Contemporary Debates and Methods in Psychology

ASSESSMENT TASK

Please choose one of the following topics:

Case 1: How can an ecological systems theory help us better understand school-community partnering that promotes student development?

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Redland Junior School (RJS) is a community school and lies in one of the most-studied districts in the country. The term of “community school” describes some collaboration between the local school, parents and community health and social service agencies. RJS has partnered with various businesses, such as New England Telephone Company and the larger local consortium of businesses called the Private Industry Council, which was assembled to support youth development and employment in the city. Other partners have included the University of Bristol, the Trefler Foundation, youth advocacy groups, the neighborhood health centre and the Southwest Regional Educational Laboratory at University of West England. School improvement studies sometimes focus on leadership development or teacher development. Broad measures of student attendance, achievement, promotion and graduation rates were found in school and district records. Measures of emotional, social, or physical development were also estimated indirectly from artifacts such as yearbooks, student publications, or interviews. A 10-year longitude survey showed that the student in RIS were achieved better at salary, career and family life and shape their own future, than the other students who were not from a community school but had similar academic performance. Contemporary Debates and Methods in Psychology

Case 2: Please choose one qualitative method to analyse the following text and answer “what is the meaning of alcohol for adolescents?” You also need to justify your methodological choice.

Emma is a first year university student and is on a University sports team. Heavy drinking every week is part of team building. She tries to be responsible by knowing her limits with alcohol. When interviewed about her drinking and social life, Emma said,

Yeah, well I mean a lot of people have just turned eighteen, so they’re going clubbing for the first time and, yeah you’ve got these cheap, cheap shots, cheap drinks, loud music, good time, everyone’s looking gorgeous and, a kind of a drink goes with that, I mean my sober friends night out, they still have a really good time, you know you don’t need to drink to have fun, but it just also again turns into, I need to be drunk, everyone else is drunk, you know, I’m not going to have a good time if you can see that the club looks an absolute mess, everything smells and [laughs] it’s not perhaps the nicest place in the world but, people just, you just drink you know? You’ve got shots of whatever and, cheap cocktails and, it’s just part, it’s just part of it, part of the Uni thing and even just like, even if you’re not at Uni it’s just part of being a young person and being, you know, newly exposed to clubbing and alcohol and all sorts of things, yeah. Contemporary Debates and Methods in Psychology

Resource http://www.healthtalk.org/young-peoples-experiences/drugs-and-alcohol/alcohol-and-social – lif e

Case 3: A real world video about a twin’s antisocial behaviour is discussed. You need to apply observational method to gather antisocial behaviour and investigate the gender difference on antisocial behaviour.

Evidence suggests that boys are more likely to behave in an antisocial way than girls.

However, when the type of antisocial behaviour is considered evidence about a gender difference is not unequivocal. Furthermore, methodological issues with self-report, peer-report, or teacher-report measures mean that the complexities of gender differences in antisocial behaviour may not always be accurately represented. The aim of the present study was to observe the behaviour of a toddler twin-pair (boy and girl) against pre-defined criteria for antisocial behaviour to establish whether the boy performed a greater number of antisocial acts than the girl.

The video link: https://youtu.be/2Om9HGJeXZU

Assignment Guidelines:

A case study is an in-depth analysis that will require you to apply theoretical background, previous evidence and various research methods to find results and discuss these points. As such, be sure to initially build up clear understanding of the case that you pick.

Furthermore, you have to research your case. Basically, you will have to conduct your own literature review and share your findings in your paper. Also you have to link the case to a theory or model you have learnt from the module. The data analysis method needs to be introduced and applied into investigate the material provided by the case description.

