Overview
This unit will introduce you to key research interests in the positive psychology domain, and the various methodological approaches to research as they relate to positive psychology. You will develop a critical understanding of the research process and its application within positive psychology research and assessment. The unit will help you to become familiar with research processes that are robust and ethical, the importance of evidence-based decision making, and the importance of measuring the impact of interventions using positive psychology research methods. You will be encouraged to consider how research evidence contributes to best practice. You will learn skills in interpreting and critically evaluating the quality of published research evidence, and consider the ways research knowledge can be used to guide intervention design and procedures. There will be an overarching focus on becoming a critical consumer and user of this scientific research literature to inform the development of future research questions, intervention strategies, and professional practice.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2024
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Unit Coordinator reflections, student emails, Moodle and SUTE data.
Some students did not utilise the formative feedback opportunities offered and did not access the assessment feedback provided.
The Unit Coordinator will ensure that students are fully informed about formative feedback opportunities and how to access their assessment feedback in Moodle.
Feedback from SUTE responses and student comments in tutorials.
Students appreciated the videos demonstrating practical skills, with a couple of students requesting more examples and video updates.
The Unit Coordinator and teaching team will explore avenues for increasing and enhancing video demonstrations.
Feedback from SUTE responses and student comments in Moodle.
Students found the unit content useful and well-rounded, with a couple of students suggesting they would benefit from more guidance on critiquing qualitative research.
The Unit Coordinator and teaching team will source additional resources on critically appraising qualitative studies.
- Locate, interpret, and synthesise appropriate peer-reviewed empirical research relevant to positive psychology
- Investigate and appraise research paradigms and ethical research requirements relevant to positive psychology
- Analyse research concepts through the critical appraisal of peer-reviewed empirical research relevant to positive psychology
- Develop a research question based on identified research gaps to enhance the body of knowledge in positive psychology
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Research Assignment - 25% | ||||
| 2 - Online Quiz(zes) - 20% | ||||
| 3 - Critical Review - 55% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | ||||
| 2 - Communication | ||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | ||||
| 4 - Research | ||||
| 5 - Self-management | ||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | ||||
| 7 - Leadership | ||||
| 8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
| 1 - Research Assignment - 25% | ||||||||
| 2 - Online Quiz(zes) - 20% | ||||||||
| 3 - Critical Review - 55% | ||||||||
Textbooks
Research methods and statistics in psychology
7th Edition (2019)
Authors: Coolican, Hugh.
Routledge
Milton Park Milton Park , London , UK
ISBN: 978-1-315-20100-9
Binding: eBook
Additional Textbook Information
There are no prescribed textbooks for this unit. However, the supplementary textbook by Coolican (2019), is frequently referred to throughout this research methods unit, and will also be useful for students who in future intend to undertake the Master of Applied Positive Psychology thesis. An e-book version of this textbook are available through CQUniversity Library.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
l.miller-lewis@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
What is research, and what is a researcher?
Chapter
Please see selected readings and activities on Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Ethical considerations in research
Chapter
Please see selected readings and activities on Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom Tutorial 1: Week 2, Wednesday 17 July 2024, 6:30-8:30pm AEST.
Module/Topic
Finding and navigating research articles
Chapter
Please see selected readings and activities on Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
From research interests to research questions
Chapter
Please see selected readings and activities on Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Online Quiz A for -
Assessment 2: Research quizzes
Due: Week 4 Monday (29 July 2024) 5:00pm AEST
Module/Topic
From research questions to research design
Chapter
Please see selected readings and activities on Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom Tutorial 2: Week 5, Wednesday 7 August 2024, 6:30-8:30pm AEST.
Module/Topic
No modules/topic this week
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom Informal Drop-in Session: Vacation Week Thursday (15 August 2024) 12 Noon AEST
Module/Topic
Quantitative and qualitative research
Chapter
Please see selected readings and activities on Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Quantitative and qualitative research (continued)
Chapter
Please see selected readings and activities on Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Critically appraising research
Chapter
Please see selected readings and activities on Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Critically appraising research (continued)
Chapter
Please see selected readings and activities on Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom Tutorial 3: Week 9, Wednesday 11 September 2024, 6:30-8:30pm AEST.
