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This collection contains some of the theses and dissertations produced by students in the University of Oregon Psychology Graduate Program. Paper copies of these and other dissertations and theses are available through the UO Libraries .

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• When “Self-Harm” Means “Suicide”: Adolescent Online Help-Seeking for Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors  Lind, Monika ( University of Oregon , 2024-03-25 ) The sensitive period of adolescence facilitates key developmental tasks that equip young people to assume adult roles. Adolescence features important strengths, like the need to contribute, and some risks, like vulnerability ...
• Stereotypes and Social Decisions: The Interpersonal Consequences of Socioeconomic Status  Hughes, Bradley ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) Interpersonal perceptions of socioeconomic status (SES), those formed in face-to-face interactions, can perpetuate inequality if they influence interpersonal interactions in ways that disadvantage people with low SES. There ...
• Utilization of Linguistic Markers in Differentiation of Internalizing Disorders, Suicidality, and Identity Distress  Ivie, Elizabeth ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) The adolescent period of development is associated with a significant increase in the occurrence of mental illness. In addition, death by suicide is one of the leading causes of death amongst adolescents. Identity formation ...
• The Role of Fractal Fluency on Visual Perception  Robles, Kelly E. ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) From quarks to galaxies, the natural world is organized with fractal geometry. Fractal fluency theory suggests that due to their omnipresence in our visual world, fractals are more fluently processed by the visual system ...
• The Anatomy of Antagonism: Exploring the Relations of 20 Lexical Factors of Personality with Machiavellianism, Grandiose Narcissism, and Psychopathy  Kay, Cameron ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) Despite being the focus of extensive research over the past two decades, the structure of the “Dark Triad”—or, as I will refer to it here, the “Aversive Triad”—is still shrouded in confusion. Much of this confusion stems ...
• Content Representation in Lateral Parietal Cortex  Zhao, Yufei ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) While the lateral parietal cortex (LPC) in the human brain is traditionally investigated for its functions in visual perception, more recent evidence has highlighted its substantial contribution to supporting human episodic ...
• Sociocultural Contexts of Emotion Socialization in BIPOC Families  Lee, Angela ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) Having effective emotion regulation skills is critical to socioemotional well-being, and parents play a key role in the development of children’s emotion regulation through emotion socialization behaviors. However, since ...
• Cross-ideological Communication: The Impact of Real Conversations Compared to Imagined Ones  Niella, Tamara ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) Political polarization has visibly increased in the last few years. A sense of divisiveness has been exacerbated by a surge in social media communication about contentious issues which has been replacing face-to-face ...
• Inflammation, Mental Health, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Study with Child Welfare Service Involved Families  Horn, Sarah ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has posited unique challenges for families and significantly disrupted several aspects of children’s environments. The pandemic is an ongoing risk experience, with young children being ...
• Testing Novel Norm Interventions for Promoting Pro-environmental Consumption  Lieber, Sara ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) The purpose of the current project was to investigate how a social psychology approach could be used to develop an effective climate-change mitigation tool. A commonly used technique in the social psychology literature for ...
• Understanding the Misunderstood Emotion: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Variants of Anger  Razavi, Pooya ( University of Oregon , 2023-07-06 ) In cultural accounts and scholarly writings about anger, we see conceptualizations that reflect the existence of two variants: an anger perceived as moral, appropriate, and justified; and an anger considered wrong and ...
• Measuring long-term memories at the feature level reveals mechanisms of interference resolution  Drascher, Maxwell ( University of Oregon , 2023-07-06 ) When memories share similar features, this can lead to interference, and ultimately forgetting. At the same time, many highly similar memories are remembered vividly for years to come. Understanding what causes interference ...
• The Role of Hierarchical Structures in Cognition  Moss, Melissa ( University of Oregon , 2023-07-06 ) Individuals routinely execute complex tasks that involve multiple, dependent levels of information, such as driving a car or cooking dinner. It is amazing that our cognitive system is able to represent such complex, ...
• A Contextual Psychology Approach to Improving Health Outcomes in the Perinatal Period  Lightcap, April ( University of Oregon , 2023-07-06 ) The United States holds alarming records for highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the developed world. The US infant mortality rate is on par with many low and middle income countries, and despite the decline in ...
• The Study of Behavior Settings as an Aid in Mental Hospital Analysis: A Methodological Exploration  Rose, David William ( University of Oregon , 1969-06 ) The ultimate goal of all mental hospital analyses is to provide information which by direct implication or through analysis might act as a guide in restructuring environment in which the mental patient lives. The goal of ...
• Personality-Driven Social Media Curation: How Personality Traits Affect Following Decisions on Twitter  Bedford-Petersen, Cianna ( University of Oregon , 2023-03-24 ) As social media occupies an increasingly important place in people’s lives, new opportunities are presented for people to select and modify their online environments. On many platforms, users have significant control over ...
• Stability of Mind-Mindedness Across the Transition to Motherhood and its Longitudinal Association with Children’s Theory of Mind & Executive Function  Gluck, Stephanie ( University of Oregon , 2023-03-24 ) Parental mind-mindedness refers to caregivers’ propensity to attribute mind-like and intentional qualities in their interactions with or representation of their young children. It is proposed to be associated with positive ...
• Dating and Mating in Adolescence: How Hormones and Puberty Influence Adolescent Mating Motivation  Donaldson, Sarah ( University of Oregon , 2022-10-26 ) Puberty marks the physical transition towards sexual maturity, culminating in the ability to reproduce. It follows that maturing cognitive, affective, and social skills develop concurrently to support reproductive competence, ...
• Individual Differences in Memory Functions and Their Relation to Hippocampal Connectivity  Frank, Lea ( University of Oregon , 2022-10-26 ) The hippocampus plays an important role in many aspects of learning and memory. It is most known for its role in episodic memory and spatial navigation, though it has also been shown to contribute to other processes like ...
• Collective Ongoing Betrayal Trauma: Gendered and Racialized Police Violence toward the Black Community  Barnes, Melissa ( University of Oregon , 2022-10-26 ) Racialized and gendered police violence is a pernicious problem for Black communities. For my dissertation, I empirically tested a novel theoretical concept, Collective Ongoing Betrayal Trauma (COBT). COBT integrates the ...

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Lynsey Gregg

• Senior Lecturer , Division of Psychology & Mental Health (L5)

Personal profile

• Lead for postgraduate taught education in the Division of Psychology and Mental Health and the  Division of Psychology,  Communication and Human Neuroscience
• Lecturer on the BSc Psychology; MSc Clinical & Health Psychology and MSc Health Psychology programmes
• Dissertation Lead, MSc Clinical & Health Psychology and MSc Health Psychology
• ClinPsyD and PhD research supervisor

Research interests

My research is focused on the factors that can exacerbate mental health problems (substance use, the wider family environment) and the development and evaluation of treatments for people with serious mental illness. I am also interested in service user experiences of research and treatment.

Undergraduate:

Interventions in mental health & well-being (year 2, BSc Psychology)

Clinical psychology (year 3, BSc Psychology)

Project supervisor (BSc Psychology)

Postgraduate:

Research Methods (MSc Clinical & Health Psychology; MSc Health Psychology)

Psychology in Clinical Practice  (MSc Clinical and Health Psychology)

Dissertation Supervisor (MSc Clinical and Health Psychology)

My collaborations

Dr Anja Wittkowski (University of Manchester)

Professor Rachel Calam (University of Manchester)

Professor Katherine Berry (University of Manchester)

Professor Sandra Bucci (University of Manchester)

Professor Gillian Haddock (University of Manchester)

Professor Christine Barrowclough (University of Manchester)

Memberships of committees and professional bodies

British Psychological Society (Chartered member)

Higher Education Academy Fellow

Methodological knowledge

Randomised controlled trials

Experience Sampling Methodology

Q Methodology

Qualifications

• BSc Psychology
• MRes Informatics
• PhD Clinical Psychology

Supervision information

Beliefs about psychological therapy for psychosis Author: Holding, J., 31 Dec 2014 Supervisor: Haddock, G. (Supervisor), Gregg, L (Supervisor)

UoM administered thesis: Doctor of Clinical Psychology

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

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• 1 Similar Profiles
• Schizophrenia Psychology 100%
• Substance Abuse Psychology 53%
• Parenting Psychology 49%
• Emotion Psychology 49%
• Mental Health Psychology 49%
• Systematic Literature Review Psychology 46%
• Attribution Psychology 39%
• Children Psychology 39%

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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Select a country/territory to view shared publications and projects

Research output

• 3 Conference contribution
• 2 Review article

Research output per year

Alcohol Treatment Preferences and the Acceptability of Virtual Reality Therapy for Treating Alcohol Misuse in Adult Drinkers

Research output : Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Reality Therapy 100%
• Alcohol 100%
• Therapeutic Procedure 100%
• Medical Aspects of Alcohol Misuse 100%

A Balancing Act: A Systematic Review and Metasynthesis of Family-Focused Practice in Adult Mental Health Services

• Family 100%
• Mental Health Service 100%
• Systematic Review 100%
• Systematic Literature Review 100%

A systematic review of clinical psychological guidance for perinatal mental health

Research output : Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

• Mental Health 100%
• Psychological Assessment 40%
• Healthcare 40%

Parenting and Serious Mental Illness (SMI): A Systematic Review and Metasynthesis

• Parent 100%
• Parenting 100%
• Diseases 100%
• Mental Illness 100%

Parents who experience psychosis: A qualitative exploration

• Children 57%
• Disconnections 14%
• Powerlessness 14%
• Psychoeducation 14%

Projects per year

PRIME-RU: Perinatal Mental Health and Parenting Research Unit (PRIME-RU)

Wittkowski, A. , Gregg, L. , Wan, M. , Smith, D. , Lemetyinen, H. , Cokamay Yilmaz, G. & Rathbone, A.

