Master's programme Psychology

The accompanying seminars for the Master's thesis have the following tasks: 

(1) To refine the topic discussed with the supervisor; 

(2) To clarify questions that arise during the execution of the Master's thesis not only with the supervisor, but also to receive feedback from other Master's students; 

(3) To get feedback on the planned Master's thesis project by presenting one's own topic; 

(4) To get feedback on the planned evaluation or hints for the writing of the Master's thesis through the presentation of the results.

Students acquire in-depth competences for writing scientific papers. This is a complex work process that involves many intellectual and practical activities. The steps up to the completion of a scientific paper are reflected and planned in their organisation. This includes preparing the work, structuring and planning the work as well as writing and revising one's own texts. The students are taught the necessary knowledge to write a scientific paper such as an article for a professional journal or a master's thesis (structure, formal criteria, appropriate style). The students also present parts of their own master's thesis which can be commented on by all participants with regard to the specifications of the APA. This process-oriented approach increases writing competence and enables a professionalisation of writing also for later professional writing. Possible contents and focal points: Citation and paraphrasing (working with APA guidelines), structure of a scientific paper (general and psychology-specific), text work (working together on student texts; students can bring texts they have written themselves), as well as all other questions that arise in the writing process.

This course imparts knowledge about advanced qualitative and quantitative survey and research methods and builds on the basic survey methods taught in the bachelor's programme (e.g. questionnaire, experiment). Students learn the principles and areas of application of these methods (e.g. diary method, reaction time-based methods, behavioural observation, content analysis). The knowledge should not only be imparted, but the application of the survey methods should also be practised. Specific attention is to be paid to topics that are already possible for the Master's thesis.

The methods taught in the lecture 'Multivariate Methods' are calculated and practised with statistical software. In the form of exercises, solutions for psychological questions are to be found on the basis of real data. The focus is on the practical application of the methods, their framework conditions, as well as strengths and weaknesses. The students should thus not only have an overview of the application of complex statistical procedures, but also be able to answer research questions of the Master's thesis with the corresponding statistical procedures.