purpose of your research. If at any point you lose sight of the original objective, take another moment to ask how you could adjust your approach to better fit the original objective.

Scrutinize sources — Cross-reference data with other sources, paying close attention to each author's credentials and motivations.

Organize research — Establish and continually refine a data-organization system that works for you. This could be an index of resources or compiling data under different categories designed for easy access.

Which careers require research skills?

Especially in today's world, most careers require some, if not extensive, research. Developers, marketers, and others dealing in primarily digital properties especially require extensive research skills—but it's just as important in building and manufacturing industries, where research is crucial to construct products correctly and safely.

Engineering, legal, medical, and literally any other specialized field will require excellent research skills. Truly, almost any career path will involve some level of research skills; and even those requiring only minimal research skills will at least require research to find and compare open positions in the first place.

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University of Tasmania, Australia

Courses & units, research skills in psychology psy211, introduction.

The field of psychology has an aim that, on the surface, appears straightforward: to understand human behaviour. However, human behaviour is varied and complex, and achieving this goal presents a considerable challenge. Researchers must be familiar with and adhere to regulatory requirements to ensure that research is consistent with ethical principles. The breadth of questions that psychology attempts to answer demands researchers are able to employ a wide array of research methods and design principles. The variety of data collected in psychological research, and the purposes for which data is collected, requires that researchers make informed choices from a range of data analysis tools. Researchers must also make decisions about the format and style of presentation for summarising and reporting conceptual and numerical information for a variety of audiences. In this unit you will examine research methods that will help you design studies to investigate questions about relationships and differences among psychologically relevant variables. You will learn when and how to use data analysis methods to summarise data, test statistical hypotheses and interpret the results for relationships and differences among variables. You will learn about the principles that underlie ethical research, in relation to both research participants and the conduct of researchers themselves. The skills and knowledge developed in this unit will provide you with the necessary tools to critically evaluate research from the major sub-disciplines of psychology, as well as a wide-range of other science-based disciplines.

Availability

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Units are offered in attending mode unless otherwise indicated (that is attendance is required at the campus identified). A unit identified as offered by distance, that is there is no requirement for attendance, is identified with a nominal enrolment campus. A unit offered to both attending students and by distance from the same campus is identified as having both modes of study.

* The Final WW Date is the final date from which you can withdraw from the unit without academic penalty, however you will still incur a financial liability (refer to How do I withdraw from a unit? for more information).

Unit census dates currently displaying for 2024 are indicative and subject to change. Finalised census dates for 2024 will be available from the 1st October 2023. Note census date cutoff is 11.59pm AEST (AEDT during October to March).

About Census Dates

Learning Outcomes

• Explain the strengths and limitations of fundamental research methods within specified research contexts.
• Select and conduct fundamental statistical analyses to test hypotheses about relationships and differences in specified research scenarios.
• Interpret and communicate the methods and results of example research studies with attention to the informational needs of an academic audience.
• Compare the quality of ethical practices adopted in research examples with national standards for ethical research involving diverse populations.

Fee Information

1 Please refer to more information on student contribution amounts . 2 Please refer to more information on eligibility and Approved Pathway courses . 3 Please refer to more information on eligibility for HECS-HELP . 4 Please refer to more information on eligibility for FEE-HELP .

If you have any questions in relation to the fees, please contact UConnect or more information is available on StudyAssist .

Please note: international students should refer to What is an indicative Fee? to get an indicative course cost.

Prerequisites

Mutual exclusions.

You cannot enrol in this unit as well as the following:

The University reserves the right to amend or remove courses and unit availabilities, as appropriate.

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Psychology Research Assistant skills for your resume and career

A psychology research assistant needs a range of hard skills to excel in their role. Data collection, statistical analysis, and research studies are crucial skills for this position. They should be familiar with SPSS and be able to analyze behavioral data. They should also be proficient in conducting experiments, managing quantitative data, and analyzing data. As Mary Neuburger, Director of the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, puts it, "Language skills are always important, as well as research skills, and experience working on team projects."

