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
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 uses traditional lectures as well as flipped classroom. In the course, students work in groups on project assignments throughout the semester. The project assignments alongside individual assignments constitute the portfolio assessment.
Compulsory assignments
- 80 % mandatory attendance (includes lectures, workshops and lab sessions)
- Completion of oral presentation
Further on evaluation
Students will be divided into groups of 3-6. These groups will collaborate on many parts of the portfolio assessment and will produce joint submissions to be submitted continuously throughout the semester. There is also an individual component in the portfolio assessment.
In this course there will be a compulsory assignment in the form of a presentation that the group will give. The slides from this presentation must be submitted as part of one of the portfolio assessments.
The portfolio consists of 9 parts, of which 8 are group work and 2 are individual work. The group work consists of two planning documents, a text in the form of an op-ed, two peer-feedback responses to other groups, the slide deck from the group presentation and a large report. The individual work consists of submission of exercises in connection with the teaching plan and a self-reflection assignment in relation to the group work. The different parts have separate deadlines and must be submitted continuously via the digital learning system (Canvas). All parts of the assessment portfolio must be submitted for it to be approved. All parts will be assessed in the final grade. The final grade is pass/fail. The portfolio must be tidy and include page numbers as well as the name of the assignment. Use one of the available combinations of font, font size and line spacing specified below. All parts must be submitted as PDF unless otherwise specified.
More detailed
Group work
Work Plan
- The group must create a project plan describing the work they will do throughout the semester, including a timeline and division of responsibilities.
- • Scope: 600-1800 words.
- • Deadline: Shortly after teaching in the course begins.
Peer Feedback #1
- Each group must provide written feedback on another group's work plan.
- • Scope: 300-600 words
- • Deadline: One week after the deadline for submitting the work plan.
Analysis Plan
- The analysis plan explains how the group plans to carry out the analysis, which techniques they will use, and how they plan to present their findings.
- • Scope: 400-1000 words
- • Deadline: Three weeks after the work plan deadline.
Peer Feedback #2
- Each group must provide written feedback on another group's analysis plan.
- • Scope: 300-600 words
- • Deadline: One week after the deadline for submitting the analysis plan.
Op-Ed
- Students must write a text in the form of a letter to the editor of a newspaper. The topic will be related to the final report. The text must explain the topic and take a position on one side of the debate/propose clear political or practical recommendations.
- • Scope: 600-1200 words
- • Deadline: Four weeks before the final report deadline.
Slides from compulsory assignment
- The compulsory assignment consists of the group delivering a presentation of the work on the report. The slide deck from this presentation must be attached to the portfolio assignment.
- ▪ Deadline: End of semester
Report
- This is the main piece of work in the course. Each group writes a report on a topic chosen at the start of the semester. The report must include an introduction/background section, analyses and descriptive results, as well as a discussion/conclusion. Must be submitted together with the reflection.
- ▪ Scope: 4000-9000 words
- ▪ Deadline: End of semester.
Individual work
Reflection on project work
- The group describes how the project work has developed, as well as their individual contributions and experiences. Must be submitted together with the report.
- ▪ Scope: 900-1800 words
- ▪ Deadline: End of semester.
Exercises in connection with the teaching plan
- As part of the teaching plan, workshops are arranged with exercises that teach students the skills they need to complete the portfolio assessment. There will be several exercises, and 80% of them must be approved for this part to be approved.
- ▪ Scope: 7 exercises with 3-6 sub-questions each
- ▪ Deadline: Continuously, in connection with the workshops.
A more detailed timetable and description of the assignments will be available at the start of the semester. The deadlines described here are indicative and may deviate somewhat in order to accommodate the Easter break as well as concomitant courses, so that there is limited accumulation of student work in the same week.
No individual supervision will be provided on the work, but time will be set aside for supervision during the teaching period, as well as joint supervision.
Permitted formats for submission
Use one of these combinations for the whole portfolio (except slides):
• 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
• Default settings from TeX/LaTeX and Quarto documents are also approved.
Texts must be submitted as .pdf. Code scripts may alternatively be submitted as R scripts or quarto/rmarkdown documents (.qmd/.rmd).
Specific conditions
Admission to a programme of study is required:
Community, Health and Environmental Psychology (MSHMPSY)
Recommended previous knowledge
PSY3100 - Research Methodology - Quantitative, PSY3101 - Research Methodology - Qualitative
Required previous knowledge
Admission to a programme of study is required:
Community, Health and Environmental Psychology - Master's Programme
Syllabus
Subject areas
- Psychology