Assignment 1
Instructions
The purpose of this collaborative learning activity is a type of discussion activity
which promotes higher-level thinking, communication skills, self-management and
leadership skills. This is achieved through student interaction, engagement with
course materials and wider reading around the module topics. This activity allows
students to understand a variety of diverse perspectives on topics in psychology and
helps to prepare you for real life social and employment opportunities.
After the tutor has opened the discussion with a post, students are required to offer
an initial post that demonstrates their answer to the question, then read and
respond to two of their peers' initial posts, making comments and asking
questions, always using an academic tone and backing up your ideas with APA
referencing.
From those posts, animation and leadership, application to the real world, and
reflection will be assessed. The initial post should be labelled ‘Initial Post’ and the
two follow-up responses should be labelled as 'Peer Response 1' and 'Peer
Response 2'. Along with the initial post, the two responses will be judged according
to all grading criteria.
Write a 500 word post and submit to the discussion by the end of Unit 2. Make a
further two posts commenting on your classmates' posts during Unit 3.
Question
Option 1: You are carrying out research with women who have been victims of
gender violence. You are interested in their lived experiences. You need to compile a
topic guide or a list of open questions. You work as a volunteer with an organisation
that supports women who have been victims of gender violence, and you plan to
recruit your participants from the organisation where you volunteer, but not with any
of the women you work with directly. You have no personal experience of gender
violence.
Option 2: You are carrying out research with HIV positive men, exploring
their experiences of living with HIV, and society’s attitudes. You have a brother who
is HIV positive and has been living with HIV for 15 years. You have supported him
through some difficult times, because of the impact on his mental health.
Initial post
In your initial post, answer the following questions:
What are some of the key ethical issues you will need to consider
before starting your data collection?
What impact might you as the researcher have on the data collection process
and/or on the interpretation of the results?
Make sure you submit your initial post by the end of Unit 2.
Response
Critically respond to two posts by your peers’ posts to consider the strength and
weaknesses of using qualitative research methods to explore the topic chosen from
Option 1 or 2.
Posting Guidelines
Post a 500-word response to the question above. Respond to two of your
peers’ posts (300 words per response). Your answers must use an academic
tone, be evidence-based and supported by the psychological literature,
using APA referencing.
This collaborative learning activity lasts for two weeks. It starts at the
beginning of Unit 2 and finishes at the end of Unit 3.
Your initial response must be posted within the first week, and your two
follow-up responses must be posted by the end of the second week of
the activity.
Please label your posts as Initial Response, Peer Response 1, and Peer
Response 2.
Your follow-up posts should not be standalone points, they must be clearly
connected to previous posts to provide evidence of reflection on other
students’ work.
You should post and comment informally throughout the two-week period
to show evidence of animation, leadership and to aid your learning.
You can make a total of five informal posts, but the content of these
contributions will not be assessed and does not count towards your overall
word count.
Remember to include your Initial post and responses (writing) within the
discussion forum text box rather than attaching a Word/PDF file.
DUE DATE: 25th August
Assignment 2
In this unit you have the opportunity to submit a draft assignment which allows you to
practise IPA analysis ahead of the Unit 9 assessment.
You can choose to submit a draft of either the literature review which you may have
started in Unit 4, or you can choose to submit a draft of the qualitative analysis, as
seen in this unit. Your tutor will provide formative feedback in either case.
Please submit your file below by end of Unit 6.
Please note:
By submitting a draft, some aspects of your work may become identifiable within
your final submission. Therefore, blind marking may not be possible for the
Qualitative Research Report.
DUE DATE: 15th September
Assignment 3
Assignment Topic
For this assessment, you should consider the impact of bias and the importance of
reflexivity in qualitative research. Your task for this assessment is to write an essay
on bias and reflexivity in qualitative research and reflect on your own potential
biases. This assessment has two parts, please complete both.
Part 1 (700 words)
Briefly outline what is meant by bias in qualitative research .
Based on the literature discuss the importance of recognising and controlling
for any potential researcher bias in qualitative research .
Briefly outline what reflexivity means in qualitative research and why it is
important, referring to the relevant literature .
Include examples of how reflexivity can be applied.
Part 2 (300 words)
Think back to the section of the recording you transcribed in Lecturecast 3 of
Unit 5.
Reflect on any biases you had regarding the topic you chose and briefly
outline these, how they might influence your research in this area and how
you might control for these biases, referring to the literature.
The word count for this assignment is 1,000 words and you should write Part 1 in
essay format. In Part 2 you may write in the first person as you are reflecting on your
own potential biases, beliefs and judgements. Submit both parts on the same
document.
DUE DATE: 29th September
Assignment 4
Assignment Topic
Go to UK Data Service website and use the 'Access data' tab provided to access
the data, which will come from the University of Bath. Note the background to the
study, the reference for the article, and other information supplied. Scroll down to the
bottom where it says 'Related resources', 'Data collections' and click on the link to
the interview transcripts. You have a choice of choosing 2 transcripts from
recovering drug service user participants OR 2 transcripts from addiction therapist
participants. (There are zip files covering 7 participants for each category, so you
have a bit of choice.)
The interviews need to be analysed using IPA, the data from the two transcripts
should be combined and reported. The report should be written in accordance with
the Qualitative Report template and the Qualitative Report Examples documents
(using the module content and background information).
The total word count is 3,000 words. Please note that References, Appendices and
extracts of quotes that are presented separately to the text are not included in the
final word count. A single file should be submitted which includes appendix
information at the end of the overall report document. The appendix should include
your coded transcripts, the themes identified from your codes, and sufficient
information about the processes undertaken for your IPA.
DUE DATE: 6th October