1/10/20 → 31/03/24

Project : Research

• Children 100%
• Systematic Literature Review 92%
• Parenting 85%
• Mental Health 65%

Reasons for Substance Use in Psychosis

Supervisor: Barrowclough, C. (Supervisor) & Haddock, G. (Supervisor)

Student thesis : Phd

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• Summary of models of undergraduate thesis supervision in psychology.

1. Consider Using Secondary and/or Meta-data

2. consider team science approaches, 3. promote openness and transparency, 4. raise awareness of, and avoid incentivising qrps, author contributions, competing interests, acknowledgements, maximising the educational and research value of the undergraduate dissertation in psychology.

Corresponding author: [email protected]

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Ann-Marie Creaven , Katherine S. Button , Heather Cleland-Woods , Emily Nordmann; Maximising the Educational and Research Value of the Undergraduate Dissertation in Psychology. Collabra: Psychology 3 January 2023; 9 (1): 90216. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.90216

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The undergraduate research dissertation in psychology is the capstone demonstration of research skills including project planning and design, considering and resolving ethical issues, and the analysis and dissemination of findings. The dissertation represents an opportunity for learning as well as an opportunity to contribute to the research literature in the student’s chosen area; however, few articles have considered both dimensions in detail. This article provides a roadmap for undergraduate thesis supervision, for early-career supervisors and supervisors aiming to better align their supervision and research activities and/or engage their students in open research practices via the dissertation.

Specifically, we review prior literature on undergraduate psychology research supervision and identify several dimensions that vary in existing approaches. Drawing on our own supervision experiences, we describe four key recommendations for undergraduate supervision in psychology and discuss how these can support student learning as well as benefit research.

The undergraduate (UG) research dissertation/thesis in psychology requires the student to carry out an empirical piece of research over the course of a single academic year. Students must individually demonstrate a range of research skills including project planning and design, considering and resolving ethical issues, and the analysis and dissemination of findings (British Psychological Society [BPS], 2019; Psychological Society of Ireland [PSI], 2019) . Although the dissertation is an important learning process for individual UG students, it may also contribute to the research literature in the student’s chosen area, in the form of grey literature, or a peer-reviewed publication. Therefore, completing a dissertation has individual pedagogical benefits for the student, and potentially wider benefits for the research literature. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the dissertation as both a pedagogical exercise and a research endeavour and consider how to best support students’ learning while also enhancing the potential benefits for research. In doing so we hope to make the “private realm” (Wiggins et al., 2016, p. 11) of dissertation supervision explicit.

There is an extensive literature already on the value of undergraduate involvement in research (Perlman & McCann, 2005) , models of research involvement aside from the dissertation (e.g., Lloyd et al., 2019 ), considerations specific to qualitative dissertations (e.g., Freeman et al., 2020 ), effective mentorship (e.g., Boysen et al., 2020 ), and postgraduate research (e.g., S. Williams, 2019 ). To be clear, our focus is not on those topics but on principles of undergraduate dissertation supervision that increase both the quality of undergraduate research and of the student learning experience. This is timely given advances in open science practices intended to improve the efficiency, reliability, and accessibility of research outputs.

Traditionally, the dissertation has been conducted in the context of a dyadic relationship between supervisor and student and involves the collection of new data. Thus, while the student learns from the supervisor, there can be limited opportunities for peer learning or collaboration outside of this dyadic relationship, and limited scope to learn from intellectual dialogue between the supervisor and other researchers (colleagues, or students). Besides this, the sheer numbers of student projects conducted can generate numerous small-scale quantitative studies with low statistical power, and an increased chance of false positive findings; some of which will ultimately be published. Thus, the traditional model has limitations not only for students’ learning, but for the research literature more broadly. In recent years, alternative models of supervision have been documented (see Table 1 ) that involve some variation on a team approach, and which may address some of the limitations of the traditional model.

In addition to a shift from the traditional dyadic model, explicit consideration of how to raise awareness of and avoid questionable research practices (QRPs; John et al., 2012 ) at undergraduate level is necessary. One study of PhD researchers (Lubega et al., 2023) indicates that the majority experienced issues in reproducing published findings and tended to attribute this “failure” as indicative of a lack of skill on their own part. Participants described experiencing self-doubt, frustration, and depression; in some instances this interfered with their health and/or ability to work. Given undergraduate students typically develop their dissertation based on findings from published literature; they are likely to be vulnerable to these same issues, to some degree. Also, undergraduate students themselves may unknowingly engage in QRPs, particularly in relation to analysis and reporting (Krishna & Peter, 2018) . Because dissertation supervisors are key in shaping students’ attitudes towards QRPs (Krishna & Peter, 2018) , modelling best practice and actively training students in relation to QRPs if needed, should be a priority for undergraduate dissertation supervision.

Given an increased discourse around models of undergraduate dissertation supervision (e.g., Giuliano et al., 2019 ), it is timely to consider how best to support learning and research in the context of the dissertation. Based on our collective supervision experiences, we argue that adopting four key recommendations may help increase the quality of the research generated as part of the UG dissertation, without compromising, or indeed potentially increasing, the quality of student training and learning:

These recommendations are:

Consider efficient use of data (e.g., by using secondary and/or meta-data)

Consider team science approaches

Promote openness and transparency

Raise awareness of and avoid incentivising ­QRPs

We discuss each recommendation below with examples drawn from quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods projects. We begin by discussing the efficient use of data (recommendation 1) with examples from (1) secondary data and (2) evidence synthesis. Given a limited literature on supervision processes in psychology, we describe our own experiences of team science approaches in relative depth across quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods projects (recommendation 2). We then discuss how to promote openness and transparency in the context of the dissertation (recommendation 3), with a particular focus on planning (primarily via pre-registration), and open data. Finally, and to some degree in parallel with our recommendation to promote openness and transparency, we discuss how to raise awareness of and avoid incentivising QRPs (recommendation 4).

First, when planning a dissertation project, consider whether data needs to be collected at all, to address the research question. Data collection involves practical skills development (e.g., learning how to manage an experimental testing session); however, if these skills can be acquired outside of the dissertation, the use of existing data such as publicly available data, data already held by the supervisor, data not intended for research purposes, meta-data, or meta-synthesis, may be appealing. Meta-research projects are likely becoming more popular (e.g., Clarke et al., 2023 ) and can provide students with the opportunity to engage deeply with methodological issues in the literature. Replication studies using existing data are also feasible (e.g., Coyle et al., 2020 ) and the advantages of replication for learning and guidance on choosing what to replicate for teaching purposes are discussed in-depth elsewhere (see Janz, 2016; Wagge et al., 2019 ). Using existing data reduces research waste by minimising the unnecessary collection of new data, reducing the overall burden on potential participants, and reducing the burden on research ethics committees. In addition, a large sample size or dataset is typically available, and sampling is more representative of the general population than would be achieved with convenience or snowball sampling, leading to potentially better-quality research. Here, we discuss the benefits and drawbacks of conducting (1) a secondary analysis, and (2) of evidence synthesis.

In addition to the benefits for research, there are several potential benefits for learning. Secondary data allow students to gain hands-on experience with real-world datasets and all their idiosyncratic messiness. Students’ skills in data wrangling may require support at the start, particularly where they have previously encountered only unrealistically “clean” data and the skills required to obtain data from sources like Twitter are likely to only be available to those students who are enrolled in psychology programmes that have incorporated data skills and programming into their curriculums (e.g., PsyTeachR, n.d. ). However, these are skills that are useful for a range of graduate jobs beyond those focused on research.

An important consideration for secondary data projects is that students will not gain first-hand experience of participant recruitment or data collection. Depending on individual School/Department requirements, students may not gain experience of developing a formal research ethics application, so considering how to develop competency in ethics is necessary, for example, by creating ethics forms to relate directly to secondary data and/or internet-mediated research. Ethics is particularly important for data not originally collected for research purposes. Researchers relying on data from online forums, for example, need to consider if individual forum members should be contacted for permission to analyse their online discussions. If appropriate, researchers need to consider if it is feasible and if it could alter the nature of the online discussions. There may be alternatives such as seeking permission from a forum administrator, or there may be grounds for researchers to choose not to seek consent. These considerations are complex (see e.g., Ahmed et al., 2017; Buchanan, 2017 for further discussion) and there is no clear answer. Indeed, for large-scale Twitter analyses that scrape data from a particular hashtag, informed consent is practically impossible to obtain. Instead, it is important to consider a formal application for access via Twitter’s Academic Research application, and to ensure users are granted anonymity in the write-up and/or the publication of data and analysis code. For example, Attard and Coulson (2012) used data in the public domain and thus did not seek consent. To preserve anonymity, they omitted not only participants’ names/ pseudonyms but also the names of the online support groups themselves, and only short segments of the original posts were quoted to reduce their traceability through search engines. In addition to this example, useful guidance on relevant ethical issues is available from the BPS (2017) (see also Granger et al.  (2021) , Sugiura et al.  (2017) and Williams et al.  (2017) ).

