Week 8 – Final Assessment 2: Portfolio
Assessment – Guidelines Module title: Psychology Research Skills Module code: 7505 PSYSCI
Assessment Point: Summative assessment 2 Assessment task: Portfolio (3 components)
● A research proposal (word count limit: 3000 words ±10%)
● A short essay (word count limit: 1500 words ±10%)
● A critical article review (word count limit: 1000 words ±10%) Submission deadline: Please consult the VLE.
Submission procedure: Please submit via the submission link on the VLE.
Extenuating circumstances
If you are experiencing unforeseen personal circumstances that are affecting your ability to submit within the stipulated deadlines, you are required to communicate these issues to the Unicaf Extenuating Circumstances team in the first instance, via extenuating.circumstances@unicaf.org, for further information on how to make a personal circumstances application for consideration.
Personal circumstances requests may usually only be made within 5 working days of the original deadline unless valid justification, along with appropriate evidence, exists to show that you could not have reasonably communicated the issues any earlier. It is important to keep in mind that if the claim is not upheld and you have not submitted by the deadline, the module shall be failed as a result of no submission of the summative assessment.
Submission Deadline
Please submit your module summative assessment(s) by 11:59 pm (23:59 hours) VLE (UTC) time on the due date at the latest. Any summative assessment submitted up to 5 days late will be accepted, but the mark will be capped at 50%. Any work submitted more than 5 days late after the submission deadline will be recorded as 0%.
Academic misconduct including plagiarism
Written coursework will be submitted on VLE, through an on-line plagiarism- detection service called Turnitin. The web link for further information can be found at https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/avoiding_plagiarism/index.html.
Turnitin matches the text of what you submit with the information held in its databases (including journal articles and previous submissions by other students), and the web. You will have the opportunity to use Turnitin to improve your work. To do this, submit your work well in advance of the deadline, and Turnitin will give you a report of any matches it has found with other sources. You can use this information to re-write those sections in your own words. Leave yourself plenty of time to do this before the final deadline. Be aware that Turnitin is not part of LJMU but a separate company that provides this service to many universities, and if it is busy you may have a short delay before receiving the originality report.
Turnitin will also give you a percentage similarity score. Tutors are often asked ‘what Turnitin percentage is OK’? This is an impossible question to answer, because the percentage depends on too many factors. Depending on how the assignment is set up and how you have structured your file, a high percentage could be ‘OK’, because it is only picking up on legitimate similarities with other sources, such as the marksheet, the reference list, or direct quotations. Conversely, a very low percentage might be ‘not OK’ because it is picking up on a small section that has been cut and pasted from the Abstract of a journal article. This is plagiarism, and it is unacceptable even when it only makes up a small percentage of the total. So, tutors will never just look at the raw percentage when they are marking your work, they will look at WHAT is similar in the full originality report.
By submitting your work, you acknowledge that you have read and agree with the above statements.
General Guidance
Your assignment should be word processed (handwritten assignments are not accepted), using Times new roman size 12 font, double spaced, with numbered pages and your student number printed as a footer on every page. The word limits stated for this assignment excludes the reference list at the end of the assignment but includes all text in the main body of the assignment (including direct quotations, in-text citations, tables). Tables and figures should not be included within your text but separately as an Appendix. Please be aware that exceeding the word count limit will affect the academic judgement of the piece of work and may result in the award of a lower mark. Appendices are not considered a supplement, and thus, will not be assessed as part of the content of the assignment. As such, they will not contribute to the grade awarded; however, it may be appropriate to use an Appendices section for any material which is a useful reference for the reader. Please note that appendices are not included in the word count. The majority of references should come from
primary sources (e.g., journal articles, conference papers, reports, etc.) although you can also utilise area specific textbooks. You must ensure that you use the APA style of referencing which is the APA 7th Edition, please see here:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_ introduction.html. Please indicate the word count length at the end of your assignment.
NO STUDENT WILL BE ALLOWED TO COLLECT ANY PRIMARY DATA
Marking and assessment
The second summative assessment requires the writing of a research proposal. The Research Proposal assignment submission will be graded out of 100%. Please note that the Portfolio assessment will contribute to 70% of your overall module grade.
Learning outcomes assessed in component 1
● Write a research proposal in a concise and academic manner
Component 1 Guidelines:
Write a 3000-words Research Proposal coming from the field of your choice; educational psychology, organizational psychology, health, forensic or positive psychology
Your research proposal must include the following parts in terms of content and structure:
● Title
● Abstract
● Research Context – a brief overview of your general area of study, summarising current knowledge and recent debates on the topic, as well as research gaps
● Research questions (clearly stated) – the central aims and questions that will guide your research (prioritise one or two main questions, from which secondary questions may follow)
● Research Methods – how you intend to answer your research questions, your main research techniques (interviews, case studies, modelling, etc) and data collection procedures
● Significance of Research – an explanation of why your research is important and what makes it original
● Bibliography – a bibliography identifying the most relevant and recent works for your subject area (not included in word count)
Retrieved from: https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-students/how-to- apply/applying-for-a-phd
For further and more detailed guidance on the structure of the assignment you can refer to the marking scheme below.
