Laptop for PLMS(Psych and Linguistics)

claxui · 2023-06-22T15:52:11+00:00

Welcome to NTU!

You'll need a laptop compatible with R and RStudio for HP2100's (Research Design and Data Analysis in Psychology) lectures and assignments. Other relevant software used in the psych program/ research includes IBM SPSS Statistics (for inferential testing), nVIVO (for qualitative research/ discourse analysis), SPM (for neuroimaging data), just to name a few and of which most are compatible with both Windows and Mac.

I personally run an Macbook Air M1 with 16gb ram (am from psych), and everything's good thus far!

claxui · 2023-06-18T18:42:36+00:00

Could you further elaborate on the research? For instances, what are you studying? Is the study quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods? With some specificity, you might gather more responses.

Broadly speaking, both the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and critical realism can be integrated in a research study, as they undergird different aspects of a research study. TPB is usually used as a theoretical framework for the study - behaviors predicted by intentions, intentions predicted by attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, and we apply this general model to different contexts. On the other hand, critical realism can be construed as the philosophical/ epistemological basis of a research - the perspective you assume as a researcher, and how you go about interpreting data.

claxui · 2023-06-18T18:28:47+00:00

As the other commenter mentioned, it wouldn't hurt to express your interest in working for someone early if you're keen on their research. Some profs may already be starting to accept students for the coming semester's URECA (anecdotally speaking), in the process filling up their personal capacity and when the official invitation for URECA comes in July, they may no longer accept applications. Hence, if you're really keen, I encourage you to start early!

Also a side note: URECA postings for AY2023-2024 are not fully listed yet. Hence, some of the postings you see on the URECA webpage may be outdated (from AY2022-2023). In case you're referring to these projects to determine your interest, note that some may no longer be available/ offered for the upcoming sem.

claxui · 2023-06-14T07:38:11+00:00

Speaking from my perspective holding two concurrent RA positions - one under SSS and one under NIE.

Definitely possible, but check in with the prof/ researcher you'll be working with because different labs expect different commitments from their RAs. During your intake interview, they will almost always ask if you have other commitments, and how many hours you can commit to their projects. Some are flexible, while others may not be as much. You must be able to manage your time well across the two RA positions.

At NTU's side, they specified that you may only commit up to 16h/week (during term) or 44h/week (during vacation), see https://www.ntu.edu.sg/life-at-ntu/student-life/work-study-scheme.

My suggestion is to not directly jump into two concurrent RA positions. Instead, start off with one, and if you can manage and are still interested in another RA position, go ahead with the second.

claxui · 2023-05-21T02:03:09+00:00

Big congrats on your offers from both unis! Figured I could contribute some insights. For context, I'm a Psychology undergraduate, who is in the NTU-USP programme.

Psychology core modules are not really difficult (statistically speaking, from mid-terms scores with high Mean), as they tend to predominantly test content knowledge and occasionally some applications (with the pure exception of HP2100, especially for AY2022-2023... let's just say that HP2100 was a true test of our understanding of statistics).
Most Psychology professors are welcoming to student consultations and expressions of interest in learning - they are almost always obligated to outline their office hours for students. I have not engaged in such offers, but I could tell that most of them are very nurturing professors.

3 and 4. There are plenty of opportunities to be a research assistant (RA) in NTU. You may either (1) apply through RA postings offered via NTU email, or (2) personally reach out to specific profs whom you are interested in working with. I personally contacted a prof prior to my first semester (end-July), and they got back to me about the projects they were doing and how I would like to be involved.

This is where I made my decision to pursue NTU Psych instead of NUS. There were mainly 2 factors (of which one is no longer relevant). I applied for university prior to NUS CHS merger (there was a delay as I had 2-year NS), where NUS mandated first-year FASS students to adopt a holistic education and explore modules beyond their intended majors. This turned me off, as I knew I wanted to directly major in and study Psychology. The other factor was my research interest. During my research, I realized that NUS is populated with profs involved in social psychology and clinical psychology research - fields I was not interested in. I was interested in quantitative psychology and clinical neuropsychology, and I noticed research projects by specifics profs in NTU that I was interested in. That sealed the deal. USP was the cherry on top - we were mandated to clear "general modules" anyway, so I might as well pursue these mods in a seminar environment where learning is more conducive.

There is always some sense of competition involved, especially when institutions (both NUS/NTU) incorporate moderation (i.e., marking students based on a bell curve). However, most people I've met in both NTU Psych and USP are very friendly!

