Practical Skills for Researchers

URL study guide

https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/P_MPRACSK

Course Objective

To provide you with necessary practical skills to design, carry out and present an individual research project in cognitive neuropsychology, clinical neuropsychology, or cognitive neuroscience.

Course Content

In the autumn of 2023, we will publish an overview on the canvas course site of possible research internships, proposed by members of the sections of Clinical Neuropsychology or Cognitive Psychology. You will be asked to express your preferences, on the basis of which we will allocate you to a supervisor at the start of the course. Under strict conditions, you are allowed to perform an external internship instead of an internal internship. Details of the procedure / conditions for an external internship will be published on the course site. During the course, your main task is to carry out your research project in collaboration with your supervisor. Alongside this project there are several meetings, led by the course coordinators, to familiarize you with a variety of practical issues related to research in cognitive neuropsychology, such as ethics, writing, presenting, the factorial design, and neuropsychological assessment. There are also three intervision meetings in small groups during which you will discuss the progress you have made in your research project independently of your intership supervisor. During the course, you will complete two class assignments, hand in two writing samples (a preregistration and a brief research report), and deliver two oral presentations (a 5-minutes research proposal and a 10-minutes presentation of completed research in a final symposium).

Teaching Methods

Thirteen meetings led by the course coordinators; individual supervision during the research internship.

Method of Assessment

The class assignments and the first oral presentation are not graded but must be passed. The final grade for PSR is based on constituent grades for the preregistration (20%), the research internship (20%), the brief report (40%), and the final oral presentation (20%).

Literature

In the beginning of the project, your supervisor provides a few relevant articles to get you going. You are responsible to locate, retrieve, and study other relevant sources. for the class assignments is made available on canvas.