Accessibility in the Psychology Undergraduate Curriculum
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- 5.6. Computing practicals
- 5.7. Research participation
- 5.8. Professional placement
- 5.9. Project supervision
- 5.10. Course-specific software
5.5. Research practicalsStudents in Years 1 and 2 participate in research practicals, where they are introduced to classic psychology experiments, collect data from each other, then analyze and write up their own results in a report in the style of a journal article. Year 2 practicals often require students to design their own study. Practicals typically involve group work, listening and viewing slides (simultaneously), computer work, and report writing. Flexibility. Potentially a student could be allowed to work alone if necessary. 5.6. Computing practicalsStudents in Years 1 and 2 ordinarily attend weekly computing practicals in autumn semester as part of the Research Methods and Statistics modules. These practicals cover statistical analysis using IBM SPSS Statistics, along with supporting use of MS Excel and MS Word. Issues of manual dexterity and visual perception are salient, but these have been discussed above. Flexibility. Whilst attendance at these practicals is ordinarily expected, the demonstrations and practice sessions are supported by appropriate readings and by handouts. Students may prefer to work independently with a textbook and their own computer configured with IBM SPSS Statistics and MS Office, and raise questions for the instructor outside of class as required. 5.7. Research participationAll single honours students in the School of Psychology are required to participate in the experimental work of the School. Students in Years 1 and 2 must complete 25 hours each year as human participants in the research conducted within the School. The allocation of hours across semesters can vary somewhat from year to year. In 2015-2016, students were required to do 10 participation hours in semester 1 and 15 in semester 2.
Flexibility. Although it is usually up to students to sign up for studies at their convenience, if a student’s disability or other circumstances justify it, staff can help to arrange participation in studies that are best suited to the circumstances. Where research participation is impractical (e.g. if a mobility impairment makes it difficult for a student to efficiently navigate to research labs; if a perceptual impairment makes participation difficult; etc.), students can potentially be assigned essay topics relevant to Research Methods as an alternative to research participation. 5.8. Professional placementThere is an option for students to undertake a year’s Professional Placement as part of their degree course. Students with a disability should seek advice from the Disability & Dyslexia Service when considering potential placements. Disability issues that arise on placement can differ from the issues that are relevant to academic study. Placements outside the UK may not offer the same level of support. In any event, the student would be encouraged to disclose their disability to the placement organisation during the application process. Whilst the primary responsibility for making suitable adjustments for the placement period lies with the placement organisation, the School has many long-established contacts and good working relationships with placement organisations, enabling confidential discussion of an individual student's requirements. The University would also have a responsibility to ensure that no student who wished to undertake a placement was discriminated against or unnecessarily disadvantaged. Students can also find further advice on Career Central at https://careercentral.cardiff.ac.uk/topics/you/for-students-with-disabilities/ (university login and password required). 5.9. Project supervisionFinal year students consult with a project supervisor at all stages of their research project. Supervisory meetings usually take place in the supervisor’s office, but if there is a difficulty for a particular student in getting to the supervisor’s office, a more accessible location can be agreed. Most supervisors are located in the Psychology building, which is reasonably accessible. A few supervisors might have offices in other buildings (e.g. CUBRIC or 63 Park Place, etc.). Most staff offices in the Psychology building are very easy to find, since offices are just numbered down the single corridor on each floor. Whatever location is agreed for supervisory meetings, if it is hard to find, the supervisor can provide directions. These can be crucial for blind (or partially-sighted) students who will not be able to follow visual signage. Deaf students might need to use a portable radio aid and microphone to amplify their supervisor’s voice. In that case, students might want to remind supervisors to take care not to turn away from the microphone or cover their mouths with their hands while talking. 5.10. Course-specific softwareMS Office. Coursework must generally be submitted electronically in the form of an MS Word document. MS Excel is generally used for graphing statistical results, and may also be used to organise data from experiments or for some simple analyses. MS Powerpoint is generally used for presentations that students may do in the context of tutorials as well as for the final year research project. IBM SPSS Statistics is used for analyses in the Year 1 and Year 2 statistics courses, for research practicals, and often for the final year research project. Final year research projects often use other software packages to present stimuli or collect data. These include MediaLab and DirectRT, among others, depending on the needs of the student’s project. Download 160.33 Kb. Share with your friends:
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