Module/Topic
From critical appraisal to future research recommendations
Chapter
Please see selected readings and activities on Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Online Quiz B for -
Assessment 2: Research quizzes Due: Week 10 Monday (16 Sept 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Communicating research
Chapter
Please see selected readings and activities on Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Bringing it all together
Chapter
Please see selected readings and activities on Moodle.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Zoom Informal Drop-in Session: Week 12 Wednesday (2 October 2024) 12 Noon AEST
Assessment 3: Critical Review and Future Research Recommendations Due: Week 12 Friday (4 Oct 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
There are no examinations for this unit.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
There are no examinations for this unit.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Research Assignment
In this assessment task, you will begin the process of engaging with peer-reviewed empirical literature in an area that interests you within the domain of Positive Psychology/Wellbeing Science.
You will:
- Identify a research area of strong interest for you in the field of Positive Psychology/Wellbeing Science.
- Conduct a peer-reviewed literature search through the CQUniversity library databases for published empirical research studies relevant to your area of research interest.
- Write a brief (100-word) description of the literature searching methods you used to find the peer-reviewed empirical journal articles.
- Based on the literature found, provide a brief (200-word) description of your chosen topic of research interest, which reflects the importance of the topic to the field of positive psychology.
- From the literature found, choose two peer-reviewed empirical research study articles highly relevant to your area of research interest which have closely-aligned research aims, and write a brief (100-word) justification for why you specifically chose each of the final two articles.
- For each research article, complete the research summary table (provided on Moodle) outlining the study aims/research questions, study research methods and ethical considerations, study findings, and study strengths/limitations and future directions (maximum of 2 pages per study)
- Write a 300-word synthesis summarising and integrating what knowledge was gained overall from the findings of the studies in relation to your stated area of research interest, and the significance of these findings for contributing to our understanding about the area. This synthesis should lead into a critical appraisal statement outlining what could be the next logical step for future research to take to further build knowledge in the area.
The maximum word count for this assessment task is 700 words. This word limit includes in-text citations but excludes the reference list. The word count excludes the words in the study summary tables, but the study tables must not exceed 2 pages per study. Meeting the word count is included as a part of the marking criteria in your marking rubric on Moodle. See the Psychology Word Count Information document on Moodle for a rationale for using this type of word limit restriction.
Further information will be provided in the Unit and Assessment Guide on the unit Moodle site.
Week 6 Monday (19 Aug 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Week 8 Monday (2 Sept 2024)
Feedback and mark for this assessment will be provided within 2 weeks of submission.
This assessment task will be assessed via a marking rubric, which will be available on the unit Moodle site.
You will be assessed on:
- The quality of the rationale for the choice of research topic
- Detailing of the methodology used to source appropriate peer-reviewed research articles
- The relevance of the chosen peer-reviewed research articles to the identified area of interest
- The quality and accuracy of the reporting of aims/research questions, research methods and ethical considerations, and key findings of each of the chosen research articles
- Ability to synthesise and integrate the reported research findings, and critically appraise knowledge gaps/areas for further research based on the chosen research articles
- The quality and clarity of written communication, and adherence to word-limit
- Accurate use of appropriate references and adherence to APA referencing requirements for in-text citations and the reference list.
Detailed information regarding assessment requirements and criteria for assessment can be found in the Unit and Assessment Guide on Moodle.
- Locate, interpret, and synthesise appropriate peer-reviewed empirical research relevant to positive psychology
- Investigate and appraise research paradigms and ethical research requirements relevant to positive psychology
- Analyse research concepts through the critical appraisal of peer-reviewed empirical research relevant to positive psychology
- Knowledge
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Self-management
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
2 Online Quiz(zes)
This assessment will require you to complete two online quizzes designed to assess your understanding of the unit Moodle workbook content related to fundamental ethical principles and research methods relevant to positive psychology (e.g., identifying research paradigms; research question development etc.). The online quizzes will be completed via the Unit Moodle website. Across the two online quizzes, there will be an overall total of 50 questions to answer, some of which will be multiple-choice, and others will be multi-component questions or questions requiring a short written answer.
- Online Quiz A will contain questions that cover content from the first 3 weeks of unit, and must be completed via Moodle by Week 4, Monday (29 July 2024, 5pm AEST).
- Online Quiz B will contain questions that cover content from week 4 to week 9 of the unit, and must be completed via Moodle by Week 10, Monday (16 September 2024, 5pm AEST).