As an alternative to secondary data analysis, conducting an evidence synthesis allows students to engage deeply with the literature and develop their methodological and appraisal skills. For dissertation projects adhering to British and Irish standards, our interpretation of current accreditation guidelines is that data analysis must be conducted; therefore, a systematic review without a meta-analysis (or equivalent) is unlikely to be acceptable in Britain and Ireland (e.g., BPS, 2019), while U.S. guidelines are less prescriptive. University libraries often offer training in systematic review techniques and there are many published exemplars available. An evidence synthesis can be undertaken even if others have previously been conducted addressing the same question. For example, Ahern and Semkovska (2017) addressed some limitations of an earlier meta-analysis (Lee et al., 2012) of cognitive functioning in the first episode of major depressive disorder. For qualitative evidence synthesis (QES, see Noyes et al., 2019 ) a student will ideally have prior experience with the methodology they are synthesizing (e.g., students undertaking thematic syntheses will have experience in thematic analysis), which is unlikely at UG level. However, working with data in existing papers where themes are already summarized is arguably more accessible than working with raw qualitative data, making qualitative evidence synthesis a viable option for some students under some specific circumstances. Students undertaking an evidence synthesis can use pre-registration templates and the PRISMA (Page et al., 2021) reporting guidelines to help scaffold and guide their project, as well as encouraging transparent reporting.

It is important to ensure students appreciate the distinction between the narrative and selective literature review that forms part of an assignment or research project, and the substantial workload involved in undertaking a systematic review prior to even conducting a meta-analysis. In contrast to narrative reviews, at least some steps of a systematic reviews should be conducted as part of a team (Jahan et al., 2016) . The availability of team members may determine whether a systematic review is a feasible option for the dissertation. Additionally, the supervisor must consider the accreditation requirement for meta-analysis. Given the typical timeframe for UG dissertations, it may be helpful to consider if the research question and process can be constrained to reduce the burden associated with the searching and screening phases of the process. For example, it may be possible to update a previous review, or conduct a review of research during the last five years, or from the date a key research recommendation was made. Finally, supervisors and students should also plan for insufficient or inadequate reporting of data for meta-analysis. Although contacting the study authors is commonly done to access data, there is no guarantee authors will be responsive. If at least some data are available, conducting a meta-analysis while acknowledging the limitations of available data may demonstrate students’ computational skills. However, given the considerable time required to conduct evidence syntheses well, and the accreditation requirement for data analysis, this option is often sub-optimal for UG students.

Our second broad recommendation is to consider team science approaches to supervision. As illustrated in Table 1 , several models of supervision involve a form of team approach. Teaming up across institutions as in the consortium model (Button et al., 2019) can lead to very large datasets and more generalizable results. However, many of the benefits for learning and for research can be achieved by groups of students working together within an individual department. The BPS/PSI accreditation guidance endorses group projects as long as the student can individually demonstrate each of the skills involved in conducting the empirical project, whilst the APA guidelines include refining project-management skills and enhancing teamwork capacity as core goals. Depending on the institution’s interpretation of the guidance, this could be as simple as each student writing up their dissertations separately (based on identical research questions and a common dataset) or ensuring that each student has a different research question.

The benefits for research include the generation of better-powered datasets to address a specific research question. Team approaches can provide opportunities for peer learning and peer support that are absent from the one-to-one supervision model. A team approach can facilitate practical data collection skills while making efficient use of the data collected and students are potentially more likely to have an opportunity for co-authorship on a resulting publication from the pooled, better-powered dataset.

Because the literature on undergraduate dissertation is relatively limited, and because team approaches vary in how they are implemented, we outline below how team approaches might be implemented for quantitative, mixed methods, and qualitative studies, and conclude by considering drawbacks to team approaches.

Quantitative studies

For quantitative studies, similar to the consortium model, group lab or survey projects can be supported by having an overarching primary hypothesis or project aim that is pre-registered and forms the primary focus of any paper written up for publication. Students then build in a series of secondary questions and hypotheses to become the focus of their individual dissertations. A key concern of this approach is the tension between pedagogy and research. The consortium lab-based example incorporates multiple outcomes and/or moderator variables for pedagogical reasons (i.e., to facilitate individual student research questions), and this complexity increases with the number of students in the team. However, the integrity of the overarching project (on which all students will be co-authors) is supported by pre-registering the primary aims, enabling easier detection of QRPs. Thus, any resulting publication will be confirmatory for the primary aims, with the students’ dissertation aims treated as secondary. Pre-registering (even informally) individual student hypotheses ensures that the dissertation projects retain their individuality, both in terms of academic integrity, and the perception of the process from the students’ point of view. It also minimizes the temptation to make use of measures other than those that were pre-registered, without a justifiable rationale for doing so.

Mixed methods

Mixed methods designs involve the collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data and as such lend themselves well to a team dissertation project. Mixed methods provide both breadth and depth to the question under investigation (Johnson et al., 2007) and in the case of exploratory mixed methods, can support the formation of evidence-based hypotheses for NHST (Erzberger & Prein, 1997) . Specific to the dissertation process, mixed methods projects have several advantages. First, the shared topic means that students can engage in peer support such as sharing papers and discussing theoretical models and the interpretation of their data; however, the divergence in methods and subsequent write-up ensures that the dissertation project retains its individuality. Additionally, students can support each other with participant recruitment and reviewing and proofreading study materials. Team mixed method designs also allow (or indeed may require) multiple supervisors to be involved on the project who have different methodological expertise. Students still benefit from an individual supervisor, but group meetings and reviews help promote a team science approach.

One important consideration with mixed method dissertations involves the timeline and the choice of core design. Explanatory and exploratory designs (see Creswell & Clark, 2017 ) require one student to “go first” in the collection of their qualitative or quantitative data, which may make convergent designs (where qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis is conducted largely in parallel) more appealing. Supervisors should be clear upfront about the nature of the project and be prepared to support those students with different timelines than they may have expected; for example, completing drafts of the introduction and methods in advance of any data collection. It is crucial that contingency plans (e.g., switching to a convergent design) are developed for if the primary study does not take place in the expected timeline, so that for example, issues impacting student A do not disadvantage student B. Additionally, the quantitative component remains susceptible to the limitations of individual quantitative projects (e.g., small sample sizes). There are of course higher-level concerns with mixed method designs regarding how to meaningfully integrate studies that have different epistemological positions into a single paper (Clark, 2019) , although this is not specific to mixed method research as a dissertation model.

Qualitative dissertations

For qualitative dissertations, team approaches are effective when students are interested in distinct but related questions with the same participant group (e.g., exploring experiences of (a) social support and (b) self-management for students with Type 1 diabetes). It is most straightforward when students also plan to use the same analytical approach (e.g., thematic analysis), as the same “thickness” of data is sought during interviews, and there are no differences in transcription requirements (e.g., text only transcription is acceptable for both research questions).

In addition to sharing participant recruitment, students can review each other’s materials such as interview or focus group questions before finalising a common schedule. Students can divide the conduct of interviews/focus groups and transcribe those they do not conduct, to gain familiarity with the data. In contrast to exploratory or explanatory mixed methods designs, students work to the same timeline for data collection.

The key concern with teaming up for qualitative studies involves assuring the quality and originality of the two (or more) individual research studies within the common research process. Students must clearly articulate their own specific research questions prior to combining question schedules. Otherwise, they may end up conducting several interviews or focus groups around the broad topic while ending up with very little material pertinent to their specific research question. Each student must also be sufficiently familiar with the others’ research question(s), to probe and follow up on participant responses relating to that question (and vice versa ). Students can decide a priori to analyse the interviews in their entirety, or alternatively, that only about half of each interview will be relevant for each dissertation. Even with training, there is potential for a high level of variability in interview skills and establishment of rapport, and any section on reflexivity will be increasingly complex with increasing number of interviewers/researchers.

What are the drawbacks to team approaches?

Supervisors contemplating a team approach may be concerned about students’ ability to generate a truly independent project while working as part of a team. However, clarifying to students which activities can be shared (e.g., circulating relevant research papers), and which should not be done collaboratively (writing one’s individual results sections), can be helpful in supporting the retention of individual research integrity within a larger team project. Other strategies include balancing team meetings with some individual meetings focused on the student’s own specific research question and intellectual development and bringing the team together for particular activities (e.g., pilot testing in the lab), before dispersing for other activities.

In our experiences, students have valued both the informal peer support that comes from working in this way, and the tangible advantages of shared data collection (e.g., sharing efforts to recruit participants; generation of a larger sample size in the time allowed, and opportunities to gain teamwork skills); these benefits have been highlighted by others, also (e.g., Dautel, 2020 ). Moreover, if social loafing is a concern, this may be mitigated a priori by clear discussions and agreement on roles and responsibilities, potentially supported by the CRediT taxonomy, and/or by requiring individuals to collect a certain proportion of data to access the larger shared data set. Students value opportunities for one-on-one discussions with their supervisor, so a combination of team and individual meetings is possibly most beneficial (Dautel, 2020) . There may also be instances where students have very legitimate concerns about working together and in these cases, individual projects may be more appropriate.

Besides this, the social and emotional aspects of learning and of the dissertation are also important to consider. Students can gain a sense of pride having completed a dissertation that they may not feel to the same degree working on a team-based project; this could be addressed by highlighting individual achievements within the team as well as team-work overall. Students progressing from a team-based dissertation to a traditional student-supervisor project for masters or PhD research may be vulnerable to “impostor syndrome” or find the transition disconcerting. Therefore, scaffolding transitions from team to traditional projects (as you would for transitions from traditional to team projects) may be necessary.