In addition to hard skills, psychology research assistants need to develop soft skills to succeed in their careers. They should be able to communicate effectively, work independently, and collaborate with others. They should be able to compile a literature review and manage research articles. They should also be able to code open-ended interviews into a qualitative data format. According to Mary Neuburger, "Think about a Russian Studies master's program, for which you can get funding and gain more education and professional experience."

15 psychology research assistant skills for your resume and career

1. data collection.

Data collection is the process of gathering information from a variety of sources to analyze and interpret. Psychology research assistants use data collection in their work by assisting with experiments, managing data entry, and analyzing data to improve the data collection process. They also use data collection to conduct research, such as recording data and analyzing results.

• Contributed to research, including literature search using library databases, management of data collection, and recorded data and analysis.
• Conducted family interviews and visits to facilitate the administration of questionnaires and data collection devices to ultimately perform research assessments.

SPSS is a statistical analysis software used by psychology research assistants to organize, code, and enter data into a database. They use SPSS to conduct statistical analyses and interpret results. As Dr. Lindsey Harvell-Bowman , Associate Professor at James Madison University's School of Communication Studies, puts it, "Research assistants in our lab must have strong statistical skills and presentational skills. Specifically, the ability to manage SPSS."

• Conducted psychological research on the correlation between humility and romantic relationships before and after having children using survey methods and SPSS.
• Conducted statistical analyses using SPSS and completed a written report interpreting results.

3. Research Projects

Research projects are a process of collecting and analyzing data to answer a specific question or test a hypothesis. Psychology research assistants use research projects by assisting in the development of new projects, conducting experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and mentoring student-initiated research projects. They also present and extrapolate results to a wide range of audience members at professional conferences.

• Develop research projects on Emotional Intelligence and Interpersonal Sensitivity- Code data for nonverbal behavior- Lead psychology scholarly research article discussions
• Researched and compiled articles for faculty -Created literature reviews to assist in ongoing research projects

4. Data Analysis

Data analysis is the process of examining and interpreting data to draw meaningful conclusions. Psychology research assistants use data analysis by screening and directing participants to appropriate experimenters, using qualitative and quantitative methods, and conducting experiments and assisting in the design evaluation. They also assist with data analysis to determine possible correlations between different factors.

• Performed empirical data analysis, screened and directed participants to appropriate experimenters.
• Completed data analysis and presented results at conferences.

5. Psychology Lab

A psychology lab is a place where researchers study human behavior and psychological processes. Psychology research assistants use psychology labs to conduct experiments and gather data. They prepare and conduct experimental sessions, analyze and synthesize data, and work with researchers to study various aspects of human behavior. They may also study the effects of different stimuli on human behavior in controlled environments. For example, they may study how people respond to different types of advertising or how children respond to different types of television programming.

• Conducted psychological research in the Tufts University Psychology Lab on projects studying social interactions and behaviors.
• Prepared and conducted experimental sessions with over 500 participants in Cognitive and Social psychology labs.

6. Literature Reviews

A literature review is a summary of published articles and research about a particular topic. Psychology research assistants use literature reviews to inform their research. They help develop and expand literature reviews on topics such as public health issues, facial emotion recognition, and schizophrenia. They also use literature reviews to orchestrate laboratory meeting discussions and define abuse terminology. Psychology research assistants conduct literature searches, manage databases, and code published articles for literature reviews. They also perform in-depth literature reviews and collect data for research proposals.

• Compiled a literature review on facial emotion recognition in people with schizophrenia.
• Helped in the development of Psychology experiments by conducting literature reviews.

Choose from 10+ customizable psychology research assistant resume templates

7. behavioral data.

Behavioral data refers to information about human behavior. Psychology research assistants use behavioral data to analyze decision-making processes and test temporal dependencies. They also design protocols to analyze high-density behavioral data.

