Research Methods for Human Inquiry (PSYC30013)

In this subject, students will aquire research skills and methods to critically investigate, measure and assess research topics involving human behaviour, interactions, and thought in a variety of contexts. In addition, students will aquire an understanding of fundamental principles in psychological assessment of individual traits and dispositions, in particular, how to evaluate the reliability and validity of psychological assessments. Emphasis will be placed on how the skills and techniques being taught are tools for gathering evidence relating to real-world problems typically encountered in the behavioural sciences, but not limited to this area, for which meaningful inferences can be generalised beyond the particular sample data available. Topics to be covered may include research design, implementation, and evaluation; techniques for measuring human behaviour, emotions, and interactions; the application of relatively simple quantitative models to data in order to identify differences and associations, make predictions, and possibly assert causation.