Child & Family Psychology Thesis Guide - 2013 Preparing to do a Child and Family Psychology Thesis: A Guide to choosing a research methods course, thesis topic and supervisor A research thesis is an integral part of the Child and Family Psychology masters programme. Depending on the masters degree you are doing, you will eventually be enrolled in CFPY 690 or 695 (MA and MSc in Child and Family Psychology Theses respectively) or EDEM 691 (MEd thesis for an approved MEd). Fourth year MA and MSc in Child and Family Psychology, and approved MEd, students begin their thesis planning through the choice of their 4 th year research methods course. Most research methods courses encourage students to make progress towards choosing their ultimate research topic. The approved courses are one of HLTH 462, EDEM 694, EDEM 697, PSYC 460 or PSYC 464 or their equivalents. If you are studying full-time then ideally the course is studied in the second semester of the 4th year. However, this limits your choice so do familiarise yourself with the courses and their timings well prior to choosing. If you can decide by February it is possible for students enrolled in 1.25 EFTS in their 4th year, to complete HLTH 462 which allows students to spread course work across the whole year with assessments being submitted later in the year. Alternatively students who plan to enrol in EDEM 697 will be able to attend class in the first semester and similarly complete assignments later in the year. Students wishing to follow this course of action should speak to the Programme Coordinator. Do remember that this decision must be made by February. Choosing a research methods course depends not so much on the actual topic you will choose but on the method you will employ to research it. If you have some idea of research area then it is worth thinking about method and using the methods course to advance your preparation towards your thesis. It is perfectly acceptable to approach potential supervisors to check out your ideas before finalising your 4 th year research methods course. Your choice of methods course does not commit you to a method, topic or supervisor but will increase your knowledge. If you have no idea of area or research after reading this information sheet then we recommend that you enrol in PSYC 460 or EDEM 694. These are general research methods courses and will familiarise you with the other research approaches, with the exception of qualitative method.
A 4 th year student planning an intervention topic should come and talk to the Programme Coordinator about a suitable supervisor and how the idea can be shaped to be safe and within your capabilities. If the research is being completed in the same year as the limited entry papers then you are urged to begin it over the summer. You should aim to begin the summer with a topic and supervisor chosen, as well as knowing what participants you will use. You should have a proposal completed and your ethics application submitted by February (i.e. prior to the beginning of the first term). You need to be gathering data by the end of the first term. Do be aware that your supervisor will not be available for all of the summer, so do carefully negotiate times for feedback on your work. The research/practice nexus aspect of the summer programme requires that your research planning is well advanced before the beginning of February. This may affect your choice of supervisor as he or she will need to be available to help you plan over this period of time. Your topic needs to be approved by the Coordinator of the Child and Family Psychology Programme as being relevant to the area of Child and Family Psychology. A very broad definition of relevance is held. Please refer to the FAQs for a list of previous research projects to give you some idea of the scope. Finding a topic or supervisor The primary aim for a Masters level research topic is that it is straightforward enough to be done in the time so you can complete your degree without delays. This means a clear research question which is able to be operationalised, and access to participants. Remember that access to participants through your work may create a conflict of interest so do not talk to agencies until you have discussed the situation with a potential supervisor. Stay away at this level from topics involving difficult to access or vulnerable participants such as sexually abused children or children in foster care, unless you are working on part of your supervisors existing research. Topics such as the development of children receiving behaviour support at school will need to be refined down to clear specific questions about what kind of development, what kind of support and how you will measure each. Start by talking to lecturers whose research areas seem to map onto your interests. If you are stuck for ideas then ask if there are ideas or projects you could be involved in. In fact working on an existing project is an excellent way to do a thesis or a dissertation. Most supervisors are happy to help you formulate your ideas but would not be expected to put in a large amount of work with a student who was going to be supervised by another staff member. Once you are clear with whom you would like to work, then ask that person if they will work with you, on that project. If more than one supervisor seems relevant then it is possible to have two supervisors. You do need to have a primary supervisor though, and that person will help you coordinate with the other supervisor as required. Usually you will have two supervisors in case one becomes unavailable. Sometimes the second supervisor stays in the wings, in other cases that supervisor is almost as involved as the primary supervisor.
