304C8 Advanced Research Skills in Psychology

A2 Essay Assignment Brief

Aims of the Assignment

The aim of this assignment is to allow you to demonstrate originality in applying knowledge of psychological methods to original research questions. This provides you with the opportunity to indicate that you understand these methods and show that you can apply them to a novel research project.

Objectives and requirements

For this assignment, you are required to submit a research proposal that is no greater than 1500 words in length. You can find the due date on Sussex Direct. This assignment is weighted 50% of your overall grade on the module.

Imagine a research funder has announced it will be providing funds for scholars seeking to understand psychological processes that help solve problems faced by the community. They welcome applicants to submit inventive proposals. The successful applicant will be awarded a year’s salary as well as £1000 of funding to carry out only one study (e.g., transport costs, participation incentives). The aim of this assignment is to develop a research proposal that aims to convince the research council to fund the research project.

For this assignment, you can choose your own research question. However, please ensure that your project is realistic and implementable. The research council has insisted that they will only fund research which uses online surveys, but they note that the study can be qualitative or quantitative in its approach. Therefore, you may choose either of these methods for your proposal.

The research council has issued guidance saying that the proposal must include the following sections:

1. Title Page
2. Abstract
3. Introduction