Seminar in Systemic Research and Data Analysis

Recommended Prerequisites

This curricular unit implies basic knowledge in descriptive and inferential statistics, as well as basic notions of research methods in social and human sciences, particularly in the area of Psychology.

Teaching Methods

This course unit intends to guide students step by step in the implementation of their research project, focusing in the methodological aspects and data analysis. Therefore, it implies the principle of "learning by doing", and is achieved by interactive moments in classes: theoretical-practical (lecture method) and applied ones, including the training of practical skills and problem solving, and the application by students of different methods using data analysis software (e.g., SPSS, PROCESS, MAXQDA), critical analysis of applications of different techniques and presentation of results in dissertation/article.

Learning Outcomes

This course unit aims to consolidate in-depth knowledge about different methods and techniques of research in Systemic Clinical and Health Psychology (SP) and advanced practice of data analysis. The course unit intends to promote a critical and integrative posture on research methods, informing about conceptual, procedural, analytical and ethical specificities of research in SP. This course unit also promotes the development of practical skills of data analysis (quantitative and qualitative) and of statistical/analytical reasoning, as well as the ability to decide and select the most appropriate techniques for different and complex research problems/ plans, skills for interpreting the results obtained, and use clear and correct statistical language, including its writing based on commonly accepted publishing standards (e.g., APA).

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. Principles of research methods in Systemic Clinical and Health Psychology (SP).

2. Science communication, scientific writing and dissemination of results: a) types and structure of scientific documents; b) APA style and reference management software.

3. Data analysis/statistics and use of statistical software: a) basic notions in descriptive and inferential statistics; b) descriptive statistics and graphic representation; c) inferential statistics. Parametric and non-parametric univariate, bivariate and multivariate methods; d) psychometrics. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis; e) modulation. Mediation and moderation and applications with software (SPSS e PROCESS).

4. Qualitative analysis.

5. Report findings in scientific documents.

Head Lecturer(s)

Lisete Santos Mendes Mónico

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Individual Research Work - Weight: 100.0%

Bibliography

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7.ª ed.). APA.

Field, A. (2017). Discovering statistics using SPSS (5th ed.). Sage Publications.

Hayes, A.F. (2022). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.

Prada, M., Camilo, C., Garrido, M. V., & Rodrigues, D. L. (2021). O diabo está nos pormenores: Introdução as normas para escrita científica da American Psychological Association (7ª edição). PSICOLOGIA, 35(1), 95-146. https://doi.org/10.17575/psicologia.v35i1.1727

Tabachnick, B., & Fidell, L. (2014). Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). Pearson Education.

Yin, R. K. (2016). Qualitative research from start to finish. Guilford Press.