About the study programme

Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management

PhD in Psychology

PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION FOR THE PhD PROGRAMME IN PSYCHOLOGY

The programme description is founded on the Regulations concerning the philosophiae doctor degree (PhD) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), passed by the Board of NTNU on 23 January 2012. The programme description for the PhD Programme

in Psychology for the academic years of 2012/2013, was authorized by the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management on 1 March 2012.

The PhD Regulations as well as internal faculty procedures and administrative guidelines that are common to the Faculty's study Programmes are described on the Faculty's website, http://www.ntnu.edu/studies/phpsy.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAMME (§ 2 in Regulations)

The PhD Programme in Psychology is prescribed as 180 credits (equivalent of 3 years of full- time study). The final course plan for the PhD Programme is to be shaped in joint consultation between the candidate, supervisor and the Department of Psychology depending on the thesis area of research and the candidate's individual requirements and wishes.

OBJECTIVE OF THE PhD PROGRAMME IN PSYCHOLOGY

The PhD Programme offered by the Department of Psychology will provide academic support and supervision in the candidate's thesis work so as to qualify for research activity or other work that requires an advanced degree of academic insight. The Programme will provide a basis for an independent, critical and mature perception of one's own and others' research through studying theoretical and methodical subject areas, as well as providing practice in

communicating research results in academic- and other forums.

After completing the PhD Programme the candidate will have acquired certain knowledge, skills and general qualifications such as:

Knowledge

The candidate

is in the forefront of knowledge within psychology and is proficient in science and methods of the discipline
can assess the appropriateness and application of various methods and processes in
research and scientific development.
can contribute to the development of new knowledge, new theories, methods, interpretations and forms of documentation within the field.

Skills

The candidate

can formulate questions, plan and implement research and scientific development.
can conduct research and academic development at a high international level.
can deal with complex technical questions and challenge established knowledge and practice within psychology.
can reach decisions on a scientific basis from a complex documentation basis.
can teach in psychology on the basis of one's own research.

General qualifications

The candidate

can analyze the scientific and/or social science problems from a psychological perspective
can identify and relate to the relevant and ethical issues and to exercise their research work with integrity.
can lead complex interdisciplinary work and projects.
can guide specific research project and participate in more complex interdisciplinary research.
can convey research and scientific development through recognized national and international channels.
can participate in debates within the field in international forums.

Areas of research

The Department of Psychology offers teaching with the aim of providing insight into theories

and methods that are necessary when working on the thesis. The Department of Psychology offers both courses that are supervised, with individual curricula that are affiliated to theory or method, and courses that are more concrete, emphasising quantitative/qualitative methods of research. In addition, two theoretical advanced courses, "Risk Perception and Risk Management" and "Human Psychophysiology: High-Density EEG Analysis" is offered. The courses offered with individual curricula vary thematically, with the subject matter dealt with in each individual doctoral thesis.

ADMISSION (§ 5 in Regulations)

The primary requirement for admission is that the applicant holds a cand.psychol., cand.polit./ Master's degree in Psychology or equivalent. The applicant must have a weighted average grade from cand.polit./Master's degree or equivalent education of a grade of B or higher, in accordance with NTNU's grading system. Applicants who are unable to

meet these criteria may only be admitted if they can document that they are suitable candidates for education leading to a PhD degree. In special cases, applicants with backgrounds other than a Master's degree or equivalent in Psychology may be admitted to the PhD Programme. Relevant education for the PhD-programme is required, and the project must undoubtedly belong to the psychological field and have psychological addressed problems.

Application requirements

Applications for admission are to be made using an application form to be found at the faculty's websites. Application requirements are stated in Regulations concerning the philosophiae doctor degree (PhD) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The PhD plan, including the project description in the application, is to be composed in consultation with the proposed supervisor.

Admission procedure

The Faculty considers applications for admission based on the recommendation of the Department. For procedures for admission and the follow-up of incomplete applications - see the Faculty's websites.

