Masterarbeit psychologie voraussetzungen tests

The thesis should demonstrate that the student is able to work independently on a problem of the subject according to scientific methods within a given period of time. The bachelor thesis is a scientific paper in which you work independently under supervision on a limited empirical question in psychology within a given time limit and using scientific methods.

During the 3-month processing period, regular meetings are held with the supervisor to discuss the issues arising at each stage of the work. The subject of a thesis in psychology is usually the planning and execution of an empirical study. However, other formats may also be chosen e. In accordance with the scientific requirements for a thesis in psychology, the following are important for the evaluation of the thesis:.

In order to be able to write a scientific paper in psychology, you should be able to apply various skills that you acquire during your psychology studies:. Fundamental - especially for empirical studies - is the knowledge of generating reasonable, workable hypotheses as well as experimental and study design in order to be able to deal with your research question in an appropriate scientific way.

For the adequate handling of collected data, a solid knowledge of statistics is a prerequisite, and you should also be familiar with the operation of statistical software usually R or SPSS. Which knowledge in this context is required for your thesis is best clarified individually with your supervisor according to the subject of your thesis.

In principle, you are expected to work independently, which also means that you must acquire any missing knowledge on your own. The methods advisory also offers support for statistical methods that are not included in the curriculum or for special problems such as strong prerequisite violations or similar. Equally fundamental to writing a thesis are also literary skills. These include, on the one hand, scientific work with texts research, acquisition of the central statements, evaluation, citation or integration into one's own work and, on the other hand, one's own text production planning and structuring, time management, scientific expression and formally correct presentation according to the guidelines of manuscript design - usually APA style.

Since much of the relevant literature is in English, it is essential that you have the willingness and ability to read original English literature and incorporate it into your work. Support around literary skills can be found here. In order to be able to register your Bachelor's thesis, you must have completed modules A "Introductory Courses" , B "Statistics" and C "Introduction to Empirical Scientific Work" as well as at least 3 basic modules, according to the regulations in the subject-specific regulations.

Regular participation in the accompanying colloquium of the respective work unit in the amount of 2 SWS is also obligatory. In this seminar you will present your thesis and discuss it with other students and lecturers. It is advisable to present your work both before the start of data collection and during the analysis of the data in order to be able to use hints and suggestions from other colloquium participants in the various phases of your work process.

In most cases, however, only one ungraded performance is obligatory. You must register your thesis with the Examinations Office for Psychology. To do this, download the form from the Examinations Office website and submit it to the Examinations Office after it has been signed by your supervisor. Please note that the title may not change after registration. The processing period of 3 months begins with the date of registration.

Preferably, you have decided on a topic by the end of the 5th semester and have already found a suitable supervisor to guide your thesis. It generally makes sense to choose a topic for your thesis that interests you and that you expect to be motivated to work on intensively for several months. Note: The topic portals are updated annually, usually around July 15 bachelor theses.

Very "sought-after" topics, e. If necessary, it makes sense, after consultation with the supervisor, to work on a very extensive question together with another student. In this case, the scope of the work will increase accordingly and it is particularly important that you identify the individual parts so that they can be assessed separately.

Theses: Bielefeld University

The writing of a thesis is usually divided into the following phases, although these are usually not strictly sequential:. In particular, the writing of the paper can be done in parallel to other steps, and additional literature research is usually necessary during the course of the paper. In addition, having formulated hypotheses will make it easier to get started with your data analysis.

It will not be graded, but can serve as a basis and introduction for data analysis and writing the thesis. The synopsis should be relatively concise - 1, words plus references and present the essential aspects of your planned work. In terms of structure, you can orient yourself on the later structure of the paper.

The following parts should be included:. A more detailed guide to preparing a synopsis can be found here. There is also the option to record the plans for your study in a pre-registration in consultation with the supervisor s. In a preregistration, the key points of the planned study hypotheses, sample size, variables, analyses, and exclusion criteria are entered into an online form before data collection begins.

This results in a time-stamped document that can serve as evidence that the procedure was already established prior to data collection and analysis. The submission of such a document is increasingly required by journals, and preregistration also helps much like a synopsis to flesh out research questions and to identify any problems with data analysis and sample size at an early stage.

Most importantly, it increases the transparency and credibility of research - more information on this topic is provided by the Association for Psychological Science. There are several platforms that provide a way to pre-register. If you wish to apply for external supervision, please contact the Examination Office for Psychology in good time before registering your thesis in order to discuss the modalities for the necessary application.

Please note that the Department of Psychology does not have any influence on the external supervisors - external supervisions happen "at the own risk" of the students with regard to the quality of supervision and adherence to deadlines. Regular meetings in which you discuss individual steps with your supervisor are helpful and can help to avoid misunderstandings.