• Streamlined and designed protocols to analyze high-density behavioral data in decision-making.
• Tested temporal dependency of behavioral data by hierarchical log-linear models.

8. Statistical Analysis

Statistical analysis is the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data. Psychology research assistants use statistical analysis to prepare study participants for EEG readings, maintain databases with available scores, and format corresponding visual charts. They also use statistical analysis to correlate data via Excel, manage databases, and collect experimental data. They apply statistical analysis techniques such as linear regression analysis, graph analysis, and ANOVA to interpret and present results for peer review and publication.

• Completed data entry, statistical analysis, data interpretation and presentation of results for peer review and publication.
• Prepared study participants for EEG readings and maintained database with available scores for statistical analysis and reporting techniques.

9. Research Studies

Research studies are systematic investigations that aim to find answers to specific questions. Psychology research assistants use research studies by orchestrating participant groups, contributing to facial recognition research, evaluating and interpreting data, scheduling participants, coordinating studies, and assisting in the research process. For example, they may prepare materials and settings for studies or help with grant submissions and article publications.

• Orchestrated participant groups for University research studies investigating pro-social behaviors and motivation systems.
• Contributed to research studies for facial recognition in cognitive psychology.

10. Human Subjects

Human subjects are individuals who participate in research studies. Psychology research assistants use human subjects to gather data and analyze human behavior. For instance, they facilitate experiments, collect data, and analyze human subjects' responses to stimuli. They also ensure that the data gathered is ethically and legally appropriate, as in the case of the CITI Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative.

• Certified in the ethical treatment of human participants - CITI Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative: Human Subject Research Curriculum Completion Report.
• Facilitated experiments working with human subjects on a study examining the social regulation of emotion on working and long term memory.

11. Analyze Data

To analyze data is to break it down and examine it in detail, often using formulas or specialized software. Psychology research assistants use analyze data in their work to collect, manage, and run lab equipment and software. They also use data analysis to help professors implement experiments and make decisions based on the data they collect. As Shiri Noy Ph.D. , Assistant Professor at Denison University, puts it, "Knowing how to collect, systematize, and analyze data. is something that is very appealing to employers."

• Collaborate with professor and other students to successfully analyze data
• Analyze data using formulas and enter final score into spreadsheet.

12. Research Assistants

Research assistants are individuals who aid researchers in their work. Psychology research assistants use research assistants in various ways, such as training them on laboratory protocols and procedures, managing their work, presenting findings, and discussing relevant research. They also recruit participants, conduct experiments, analyze data, and train new research assistants.

• Trained and directed other research assistants on laboratory protocol and procedures.
• Trained research assistants on general procedures and protocol.

13. Research Findings

Research findings are the results or conclusions that come from a scientific study or investigation. Psychology research assistants use research findings to present to faculty and students or to write reports to contribute to general knowledge and suggest changes. They also use research findings to recruit patients and manage databases.

• Presented research findings to faculty and students
• Attended weekly meetings with professor to discuss research findings, further directions, and progress of current research.

14. Conduct Research

Conduct research is the process of gathering information and data to answer questions or solve problems. Psychology research assistants use this skill to help conduct studies and experiments. They may collect and analyze data, run experiments, and maintain certification for the IRB (Institutional Review Board) to ensure their research is conducted ethically. For example, one research assistant volunteered to conduct research under Dr. Emily Keener in the discipline of relationship conflict and gender.

• Conduct research experiment, data entry/ analysis
• Maintained certification for the IRB (Instructional Review Board) to conduct research.

15. Experimental Data

Experimental data is information gathered from controlled studies or experiments. Psychology research assistants use experimental data to support their research. They may input and code data, analyze and interpret it to produce reports, or present it at conferences. They may also develop materials used in conducting research, or provide access to the data for faculty researchers and supervisors.

• Provide access to experimental data for faculty researcher and/or supervisor.
• Develop experimental data and materials used in conducting research.