Having described the use of secondary/meta-data, team science approaches, and methods of, we move to our third recommendation:

There are several ways in which openness and transparency can be promoted; including pre-registration, open data, code, and/or materials, reporting contributions (e.g., using the Contributor Roles Taxonomy [CRediT]) and planning for dissemination of study findings (e.g., via conference presentation and/or journal submission). We discuss pre-registration and open data practices in further detail below.

Pre-registration

Full pre-registration with detailed analytic specificity is not appropriate for all research designs and analytic approaches (and indeed there is ongoing debate as to its efficacy and purpose for any research, see e.g., Nosek et al.  (2019) vs. Szollosi et al.  (2019) ). However, incorporating the development of a study protocol, lighter-touch pre-registration of hypotheses for confirmatory work, or the explicit registration that the work is exploratory/intended solely as a learning experience, is entirely feasible. Preregistration (or a similar a priori plan) can also be a tool to support transparency in qualitative research. In terms of benefits for research, pre-registration can help promote transparent ways of working and protect against the increased risk of publication bias in the wider literature (Pownall, 2020) . From a learning perspective, working through a detailed plan prior to data collection will inevitably lead to clarity of thinking and better research questions and higher quality dissertations. Indeed, van’t Veer and Giner-Sorolla (2016) note that a focus on theory testing and/or methodological replication and validation over results is likely to benefit researchers at an earlier stage of their career, specifically students and post-doctoral researchers. Further, the importance of transparency has long been recognised in qualitative constructs such as reflexivity , the process of a continual internal dialogue and critical self-evaluation of a researcher’s positionality as well as active acknowledgement that this position may affect the research process and outcome (Berger, 2015) . Students doing qualitative or mixed methods research can also include reflexivity and/or positionality statements in their theses to enhance transparency.

Open data and code

Similarly, students can consider making the data “open” in line with FAIR data principles (Wilkinson et al., 2016) . Although there is debate about the value of open data initiatives (e.g., Kitchin, 2013 ), and it is highly challenging to truly anonymise data (e.g., Rocher et al., 2019 ), making a conscious decision to make data open (or not, particularly for qualitative research) is an important element of student training. Except when the thesis will be published, the benefits of open data and code are primarily for student learning. For quantitative studies, students can be asked to provide syntax files to ensure the results reported in the dissertation can be reproduced. This exercise will better prepare students for subsequent research projects, given increasing emphasis on open data and data management in general. It also supports students’ awareness of ethical use of data. For qualitative studies, there is considerable debate about the relevance of open data guidelines for qualitative data (see Branney et al., 2019; Prosser et al., 2023 , for discussions of this issue). Nonetheless, even when data are not open, generating a data availability statement to accompany the dissertation can facilitate students’ learning, given these are commonly required by journals regardless of whether the research is quantitative or qualitative.

Alongside promoting openness and transparency, our final recommendation is to explicitly raise awareness of and avoid incentivising QRPs. The literature indicates that QRPs exist in psychology, that some students engage in some QRPs (Krishna & Peter, 2018) , that students learn about QRPs from supervisors (Krishna & Peter, 2018) , and that early-career researchers can be disheartened when their project findings do not replicate existing published work (potentially owing to QRPs in that original work; Nelson et al., 2022). To be clear, we do not want to overemphasize the impact of QRPs, nor create a descriptive norm that QRPs are common (Fiedler & Schwarz, 2016) . However, given QRPs are documented as problematic, it falls to the dissertation supervisor to model appropriate research practices and to provide specific training as needed both to promote transparency (as noted in recommendation #3) and to avoid QRPs.

The benefits of avoiding QRPs for research are perhaps obvious. The main benefit is that published research arising from undergraduate theses is more likely to be of good quality.

In terms of benefits for learning, supporting students to be aware of and avoid QRPs themselves, means developing research integrity and ethical awareness in these students. Supervisors can achieve this by modelling best practice themselves and by promoting openness and transparency as outlined above. Supervisors can also explicitly emphasize the methods used over the results generated by those methods, join in critical discussions of prior literature, guide students in adhering to their pre-registration (or explaining deviations from this), and emphasize caution in interpreting statistically significant findings. Otherwise, given the literature available to students disproportionately favours statistically significant results, students may be disappointed with null or counter-intuitive findings arising from their own projects (e.g., Nelson et al., 2022).

In summary, the above recommendations are intended to increase both the quality of undergraduate research and of the student learning experience during the undergraduate dissertation. By reflecting on our own collective supervision experiences across three institutions we hope to illuminate aspects of supervision practices that typically remain private or inaccessible to early-career academics embarking on supervision for the first time. Given the many approaches to dissertation supervision, what does supervision that adopts the recommendations look like? At their core, our recommendations are not revolutionary: careful consideration of the need to collect data and the merits and challenges of using existing data, early planning, with an interim deadline for a written plan (using a pre-registration template if preferred) and including early planning for dissemination. Implementing these recommendations also involves incorporating and scaffolding some element of collaboration (e.g., by formally sharing data collection, or discussing plans with peers), clear consideration of transparent and open practices (e.g., even if the decision is to not share data), and a focus on methodological rigour and appropriate interpretation of results, supported by guidance from the supervisory team. This paper combining our supervision experiences with the available relevant literature aims to provide researchers and educators with pragmatic solutions to support learning outcomes as well as the overall quality of undergraduate research. Given the increasing emphasis on open science practices, and increasing popularity of team approaches, formal evaluation of the impact of these approaches on student learning is an important next step in this area. In addition, further elaboration of emerging forms of undergraduate dissertations like meta-research projects is also required to ensure that early-career supervisors are well-supported to support their dissertation students.

Contributed to conception and design: AMC, KB, HCW, EN

Contributed to analysis of literature: AMC, KB, HCW, EN

Drafted and revised the article: AMC, KB, HCW, EN

Approved the submitted version for publication: AMC, KB, HCW, EN

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

We are very grateful to Professor Neil Coulson (University of Nottingham) for his helpful contribution to and feedback on an earlier draft of this manuscript and to Dr Peter Branney (Bradford University) for feedback also.

We are also grateful to the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education who supported a seminar on this topic as part of the 2020/2021 seminar series (recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iBVt2ZqPCo )

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ScholarWorks at UMass Boston

Home > CLA > PSYCH > PSYCH_DISS

Clinical Psychology Dissertations Collection

This collection contains open access and campus access dissertations, made possible through Graduate Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The full content of open access dissertations is available to all, although some files may have embargoes placed on them and will be made available as soon as possible. The full content of campus access dissertations is only available to those either on the UMass Boston campus or with a UMass Boston campus username and password. Click on the "Off-Campus UMass Boston Users" link on the record page to download Campus Access publications. Those not on campus and those without a UMass Boston campus username and password may gain access to this dissertation through resources like Proquest Dissertations & Theses Global or through Interlibrary Loan.

Dissertations from 2023 2023

Decomposing Relational Mechanisms of Parent Engagement in Early Intervention: An Examination of Working Alliance and Family-Centered Practices , Alison E. Chavez

Sexual Racism and Mental Health Among Asian/Asian American Sexual Minority Men , Christopher Chiu

Investigating the Sexual Consent Process for Plurisexual Individuals , Kaitlyn R. Gorman

Lost in Translation: Training Experiences and Burnout Among Bilingual Trainees in Doctoral Psychology Programs , Ingrid Hastedt

Exploring the Roles of Parent Emotional Styles and Children’s Coping Skills in the Emotional and Behavioral Sequelae of Community Violence Exposure , Juliana M. Neuspiel

Diagnosing Psychosis Among Black Americans: The Impact of White Clinicians' Colorblind Racial Attitudes and Multicultural Responsiveness , Keira E. O'Donovan

The Impact of Historical Trauma, Self-Compassion, and Resistance Against Racism among African Americans , Darrick Scott

Negotiating Acculturation: A Qualitative Study of Muslim American Women , Noor N. Tahirkheli

Resolution of Diagnosis Among Parents of Children Diagnosed with Autism , Deanna C. Toner

Dissertations from 2022 2022

Patterns of Emotional Processing and the Psychological Impact of Heterosexism , Kathleen M. Collins

Body Image Experiences Among Black American Sexual Minority Women , Alison E. A. Goldblatt

Examining Culturally Adapted, Values Based, Mental Health Stigma Reduction and Help-Seeking Messages for Asian Americans , Anna M. Ying

Dissertations from 2021 2021

Self-Compassion Among Roommates: An Investigation of Interpersonal Effects , Bryan Balvaneda

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effects of After-School Programs on Academic, Social, Behavioral, Mental Health, and Identity Outcomes Among Youth with Marginalized Identities , Kirsten M. Christensen

The Power of Friendships: Associations Between Friendship Quality, Satisfaction, and Well-Being for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder , Melanie S. Feldman

Evaluating the Cultural Validity of Social Cognition in a Latinx Sample , Mayte Forte

Beyond Borders in Chronic Schizophrenia: NEO-FFM Personality Traits, Neurocognition, and Symptoms , Lauren M. Grabowski

A Longitudinal Investigation of First-Generation College Students' Mentoring Relationships during their Transition to Higher Education , Matthew A. Hagler

My Wounds Matter Too: Associations Among Distress, Emotion Regulation, Autism Symptomology, and Self-Harm Functions Among Young Adults with ASD , Sarah Levinson