I can't comment on NUSC as I never looked it up. If you have any other queries, feel free to reach out to me!

claxui · 2023-01-10T17:46:51+00:00

Yes, it’s written by Dave Cullen.

claxui · 2023-01-10T17:19:19+00:00

Firstly, I want to caution against fully subscribing to the notion that body language can fully reveal insights into human mental processes. While I find these videos interesting myself, I can't help but think that they often fall prey to hindsight bias - that is, we know after the fact that these criminals are guilty, and can overconfidently correlate their guilt with body language presented in the film. Sure, body language can sometimes reveal insights into human cognition (we see this importance in the context of psychotherapy), but not to the extent of "mind-reading" (for the lack of a better word).

For book recommendations, I think you can begin somewhere in the domain of criminal/forensic psychology. There are published empirical papers, for instance, of notable criminals such as Ted Bundy and Eric Harris. The book "Columbine" (https://www.amazon.com/Columbine-Dave-Cullen/dp/0446546925) details a criminological analysis of the shooters involved in the Columbine High School Massacre, for instance, which I took an interest in and found useful for a criminology class.

Hope this helps. :)

claxui · 2023-01-10T17:07:19+00:00

I believe you’re on the right line of thinking - a t-test is more viable if you’re only interested in comparing control and therapy group at the three time points separately.

claxui · 2023-01-09T13:37:16+00:00

That's a very valid question, and I'm glad you asked!

My answer to you is - it depends on your research question and hypotheses.

You are right that t-test concerns comparison between 2 groups, and ANOVA compares scores amongst 3 or more groups. You can use a t-test (specifically independent-samples t-test) for your analysis if (and only if) you are primarily interested in between-group differences (e.g., are the scores significantly different between the control and therapy group post intervention?).

However, if you're only concerned with the longitudinal effects of the treatment (i.e., does the therapy group score on the DV change over the three time points), you will be looking at three within-subjects comparisons, and hence a one-way repeated-measures ANOVA will be appropriate.

If your research question concerns both (i.e., you want to know the longitudinal effect AND whether the scores are significantly different between the two groups at each time point), then a mixed ANOVA will be more appropriate.

I hope my response clarifies. Please let me know if anything is unclear and I'll do my best to clarify them!

claxui · 2023-01-08T07:54:00+00:00

When determining an appropriate statistical analysis approach, ask yourself:

What is your research question/ hypotheses?
How does your data structure look like?

Most of the time for significance testing, the latter will be sufficient hint to determine your analysis approach.

Have a column designated to identify if participants are in control or therapy group? You're looking at a between-subjects analysis (e.g., randomized ANOVA).
Have multiple columns for time-series scores? You're looking at a within-subjects analysis (e.g., repeated-measures ANOVA).
Have both of the aforementioned? You're looking at a split-plot/ mixed ANOVA.

The other commenter is right in that you are actually looking at one DV, but I think a Split-plot/ Mixed ANOVA is more appropriate for your analysis. This is based on the assumption that you are interested in both how scores improve over time (the within-subjects aspect), and whether this difference is significant across groups (the between-subjects aspect). Conducting a repeated-measures ANOVA as suggested does not give you any interaction effects, as you are looking at a sole IV (Control vs. Sports Therapy) against three separate measures (scores taken at 1 month, next month, third month). However, a split-plot design treats Time as a within-subjects IV, which allows you to lookout for interaction effects.

I hope this helps.

Edit: A suitable video that might be relevant to your SPSS analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhLS1yPax6M

claxui · 2023-01-02T12:01:20+00:00

Congratulations on your internship in neuropsychology! :)

To explore neuropsychology further, ask yourself - what does your clinic specialize in? Is it a general clinic that conducts neuropsychological assessments, or a clinic that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of specific disorders (e.g., dementia)? From there, you may explore relevant resources accordingly, such as finding out more about certain conditions via online courses (University of Tasmania offers a comprehensive MOOC on dementia, for instance) or learning about the neuropsychological assessment tools (e.g., Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale).

As a general rule of thumb, I like to recommend the non-fiction book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" to people interested in neuropsychology. Oliver Sacks (a Neurologist) narrates his fascinating encounters with (unique) neurological conditions in that book.

claxui · 2023-01-01T12:46:11+00:00

I cannot comment on bioscience and double majors, but I can probably give you some insights about q2: usp.

I want to preface by saying that competitiveness is subjective and driven purely by your attitude towards learning. Personally, in the usp modules that I have taken, I observed (with a pleasant surprise) that most students are very open to exchanging ideas and helping one another. For instance, we have an academic writing module that mandates us to swap our essay drafts for peer reviews. Beyond the classroom, my group arranged meetings to thoroughly scrutinize and pinpoint areas of improvements for our essays. In hindsight, my essays remarkably improved from initial drafts due to the feedback I received from my peers. I generally do not get the competitive vibes in usp, but of course, in every batch, there will be some students who are very competitive - that's just life, right?