You need to present the case study in a form of report. The report MUST be written in APA style.

a. The section of Abstract briefly summarises what you investigated, the characteristics of your participant(s), the research method you used and any findings or conclusions you reached. In APA style, this paragraph should be 200 to 250 words in length.

b. The section of Introduction is the most important part in the case study report. It should be no less than 1200 words. Like any other research paper, many sources are required in order to strengthen your case study. Therefore, in addition to the case described here, you must search relevant books, articles and websites and make a formal literature review, which comprises the main body of Introduction. This information will be the backbone of your study and determine to choose data analysis method. You need to address hypothesis and research questions in the end of Introduction.

c. Analysis/Method is critical for your report and takes 30% percent of score. The section is not only for developing your argument, but also for the purpose of our assessment on your critical thinking and knowledge of research method you have learnt from this module. For this section you are required to use previous empirical studies (using quantitative or qualitative data) to support your chosen topic. Specifically, you are required to justify and describe one quantitative or qualitative method to analyse your chosen case topic. You can also include a brief description of the results and support this section further with the related literature. Specifically, you are required to include: 1) in text citations and support your points by comparing them with previous empirical studies 2) to run one analysis on your chosen case study and 3) provide a brief description of your results. Contemporary Debates and Methods in Psychology

d. You should follow the APA style to write in-text citations in both sections of Introduction and Analysis.

e. You will report what you have found in the sections of Result and Discussion, which could be merged in one sub-heading of Discussion. In the section, the result presentation depends on the method you choose. More important, you should talk about what your results mean and link your findings to the previous literature (discussed in the section of Introduction). You must interpret your findings, evaluate your hypotheses or research questions. Sometime, it is not unusual that you have to discuss unexpected results.

f. Reference list appears at the end of your report. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list; likewise, each entry in the reference list must be cited in your text. Please refer format to the APA rules.

Sub-headings are applied. All necessary tables should be presented in APA style. More specific information about APA style, you can refer to APA website http://www.apastyle.org/index.aspx Alternatively, Purdue Online Writing Lab is a useful and practical resource https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/10/

Presentation and Referencing

There must be consistent and correct use of grammar, punctuation and spelling throughout this academic essay. Furthermore, the writing style should be in the third person. You should use the APA reference style for in text citations, use a dedicated “References” section at the end, and be consistent throughout the work (see earlier link to university referencing guidance). Please note that Wikipedia will NOT be accepted as an appropriate reference for this piece of work and marks will be deducted if it is used. If relevant, Appendices may be used to direct the reader to supporting material BUT these should only be used as such support to complement the main essay and not as a substitute for the main essay and its content. As previously mentioned, this assignment should be word processed double spaced, with numbered pages and the student’s name and identification number printed as a footer on every page.

General guidance for Essay:

Essays should be presented in Arial or Comic Sans font and 1.5-line spacing. Subsections should not be used within an academic essay.

Word count should be 3000 words + or – 10%.

Grading Criteria:

	CRITERIA		MARKS
			AWARDED
Title & Abstract
 The title is clear and concise.
	This abstract should be 200 to 250 words in length.	/10

Introduction:	/ 35
 Sets the scene of the essay

· ‘Signposts’ the reader to the overall shape of the essay

· Clear definition and explanation of relevant terms / main discussion points

· Evidence of wider reading around the topic with a balance of seminal and contemporary reference sources

· A coherent structure to the essay, presenting a concise argument supported by examples from relevant psychological literature

Method
 Section presented with clear sub-headings Participant sample and
	recruitment procedure(s)
	Apparatus and Materials	/30
	Design of the study

· Procedure

· Clear and concise consideration of ethical issues relating to the proposed research project

Result & Discussion:

· Detailed description and understanding of key psychological theories and/or constructs

· Critical assessment and synthesis of relevant psychological literature

· Clear focus on answering the question



/ 15

Presentation & Referencing:
 Correct use of grammar, punctuation and spelling
 Appropriate writing style (use of “third” person)
 The majority of references are from academic journals and primary	/ 10
sources

 References reported accurately in essay text
 References reported accurately in attached ‘References’ section

Students should recognise that the marking criteria are weighted to indicate its importance in relation to the information required.