Group Project Dynamics: Research Design, Collaboration, and Individual Responsibilities

The group project will provide you with experience in designing a piece of research, collecting data and analyzing this using a two factor ANOVA and a multiple regression – this should prepare you well for your third year project. However, for your third year project, you will have more freedom in choosing the type of design and analysis you want to use – for example you could carry out a three way ANOVA, or your IVs could have more than 2 levels. Another alternative is to carry out interviews, focus groups or other forms of qualitative data capture - you would then conduct a qualitative analysis such as thematic analysis or discourse analysis (qualitative methods are covered in trimester 2).

Group work

1. During seminars in Week 1, will be allocated to groups. It is important that you continue to attend your scheduled seminar session, as you will need to work with your group members throughout the semester.

2. In week 2 you need to meet as a group and decide on your topic and design. By week 3 you need to have completed the ‘Project Design Outline’ form and submitted this to your supervisor. In weeks 4/5 you will receive feedback on your design.

3. Each group member is equally responsible for designing the research and analyzing the data.

4. When arranging group meetings, you should email all members using the Anglia email address (keep a record of these). You need to be as fair as possible when arranging these times. We recommend before or after lectures or Research Techniques Seminars as the most appropriate times. It is fine to have meetings over Skype if you find that all group members cannot be present at a particular time, however, meeting in person is preferable so that you can all work on something together in the most collaborative way.

5. Your group members and your group project supervisor will have access to a folder on the Canvas site. This is your group project workspace. You should upload any documents you are working on (e.g. data files) to this folder as you are working on them, so that everyone can contribute and is up to date on progress. It is also a good place to store information that you decide early on- such as the design of your project and your research questions. This will be useful when it comes to the write-up stage.

6. Inform other members of the group if there are any problems in completing the work as soon as it is known.

The Write up

1. You are individually responsible for writing up your own report.

2. Do not share your write up with anyone. This is collusion and is an academic offense, resulting in severe penalties.

3. Write up your work in APA format. Access to Group Project Supervisors

1. You will be assigned a group project supervisor in Week 1 of Semester 1. During seminars in weeks 7 and 10, you will have access to your project supervisor, where you can discuss all the details of your project design. We recommend that you arrange one meeting with your group project supervisor before week 7 of Semester 1.

2. If you require any assistance during the project, you should arrange to see your group project supervisor during their Office Hours.

3. Don’t email other lecturers about the group project.

4. Follow the suggested timetable as detail below.

As a group, how would you deal with the following?

− A group member is ill and cannot make a meeting

− A group member is not participating as much as you would like (e.g. not coming to meetings).

− A group member is an excellent worker, but is becoming a bit bossy and doing a lot of the work themselves

− Can you think of reasons why someone might not participate as much as you would like? How can you work to avoid this?