Dissertations from 2020 2020

Cross-Age Peer Mentoring: A Meta-Analysis , Samantha Burton

The Experience of Misgendering Among Trans and Gender Diverse People , Hamish A. Gunn

Assessing Mental Health Provider Bias Toward Clients with Understudied Marginalized Sexual Identities and Practices , Cara Herbitter

The Effectiveness of a Mindfulness, Acceptance, Valued Action, and Flexible Coping Intervention for Race-Based Stress on Momentary Coping and Distress Symptoms , Jennifer Honculada Martinez

Dissertations from 2019 2019

Responsibility Development in Young Men in Postsecondary Settings: Construct Structure and Contextual Influences , Gabriel M. Garza Sada

A Process for Change: A Grounded Theory Investigation of Participatory Action Research as a Means for Countering Mental Illness Stigma Experienced by Transition-Aged Black Youth , Jacqueline G. Hargrove

Dismantling an Intervention Aimed at Increasing White People's Knowledge and Understanding of Racial Justice Issues , Alissa L. Hochman

The Role of Narrative Coherence and Parental Scaffolding in Buffering the Effects of Domestic Violence Exposure , Shirley Poyau

Novice Therapist Responsiveness: Description and Development , Max B. Wu

Dissertations from 2018 2018

Latino Immigrant Youth Development in Anti-Immigrant Contexts: Exploring Adaptive Cultures as Resources Promoting Competencies and Wellness , Darcy Alcantara

Treatment Engagement and Client Competence in CBT for Social Anxiety Disorder , Amber L. Calloway

“Surviving and Thriving During Stress”: Bridging the Gap with Technology, a Web-Based Acceptance-Based Behavioral Therapy Program for University Students , Elizabeth Hemenway Eustis

Diagnostic Stability of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Young Children with Diverse Backgrounds , Ivy Giserman Kiss

Examining the Moderating Role of Internalized Racism on the Relation Between Racism-Related Stress and Mental Health in Asian Americans , Danielle Godon-Decoteau

Mental Health Literacy and Stigma among Recently Returning Veterans: Cultural Correlates, Mutability, and Relations with Healthcare Utilization , Sarah Krill Williston

The Impact of Individual and Parental Confucian Attitudes on Mental Illness Stigma and Help Seeking Attitudes Among Asian Americans from Confucian Cultures , Charles M. Liu

“I Wish Katrina Wouldn’t Have Happened, But I’m Glad It Happened”: Posttraumatic Growth and Adaptive Outcomes in Low-Income Black Mothers Who Survived Hurricane Katrina , Emily E. Manove

Encouraging Toddlers with ASD to Request: An Exploration of Expectant Pausing and Engagement Strategies , Melissa P. Maye

Does Mindfulness Support Empathy? , L. G. Rollins

Exploring Perceived External Control as a Transdiagnostic Cognitive Process in Anxiety Disorders and the Investigation of a Brief Acceptance Intervention , Lauren P. Wadsworth

Mentoring as a Protective Factor for Youth with a History of Interpersonal Trauma Exposure , Elyssa Briann Weber

An Exploration of Mentoring Functions in the Context of Parental Relationships , Laura A. Yoviene Sykes

Dissertations from 2017 2017

The Challenge of Social Mobility: Habitus among Low-Income and Working-Class Students in Higher Education , J. Anna Bell

Risk, Resilience, Recovery: In Search of the Protective Factors of Mental Health , Victoria Choate Hasler

Cognitive Aspects of Children's Experience of Economic Disadvantage , Amy E. Heberle

Mothering Values of Black Student Mothers: A Grounded Theory Analysis , Sara A. Kaplan-Levy

Asian American Women Leaders' Strategies for Negotiating Intersectional Discrimination Related to Racism and Sexism , Fanny Ng

Young Children's Emotion Vocabulary and the Potential Influence on Emotion Regulation Ability , Marisa Murphy O'Boyle

Determined Wellness: The Influence of Mental Illness Models Upon Treatment Outcome Expectancies and Treatment Engagement , Francisco I. Surace

Dissertations from 2016 2016

Self-Reported Sexuality among Women with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) , Hillary Hurst Bush

The Power in the Pattern: Relationships between Out-of-School Time Activity Participation Profiles and Civic Engagement in Youth , Melody Joy Blass Fisher

The Influence of Mentor-Youth Activity Profiles on School-Based Youth Mentoring Relationship Processes and Outcomes , Stella S. Kanchewa

Experiences of Trust in Longer-Lasting Formal Youth Mentoring Relationships , Michelle Levine

Exploring the Effects of Cultural Protective Factors on Infant Development and Maternal Well-Being: A Transnational Study of Brazilian Mothers and Their Infants Living In Massachusetts and Minas Gerais , Fernanda Lucchese

The Roles of Early Intervention Providers’ Cultural Competence and the Parent-Provider Working Alliance in Early Intervention Service Receipt Outcomes of Diverse Children At-Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders , Frances D. Martinez-Pedraza

The Relationship to Internal Experiences Scale (RIES): The Development and Validation of a Self-Report Measure of Cognitive Fusion and Decentering , Shannon M. Sorenson

Evaluating the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ Test: Cultural Variations in Emotional Perception , Ashley-Ann Woodhull

Dissertations from 2015 2015

Patterns of Interaction within Parent-Child Dyads Affected by OCD and Anxiety , Catherine Kraper

Cultural Adaptation of In-Home, Community-Based Mental Health Services for Ethnic Minority Children and Families: Exploring Clinician and Family Perspectives on Effective Care , Esroruleh Tamim Mohammad

In the Face of Adversity: Valued Living and Decentering as Buffering Factors in the Relations Among Social Disadvantage, Psychological Distress, Drinking to Cope and Problem Drinking , Lucas P. K. Morgan

The Intersectionality of Racism and Sexism for Asian American Women , Shruti Mukkamala

Identifying Sensory Symptoms as a Diagnostic Indicator of Autism Spectrum Disorder , Timothy W. Soto

Individual and Dyadic Analysis of Cardiac Profiles in Response to Stress in a Longitudinal Sample of Infant-Mother Dyads , Akhila Venkatachalam Sravish

Dissertations from 2014 2014

Palestinian Refugee Family Trees of Resilience: Intergenerational Cultivation of Resistance, Return, and Perseverance, in Response to Israel State Violence and Occupation , Devin G. Atallah

The Relationship between Mental Health and Young Children's Academic Development: What We Can Learn From a National Sample of At-Risk Chilean Children , Katia M. Canenguez

Understanding the Impact of Violence on Early Language , Danielle Forbes

The Psychological and Social Processes through which Internalized Heterosexism Influences Psychological Distress in Sexual Minorities , Julia A. Puckett

Black Beauty, White Standards: Impacts on Black Women and Resources for Resistance and Resilience , Speshal T. Walker

Dissertations from 2013 2013

Experiences of Latina First Generation College Students: Exploring Resources Supporting the Balancing of Academic Pursuits and Family Life , Hercilia B. Corona-Ordoñez

Linking Universal Developmental/Behavioral Health Screening and On-Site Mental Health Consultation: Examining Gaps in Service Delivery , Leandra Godoy

Racism and Anxiety in a Black American Sample: The Role of Mediators and a Brief Mindfulness Manipulation , Jessica Rose Graham

The Impact of Emotion Regulation and Interpersonal Problems on Behavioral Dysregulation in a College Student Sample: An Investigation of the Mediating Role of Mentalizing , Kelly Graling

The Role of Caregiver Insight in Young Children's Violence Exposure: Testing a Relational Model of Risk and Resilience , Sarah A. O. Gray

Understanding Ethnic-Racial Socialization and Cognition among Multiracial Youth: A Mixed Methods Study , Susan A. Lambe Sarinana

Targeted Prevention of Childhood Anxiety: Engaging Parents in an Underserved Community , Nicholas D. Mian

Maternal Self-Efficacy and Perceived Stigma Among Mothers of Children with ASD, ADHD, and Typically Developing Children , Sara D. Rosenblum-Fishman

Youth Initiated Mentoring: Investigating a New Approach to Working with Vulnerable Adolescents , Sarah E. O. Schwartz

The Influences of Social Identities and Resource Competition on Blacks' and Asians' Social Distance: A Virtual World Method , John Tawa

Dissertations from 2012 2012

Latino Immigrants' Responses to Immigration Policy and Enforcement: Strengths and Resources Promoting Empowerment and Wellness in an Urban Setting , Celeste Atallah-Gutiérrez

Measuring Exposure in Natural Disaster: A Meta-Analysis, an Integrative Data Analysis, and a Multi-Wave Longitudinal Study of Hurricane Katrina Survivors , Christian S. Chan

The Role of Difficulties in Emotion Regulation in the Relationship between Experiences of Trauma , Kathleen Sullivan Kalill

Objectification Theory and Sexual Health among Women , Kara Lustig

Bereavement among Urban University Students: The Role of Meaning Making in Adjustment to Loss , Rebecca L. Norris-Bell

The Impact of Mindfulness on Exposure and Extinction Processes in Social Anxiety , Michael Treanor

The Role of Men's Friendships in Psychological Distress, Fear of Emotions, and Adherence to Masculine Role Norms , Liza Zwiebach

Dissertations from 2011 2011

Exploring Predictors of Well-Being after Exposure to Inter-Caregiver Aggression in Childhood: Examining the Role of Emotional Support and Emotional and Cognitive Processing , Cara Fuchs