5 Psychology Research Assistant Resume Examples

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What soft skills should all Psychology Research Assistants possess?

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Director, School Psychology, Adelphi University

What skills stand out on Psychology Research Assistant resumes?

List of psychology research assistant skills to add to your resume.

The most important skills for a psychology research assistant resume and required skills for a psychology research assistant to have include:

• Data Collection
• Research Projects
• Data Analysis
• Psychology Lab
• Literature Reviews
• Behavioral Data
• Statistical Analysis
• Research Studies
• Human Subjects
• Analyze Data
• Research Assistants
• Research Findings
• Conduct Research
• Experimental Data
• Research Data
• Quantitative Data
• Cognitive Psychology
• Experimental Design
• Informed Consent
• Social Psychology
• Psychological Research
• Literature Searches
• Research Lab
• Research Design
• Research Paper
• Research Results
• Qualitative Data
• Consent Forms
• Survey Data
• Research Articles
• Computer Programs
• Independent Research
• Research Subjects
• Social Justice
• Institutional Review
• Research Experiments
• Research Conference
• Journal Articles
• Statistical Data
• Electroencephalography

Updated April 25, 2024

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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Research Methods (Developmental Psychology)

• September 2024

1 year full-time

Durham City

Course details

The MA in Research Methods (Developmental Psychology) is an ESRC-accredited Social Sciences & Health Faculty degree in which departments from across the University work together to deliver a tailored study programme that explores human development through a research lens.

It is primarily designed for students who plan to continue their graduate studies at PhD level in the broad area of developmental psychology or work as a research psychologist. It is also relevant for students wishing to pursue careers in applied areas, such as clinical or educational psychology.

Students intending to have a career as a research psychologist need to acquire a high level of research skills at postgraduate level. Research methods training, co-ordinated through the Durham Research Methods Centre, therefore forms a central part of the MA course, including both quantitative and qualitative research methods. One third of the course is also devoted to the dissertation which may be carried out in any area of psychology related to development. The taught course modules include both generic and subject level components, providing an introduction to broad issues and methodological approaches in developmental psychology and the social sciences.

Course structure

Core modules:

Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Practices Across Social Research introduces the areas of contemporary social scientific research practice. You will develop an understanding of the intersection where philosophical, methodological and disciplinary contexts meet, including qualitative, quantitative, statistical, computational and historical programmes of research. You will also explore the various issues involved in the application of these methods inside and outside academia and will consider the ethical issues involved such as power and equality.

Qualitative Methods and Analysis supports your preparation for conducting qualitative research equipping you with the knowledge and skills to understand and appraise qualitative social sciences research, including different approaches to research and design and the analysis of qualitative data.

Advanced Developmental Psychology Review teaches the skills to create and deliver literature reviews as well as providing analysis of key topics in the field of developmental psychology, including research skills, data handling, writing styles and methods of presentation.

Research Design in Child and Clinical Psychology provides an introduction to the methods and design used in child and clinical psychology and offers practical training in the transferable skills relevant for professional and personal development.

Current Issues in Developmental Psychology and Psychopathology provides in-depth knowledge of current theoretical stances and methodological issues within the fields of developmental psychology and neurodiversity. The aim is for you to gain a broad understanding of typical development and then consider different development pathways.

Quantitative Methods and Analysis develops your knowledge, critical understanding and skills in quantitative data analysis and teaches you how to use statistical techniques for exploration and description of data sets. You will also learn how to make appropriate statistical inferences about associations between social phenomena.

Advanced Statistics for Psychology and the Behavioural Sciences teaches you a set of advanced statistical methods that are used across psychology and the behavioural sciences, equipping you with the skills to confidently identify appropriate statistical techniques and analyse data using relevant software across a range of different types of research.

The Dissertation enables you to design, implement, analyse and finally discuss an empirical project relevant to your field of study, giving you the opportunity to apply the theoretical knowledge you have acquired and to gain experience of collaborating with other researchers and undertaking research and project management. The Department provides excellent support and opportunities for conducting a significant piece of independent research.