Decision of admission

A decision concerning admission, the possible ranking of applicants, is based on a joint assessment of the quality of the application, with emphasis on the project description. The Department's expertise and supervision capacity will also be considered. Admission will be formalised by a written contract in accordance with § 6 of the Regulations concerning the philosophiae doctor degree (PhD) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

PhD PLAN (§ 5.2 in Regulations)

The project description is to give an account of which issues are being considered, approaches to problems, method and relevant theory. The description of the research project is normally between 5 and 10 pages.

FUNDING PLAN (§ 5.2 in Regulations)

For applicants who are not fully funded through scholarship schemes, it is normally required that 50 % of working hours during participation in the PhD Programme can be used for study, and that a minimum of 1 year can be allocated to full time studies.

SUPERVISION (§§ 5.2 and 7 in Regulations)

Work on the PhD thesis constitutes active research under supervision. The supervisor's total use of time supervising is stipulated to 210 working-hours for the entire period. This is equivalent to approx. 70 working-hours per year for 3 years. In addition to the contact period stated between candidate and supervisor, this includes preparation, reading, complementary work etc. If a supplementary supervisor is appointed, the number of working-hours must be divided between the principal and supplementary supervisor. Supervision connected to the organized academic course work of the PhD Programme (10 hours per course), is in addition to supervision (210 worker-hours) which is tied directly to the PhD thesis.

Candidate and supervisor(s) have a joint responsibility in seeing that the use of respondents and subjects, possible animal models, as well as the collection, storage and presentation of data, is carried out in accordance with existing laws and research ethical guidelines. For procedures for the appointment and changing of supervisor (s) - see the Faculty's websites.

RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT (§ 5.3 in Regulations)

A plan for the meeting of residency requirements is to be presented in the application and in the agreement on supervision. In certain instances, the Department may grant dispensation from the residency requirements.

ACADEMIC DISSEMINATION (§ 2 in Regulations)

The candidate has a number of choices concerning academic dissemination:

Academic presentation at scientific congress
Popular scientific dissemination
The candidate teaches 8-10 hours under supervision

The approving of documented, academic dissemination is done by the Department based on the supervisor's recommendation.

REPORTING (§ 9 in Regulations)

The candidate and supervisor are to deliver separate annual reports on progress, in accordance with § 9 of Regulations concerning the philosophiae doctor degree (PhD) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). For procedures for submission and processing of candidate and supervisor reports - see the Faculty's websites.

ORGANIZED ACADEMIC COURSE WORK (§ 8 in Regulations)

Objective of the organized academic course work

The main aim of the organized academic course work is to provide insight into theories and methodologies that complement the work with the thesis and contribute to the general training requirements for the candidates' future endeavours. The Department of Psychology offers courses of 20 credits. The candidates may then choose between four specialized courses (each

10 credits) in the field of research method, and two courses (each 10 credits) in the field of psychological theory. For schooling in the Theory of Science, (minimum 7,5 credits), candidates are referred to the Faculty's remaining courses. This course may be followed at other faculties or universities.

Structure and implementation

The candidate is to state in her/his application, a plan for the organized academic course work in consultation with the supervisor (s). It is recommended that the organized academic course work is completed at an early stage of the Programme. The candidate is responsible for

signing up for evaluation in subjects within the given deadlines. External courses/subjects that are to be a part of the organized academic course work must be approved by the Department. For procedures concerning the signing up for courses and approving of external courses/subjects - see the Faculty's websites.

The organized academic course work has a prescribed duration of 1 semester's full time work, i.e. 30 credits, and must be completed when the thesis is handed in for assessment. The organized academic course work consists of three elements:

Theory of Science, minimum 7,5 credits
Methodology courses, 10 credits
Theoretical/substantial courses, 10 credits

The main aim of the PhD Programme in Psychology is to offer active research under supervision, as well as providing thorough training in advanced research methods and a choice of theoretical specialised courses.

Two courses are offered with individually selected syllabus; one course within theoretical training (PSY8000) and one in research methods (PSY8001). The courses are to a great extent open for adjustment to individual problems. Each course includes 10 hours of academic advice, including time for preparations and complementary work, and shall include the following elements:

Individually approved individual study syllabus (ca. 400 pages)
Completed supervision- 10 hours for each of the courses (theory and method), individually or in a group with candidates working with the same topics
The candidate is required to hand in a written piece of work which accounts for the approaches to problems discussed between the supervisor and candidate. Form, scope and level of the written assignment are described in separate guidelines
The candidate is required to make a presentation of the written assignment in a PhD forum during participation in the Programme.