Research Proposal (/60)
|
Title of Section |
Criteria |
Marks Awarded |
|
|
Cover Page |
● Assignment |
|
|
|
Title / Abstract/ Introduction |
● ● A |
/9 |
|
|
Research Questions |
● ● Corresponding |
|
|
|
|
the abstract ● |
/12 |
|
|
Methodology |
● Thorough descriptions of sample, measures and research analyses – |
/18 |
|
|
Potential significance and originality of the study |
● Establishment ● |
/12 |
|
|
Bibliography |
● |
/6 |
|
|
Presentation & Referencing |
●
●
|
Correct use of grammar, Appropriate writing style (use of “third” person) |
|
|
|
● |
References coming from academic journals and |
|
|
|
● |
primary sources References reported accurately in essay text and in |
/3 |
Component 2: Essay (/20)
Write a short essay on the following topic:
We assessed Focus Groups in week 3 as a qualitative method for data collection.
Please write a short 1500-words (± 10%) essay to:
● Explain how Focus Groups work and when it is appropriate to use them
● Appreciate their advantages, limitations and ethical concerns
References and Further Information
The reading material in this module should not be your only source of information. You are expected to read around the topics using other resources and critically evaluate / review and implement them accordingly in your essays.
Essays should be a reflection of a student’s independent work. Remember that essays that include parts with a striking resemblance to published material, material on the internet (that are not properly referenced), or another student’s work are considered as having been plagiarised.
Please refer to the relevant guidelines of how to write a critical essay, uploaded in week’s 8 reading material, before you proceed with writing up the essay.
Essay ((/20)
|
Title of Section |
Criteria |
Marks Awarded |
|
|
Cover Page |
● |
|
|
|
Title /Introduction |
● ● ● |
/3 |
|
|
Main Body (Structured in distinct paragraphs) |
●
●
●
●
|
Present thoroughly For each argument/key point write examples and / or ideas that add Refer to ethical considerations / reflect on the issue |
/8 |
|
Conclusion |
● |
Restate the theme under study and refer back to |
|
|
|
|
the main points, to conclude on the effectiveness of the |
/5 |
|
Bibliography |
● |
Identification of the most relevant and recent works for |
/2 |
|
Presentation & Referencing |
●
●
|
Correct use of grammar, punctuation and spelling |
|
|
|
● |
References coming from academic journals and |
|
|
|
● |
primary sources References reported accurately in essay text and in |
/2 |
Component 3: A critical review of a journal article (/20)
For this assignment you will have to read:
“Carlin, A. P. & Kim, Y. H. (2019). Teaching qualitative research: Versions of grounded theory. Grounded Theory Review,18(1), which can be retrieved from this week’s reading material, and write a 1000 (±15%) words critical review of it.
In your review you may want to address the following:
● What are the main considerations expressed by the authors?
● How do you reflect on them? How do you position yourself in this discussion concerning the co-
● current versions of Grounded theory research?
You can find the article on week’s 8 reading material
Please refer to the relevant guidelines of how to write a critical review of an article, uploaded in week’s 8 Reading material, before you proceed with writing up the review
Critical Review of a Journal Article (/20)
|
Title of Section |
Criteria |
Marks Awarded |
|
Cover Page |
● Assignment |
|
|
Title /Introduction |
● ● ● Clearly |
/3 |
|
Main Body (Structured in distinct |
● ● ● ● Position |
/8 |
|
Conclusion |
● Restate |
|
|
|
the |
/5 |
|
Bibliography |
● The |
/2 |
|
Presentation & Referencing |
● ● ● |
|
|
|
primary sources ● |
/2 |
LJMU Level 7 Grading Criteria
|
Grade Please note that these level 7 descriptors apply to programmes |
||
|
Mark Range |
Characteristic |
Criteria |
|
90-100 |
Exceptional Pass |
Exemplary attainment of Demonstrates an outstanding Wide-ranging emphasis on Offers an exhaustive The material covered is The argument is highly The standard of writing No errors in the use of Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic |
|
80-89 |
Outstanding Pass |
Excellent attainment of all Demonstrates a Extends far beyond expected The material covered is The argument is generally The standard of writing No errors in the use of Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic |
|
70-79 |
Excellent pass |
Excellent attainment of Demonstrates a thorough Strong emphasis on Thorough use the The material covered is The argument is The standard of writing No errors in the use of Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic |
|
60-69 |
Good Pass |
Good attainment of all Demonstrates detailed Good emphasis on knowledge The material covered is The argument is The standard of writing No errors in the use of Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic |
|
50-59 |
Pass |
Adequate attainment of Demonstrates a limited, but Some emphasis on The argument is The standard of writing is No errors in the use of Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic |
|
40-49 |
Needs some improvement |
Meets most, but not all Demonstrates limited Less than expected emphasis Basic consideration of restricted to recommended Some inaccuracies or The argument is relatively The standard of writing is well clear and readable, but |
|
30-39 |
Needs major improvement |
Approximately half the Demonstrates very little Little emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at the |
|
|
|
Some materials is The standard of writing Some errors in the use of Generally |
|
|
|
|
|
20-29 |
Needs significant revision |
Most learning outcomes Demonstrates no synthesis Little or no emphasis on Superficial The argument is very The standard of Meets key principles, Good |
|
0-19 |
Needs substantial work |
Does not meet any Demonstrates No emphasis on No engagement with the The material covered is The standard of writing The |