Alternative modules (depending on prior knowledge and understanding) include: 

• Advanced Ethnographic Research
• Multilevel Modelling
• Simulating Data in R
• Systematic Review
• Computational Social Science
• Participatory Action Research
• Statistics in Health and Medicine with R

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The course is delivered through a mixture of lectures, seminars and practical classes. Lectures provide key information on a particular topic, such as social and emotional development. Seminars are held in order that smaller group teaching can take place, with focused discussion on specific topics. Finally, practical and workshop classes allow you to gain direct experience, particularly in how to use statistical tools.

The balance of this type of activity varies as a function of the module. This is a one year course, with students having the summer term to work on dissertation related activities. You will typically attend approximately 12 hours a week comprising lectures, tutorials and seminars. Outside timetabled contact hours, you are also expected to undertake your own independent study to prepare for your classes and broaden your subject knowledge, as well as conduct your dissertation. Independent study is a key element to the course, with complex factors raised in lectures that do assume some prior knowledge of the topic area.

The course is divided into three parts. One third, comprising three modules, is of subject specific topics related to developmental psychology and developmental psychopathology, including issues relevant to clinical/ educational work throughout development. Across these modules, the material is delivered via a combination of lectures, seminars, practical workshops and discussions.

A further three modules focus on placing psychology in the larger framework of social science research and providing generic research skills, for example, qualitative and quantitative analysis skills.

The final third of the course is the dissertation, which reflects the culmination of learning and practical endeavours from throughout the course via the production of an independent and original body of research material. This is performed under supervision with a member of staff, with meetings varying in duration and frequency throughout the year as a function of the needs of the research project and student.

Assessment features examinations, written assignments, oral presentations, and the completion of a dissertation.

Entry requirements

2:1 in Psychology or Psychology related subject (or equivalent).

English language requirements

Fees and funding

Full time fees.

The tuition fees shown are for one complete academic year of full time study, are set according to the academic year of entry, and remain the same throughout the duration of the programme for that cohort (unless otherwise stated) .

Please also check costs for colleges and accommodation .

Scholarships and Bursaries

We are committed to supporting the best students irrespective of financial circumstances and are delighted to offer a range of funding opportunities. 

Career opportunities

Our Masters qualifications provide the essential skills and understanding to progress to research at a higher academic level or to launch a professional career.

Our students enter the workplace with knowledge relevant to careers in psychology but also with the transferable skills in analysis and problem-solving that are valued by employers.

Such skills are highly sought after in a range of professions and our postgraduates have progressed to roles that include consultants, advisors, human resources professionals, talent managers, business analysts, market researchers, public relations professionals, marketeers, administrators, managers, civil servants, coaches, trainers and teachers.

In addition, the broad nature of the Department means that some of our postgraduates also qualify for careers in clinical and healthcare settings.

Department information

The Department of Psychology provides a world-class teaching and research environment for postgraduates who are interested in understanding more about the thoughts, feelings and motivations that lie behind actions and human behaviours and the processes that trigger them.

Our academic team are leading experts in their specialisms and provide outstanding supervision for postgraduate learning and research in key areas of psychology including Developmental Science, Cognitive Neuroscience and Quantitative Social Psychology.

Our range of taught Masters qualifications offer the opportunity to focus on a specific aspect of psychology be it biological, cognitive, social, developmental or neuroscience-related and to learn key approaches to the discipline including statistical training. For those who are interested in pursuing their own research interests we offer the MA/MSc by Research which offers a direct route to the PhD.

All postgraduate taught courses include a postgraduate dissertation in a chosen subject, supported by a member of staff with expertise in that area. Students also have access to state-of-the art technical, clinical and experimental facilities to support learning and research.

In the Department, we are proud to have passionate and committed teachers, who love their subjects and want to share that passion. We encourage collaborative working on new ideas so that together we can make new discoveries about human behaviour.

