Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Final Master's Degree Project
Other languages of instruction: Catalan, English
Teaching staff
Students may contact both the subject coordinator and their tutor by e-mail.
Introduction
The Final Master’s Degree Project (TFM) involves carrying out an original project in which the students integrate, apply and build upon the knowledge, skills and attitudes acquired during the master's programme. This work therefore has a unifying nature, since it mobilises the set of general and specific competences associated with the master's degree.
The TFM must address relevant topics in the area of knowledge of Psychology and may take different formats: a quantitative or qualitative research project, study of clinical cases, development of an intervention or training programme, development of tests or scales, systematic review of the literature, etc. The topic will be proposed by the student and agreed upon with the tutor.
The TFM will be done individually under the guidance of a tutor, who will be assigned to the student based preferably on their experience with the line of research or methodology covered in the TFM, and who will act as a catalyst and facilitator of the learning process.
Pre-course requirements
There are no prerequisites to enrol in this subject
Objectives
The main objectives of the TFM are to reinforce and integrate the knowledge acquired during the master's degree of clinical matters and research methodology, as well as to promote critical and reflective thinking based on the scientific method.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- CB10 - Students should have learning skills that allow them to continue studying in a largely self-directed or autonomous manner.
- CB6 - Have and understand knowledge that provides a basis or opportunity for the student to develop and/or apply original ideas, often in the context of research.
- CB7 - Students should be able to apply their knowledge and ability to solve problems in new or little-known environments, within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to their area of study.
- CB8 - Students should be able to integrate their knowledge and cope with the complexity of formulating judgements based on information that, being incomplete or limited, includes reflection on the social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgements.
- CB9 - Students should be able to communicate their conclusions and the knowledge and arguments supporting these conclusions in a clear and unambiguous manner to specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- CE18 - Design, develop and, if necessary, supervise and evaluate psychological intervention plans and programmes, based on psychological evaluation and the individual and social concurrent variables and apply it in different contexts (private, primary care, community, and crisis and emergency situations).
- CE2 - Apply the fundamentals of bioethics and the method of deliberation in professional practice, aligning their practice as a health professional to the provisions of Law 44/2003, of 21 November, on the organisation of the healthcare professions.
- CE4 - Analyse critically and use clinical information sources.
- CE5 - Use information and communication technologies in professional practice.
- CE7 - Formulate working hypotheses in research and collect and critically evaluate information to solve problems, applying the scientific method.
- CG1 - Ability to use the different information and communication technologies in professional performance in the clinical and healthcare field.
- CG2 - Formulate working hypotheses in research and critically assess information to solve problems, applying the scientific method in the clinical and healthcare field.
- CT4 - Connect knowledge in a critical, synthetic and rigorous way in the clinical and healthcare field.
- CT5 - Analyse work done in a critical and constructive way, valuing the strengths and weaknesses in the practice of their profession.
- CT9 - Ability to integrate psychological knowledge and developments in the practice of their profession.
Learning outcomes of the subject
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
- Perform bibliographic searches in different databases
- Understand scientific articles and know how to analyse them critically
- Determine the most appropriate methodology for the research question
- Design an original research project
- Adequately evaluate the results of any study
- Discuss the results within the framework of current knowledge
- Present a research project in writing, in a rigorous, clear and precise manner
- Effectively defend the research project before other researchers
Syllabus
The contents of the TFM subject will be taught by the tutors and the TFM coordinator. Tutors will provide individual methodological support to students throughout the TFM writing process. The coordinator of the TFM subject will carry out face-to-face group tutorials throughout the TFM process on topics of common interest to students.
The main contents covered in the course are:
˗ Types of TFMs: quantitative research project, qualitative research project or systematic review.
˗ Literature search: main data sources.
˗ Presentation of the background/theoretical framework and justification of the study.
˗ Operationalisation of the research question, hypothesis and objectives.
˗ Time feasibility of the project: schedule.
˗ Foundation and writing of the methodology and ethical aspects.
˗ Data analysis.
˗ Writing of the results.
˗ Discussion and conclusions.
˗ Presentation of a research paper.
Teaching and learning activities
In person
The TFM is essentially a project carried out autonomously by the student, who receives support from the tutor in individual tutorials and from the coordinator of the TFM subject in group seminars.
The tutorials may be face-to-face or online depending on the availability of the tutor and student and the class hours. The student is responsible for contacting the tutor to schedule the tutorials. The tutor will guide the student’s work and monitor their progress. Over the course of the master's programme there will be five individual tutorials lasting approximately 60 minutes, with the exception of the fifth tutorial, which may be a group session at the discretion of the tutor, as the aim of it is to rehearse the oral defence.
The tutor, in addition to guiding the student during the tutorials, will supervise the student during the writing process, providing comments for improvement. The student will send each chapter of the work to the tutor by the previously agreed deadlines and in accordance with the calendar proposed by the coordinator (which is available on Moodle). Tutors will not accept submissions during the week prior to the submission date of the written work.
Group seminars will be conducted on-site and consist of the presentation of relevant and necessary information to carry out the research work. Six one-and-a-half-hour seminars will be held during the course.
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
The project shall be assessed using assessment rubrics that standardise the assessment criteria. The TFM mark will be the sum of the marks from the written TFM (60%) and the oral presentation (40%). The mark of each of the three members of the jury will have the same weight when determining the final mark. To pass the course, students must earn a mark of at least 5 on both the written project and oral defence. The assessment criteria are identical for the two sittings.
The "Honours" distinction, which recognises student excellence, will be proposed by the tutor and/or the jury. The TFM coordinators will award this distinction based on the criteria provided by the evaluators. The coordinators reserve the right not to award this distinction, and it may not granted in the second sitting
Students who commit plagiarism or copy (more than 30% of the work copied from bibliographic sources) will fail the TFM subject for the sitting in which the work is presented. In addition, the TFM tutor will decide whether a project may be defended, depending on whether it meets the minimum requirements to be considered quality academic work. Specific submission dates:
1st sitting-TFM Deposit November 18th 2024 - defenses December 4th and 5th 2024
2nd sitting-TFM Deposit January 7th 2025 - defenses January 22nd 2025
Bibliography and resources
Baldwin, S (2017). Manual de Publicación de la Asociación Americana de Psicología. Washington DC : American Psychological Association.
Carmelina Paba Barbosa, Zuany Luz Paba Argote, David Felipe Vega Villa, & Guillermo Augusto Ceballos Ospino. (2021). Normas para la presentación de informes finales de investigación y artículos científicos: incluye citas y referencias bibliográficas según Normas APA de la 7a. edición (1st ed.). Editorial Unimagdalena. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2cmr939