Course - Knowledge in Practice 2: Project Work in Data Management and Interdisciplinary Communication - PSY3202
Knowledge in Practice 2: Project Work in Data Management and Interdisciplinary Communication
New from the academic year 2025/2026
Assessments and mandatory activities may be changed until September 20th.
About
About the course
Course content
The course will prepare students for a job where they need to work with complex data and issues, while also communicating effectively with stakeholders in an often interdisciplinary context. We work with relevant tasks and tools from the fields of health, social, and environmental psychology.
In an increasingly data-driven world, the ability to find the essence in large amounts of messy data and communicate it to various stakeholders is crucial. In the course, we focus on techniques to pivot, reduce, and focus datasets to make them analysable with analytical techniques learned from courses like PSY3100 or PSY3101, or with effective descriptive analyses. Additionally, we provide students with brief introductions to types of data commonly used in the fields they will work in, such as environmental impact assessments, life cycle assessments (LCA), geographic information systems (GIS), or similar.
Data communication is also central to addressing issues. We focus on descriptive techniques and graphical presentation tools to effectively explain complex topics in a way that is understandable to people without the same expertise as ourselves. The work is carried out in project groups, where the groups work on submissions for a portfolio assignment that is assessed at the end of the semester. Project work is common in the modern workplace, and students will thus gain important experience in project management and leadership.
In the course, students will practice applying theoretical knowledge about data in a practical context. The topics encompass data material and quantitative methods typically used in societal challenges within the fields of health, social, and environmental psychology.
Learning outcome
Knowledge
The student has knowledge of:
- Effective ways to structure datasets, such as tidy data
- Data communication tools through graphical tools, such as ggplot2, GIS tools
- Project management and leadership
- Decision-making tools used in environmental psychology, such as GIS, life cycle assessments, or climate budgeting
Skills
- The student can make sense of messy and confusing datasets by pivoting, filtering out relevant information, and reducing data points to their essential components
- The students can handle suboptimal data storage formats and set up more appropriate and future-proof data management structures
- The students can understand and communicate the content of decision-making tools
- The student can convey complex relationships and points in an understandable way to stakeholders without the same background as themselves
- The student can program data analysis projects in R
- The student can lead and participate in project work
General competence
- The students can use their professional knowledge to shed light on complex, interdisciplinary questions in various contexts
- The students can synthesise advanced knowledge from various statistical sources to illuminate a specific issue
- The students can work together in projects towards concrete, often interdisciplinary, issues from relevant employers
Learning methods and activities
The course will use traditional lectures, as well as flipped classroom techniques. Students work in groups on project assignments throughout the semester. The assignments constitute the portfolio assessment.
Compulsory assignments
- 80 % mandatory attendance
- Completion of oral presentation
Further on evaluation
The students will be split into groups of 4-6. These groups will work together on all parts of the portfolio assessment and will produce a series of joint submissions that will be submitted throughout the term.
In this course there will be an obligatory assignment in the form of a presentation that the group will hold. Submission of the pdf of the slides used in the presentation will be part of one assignment (see Work plan).
The portfolio consists of 8 parts. The parts consist of two planning documents, one letter to the editor-style text, three peer feedbacks to other groups, one large report, and a self-reflection task. The different parts have separate deadlines and must be submitted via Blackboard during the semester. All parts of the assessment portfolio must be submitted in order to get it approved. All parts will be considered in the final grade. The final grade is pass/fail. The portfolio must be tidy and contain page numbers as well as the name of the task. Use one of the available combinations of font type, font size and spacing given below.
In more detail
- Work plan: Students will make a project plan that details the work they will be doing throughout the semester, including a timeline and breaking down of responsibilities. The work plan, as well as a pdf of the presentation related to the obligatory assignment must be submitted.
- Scope: 600-1800 words (for the work plan). No limit on the pdf.
- Deadline: Shortly after teaching starts in the course.
- Peer feedback #1: Each group will provide written feedback on the work plan of two other groups.
- Scope: 300-600 words
- Deadline: One week after deadline to hand in work plan.
- Analysis plan: The analysis plan explains how the group plans to perform analysis, what techniques they will be using, and how the plan to present the findings.
- Scope: 400-1000 words
- Deadline: Two weeks after deadline of work plan.
- Peer feedback #2: Each group will provide written feedback on the analysis plan of two other groups.
- Scope: 300-600 words
- Deadline: One week after deadline to hand in analysis plan.
- Letter to the editor: The students will write a text in the style of a letter to the editor of a newspaper. The topic will be related to the final report. The text should explain the topic and make a stand for one side of the debate/make clear policy suggestions.
- Scope: 600-1200 words
- Deadline: Three weeks before deadline of final report.
- Peer feedback #3: Each group will provide written feedback on the letter to the editor of two other groups.
- Scope: 300-600 words
- Deadline: One week after deadline to hand in letter to the editor.
- Report: This is the major work of the course. Each group writes a report on a topic selected at the start of the semester. The report will include a background section, analyses and descriptive results, as well as a conclusion. To be handed in together with reflection
- Scope: 4000-9000 words
- Deadline: End of semester.
- Reflection on project work: The group details how the project work has progressed, as well as on their individual contributions and experiences. To be handed in together with report.
- Scope: 900-1800 words
- Deadline: End of semester.
A more detailed timeplan will be available at the start of the semester. See Figure 1 for illustration of process.
No individual supervision will be given, but there will be time for group supervision during the teaching hours.
Allowed formats for portfolio assessment
Use one of these combinations for the entire portfolio.
- Times/Times New Roman, size 12, line spacing 2
- Arial, size 11, line spacing 1.5
- Calibri, size 12, line spacing 2
- Computer Modern sans serif, size 11, line spacing 1.15
- Computer Modern, size 11, line spacing 1.15
- Georgia, size 12, line spacing 1.5
Specific conditions
Admission to a programme of study is required:
Psychology (MPSY)
Recommended previous knowledge
PSY3100 - Research Methodology - Quantitative, PSY3101 - Research Methodology - Qualitative
Required previous knowledge
Admission to a programme of study is required: Psychology (MPSY) specialisation in Community, Health, and Environmental Psychology
Subject areas
- Psychology