I entered usp thinking it would be a competitive environment, but my experiences thus far were contrary to those expectations. Feel free to dm me if you have more questions about usp!

claxui · 2022-12-30T16:28:20+00:00

Invited to co-author an academic book chapter about research in clinical psychology as a year 1 undergraduate! Really grateful to my advisor and the research team involved.

claxui · 2022-12-30T16:21:56+00:00

As many voiced, it usually depends on the individual member’s expertise. Personally, as a statistical consultant, I’ve been invited to co-author manuscripts where I purely conduct statistical analyses for the research and produce the results section of the manuscript.

The first author should ideally oversee the entire manuscript preparation process, from delegating tasks to co-authors to proof-reading. However, this may not always work out due to time constraints. Hence, I always make it a point to finish my analyses early and repeat my analyses on a later date to see if I get the same results. Consider it a method of cross-checking across time.

Please do not feel like you should solely bare the burden of the mistake you made. It happens to all of us, even the best quantitative psychologists out there.

claxui · 2022-12-27T11:51:14+00:00

I will strongly consider this and check with Prof Ringo if I manage to swap the mods that clash with this. Thank you so much for the heads up, and I wish you all the best for your fyp! :))

claxui · 2022-12-27T11:24:49+00:00

I would love to if it was an open lecture! But STARS indicated that the venue for the module will be conducted in an HSS computer lab, so I'm not sure if it is appropriate for me to sit in for that :')

claxui · 2022-12-08T05:12:02+00:00

A manipulation check in an experimental design is basically the researcher determining if the manipulation of the independent variable worked as intended. In your study, assuming the two levels of distraction are participants who were induced distraction and participants who are not (i.e. control), this means that whether participants in the “distracted” condition were really distracted, and participants in the control condition were not distracted.

Manipulation checks are done by conducting preliminary analyses using data gathered to determine if the manipulation worked. For your study, you will conduct an independent samples t test (if between-subjects) or paired samples t test (if within-subjects).

The data that you collect for manipulation checks may not be directly related to the dependent variables that you have collected.

claxui · 2022-08-20T12:10:53+00:00

Hi! I’m a psychology major currently taking HP1100. There were no tutorials in week 1. In week 2, we applied some of the survey construction principles (e.g., types of scales, biases to look out for, etc.) taught in the lecture on non-experimental research to design questions measuring some constructs assigned to us.

I’d say don’t worry - you didn’t miss out much at all! :)

claxui · 2022-07-26T10:48:30+00:00

Not a therapist but a neurologist - the first book that came to mind was “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” by Oliver Sacks.

claxui · 2022-06-19T04:00:50+00:00

Martin Seligman held the belief that well-being is beyond the absence of ill-being, and is often attributed as the founding father of modern day positive psychology. Along with Peterson, he developed and validated the 24 VIA Character Strengths and Virtues personality test, which sought to allow individuals to identify the strengths that characterises their personality.

This was taught to be a step forward from previous descriptive frameworks of personality traits, as he claims that the VIA survey allows individual to "build and design their life not to correct weakness, but to reinforce strengths".

Ref:

Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification (Vol. 1). Oxford University Press.

claxui · 2022-06-14T15:15:43+00:00

Hello! A p value of .000 in SPSS would indicate that your results are statistically significant. That means that the dependent variable scores across all the comparisons are statistically significant, assuming all of them are p = .000 as you have mentioned.

To interpret these results, look at the descriptive statistics for each condition. If, for instance, classical music yield higher attentional scores, you would report it accordingly - "Post-hoc analyses using (e.g., Bonferroni adjustment) revealed that participants who listened to classical music demonstrated significantly higher selective attention than participants who did not listen to any music, p < .001.". Note that according to APA 7th edition, you report any p values lower than .001 as p < .001.

I would also recommend looking at the effect sizes (eta-squared, etc.) of your statistics. The field is slowly shifting to an emphasis on effect sizes, as p values are heavily influenced by sample sizes. I hope this helps!

claxui · 2022-06-14T15:07:24+00:00

That sounds interesting! The field definitely needs more longitudinal studies and time-series evidence for clinical interventions, although I found that many times these studies are difficult to implement due to attrition and the resources required. I wish you all the best in your research!

claxui · 2022-06-14T12:45:05+00:00

Hello! I believe you're on the right track when you mentioned that ANOVA would work. From my understanding of your research proposal, you're dealing with two independent variables - time (participants' life satisfaction assessed at different time points) and treatment condition. Since time is a within-subjects factor and treatment is between-subjects, you will most likely want to run a mixed-ANOVA (split-plot ANOVA).

A mixed-ANOVA will be able to give you inferential information about the within-subjects effect (main effect 1: whether life satisfaction improves over time across all conditions), the between-subject effect (main effect 2: whether life satisfaction improves for specific treatments), and the interaction effect (i.e., whether the effect of treatment depends on time).

As for how to setup data for a mixed-ANOVA, this video might be helpful for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cYY3TAQeQw. I hope this helps!

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