The Social Negotiation of Ambiguous In-Between Stigmatized Identities: Investigating Identity Processes in Multiracial and Bisexual People , Vali Dagmar Kahn

Trajectories of Psychological Distress among Low-Income, Female Survivors of Hurricane Katrina , Sarah Ryan Lowe

The Ecology of Cognitive Training and Aging , Anya Potter

Expanding a Model of Female Heterosexual Coercion: Are Sexually Coercive Women Hyperfeminine? , Elizabeth Anne Schatzel-Murphy

Developing an Anti-Racist Stance: How White Youth Understand Structural Racism , Catharine R. Thomann

Functioning in the Face of Racism and its Uncertainties: The Potential Buffering Role of Values Clarification and Values Consistency in a Black American Sample , Lindsey Michelle West

The Expression of Nonviolence in Communication and its Relation to Physical and Mental Health: Development and Validation of a Coding System for Measuring the Expression of Nonviolence in Communication between Intimate Partners in Conflict Situations , Lissa Brett Young

Dissertations from 2010 2010

Understanding Revictimization: The Impact of Emotion Suppression, Acceptance, and PTSD Symptomatology on Risk Detection Abilities in Sexual Assault Survivors , Heidi M. Barrett-Model

Adopted Korean Women: Influences of Becoming a Biological Mother on Racial & Ethnic Identities and Cultural Orientations , Stephanie Carole Day

Psychosis-Proneness, Mindfulness, and Positive Emotional Experience: Examining Correlational and Causal Relationships , Shannon Marie Erisman

Unattainable Beauty: An Analysis of the Role of Body Shame and Self-Objectification in Hopelessness Depression among College-Age Women , Meredith A. Evans

Neuropsychological and Personality Predictors of Competence to Stand Trial: A Social Cognitive Perspective , Kristy L. Klein

Coping with Acquired Brain Injury through an Asian American Lens: Interrelationships between Collectivistic Coping and Psychosocial Outcomes , Patricia Happy Lee

Couples' Joint Activity and Perceived Relationship Quality: Exploring the Comparative Effects of Joint Community Service vs. Play , Michael J. D. Rollock

Dissertations from 2000 2000

Alternative Medicine and Mental Health: A Clinical Trial of Homeopathic Treatment for Depression , Fabiana G. Wallis

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Scholarship at UWindsor

Home > FAHSS > PSYCHOLOGY > PSYCHOLOGY_ETD

Psychology Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2024 2024.

Pathways from Childhood Sexual Abuse to Sexual Risk Behaviour in MSM: A Mixed Methods Study , Daniel Provenzano

Theses/Dissertations from 2023 2023

Bullying and Body Image: Body image disturbance in emerging adults with a history of bullying victimization , Rebecca Antonacci

The Self-Reference Effect on Memory Among 4- To 6-Year-Olds: The Role of Active Encoding and Cognitive Abilities , Alicia Nicole Bartlett

The Aphasia Friendly Business Campaign: Program Expansion and Evaluation , Julia Borsatto

Exploring the Relationship Between of Subjective and Objective Cognition among Older Adults Living in Canada , Astrid Dawn Coleman

Emotion profiles in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy: Early Observations Anticipate Treatment Outcome , Florencia Andrea Cristoffanini

Engagement, Satisfaction, and Positive Student Outcomes: The Most Prevalent Factors at Canada's Public Universities , Denise DeBlock

Revealing the Invisible Cage: Understanding Coercive Control through the Eyes of Survivors in the Era of COVID-19 , Chloë Elizabeth Eidlitz

Body Dissatisfaction and Depression: Investigating the Moderating Roles of Maladaptive Investment in Appearance and Rumination , Mallory Forward

Factors Influencing Post-Traumatic Growth in Emerging Adults with Chronic Medical Illness , Alana Marie Gyemi

The Role of Self-Talk in Regulating Public Speaking Anxiety in Ethnically Diverse Young Adults in Canada , Clare Denise Russell Hinch

Investigating Visual Vigilance following Chronic Behavioural Immune System Activation , Jessica Hurtubise

Effects of Discrete Emotions on Associative Memory Binding , Davin D. Iverson

The Association of Perceived Stress with Anxiety-related Symptoms during Use of the MindShift app , Emily Jerome

The Impact of Cognitive Reserve on Baseline Neuropsychological Functioning of Older Adults Without Dementia , Jarod Joshi

A Psycholinguistic Analysis of Neuropsychological Tests , Brette Lansue

Validating and Optimizing Performance Validity Cut-Off Scores in a Pediatric Sample , Malayna Malleck

ADHD Symptoms and Inattentional Blindness in an Undergraduate Sample , Katherine Rose Matchett

Mental Health, Sport-Related Concussion, and App-Based Mindfulness: A Pilot Study with Female University Student-Athletes , Taylor May McEachnie

Loneliness, Risk-Taking, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic , Rebecca Nurgitz

Academic Stress and Cultural Coping: The Moderating Effect of Heritage Language Proficiency on Well-Being in a Multilingual Sample , Noah Marcel Philipp-Muller

If It Walks Like a Duck…Is It a Duck?: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Differences Between Machiavellian and Non-Machiavellian Substance Users , Daniel Pillersdorf

Homelessness and Intimate Partner Violence: Women’s Barriers and Experiences With Accessing Formal Support Services and the Impact of Their Intersecting Identities , Marissa Marie Rakus

Student Financial Well-Being, Health Behaviours, and Social Participation: A Mixed Methods Study , Evan Ripley-McNeil

“A Very Resilient Bunch”: A Photographic Exploration into the Experiences of Women with Turner Syndrome , Kristin M. Schramer

Romantic Relationships in Young Adults: The Influence of Parents and Friends , Jenna Elizabeth Thompson

Associations Between Parent Stress, Parent Mobile Technology Use, and Parenting Behaviours on Children’s Psychological Functioning , Amy Wei Yan Tran

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

The Role of Objectification, Rape Myth Acceptance, Situational Context, and Gender in Individual’s Perceptions of Image-Based Sexual Abuse Victims and Perpetrators , Jewels Adair

" Move&Connect Caregivers: The feasibility of a virtual group-based intervention for caregivers of youth with persistent post-concussion symptoms" , Hiba Al Hakeem

Effects of Chairwork in Individual Psychotherapy: A Meta-Analytic and Systematic Review , Tabarak Baher

Coping During COVID: Child Technology Use and Coping During the COVID-19 Pandemic , Anissa Barnes

The Role of Disclosure and Social Support on Quality of Life in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) , Noelle Citron

#MeToo: Effects of Cyber Sexual Aggression Victimization on Women’s Health and Relationship Quality , Samantha Daskaluk

Embodied and Empowered: Evidence for Ashtanga Yoga as a Novel Intervention for Women with Disordered Eating , Nicole A. Dignard

The Influence of Semantic Neighbourhood Density and Concreteness on Episodic Memory for Single Words , Brinna Fougere

How Animal-Assisted Therapy Is Understood and Perceived by Health Care Providers and the General Public in Canada , Healey M. Gardiner

“You’re not my Leader.” The Impact of Gender and Ethnic Stereotypes on Leadership Evaluations , Arief B. Kartolo

Parenting Practices, Technology Use, and Preschoolers' Self-Regulation During COVID-19: A Thematic Analysis , Rachel Katzman

Effects of Social Isolation on Wellbeing: Undergraduate Student Engagement in Positive and Negative Coping Behaviours During the Coronavirus Pandemic , Krista L. Lucier MA

The Meaning of Words: For Richer or For Poorer , Susan Lutfallah

The Role of Companion Animals in the Lives of University Students During the Coronavirus Pandemic , Cindy Ly

Contributions of Social Support to Mitigate the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Pediatric Depressive and Irritability Symptoms , Alexandra Mactavish

Men High in Conforming to Masculine Norms have Less Intent to Practice Yoga: A Serial Mediation Analysis , Connor J. Motzkus

Understanding Men’s Use of Tactics in Sexual Coercion: A Network Analysis , Lennox Mou

The Effect of State/Trait Rumination on a Prospective Memory Task Delivered Remotely Using a Real-Time and Repeated Approach , Iulia Niculescu

The Impact of Food Allergy Education for Nursing Students , Aleksandra J. Redko

A Qualitative Grounded Theory Study of Black Canadian Mental Health Service Use , Renee Taylor

The Creation and Validation of the Coercive Control Screening Scale , Kathleen Wilson

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Predicting Recidivism versus Desistance in Adolescents with Sexual Offenses Using Tools Developed for Adults: The Static-99 and SAPROF , Meredith Awrey

Women’s Experiences of Self-Objectification and Sexualization and Their Impact on Attitudes Towards Online Sex Work , Storm Balint

Body Image Disturbance and Social Networking Site Behaviours , Alicia Marie Berze-Butts

Neurocognitive Profiles Associated with Limited English Proficiency in Cognitively Intact Adults , Maeme Adwoa Brantuo

Asian Canadian Therapists’ Experience and Coping with Racial Microaggression: A Qualitative Examination with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis , Yiu-Yin Chang

Good Risk or Bad Risk: Development of a Holistic Assessment of Risk Perception , Joan C. Craig

Therapist Effects on the Outcomes of Psychotherapy and Their Perspectives on Training , Chris Edmondstone

Understanding Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Aggression in Young Children: An Affective Dyadic Systems Approach , Lerna Hanceroglu

Moral Centrality Predicts Better Mental Health: Evidence for the Protective Effects of Integrating Agency and Communion , Joseph John Hoyda