If your supervisor is from another College then you will need to have a Health Sciences Centre or other COE supervisor involved for administration purposes. This is standard UOC practice and your supervisor will work that out for you. If a supervisor declines to be involved that usually means that the supervisor has already accepted enough students for the year or that the topic is not as good a match to their strengths as some other topics. Matching topic, student and supervisor is a delicate art! Supervisors workloads are also monitored by their Heads of Department who also have to approve the arrangement. If there is no suitable supervisor available for your topic, then you will need to choose a new topic. The following list of supervisors have indicated that they are currently willing to discuss supervision of Child and Family Psychology masters students in 2013. This is not an exhaustive list and if you have interests/needs outside of these areas then please meet with the Programme Coordinator to discuss who else might be available. A brief description of interests is included here. Further information can be obtained from staff web-pages Neville Blampied (Psychology Department) Interests: Family psychology, especially social learning processes, behavioural family interventions (including sleep disturbances, conduct disorder), Family Health Psychology, Single-case research designs with individuals or groups. John Everatt (School of Literacies and Arts) Interests: Cognitive and linguistic aspects of literacy learning and learning disabilities. Karyn France (Health Sciences Centre) Interests: Development and management of infant sleep, child and family interventions, emotional and behavioural regulation in children, parent behaviour and education, development of sexuality, ecological formulation in clinical child assessment. Myron Friesen (School of Educational Studies and Human Development) Interests: Social development in both children and adults, family development and functioning, particularly parent-child relationships, and other interpersonal relationship research. Have supervised projects together with Garry Hornby on parental involvement in education, and I am very keen to pursue new research topics on the development of positive psychological constructs in children such as hope, forgiveness, gratitude, and generosity. I m happy to discuss any of these and other possible projects that students might be interested that are loosely related to these domains. Garry Hornby (School of Sciences and Physical Education) Interests: Parental involvement in education.
Julia Rucklidge (Psychology Department) Interests: Nutritional interventions (including micronutrients) in the treatment of psychiatric symptoms; Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) across the lifespan; Psychological, psychiatric and cognitive factors that contribute to severity of impairment in ADHD; Mood disorders in children and adolescents; Risk factors contributing to youth offending. Julia also says: I prefer to supervise within my specific areas of research interest. That way, I can be most helpful to graduate students. I encourage students to become independent thinkers and to develop a thesis that is empirical with the goal that the work will be publishable. I enjoy self-motivated, thorough and dedicated students. In turn, you can expect my supervision to be structured and involved. I am prompt with answering questions and also open to meet with students as the need arises. Kathleen Liberty (Health Sciences Centre) Interests: Early intervention, children's learning and health, children with special needs, Principal Investigator, Children's Learning Study. Kathleen also says: Amongst my ideas for 2013 would be a joint study with Karyn France investigating sleep interventions in children with asthma. Michael Tarren-Sweeney (Health Sciences Centre) Interests: Psychosocial development and well-being of children in alternate care ( out-ofhome care, looked after children ), and children adopted from care; developmental psychopathology, with particular focus on attachment- and trauma-related difficulties; child and family social policy; measurement of mental health and attachment difficulties among children in care; attachment disorders and the spectrum of attachment difficulties; adult attachment and parenting capacity; psychological practice in child welfare and alternate care; ecological formulation in clinical child assessment. Lawrence Walker Interests: Instructional processes including ICT, e-learning (including web design and Learning Management Systems) and Assistive technology and their effects on the learner and learning, especially in children and adolescents and how Assistive Technology enables active participation in learning. I have a strong interest in mental time travel, augmented reality and video self modelling as ways of achieving rapid learning and effective behaviour change in individuals. Some recent and current supervision topics: 1. Potential for using Augmented Reality in Presenting Educational content. 2. Effects of Video Self Modelling as an Intervention for Teenagers with Public Speaking Anxiety 3. Effects of Feedforward Video Self Modelling on Fluency and Comprehension in School Aged Children 4. Effects of Video Technology on Parent Implemented Functional Analysis. 5. Evaluation of the Team-Teach behaviour support training programme in New Zealand
Gaye Tyler-Merrick Interests: Single case design, applied behaviour analysis, antisocial development, antisocial behaviour, early intervention, functional behavioural assessment, learning and behaviour interventions, working with teachers and parents. Anna Wilson Interests: Learning disabilities (dyscalculia, dyslexia, ADHD), numeracy, educational neuroscience, and educational psychology. I supervise quantitative projects with children or adults, single cases or group studies. I have expertise/experience in intervention software design, intervention studies, brain imaging studies, cognitive testing (pencil/paper and computerised), neuropsychological testing, psychometric testing and statistics (quantitative research).