Statistical Research and Methods on Students Taking Postgraduate Degree in Psychology at Swansea University

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY 1
Statistical Research and Methods
Student’s name
University affiliation
Author’s note

PSYCHOLOGY 2
Title
Study to investigate Statistical and research methods about students taking a postgraduate
degree in psychology at Swansea University.
Abstract.
The study wanted to investigate students who joined Swansea University for postgraduate
studies on psychology. There have been cases of students enrolling at Swansea University. The
number has risen over the years with a reason yet to be known. The study sought to find reasons
why this has been progressively taken place over the years. As such, the participants who were
involved during the study were postgraduate students taking psychology. The institution has
recorded a high number of students who are taking psychology over the years. The number of
participants included in the research were three students.
The research incorporated a descriptive research design. Here, surveys were taken in the
form of questionnaires and interviews. Since the research incorporated three participants, two
were offered questionnaires while the other one was interviewed. From the findings, the
participants had an urge of pursuing their career to a greater extent. As such, they opted into
doing their postgraduate program in psychology. Also, the participant had a passion which they
developed while they were young for doing psychology. Lastly, they loved the city of Swansea
the reason why they choose the university (Tian & Lowe, 2013). Also, the university offered a
competitive environment which provided everyone with the ability to learn.
The implication of the research was to establish why many students are enrolling for a
psychology course. Also, the chosen participants were young people who had started making a
career. As such, the study wanted to establish the link between age, career and postgraduate
studies.

PSYCHOLOGY 3
Introduction
In this section, a brief introduction on theories which relate to the theory are introduced.
Also, the section discusses how the theories relate to the behavior of students who join a specific
institution on the specified course.
The master’s degree in psychology is involvement of about two to three years after the
undergraduate degree. It can be classified into two, either the masters of Science or the masters
of Arts. Generally, masters in arts indicate a strong liberal focus on arts while the other type
involves concentrating on research and the sciences. Depending on the school, the type of degree
varies however with similar academic requirements. In most cases, the master's programs in
psychology offer a terminal degree. This is designed for preparing graduates for their
professional practice as they specialize in specific areas (Abdullah & Evans, 2012). In other
cases, the master’s degree would be done by students to offer a leeway to further a person’s
studies. Also, depending on the course requirements, the degree can be either thesis based or
might have a non-thesis option.
The study incorporates grounded theory. The theory analyzes data using comparative
methods from the start to the end of the research. Glaser and Strauss developed it in the 1960s.
Since it is a thematic report, the data collected was to compare different opinions essentially. The
grounded theory was developed for verification purposes during the sociological period. It is
essential in the study as it offers insights about different respondents towards an idea. The theory
can only be applied where analysis of data is done. For instance, using thematic analysis will
ensure this is accurate (Tian & Lowe, 2013). Using this theory, the study plans to verify the
reasons why students join Swansea University to further their undergraduate education on
psychology.

PSYCHOLOGY 4
Secondly, the research incorporated the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA)
theory for self-evaluating. For instance, the research will incorporate open-ended questions
which will be used to ensure the respondents provide clear and accurate answers. The theory is
one which was derived by Smith in 1994 (Sun & Richardson, 2012). It offers alternatives to
psychological research traditional methods which relate to health issues. With the theory, it uses
the lived experience as one of the analyses of the theory. The theory ensures participants
maintain integrity on what made them decide to pursue the postgraduate degree course at
Swansea University (Ansong & Gyensare, 2012). By incorporating the theory to the study, the
research plans to identify clear answers towards the reason for joining Swansea and why they
decided to work on psychology while pursuing their career.
On the contrary, other individuals after completing their undergraduate studies, they opt
to pursue their careers or have other options (Abdullah & Evans, 2012). Other students study
psychology to fulfill their parents’ wishes. Others would be mandated to do so for career
purposes. As such, once they fulfill their dreams, they engage in something else. Others would
want to pursue the course also to fulfill their career choices. For instances, to gain promotion in
their jobs, they are required to have a higher level of education on a certain course. As such, they
join the university to ensure they fulfill this dream (Sun & Richardson, 2012). This shows that
depending on a person’s plan and ambition, different people work on that course to fulfill the
dreams they deserve. As such this research is mandated to investigate why each member would
want to join a specific university to pursue the postgraduate course after or during their career
(Carter, 2017).
Methodology