Further Investigating the Predictors of Aggressive Driving: Vulnerable Narcissism, Implicit Self-Esteem, and Rebelliousness , Cassidy Kost

Pathological Personality Traits and Social Behaviour: Informant and Within-Person Variability Perspectives , Paige Brianne Lamborn

Victim Perpetrator Relationship Characteristics and Perceptions of Personal Sexual Assault and Coercion Experiences , Frasia Margaret Morrison

Control, Alter, and Delete: Investigating the Manipulation of Memory and Memorial Beliefs By Suspected Psychopaths in Interpersonal Relationships , Kendra Nespoli

Influence of Sexual Socialization, Gender Roles and Patriarchal Norms on Rape Myth Acceptance among South Asian Students in Canada , Dayanga Radeniya

The Association between Self-Reported Psychiatric Symptoms and Performance Validity Test Failure across Brain Injury Severity Levels , Alana G. Sabelli

The Role of Protective Factors in Relation to Attentional Abilities in Emerging Adults , Sanya Sagar

Think First: Examining Impulsivity among University Students , Antonette Scavone

The Role of Anxiety Sensitivity in the Etiology of Anxiety and Cognitive Symptoms of Eating Disorders , Rachel Small-Crevier

Social Contexts in Ethnic Identity Development: How Does it Affect Bicultural Stress Between Generations? , Carolyn Tran

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Barriers to Reporting Sexual Harassment: What Encourages Disclosure? , Emma Claire Bailey

A Hybrid Hypothesis for Understanding the Relation Between ADHD Symptoms, Facebook Use, and Social Distress and Loneliness , Shanna Deasley

Perception and Performance of Working Memory: Insights into Test Anxiety , Rebecca Grossman

Coping with Intergenerational Conflict Among Chinese Canadian Emerging Adults: Testing a Cultural and Contextual Model with a Mixed-Methods Approach , Siqi Huang

Distinguishing Appraisals of Memory Accuracy and Occurrence: A Functional Neuroimaging Study , Kassandra Helena Korcsog

Image-based sexual violence: Victim experiences and bystander responses , Michelle A. Krieger

What Trying to Forget Tells Us About Trying to Remember: A Link Between Associative Memory and Directed Forgetting , Brette E. Lansue Burns

What Do You See When You Look at Me? Social Media, Socialized Gender Variables, and Disordered Eating Among Adolescent Girls , Annamaria McAndrew

The Effect of Motivation Status on Performance Validity in Concussion Baseline Testing , Isabelle Messa-Hamidi

What Clients Say about their Single Largest Change in Treatment: Comparing Sudden Gains across Treatment Approaches and Phases of Therapy , Orrin-Porter Morrison

Aggression in Dark Personalities: The Role of Self-Esteem , Anastasia Skobkareva

The Role of Psychological Safety in Predicting Proactive Behaviour , Siddardh Thirumangai Alwar

Navigating Online and Offline Social Spaces: Interpersonal Relationships and Problematic Gaming Behaviour in MMORPG Players , Aranda Christine Wingsiong

Narrative Coherence of Child Maltreatment Memories in Adults , Na Zhu

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Performance Validity Testing for Individuals with Limited English Proficiency , Kelly An

The Influence of Coparenting Support on Fathers’ Involvement with their Children with Autism , Jason L. Bloom

The Aphasia Friendly Business Campaign , Julia Borsatto

Resolving Distressing Autobiographical Memories: The Role of Perspective in Imagery, Writing, and Self-Reflection , Chantal M. Boucher

The effects of an Internet-delivered mindfulness-based intervention on perceived stress, psychological symptoms, and emotion regulation , Molly Cairncross

Selfies On Social Media: The Role Of Appearance Contingent Self-Worth And Impact On Self-Esteem , Felicia M. Chang

Supporting Treatment Selection in Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Educational Workshop with Acceptance and Commitment Training , Brianne E. Drouillard

Therapeutic Benefits of Online Psychological Screening for Depressive Symptomology , Natalie Frost

An empirical investigation of Barriga’s mediational model of moral cognition and antisocial behaviour: Moral reasoning recognition versus response generation assessments in models for general delinquency and sexually coercive behaviours , Sarah Gardiner

Mapping Patterns of Restricted and Repetitive Behaviours and Media Use in Youth Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typically Developing Youth , Eric Gilliland

Social Information Processing Deficits, Intimate Partner Violence, and Coercive Control in Dating Couples , Jillian Glasgow

Rape Acknowledgement in the Context of the #MeToo Movement , Brandin Glos

Measuring the Flexibility of Delusion-Like Beliefs in Non-Clinical Samples: Development and Validation of the Windsor Belief Flexibility Scale (WBFS) , Bahar Haji-Khamneh

Help Seeking Behaviours of Adolescents in Foster Care: Multiple Perspectives , Emily Marie Johnson

The Role of Pornography Consumption in Intimate Partner Aggression/Violence in Emerging Adult Couples: A Prospective Longitudinal Study , Katherine Jongsma

Eye-Tracking Attentional Deployment: Emotion Regulation and Processing Visual Information in University Students , Abirami R. Kandasamy

Measuring Affective Processes In Traumatic Brain Injury , Eva Keatley

Exploring Causes of Academic Entitlement: A Mixed-Method Approach , Chelsea McLellan

Contributions of Emotional Competence to the Link between Childhood Maltreatment and Adult Attachment , Ashley Erica Mlotek

Page 1 of 14

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How to Write a Psychology Dissertation?

How to Write a Psychology Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Thriving in Your Academic Journey

Embarking on the journey of writing a psychology dissertation can feel like setting out to conquer an uncharted wilderness. You’ve taken countless courses, poured over numerous books, and spent long nights researching theories and experiments. Now, the culmination of years of study lies ahead, and the challenge feels both exciting and daunting.

What is a psychology dissertation, exactly? At its core, it’s a systematic and comprehensive exploration of a chosen topic in the realm of psychology. It’s a formal, written work that presents your original research and findings, acting as a testament to your scholarly competence and your contribution to the field.

Crafting a psychology dissertation indeed feels like moving mountains—an undertaking that requires a firm grasp of the subject matter, meticulous research, and adept academic writing. Understanding the “how to write a psychology dissertation” process begins with demystifying the task itself, breaking it down into manageable pieces, and realizing its nature within the field of psychology. It’s a mountain that can be moved. With the right knowledge, tools, and strategies, you can navigate this journey successfully, transforming your psychology dissertation from a looming mountain into a manageable and rewarding endeavor.

In this article, we’ll be your experienced guide, helping you understand the nature and structure of a psychology dissertation. We’ll outline the step-by-step process involved in writing your dissertation, provide a treasure trove of innovative dissertation topics in psychology for inspiration, and offer top tips to survive—and even thrive—during this process. So, lace up your academic boots and get ready for a journey that will not only shape your psychology career but will also hone your skills as a researcher and a scholar.

Laying the Foundations: Psychology Dissertation Structure

Structuring your psychology dissertation involves more than simply organizing chapters. It’s about creating a logical sequence of arguments, evidence, and conclusions that guide your reader through your research journey. To come up with the perfect structure for your psychology dissertation, you first need to understand the dissertation definition psychology uses—it’s a formal, extensive piece of original research on a specific topic in the field of psychology. Here’s how you can shape each of its key components:

• The Abstract of your dissertation should be a microcosm of your research. It’s a short yet comprehensive snapshot of your dissertation, serving as a trailer that entices readers to delve into the main feature.
• Your Introduction sets the stage, presenting your research question and clarifying its significance. The key here is to captivate your readers, piquing their interest and illustrating what lies ahead. It’s important to clearly set out your objectives, painting a picture of the destination at the end of the research journey.
• In your Literature Review , you wear the hat of a detective, sifting through previous studies related to your topic and identifying the research gap your study intends to fill. This section is your opportunity to show your comprehensive understanding of the research landscape.
• The Methodology section is where you share the blueprint of your research design. It’s important to detail your approach, including the participants, materials, and procedures used, ensuring that your study could be replicated based on this information.
• Next, the Results section presents your findings. The spotlight here is on the data, presented clearly and objectively, often supported with visual aids for easier understanding. Your analysis should be transparent, making it easy for your readers to connect the dots themselves.
• The Discussion allows you to wear the hat of a storyteller. Here, you interpret your results, draw comparisons with previous research, and create a narrative that links back to your research question.
• Finally, the Conclusion is your reflective moment, summarizing the research journey, the insights gained, and the implications of your study. It’s also here that you propose future research directions inspired by the strengths and limitations of your study.

Remember, a dissertation is akin to a carefully crafted story—your research story. Building it with a solid and clearly outlined structure not only helps you, the author, but also your readers, helping them understand your thought process, follow your research journey, and appreciate your scholarly contribution.

You might also be interested in How to Do an Appendix for Your Dissertation or Thesis

Climbing the Ladder: Sequential Steps in Writing a Psychology Dissertation

Understanding the structure of a psychology dissertation is the first stepping stone. The journey towards completing it in full may initially seem daunting, but breaking the task into digestible steps can substantially lighten the load.

• Picking a Relevant and Original Topic

The first step towards writing your psychology dissertation is selecting a suitable topic. It should be something you are passionate about, as it will keep your interest during the long research and writing process. It should also be original, meaning it either hasn’t been researched before or offers a new perspective on an existing topic.

