PSYC 5001, 5002, 5003, and 5004 are faculty-supervised independent research courses. Students meet with their advisers on a weekly basis and submit a final research report (see below) by the end of the semester. Minimum of nine hours conference and independent work. A copy of the report must be submitted to the department for each course section. No grade will be assigned for the course until a department-approved report is submitted and filed.
Eligibility Criteria
- Prerequisites: Introductory Psychology (PSYC 1000); Statistical Methods in Psychological Research (PSYC 3400); six additional credits in advanced Psychology Department courses; Experimental Psychology (PSYC 3450), which may be included among the six credits or may be taken as a co-requisite; and permission of the chair.
- A faculty member agrees to serve as adviser/instructor.
Course Registration
Faculty advisors submit a completed course PSYC 5001–5004 registration form to the Department of Psychology:
The chair gives final approval for registration. Following chair approval students will receive permission to register in the course.
Submitting work at the end of the semester
Students submit a written report at the end of each semester they are enrolled in a PSYC 5001–5004 course. Department approval of the report is required before a grade is assigned for the course. The requirements for written reports depend on whether the course is:
- a single independent research course, not a part of a two-semester honors thesis, and
- one part of a two-semester honors thesis (see honors thesis page for more information).
Report types for single independent research course
These report types are for students taking a PSYC 5000 series course as a standalone course, not as a part of a two semester honors thesis.
All reports are written in APA Format
All Reports are written in APA format and should contain, at minimum, the following:
- Title Page (1 page),
- Abstract (1 page),
- Body: Introduction, Methods, Results (if applicable), Discussion (if applicable) (12 pages minimum), and
- References (minimum of 10 references).
Type 1: Completed Research Report
This type of paper is written in APA style and must include the following sections:
- Title Page;
- Abstract;
- Literature Review that provides sufficient background and justification for conducting the study, with specific hypothesis(es);
- Methods Section that thoroughly describe the design, participants, equipment, materials, tasks, and procedure of the study;
- Results Section that justifies and explains the statistical analyses that were conducted and their outcomes;
- Discussion Section that interprets the results, addresses implications of the results, identifies study limitations, relates the findings to the broader theoretical framework and issues raised in the Introduction, and poses directions for future research; and
- References.
Type 2: Theoretical Report
This type of paper is written in APA style and consists of a thorough review and discussion of the research on a particular topic. The paper should not simply present a “catalog-like” summary of one study after another. Rather, the paper should consist of a systematic integrative synthesis of the literature with one or more of the following features:
- provides new and interesting connections or insights,
- evaluates a controversy in the field by considering the evidence for or against a particular theory or claim(s) that result in an informed conclusion and proposes research to evaluate or resolve the controversy, or
- makes a theoretical argument and/or presents a new theoretical model to account for a particular set of research findings. Computer simulation/modeling or meta-analysis are included as acceptable approaches.
Other types
An alternate type of paper may be acceptable. Faculty advisers should append the description to form.
Report types for honors thesis
Students completing a two-semester honors submit two reports: an interim report after the first semester, and the final completed thesis at the end of the second semester.
Students are referred to the honors thesis guidelines in psychology page for more details.
Clarifications
- Students will spend a minimum of nine hours per week in the research lab actively conducting research (collecting and analyzing data) each semester.
- Faculty mentors must have weekly meetings with their independent research students.
- Project Requirement: Acceptable projects do not necessarily need to involve human or animal participants; rather, studies consisting of computer simulation or other computational methods, such as a meta-analysis (raw data from selected studies are combined and analyzed to improve estimates of the size of a given effect and/or to resolve uncertainty when research papers disagree about a certain topic) are also acceptable.
- Honors Notation: As an “honors” course, the presumption is that students will conduct “honors”-level work. Nonetheless, the instructor may choose not to assign an “honors” designation if the level of performance is not achieved by the student. If the faculty member chooses to assign an “honors” designation, he or she makes the request through the BC portal after grades have been submitted through CUNYfirst.
- Graduating With Honors: Students must complete a sequence of at least two of the PSYC 500X series (5001–5004) courses and submit a written thesis project (in APA format) to apply for consideration of departmental honors in psychology. Students are referred to the graduating with departmental honors in psychology page for more information.
- Course Bulletin Description: Minimum of nine hours conference and independent work; three credits. Faculty-supervised independent research that includes data collection and analysis and/or theoretical work. Weekly conference. Final report must be submitted to the department.