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Psychological Therapies Research and Evaluation

Module description

The development and delivery of effective psychological treatments requires the practical application of clinical research and evaluation using a range of methodological and statistical approaches. In this module you will gain advanced knowledge, understanding and skills in employing the range of research methodologies required to establish a sound evidence for practice.

This module will allow you to explore, in some detail, your understanding of the subject matter through the production of a piece of original research on a particular issue. You will be allocated a project supervisor after formulating your research proposal. The work will comprise independent research, supervised in monthly tutorials, and there will also be some group tutorials and research consultancy. To improve access to the module, the delivery of supervision via internet-based software application will be available. The outcome will be a preliminary formative proposal presentation, a summative research proposal of up to 2000 words and a research project written up as a research paper of up to 8000 words. 

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

• Provide you with advanced knowledge, understanding and skills related to methodologies and statistics used in clinical research aimed at developing and evaluating effective treatments and psychological interventions.
• Equip you to become a critical consumer of applied psychological research and contribute to your development as a scientist practitioner.
• Provide you with practical experience, under supervision, of all or most of the stages of a research project including analysis of data, and of writing a substantial research report. You will gain in experience in choosing the appropriate methodology (for example quantitative, qualitative, observational) for the type of research question being addressed.
• Facilitate your ability to formulate, design, carry out, and communicate the results of research that is relevant to your discipline. This may address the concerns of patients, providers and commissioners of psychological therapies services.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Design and conduct applied psychological research within clinical services (e.g., service evaluation, audit, small N design) either individually under supervision or as part of a research team.
• 2. Use a range of standard and specialised research instruments/techniques either individually under supervision or as part of a research team.
• 3. Demonstrate a reflective, ethical and professional framework in your research work.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Demonstrate a reflective, ethical and professional framework in your research work.
• 5. Critically appraise published research.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Demonstrate skills in academic/scientific writing to a level commensurate to that required to get research published in peer reviewed journals.
• 7. Work and communicate effectively with others.

Syllabus plan

Content will be included to introduce an understanding of the main methodological and statistical approaches used to develop an evidence base for psychological therapies. Teaching content will include:

Methodological approaches - Introduction to evidence synthesis including systematic reviews, meta-analysis, meta-synthesis, single and multiple case designs, clinical research ethics, statistical vs clinical significance.

Statistical approaches – descriptive and inferential statistics.

During the first three months of the course you will attend group lectures and seminars, individual tutorials and prepare the proposal for your research project. This will be developed in consultation with the research tutors or potential supervisors.

Once you pass the research proposal you will start your research work. You will be allocated a main supervisor and, if possible, a second supervisor or a consultant with expertise in your clinical area of research from within the portfolio of the clinical training programmes available within CEDAR. A research supervision contract must be signed by you and your supervisor(s) before the project proper begins.

The research project is written up as a research paper in a format suitable for publication in a professional journal. specified journal. This may be supplemented by appendices detailing pilot work, ethics details, analysis tables etc, for which the journal format allows insufficient space.

If you take on research as part of a larger on-going project, you must nevertheless familiarise yourself with decisions taken, and the rationale for them, at every stage of the project, and there must be a data set resulting which you can analyse yourself and write up for your research report. Further details and advice are supplied in the Handbook each year.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Two assessments are required for this module. In all cases re-assessment will be the same as the original assessment. Where you have been referred/deferred for any form of assessment detailed above you will have the opportunity to retake as specified above.

If you pass re-assessments taken as a result of deferral, your re-assessment will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment and the overall module mark will not be capped.

If you pass re-assessments taken as a result of referral (i.e. following initial failure in the assessment), the overall module mark will be capped at 50%.

If you fail re-assessments taken as a result of referral (i.e. following initial failure in the assessment), you will be failed in the module and as a consequence you will be failed in the programme and your registration as a student of the University will be terminated.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Core reading:

• American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual. (7th ed.). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
• Booth, A., Sutton, A., & Papaioannou, D. (2016). Systematic approaches to a successful literature review. Sage.
• Bowling, A. (2009). Research methods in health: Investigating health and health services. Open University Press.
• Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.
• Gravetter, F. J., & Forzano, L. A. B. (2018). Research methods for the behavioral sciences. Cengage Learning.
• Gravetter, F. J., Wallnau, L. B., Forzano, L. A. B., & Witnauer, J. E. (2020). Essentials of statistics for the behavioral sciences. Cengage Learning.
• Kazdin, A. E. (2016). Methodological issues and strategies in clinical research. American Psychological Association.
• Morley, S. (2017). Single case methods in clinical psychology: A practical guide. Routledge.
• Robson, C., & McCartan, K. (2016). Real world research. John Wiley & Sons.
• Rosenthal, R., & Rosnow, R. L. (2009). Artifacts in behavioral research: Robert Rosenthal and Ralph L. Rosnow's classic books. Oxford University Press.
• Walker, D. M. (2014). An introduction to health services research: A practical guide. Sage.
• Tabachnick, B. G., Fidell, L. S., & Ullman, J. B. (2007). Using multivariate statistics. Pearson.
• Thomas, G. (2017). How to do your research project: A guide for students. Sage.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – (all resources will be made available on ELE)
• APA style: https://apastyle.apa.org/
• SAGE Research Methods: https://methods.sagepub.com/

Key words search

Psychological therapies, clinical psychology, mental health, masters, thesis, clinical research, evaluation