• Conducting an Extensive Literature Review

Having pinpointed your subject of interest, it’s time to dive deep into the existing scholarly work. Knowing what’s already been explored and identifying the uncharted territories not only frames the context of your research but also highlights its significance by filling an identified gap in the current body of knowledge.

• Crafting a Strong Hypothesis

Based on your topic and literature review, you’ll develop a hypothesis or research question. This statement should be clear, focused, and answerable within the scope of your study. It will guide the rest of your research.

• Detailing Your Methodology

Next, you need to decide how you’ll answer your research question. This involves picking a research method, identifying participants or data sources, choosing measurement instruments, and planning your data analysis. Detailing your methodology with precision is crucial for the validity of your study.

• Collecting and Analyzing Data

With your methodology in place, you’re ready to collect your data. This step can vary greatly depending on your research method but often involves running experiments, conducting surveys, or gathering existing data. Once collected, you’ll analyze your data using appropriate statistical techniques.

• Discussing Your Findings

After analyzing your data, it’s time to interpret your results. Discuss your findings in relation to your research question and the existing literature. It’s also important to acknowledge any limitations in your study and suggest areas for future research.

• Referencing Properly: APA Style in Psychology

Throughout this process, you’ll be drawing on the work of others to inform your study and support your claims. Always be diligent in crediting these sources to maintain academic integrity. Within psychological academia, referencing and bibliographies adhere to the stylistic prescriptions of the American Psychological Association (APA).

Crafting a psychology dissertation is indeed a demanding endeavor, but breaking the process into manageable tasks prepares you to confront upcoming challenges and ultimately, to contribute a substantial piece of work to your field.

Inspiration Awaits: 50 Innovative Psychology Dissertation Topics

Before you gear up for the rigorous task of crafting a psychology dissertation, choosing a captivating topic that intrigues you and has the potential to add something new to your field is crucial. The joy of your dissertation journey is enhanced manifold when the topic strikes a chord with you. Given the wide range of psychology subfields, you have an abundance of choices. Below, we offer fifty innovative topics spanning diverse areas of psychology to stimulate your creative thought process. Our aim here is to spark your imagination and provide you with a collection of innovative psychology dissertation ideas, which will serve as a springboard for your unique research, or you can just go ahead and pick the topic that speaks to you from our list.

Broadening Perspectives: Clinical Psychology

• The Impact of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Anxiety Disorders
• The Effectiveness of Teletherapy in Treating Depression
• The Role of Resilience in Coping with Chronic Illness
• The Impact of Sleep Disorders on Mental Health
• Psychotherapy Approaches for PTSD in Military Veterans

The Enigma of the Mind: Cognitive Psychology

• The Influence of Multitasking on Cognitive Load
• Memory Retention Strategies for Alzheimer’s Patients
• Decision-Making Processes in High-Pressure Situations
• The Role of Attention in Learning and Retention
• Cognitive Biases in Financial Decisions

Delving Deeper: Developmental Psychology

• The Influence of Parenting Styles on Child Self-Esteem
• Effects of Bullying on Adolescent Mental Health
• The Impact of Screen Time on Child Development
• How Does Gender Identity Unfold in a Child’s Developmental Journey?
• The Role of Play in Cognitive Development

Bridging the Gap: Social Psychology

• The Impact of Social Media on Body Image Perceptions
• Prejudice and Discrimination: Factors and Mitigation Strategies
• The Psychology of Altruism: Why Do We Help Others?
• The Role of Empathy in Conflict Resolution
• The Effect of Stereotypes on Interpersonal Relationships

Inside the Workplace: Organizational Psychology

• The Influence of Leadership Styles on Employee Satisfaction
• Emotional Intelligence: A Key Ingredient for Success in the Workplace?
• Impacts of Remote Work on Employee Productivity
• Strategies for Reducing Job Burnout
• The Effect of Organizational Culture on Employee Loyalty

The Mysterious Unconscious: Psychoanalytic Psychology

• The Influence of Childhood Trauma on Adult Relationships
• Understanding Defense Mechanisms: A Modern Perspective
• The Role of Dreams in Psychoanalysis
• Freud’s Theory of Personality: Modern Applications
• Transference and Countertransference in Therapeutic Settings

The Mind-Body Connection: Health Psychology

• The Psychological Impacts of Chronic Pain
• The Role of Self-Efficacy in Managing Diabetes
• Coping Mechanisms for Patients with Terminal Illnesses
• The Influence of Stress on Immune Response
• Mental Health Outcomes of Weight Loss Surgery

Life’s Final Chapter: Geriatric Psychology

• Mental Health Challenges in Aging Populations
• The Influence of Social Networks in Promoting Healthy Aging
• Cognitive Stimulation Therapies for Dementia Patients
• The Psychological Impact of Retirement
• Depression and Anxiety in Elderly: Intervention Strategies

Bridging Species: Comparative Psychology

• The Study of Animal Emotion: Can Animals Feel Joy or Sadness?
• Comparing Problem-Solving Abilities in Different Species
• The Influence of Environment on Animal Behavior
• Inter-species Communication: Myth or Reality?
• Studying Animal Behavior to Understand Human Psychology

Into the Unknown: Parapsychology

• Exploring Reports of Near-Death Experiences
• The Psychology Behind Belief in Paranormal Activities
• The Impact of Extra-sensory Perception (ESP) Beliefs on Anxiety Levels
• A Study on the Popularity and Psychological Impact of Astrology
• Analyzing the Effects of Hypnosis on Pain Management

Whether you’re captivated by cognitive processes, intrigued by interpersonal dynamics, or fascinated by the underpinnings of abnormal behavior, these topics offer a launching pad for your exploration. Remember, the best dissertation topic is one that excites your intellectual curiosity and aligns with your career aspirations.

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Surviving and Thriving: Top Tips for Navigating Your Psychology Dissertation Journey

Embarking on your psychology dissertation is a substantial endeavor that requires not only intellectual effort but also strategic planning, emotional resilience, and diligent self-care. Here are ten tips to help you navigate this journey smoothly:

• Start early. The sooner you begin, the better. Start thinking about your dissertation topic well before it’s due. Early planning gives you plenty of time for thorough research, careful writing, and thoughtful revision.
• Choose a topic you love. Passion for your topic will fuel your research and keep you motivated during the lengthy writing process. Choose a topic that excites your intellectual curiosity and aligns with your career aspirations.
• Develop a work plan. Create a realistic timeline for your dissertation, breaking down the process into manageable tasks. Regularly update and refine your plan as you progress.
• Assemble a support team. Your supervisor is an invaluable guide, but don’t forget to build a broader support network. Seek out peers, mentors, and even professional support like writing consultants or tutors.
• Embrace the research process. Be prepared for unexpected findings and potential roadblocks. They are part of the research journey. Embrace them as learning opportunities that refine your problem-solving skills.
• Write regularly. Make writing a daily habit. Even if you only write a few sentences a day, this regular practice will keep your project moving forward and reduce the chance of writer’s block.
• Practice self-care. Burnout is a real risk during the dissertation process. Remember to prioritize self-care. Regular exercise, a healthy diet, adequate sleep, and mindfulness practices can all help maintain your mental and physical well-being.
• Seek constructive feedback. Regularly share your work with your supervisor and trusted peers. They can provide fresh perspectives and constructive criticism that help improve your dissertation.
• Cherish minor milestones. Each stride you make, irrespective of its size, is a step in the right direction. Recognizing these small achievements can lift your spirits and keep you fueled with determination.
• Keep the end goal in sight. Always remember why you’re undertaking this journey. Whether it’s to further your career, contribute to the field, or simply for the love of psychology, let your end goal be your guiding light.

Remember, the dissertation journey is not a sprint but a marathon. Embrace the process, nurture your resilience, and know that every challenge faced is an opportunity for growth.

Embracing the Journey: Making Your Psychology Dissertation an Achievable Endeavor

We completely understand that plunging into a psychology dissertation can seem like embarking on a voyage across an endless sea. It can be strenuous and, at times, tediously repetitive, but don’t lose your bearing. Your destination is there, even if it’s not immediately apparent.

This colossal endeavor, while daunting, is a remarkable landmark in your academic journey and a testament to your resolve, grit, and intellect. Granted, the journey is lengthy, strenuous, and at times, it will stretch your endurance. However, bear in mind that the most formidable journeys often end with the most gratifying outcomes.

When the dissertation journey seems too steep, remember why you chose this path in the first place – your passion for psychology, your quest for knowledge, and your desire to make a meaningful contribution to the field. Hold onto these motivations when the going gets tough.

If you find yourself cornered at times, don’t be hard on yourself. It’s an inherent part of the journey. Esteemed scholars have also experienced hurdles and unexpected shifts in their plans. When that happens, as it probably will, don’t hesitate to ask for assistance. Your advisors, peers, and a myriad of online platforms can serve as your navigational guide, leading you through these challenges. Additionally, maintain vigilance over your physical and mental health during this daunting yet exciting academic journey.

Regular respites, physical exercise, balanced nutrition, and sufficient rest can immensely contribute to sustaining your drive and concentration. Remember, every single step you take, regardless of its size, nudges you closer to your objective.

With tenacity, resilience, and the right network of support, this formidable project will progressively morph into an attainable goal. As you progress, your expertise in your chosen topic will broaden, and you will glean precious revelations about your own capacities and fortitude.

Embarking on the task of writing a psychology dissertation is utterly demanding, but it’s a task well worth tackling. So, inhale deeply, keep your eyes fixated on your goal, and march forward with bravery and resolve. You are capable of this!

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