Each quiz will become available two weeks before their due date, and you may complete these quizzes at any time up until their due date. You will only be given one opportunity to complete each quiz. The quizzes will not be timed, but must be completed in one sitting. Further information will be provided in the Unit and Assessment Guide on the unit Moodle site.
2
Other
Week 10 Monday (16 Sept 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Online Quiz A must be completed via Moodle by Week 4 Monday (29 July 2024, 5pm AEST). Online Quiz B must be completed via Moodle by Week 10 Monday (16 September 2024, 5pm AEST).
Week 11 Monday (23 Sept 2024)
Marks will be made available within one week of each quiz submission due date.
The online quizzes will include multiple-choice, multi-component, and short-answer questions. All information relevant to the quizzes will be covered in the unit content. Questions will be drawn from content in the unit Moodle workbooks, set readings, and online tutorials. Each quiz is not timed, but you will only be given one opportunity to complete each quiz.
Across the two online quizzes there will be a total of 50 questions, which will be worth 20% of the overall grade for the unit.
Detailed information regarding quiz requirements and scope can be found in the Unit and Assessment Guide on Moodle.
- Investigate and appraise research paradigms and ethical research requirements relevant to positive psychology
- Develop a research question based on identified research gaps to enhance the body of knowledge in positive psychology
- Knowledge
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
3 Critical Review
In this final assessment, you will source and critically evaluate two published research articles, and develop a future research question based on your critical evaluation of these articles. The two articles included will be your choice, but must be:
- Peer-reviewed primary source journal articles (i.e., articles reporting new research findings from an original study) that are published in reputable journals.
- Relevant to one specific area of interest in the Positive Psychology/Wellbeing Science domain, but this must be a different area of focus than the choice in Assessment 1.
The assessment piece will include consideration of the following:
- What is the predominant area of interest for the researcher/s, and why is the area considered important? (This will be the basis for your introduction.)
- What are the main research questions in each publication?
- Compare and contrast the methodologies used by the researchers in each publication
- What are the key findings in each of the research publications, and do they appear to be justified?
- What are the strengths and limitations of each of the chosen research publications?
- A critical evaluation of the suggestions made by the publication authors for future research
- Identification of an important ‘gap’ in the research literature (based on the 2 chosen publications) that you propose could be further explored in research, and a justification for why this proposed future research would be worthwhile.
- Formulation of at least one future research question that would meaningfully address the identified ‘gap’ in knowledge (using the guiding principles of the PICO/PEO [Population, Intervention/Exposure, Comparison, Outcomes] framework).
The maximum word count for this assessment task is 2000 words. This word limit includes in-text citations but excludes any reference section. Meeting the word count is included as a part of the marking criteria in your marking rubric on Moodle. See the Psychology Word Count Information document on Moodle for a rationale for using this type of word limit restriction.
Further information will be provided in the Unit and Assessment Guide on the unit Moodle site.
Week 12 Friday (4 Oct 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Exam Week Friday (18 Oct 2024)
Feedback and mark for this assessment will be provided within 2 weeks of submission.
This assessment task will be assessed via a marking rubric, which will be available on the unit Moodle site.
You will be assessed on:
- Identification of the predominant research area of interest in the empirical studies, and their research questions
- Quality of comparing and contrasting of the research methodologies used in the empirical studies
- Ability to summarise, interpret, and critique the reported research findings
- Quality and comprehensiveness of the identification of the strengths, weaknesses, and future research directions
- Critical analysis of key gaps/areas for further research based on the chosen empirical studies
- Rationale as to why the identified gap would be of benefit to address in future research
- Development of a meaningful research question using the principles of the PICO/PEO (Population, Intervention/Exposure, Comparison, and Outcomes) style framework
- Clarity, conciseness and quality of written communication and critical thinking in the assessment, and adherence to the word-limit
- Accurate use of appropriate references and adherence to APA referencing requirements for in-text citations and the reference list.
Detailed information regarding assessment requirements and criteria for assessment can be found in the Unit and Assessment Guide on Moodle.
- Locate, interpret, and synthesise appropriate peer-reviewed empirical research relevant to positive psychology
- Analyse research concepts through the critical appraisal of peer-reviewed empirical research relevant to positive psychology
- Develop a research question based on identified research gaps to enhance the body of knowledge in positive psychology
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Self-management
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