Registration for PSY8000 and PSY8001 is done via Stud web, but requires in addition that the PhD candidate personally establishes contact with a potential academic supervisor at the Department of Psychology. An agreement will be made between the candidate and the supervisor on a separate form which is available from the Department of Psychology.

Apart from this, the Department of Psychology offers four additional courses for PhD candidates. A minimum of five registered candidates is required for the courses PSY8002, PSY8003 and PSY8004. PSY8005 requires a minimum of three and a maximum of eight registered candidates.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

PSY8002, Risk Perception and Risk Communication

The aim of the course is to provide a solid theoretical basis for work in the field of risk perception and risk communication. Lectures and seminars will cover chosen parts of the history of the subject, as well as dealing with relevant literature. The focus will be on psychology's contribution to the research area, but important articles and work with background material from other research areas will also be included.

PSY8003, Multivariate Research Methods

The aim of the course is to educate participants in multivariate statistical methods that are utilized in experimental/non-experimental research. The course provides a general presentation of the most common statistical research methods, but is also followed up bymore specific, advanced statistical methods and practices.

PSY8004, Qualitative Research Methods

The course aims to provide doctoral candidates with a deeper understanding of important dimensions by completing various qualitative doctoral projects. Different qualitative research designs will be discussed, emphasising the relationship between text as data, the structuring of text and analytical approximations. The course provides a short specialization of the theories

of science for qualitative approximations, and continues with a focus on more specified advances qualitative methods and analytical perspectives. The course will be problem based, where the participants work together in groups with problems connected to the various topics that are to be presented.

PSY8005, Human Psychophysiology: High-Density EEG Analysis

High-density EEG recordings are often challenging to analyse. Conventional ERP analysis typically focuses on a small number of channels and identifies differences between trial types in certain time windows. Although this method can be used with high-density data, it does not take full advantage of the spatiotemporal information present in the data. One way of analysing electrical recordings made at the scalp is based on the assumption that EEG signals may be interpreted as a mixture of the activity of a number of underlying sources in the brain. Source separation consists of identifying different sources in the brain, where each source is described in terms of a varying course of activity and a consistent distribution across the scalp. In other words, a statistically independent source can be represented as both a time- invariant scalp-surface map and a time course of the strength of expression of that spatial map in accounting for the overall EEG at that point in time. Further, a blind (unbiased) separation of sources in terms of PCA and ICA will be used allowing us to extract more general structures of brain activity.

Furthermore, schooling in scientific theory is a mandatory part of the PhD Programme. The Faculty offers the course SFEL8000 Theory of Science for the Social Sciences (10 credits). If the candidate wishes for additional training in methodology and theory, she/he may attend courses that, at any given time, are offered at NTNU and other institutions, and that are approved as PhD courses. Contact the Department for further information concerning courses in psychology offered at other universities in Norway. In general, external courses approved after application to the Department and in accordance to the Faculty's guidelines, can be used as part of one or more components of the organized academic course work Programme.

Courses that are to/may be part of the organized academic course work:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
PSY8000	Individually selected texts -Theory	10	A/S
PSY8001	Individually selected texts - Method	10	A/S
PSY8002*	Risk Percep. and Risk Communication	10	S
PSY8003*	Multivariate Research Methods	10	S
PSY8004*	Qualitative Research Methods	10	S

Courses that are to replace the above courses must be approved by the Department.

THESIS (§ 10 in Regulations)

Requirements for the thesis and rules for evaluation are given in Regulations concerning the philosophiae doctor degree (PhD) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

The thesis is to contribute to developing new academic knowledge and be of a quality that makes it viable for publication within the said academic field. Theses that consist of a collection of articles are normally required to consist of 3-6 articles.

FINALIZATION

For procedures for submission, appointment of an evaluation committee, the committee's report and assessment of the thesis, revision for new assessment, trial lecture and public defence, as well as conferment of the PhD degree, please see http://www.ntnu.edu/svt/phd-programme/thesis