On this MSc, you will study the social, emotional, and cognitive development of children from infancy to adolescence, as well as the experimental and scientific techniques used to address these question. You will develop the expertise and skills to appropriately assess and create experiments to better understand development and childhood.
You will be introduced to the different considerations and practicalities required when working with children in a range of educational, health and wellbeing and social settings, some of whom will be unable to provide informed consent and may be limited in their ability to communicate. For example, building rapport to put children at ease, or being sensitive to their needs in experimental context, by using novel methodologies, such as use of puppets or measuring attention via eye movements. You will also develop valuable, transferable skills in analysis and data processing, creative thinking, decision making and communicating with different groups.
The MSc Applied Child Psychology can be studied as either a one-year full-time or two-year part-time course, with a September start date. It also possible to study more flexibly part-time on a modular basis, accumulating degree credits by taking individual modules over a period of maximum of five years.
You will complete 180 credits to obtain the master’s qualification, comprising eight modules. For full-time students, six core and two optional modules are spread over two semesters (120 credits in total), while the Dissertation is worked on throughout the duration of the course (60 credits). You will agree the topic for your Dissertation with your supervisor during Semester 1. You can choose optional modules from within Psychology or other relevant Schools across the University. For example, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences offers modules relating to issues in inclusive education and in global education, and to the dynamic relationship between education and work. Part-time students take 90 credits per year for two years, with the dissertation taken in the second year.
Semester one core modules
PSY-40091 Childhood Relationships (15 credits, Semester 1)
The focus of this module is to explore the issues related to key relationships in a child's life and how this may relate to children's social development. As well as highlighting the importance of these relationships, you will learn about how psychological knowledge can be applied to support healthy relationships in children. This may include, for example, issues relating to children's relationships with caregivers, siblings, peers and teachers and also with imaginary friends or media personalities.
PSY-40101 Applications and Research Methods in Child Psychology (15 credits, Semester 1)
How children think, from infancy to adolescence, can be different to how adults think, therefore the research methods used with babies, children and young people must reflect this. You will be introduced to a broad selection of age-appropriate data collection methods and analyses, both qualitative and quantitative. Since babies, children and young people are a vulnerable group, you will consider ethical and practical challenges when working with this population. For example, how can we monitor infant perception, and observe their behaviour? How can we study young children through play activities? How can we gamify reaction time experiments for adolescents?
PSY-40095 Advanced Research Skills, Design, and Analysis (15 credits, Semester 1)
Through hands-on workshops and interactive sessions, we will prepare you to plan, conduct and analyse your own psychological research. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, you will learn to generate relevant research questions, translate these into the design of your research, appropriately analyse data, and report your findings by writing a structured psychology lab report, using standard (APA) formatting. You can tailor your studies by focusing on the methods, design and analysis most useful to you.
Semester two core modules
PSY-40083 Using Research to Influence Policy and Practice (15 credits, Semester 2)
You will explore how research can be used to influence policy and practice, across a range of settings, such as government, charity sector, and education. Gaining hands-on experience of writing for a policy setting, you will be tasked with writing a policy brief on a policy related to a health issue of your choice in a similar style as the POST notes produced by the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology.
PSY-40038 Research Apprenticeship in Psychology (15 credits, Semester 2)
You will work with staff as part of their research teams, gaining valuable experience of working on an active research project alongside an experienced research mentor. Apprenticeships are offered across a range of subjects, fields, and activities and represent the diverse expertise of our academic staff. These will support and extend your research skills. Projects could involve designing and preparing full or partial research reports, systematic literature reviews, grant proposals and ethics applications, with the real possibility that research findings may eventually be published.
PSY-40087 Action Research: Co-Creating Research to make a Difference (15 credits, Semester 2)
This module develops your understanding of how research can be carried out with diverse communities and community organisations. Gaining 'hands-on' experience of action research, you will co-create a group research project taking it from initial design stage through to data collection, analysis, and dissemination. You will then write an advocacy policy brief based targeted at decision and policy makers.
