Program Information > GCAP Courses > Course List > GCAP 691 > GCAP 691 Syllabus

Graduate Centre for Applied Psychology - GCAP 691
Methods of Inquiry

Overview

The focus in GCAP 691: Methods of Inquiry is on the theoretical, conceptual, and applied nature of research. One of the main goals of this course is to facilitate students in becoming informed researchers and knowledgeable consumers of research. The purpose of this course is for students to understand the nature and purpose of research. Writing a research literature review, understanding the process of the GCAP 691 final project, developing skills to find and use web resources, and understanding different purposes and assumptions of the qualitative (interpretive/constructivist), quantitative (positivism/postpositivism), and emancipatory paradigms of research will assist in this purpose. The course examines, explores, and interprets trends and diverse issues related to research design, such as ethics and culture. Students will also be involved in completing a multi-method (qualitative and quantitative) research project from start to finish. Overall, GCAP 691 encourages the generation of compatible and appropriate research design, flowing from a selected problem and possibly a newly discovered paradigm. In summary, this course aims to examine concepts from theory (sampling, data gathering, validity, reliability, and probability) in order to enhance understanding of research design as a complex and holistic undertaking.

Outline

The course is divided into 13 weekly lessons, structured as follows.

Evaluation

To receive credit for GCAP 691, students must submit all of the course assignments. The passing grade for the course is 70%. The assessment structure for GCAP 691: Methods of Inquiry is based on the following course activities, with the percentage weighting of each activity as indicated. Your final grade for the course will be a composite mark based on your performance on these course activities. Note: You must pass the Assignment 1: Research and Literature Review in order to pass the course.

  Course Activity      Weight  
Participation in Online Discussions 15%
Assignment 1: Research and Literature Review 35%
Assignment 2: Lab Group Participation, Integrated Report, and Presentation 20%
Assignment 3A: Letter of Intent Draft
or
Assignment 3B: Issues in Counselling Research Paper 		30%
Total   100%  

Academic Accommodation Policy

Students with a disability, who require academic accommodation, need to register with the Access to Students with Disabilities Centre at Athabasca University. Notification of the need for academic accommodation must normally be provided to the program office no later than fourteen (14) days prior to the first day of class. It is the student's responsibility to register with the Disability Centre to request academic accommodation if required and to notify the instructor that such accommodation has been requested. Every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate individual student needs. However, because GCAP courses are paced, all student are required to participate weekly in the online discussion forums. There are also several courses where online exams are required.

 


Page last updated: September 2, 2009 @ 03:08:59 PM

 

 

 

 

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