To find out more see our  department pages.

• We are proud to hold an Athena SWAN silver award, underlining our commitment to equality and diversity.
• World Top 100 in the  QS World University Subject Rankings 2023

For a current list of staff, please see the Psychology Department pages

Facilities in the Department are outstanding. They provide state-of-the-art support for postgraduate work in understanding mind and behaviour through high precision experimental methods and ecologically valid controlled environments.

Postgraduate students have access to dedicated laboratory space equipped with opportunities for training in eye-movement recording, motion capture and psychophysics.

Other specialist facilities include transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and a number of laboratories.

The Department of Psychology is located close to many academic departments and University services, and is within walking distance of Durham’s historic centre, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

More information on our  facilities and equipment.

Find out more:

Apply for a postgraduate course (including PGCE International) via our online portal.  

• Applicant Portal (not PGCE unless International)
• Admissions Policy

The best way to find out what Durham is really like is to come and see for yourself!

Join a Postgraduate Open Day

• Date: 01/09/2023 - 31/08/2024
• Time: 09:00 - 17:00

Self-Guided Tours

• Time: 09:00 - 16:00

Similar courses

Behavioural science - msc.

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Cognitive neuroscience - msc, developmental psychopathology - msc, research methods (behavioural science) - ma.

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Psychology Job & Internship Opportunities

For undergraduate students and recent graduates seeking full-time or summer employment, research assistant for the emotion regulation lab at pennsylvania state university.

The ADAPT Lab (PI: Dr. Yo Jackson) at the Pennsylvania State University is searching for a motivated volunteer summer research assistant (RA) aiming to gain more research experience and skills. The lab is interested in trauma exposure, emotion regulation, and cognitive skills in relation to mental health outcomes in both children and parents.

Responsibilities: The research assistant would primarily engage in behavioral coding tasks. This position requires rigorous behavioral coding training. After passing the training, the RA would independently code video recordings of parent-child dyads participating in study tasks. There may also be opportunities to work on independent projects and collaborate with other lab team members.

Qualifications: Must be detail-oriented, demonstrate effective time management skills, and have excellent problem-solving abilities. Must be able to work independently. Should have an interest in behavioral coding. Prior coding experience is preferred but not required.

Time and Compensation: This is a fully in-person summer volunteer position from May to August 2024. At least 4 hours per week is expected. There may be opportunities for a stipend depending on coding abilities and weekly hours commitment.

Please contact Zaharah Zaidi ( [email protected] ) and Sara Such ( [email protected] ) to express interest in the position.

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Examining Coping Skills, Anxiety, and Depression Dynamics Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Main Article Content

This cross-sectional study, conducted amid the COVID-19 pandemic, delves into the intricate connections between coping strategies and levels of anxiety and depression, presenting vital implications for medical, clinical, and broader societal contexts. As crises like the pandemic highlight the importance of adaptive coping, this investigation underscores the imperative to comprehend and address maladaptive coping strategies. The study utilized a diverse sample of 386 participants during the pandemic's peak, employing online platforms for recruitment and ensuring broad demographic representation. Data were collected through self-report measures, including the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) for depression and anxiety symptoms and the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE) inventory to assess coping skills across various domains. The coping skills assessment measured strategies such as Self-Distraction, Active Coping, Denial, Substance Use, Emotional and Instrumental Support, Behavioral Disengagement, Venting, Positive Reframing, Planning, Humor, Acceptance, Religion, and Self-Blame. The Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board prioritized and approved ethical considerations, and participants provided informed consent. Data analysis involved rigorous cleaning, recoding, and quantitative analysis using SPSS. Descriptive statistics, regression analyses, and correlation analyses were employed to uncover nuanced relationships between coping strategies and mental health outcomes, contributing to understanding the phenomena under investigation within the context of the pandemic. The findings highlight the pivotal role of individualized approaches and the potential of humor as an essential coping mechanism, emphasizing the need for tailored interventions during crises.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License .