It is best to clarify at the beginning of the supervisory relationship when such meetings are to be held.

Masterarbeit

Likewise, it should be discussed for which problems what kind of support is to be expected and whether the supervisor will proofread parts of or the complete paper before submission. In some work units, supervisors offer a supervision agreement for this purpose, which sets out important formal arrangements. In general, you should prepare for and follow up on each meeting, for example:.

In this way, you will not only get the most out of these meetings, but you will also show your supervisor that you are working independently and taking responsibility. The thesis itself should be structured according to a similar pattern as a scientific journal article. It should generally include the following items:. A more detailed orientation of what is meant by the individual points can be found in the appendix.

In principle, the thesis should be as short as possible and contain only those statements that are directly related to the research question. Bachelor theses must have a length of 8, words according to the subject-specific regulations - here, figures, tables and bibliography are included, but appendices are not more extensive supplementary material such as questionnaires, interview guidelines, additional tables, etc.

Exceeding and falling short of up to 1, words is still tolerated, larger deviations can lead to grade deductions. In addition to the "thread" of content, attention should also be paid to adherence to formal design guidelines. In psychology, these are usually the guidelines of the American Psychological Association APA, 6th ed.

In other aspects such as line spacing or text alignment , deviations from the guidelines may be possible or even desirable; in case of doubt, discuss this with your supervisor. Usually you are expected to create the thesis with a text program e. Word , in which you should set the following formatting guidelines:. An absolutely central requirement that applies in principle to scientific papers is that every statement should be substantiated.

This can be done by your own comprehensible considerations or preferably by findings or statements of other authors. Everything that you take over literally also translations or in the sense from other sources must be absolutely marked as such under indication of the appropriate source. This is usually done by a so-called "short reference" author s , year of publication in the flowing text, which in turn can be assigned to a complete source citation in the bibliography.

Note: You should only cite or indicate as a source literature that you have actually read yourself. A more detailed guide to the formal design of a bachelor thesis can be found here. Helpful sources for the structure as well as for the guideline-compliant design of the scientific thesis can also be found under references.

Do not forget to back up your texts and data regularly several times. For the data, it is advisable to write-protect the raw data file - this ensures that you can always start from the original data if necessary offers the possibility to perform calculations from the beginning, thus avoiding multiple recoding, for example.

All evaluations should be documented and commented in syntax files or script in the case of R data so that all evaluation steps can be traced and replicated at any time. Please keep in mind that the individual work steps often take longer than originally expected. Also bear in mind that you have only limited control over certain processes e. Discuss with your supervisor which parts of the thesis can be submitted for comments before you formally hand it in.

This draft should already meet all formal and content requirements. Plan for the time your supervisor will need to read it as well as the time you yourself will need to implement any corrections - and if possible, plan for a small additional time buffer for illness or other unforeseen events at each step. If the grade of the paper is to be included in the grade point average for the Master's application, the paper should be submitted no later than mid-May most application processes end on July Otherwise, only the completed modules with module grades that have been posted by the time of application will count towards the application and individual grade point average, i.

Helpful resources on time and self-management around the writing process can be found in the literature references. You must submit the completed Bachelor's thesis to the Psychology Examination Office no later than 3 months after registration. The thesis should be available there in triple bound form. The examiners usually also receive a PDF file of the written thesis only on request directly to the examiner, not obligatory , the data set as well as the evaluation files in electronic form.

However, please do not enclose any data carriers with the bound theses for the examination office these may not be accepted by the examination office , but submit the corresponding data carrier separately directly to your supervisor if the submission is requested. Upon justified request e.

FAQ | Fakultät V

In such a case, please contact the examination office immediately to find out about your options and the exact procedure. If the deadline is not met, the Bachelor thesis will be considered as failed. A corresponding entry will be made in the transcript. However, the bachelor thesis can be repeated. This also applies to Bachelor theses that have been passed for grade improvement.

In case of a repetition, please contact the examination office for advice. When writing each section of your thesis, you can use the following sample questions as a guide:. The master's thesis is a scientific paper in which you work independently under supervision on a limited empirical question in psychology within a given time limit and using scientific methods. During the 6-month processing period, regular meetings are held with the supervisor to discuss the issues arising at each stage of the work.

However, other formats can also be chosen e. In accordance with the scientific requirements for a thesis in psychology, the following are relevant for the evaluation of the thesis:. In order to be able to write a scientific paper in psychology, you should be able to apply various skills that you acquire during your psychology studies: Methodological knowledge.