TMA 03
The assignment
TMA 03 requires you to complete a project proposal form and an ethical approval form, which can be found on the Assessment page. There are three project proposal forms; make sure you complete the one that matches your project methodology. As this is a ‘Level 6’ assessment, you should look to design a study that uses methods we teach on DE300, rather than simpler analyses that you may have learnt on earlier modules (such as DE200). For survey, this is likely to be Multiple Regression or Factor Analysis; for qualitative, this will likely be discursive or phenomenological methods. The project proposal form sets out formally how you plan to conduct your project and is worth 100% of TMA 03. Your tutor will feed back on the project proposal form and may require that you make changes before proceeding with your project.
The ethical approval form will not be graded, but you must submit it and wait until it is approved before you approach participants or start collecting data. You must not collect pilot data until your project proposal has been approved.
There are other items that you need to include in your TMA 03 submission, which are detailed below.
Checklist for TMA 03
Make sure that you submit the correct form for your project and include:
Project proposal:
• your project summary (Section 1)
• project details (Section 2)
• your interview/focus group questions, survey questionnaire items, experimental stimuli as appropriate.
Ethical approval form:
• your answers to Questions 1 and 2
• your name and today’s date (these can be inserted electronically)
• your participant information leaflet and participant consent form using the appropriate template for your method specialism. These are provided on the DE300 module website in the Resources section
• debrief information, if appropriate
• your Data Management Plan.
Learning outcomes
TMA 03 addresses the following learning outcomes:
• Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of ethical issues in designing and carrying out psychological research.
• Apply the key requirements of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK Data Protection Act 2018 when designing your research project.
• Develop appropriate project resources including a participant information leaflet, participant consent form, project materials and a data management plan for your research project.
• Demonstrate the ability to design an independent research project.
• Development and demonstration of independent learning skills.
• The ability to plan and conduct appropriate psychological investigations using appropriate methods and data analyses.
