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Psychology: Cutting Edge Research – Taking Part & Going ‘Behind The Scenes’ – Seminar 3 With UEA & Ispa
February 27 @ 11:30 - 12:20
Seminar 3: Identifying General Patterns in Data, Statistical Analyses & Insights into How Research is Now Conducted in The Social Sciences
With Dr Louise Ewing, University of East Anglia & Dr Inês Mares, Ispa – Instituto Universitário
What happens in Session 3?
During this third session we will help students identify general patterns in our data set, which they anonymously contributed to. Through this process we will highlight the importance of careful application of statistical analyses to generate robust findings. We will conceptually walk them through the steps we take when conducting statistic tests to determine if something we observe is a “real effect” vs occurring by chance. We will introduce them to the current ‘reproducibility crisis’ in the social sciences, and explain how targeted research project evaluating psychological methods has prompted an exciting step change in how a great deal of research in our discipline is now conducted. Finally, we will walk the students through some of the basic results associated with their experimental responses – following up on some of their own hypotheses.
Lecturer Profiles: Dr Louise Ewing & Dr Inês Mares
Putting Seminar 3 in Context – About The Overall Programme
In this exciting Psychology programme with UEA and Ispa, students will get the chance to learn more about psychological research by being participants* in a live experiment that is tackling a cutting edge question relevant to late adolescence.
Furthermore, across five interactive sessions taking place during the 2024-2025 academic year, Dr Louise Ewing and Dr Inês Mares will ‘pull back the curtain’ on this research process to highlight the issues that must be considered and addressed in order to design, conduct, analyse and interpret studies with human participants that are theoretically important, ethically sound, and empirically robust.
* The live research is now closed but students can still participate in the research without their data being included in the analysis.
What is the project focusing on?
In this research, we will characterise different elements of social behaviour during this developmental period (late adolescence) and how they can be influenced by different factors of our daily lives. We will look at the interplay between individual traits (internal factors) and external environmental factors on shaping social behaviours that are key for our role in society. Further details were made available to teachers in advance and full details were revealed to participating students in Session 2, once the research activity has been completed. These details are available to anyone that signs up for the later sessions.
We invite student groups and individuals to join us to develop their knowledge, understanding and research skills. Students will gain the most by taking part in the research itself and by joining us for each of the seminars in the programme, listed below. However, the session will be accessible to those who haven’t taken part in the earlier sessions/the research activity. Having followed the research process through, the final session is a chance for students to find out more about studying Psychology at university.
The Seminar Programme comprises (Click for further details):
- Seminar 1: 10th October, 11:30-12:20 – Introducing the Research, Design Considerations & The 5 Seminar Programme
- Seminar 2: 14th November, 11:30-12:20 – Research Hypotheses, Identifying Gaps in Our Understanding & Our Methodological Approach
- Seminar 3: 27th February, 11:30-12:20 – Identifying General Patterns in Data, Statistical Analyses & Insights into How Research is Now Conducted in The Social Sciences
- Seminar 4: 1st May, 11:30-12:20 – Findings, Our Analysis Approach, Revisiting Our Original Hypotheses, Limitations, Final Conclusions & Dissemination
- Seminar 5: 19th June, 16:30-17:15 – Studying Psychology at University – Classes, Teaching & Assessments, Developing Research Skills/Experience & Careers (Details & Registration Open from Easter).
Our events are designed so that a group of students can take part from a classroom or students and teachers can take part as individuals, either from school or from home. There is no charge to take part.
As a live, participative event, this session will not be recorded but slides and other resources will be shared after the event, where available.
Suitable for: Key Stage 5 students (and equivalent) studying, or with a possible interest in studying, Psychology and related disciplines. Due to the nature of the research involved, this is limited to 16 to 18 year old students. Student groups as well as students and teachers joining individually are very welcome.
Ethics/Consent: Students involved in the seminar series will have the opportunity to complete the live experiment to see what it is like to be a participant in a study, seeing first hand what the experience is like providing informed consent, completing tasks online (which are influenced by things like their own motivation, conscientiousness, fatigue, etc.) and then receiving basic debriefing information (which we will expand upon during the seminar sessions). This research project has been approved by the School of Psychology Research Ethics Subcommittee at the University of East Anglia (approval code: ETH2324-2878).
Preparation/Pre-Reading: Students may wish to consider the research in advance and questions they have.
The IT Setup: The events will be run on Zoom and participants will be able to join using laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. If you are joining as a school group, we recommend connecting with one device and projecting onto a whiteboard. You will be able to interact with the speaker via typed comments and questions and/or via a microphone. Full details will be sent to those who have registered (see below) prior to the event.
Booking a Place: This is free for schools and colleges. If you would like to take part in this programme of events, please register your interest using the link to the registration form below: