You are interested in investigating the impact of caffeine on productivity. Your task is to propose a quantitative study to investigate the topic.

Assessment Brief

Module title: Research Methods

Module code: RES7002D

Assignment title: Research Portfolio

Assignment format: Research Portfolio 

Word/time limit: 3500-word portfolio

File type: Written report in Word (.doc or .docx) or PDF (.pdf) format

Percentage of final grade: This assignment is worth 100% of your finalgrade for this module.

Submission deadline: See the module iLearn page for the date of submission.

Grade release: You will normally receive your provisional grade and feedback within 20 working days of the submission deadline.

Useful terms:

Task summary:

You are required to write a 3,500 word portfolio of five interrelated tasks. All tasks are based on the same psychological topic area of the impact of caffeine on productivity.

Across the five tasks you will demonstrate your ability to:

• Design quantitative and qualitative research.

• Critically consider the ethical and open science implications.

• Analyse and interpret quantitative and qualitative data.

Each task addresses each of the key learning objectives. You must complete all five tasks.

Assignment instructions:

The instructions for each task can be found below. Please note: you should not conduct research or collect any data for any of the tasks. 

Task 1 – Quantitative methodology and design (750 words, 20 marks)

You are interested in investigating the impact of caffeine on productivity. Your task is to propose a quantitative study to investigate the topic. This must be different to Task 4. You must include the following information in your proposal:

• A rationale for the research, including highlighting the literature gap.

• A set of hypotheses.

• Details about the participants and your proposed recruitment strategy.

• The chosen design of your study (what your variables are and how they would be measured).

• The materials that will be used and the procedure (what is needed for the study and the step by step process).

Task Tip: Avoid discussing ethical considerations as this will be covered in Task 3. The information for Task 1 can be found in Weeks 1 and 3. 

Task 2 – Qualitative methodology and design (750 words, 20 marks).

Using the same topic of the impact of caffeine on productivity, your task is to propose a qualitative study to investigate the topic. This must be different to Task 5. For this task, you must:

• A rationale for the research, including highlighting the literature gap.

• Write a research question.

• Outline and justify your epistemological and ontological stance based on the research topic.

• Choose a data collection method (e.g. interviews, focus groups, observations, secondary sources).

• Choose an analysis method (e.g. interpretative phenomenological analysis, thematic analysis, discourse analysis, grounded theory, content analysis).

• Indicate the reasons why you chose your data collection and analysis.

Task Tip: Avoid discussing ethical considerations, as this will be covered in Task 3. The information for Task 2 can be found in Weeks 1 and 3. 

Task 3 – Ethics and Open Science in Research (500, 20 marks).

Choosing either Task 1 or 2, outline the ethical considerations and subsequent mitigations you would implement. Discuss how you will maintain open science practices throughout your research. For this task you must:

• Refer to British Psychological Society (BPS) guidelines for ethics.

• Outline potential ethical issues within your study and how you would mitigate them, paying particular attention to consent, withdrawal, deception, harm and data handling.

• Briefly discuss open science practices you would implement within your study.

Task Tip: The information for Task 3 can be found in Week 2. 

Task 4 – Conducting quantitative analysis (750, 20 marks).

A study was conducted to investigate whether the effect of caffeine on productivity differs depending on the number of hours of sleep. The independent variables were Caffeine (caffeine vs. no caffeine) and Hours of Sleep (4 Hours vs. 8 Hours). Different people took part in each group. Productivity was measured as a continuous variable using the number of tasks correctly completed within a fixed 30 -minute period. You have been provided with the dataset from this research. Your job is to choose the appropriate inferential test, perform and interpret the analyses in JAMOVI. For this task, you must:

• Conduct the assumption checks for your chosen inferential test in JAMOVI.

• Conduct descriptive and inferential statistics in JAMOVI.

• Report your results in APA format and include the screenshots of your results within your appendices.

Task Tip: The information for Task 4 can be found in Weeks 4, 6 or 7 and 9. 

Task 5 – Conducting thematic analysis (750 words, 20 marks).

A study was conducted to explore how workers experience the impact of caffeine on their productivity, focus, energy, and overall work performance. The research question guiding this study was: “How do employees perceive the effects of caffeine on their productivity and work performance in their daily roles?” You have been provided with two short excerpts of a transcript from this research. Your job is to conduct a thematic analysis on the two excerpts. For this task you must:

• Conduct thematic analysis on the two excerpts using a method of your choice e.g. by hand, Microsoft Word or CATMA.

• Choose one theme to be presented and provide a definition of your chosen theme.

• Select supporting quotes and include analytical commentary to support your analysis.

• Include evidence of your analyses within your appendices e.g. picture or screenshot.

Task Tip: The information for Task 5 can be found in Weeks 5, 8 and 9.