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Postgraduate study by research

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At present, we offer the opportunity to gain a postgraduate degree by research at MSc, MPhil or DPhil level. Study can be on either a full-time or a part-time basis. The minimum periods of study for achieving these research degrees are shown below.

	Minimum period of full-time study	Minimum period of part-time study
MSc	1 year	2 years
MPhil	2 years	4 years
DPhil	3 years	6 years

Specific projects that we would be happy to supervise immediately include:

Developmental Psychology

Conceptual change
Children's mental models of natural phenomena
Misconceptions of scientific theory and practice (in both children and adults)
Science learning in schools
Science teaching in schools
Methods of investigating children's knowledge

Music Psychology

Expertise in sight-singing music:
Expertise in any domain requires practice and involves the use of specific cognitive strategies. Research on sight-singing has suggested a number of factors involved in pitching sung notes, such as memory, reading intervals, the presence of other musical lines, and an understanding of tonality. This project would extend the existing research by carrying out a number of experiments on expert and less expert singers. (Note: this project could be extended to instrumental sight-reading.)
Sung text intelligibility:
A great deal of music is sung, and an important aspect of perceiving sung music is the extent to which the words can be understood. There are no doubt differences between understanding speech and sung words. This project would investigate a number of factors thought to affect the intelligibility of sung text, based on a previous exploratory survey questionnaire study, in a set of controlled experiments.
Factors affecting music reading
Effects of background music on various behaviours / cognitive abilities
Factors affecting the understanding of sung text
Gender and musical instrument playing as a function of experience

Cognition and Perception

Expertise and strategies in cryptic crossword completion:
Expertise in any domain requires practice and involves the use of specific cognitive strategies. An exploratory survey of expert cryptic crossword solvers has shed light on their solving habits and the role of motivation, but not really tackled the cognitive strategies involved. This project would investigate the cognitive aspects of cryptic crossword solving in experts, including looking at the role of group work when people solve crosswords together. Methods would include controlled experiments on anagram solving, clue recognition and solving, and completing part-answered clues, as well as the use of online verbal protocols during crossword solving.
Expertise for problem solving
Time estimation and processing
Stroop effect in music reading
Working memory and dual task performance

Educational Psychology

Dyslexia
Provision of special needs accommodations throughout education
Effects and perceived benefits of special needs education post-education

General areas that we would be happy to supervise projects in include:

Evolutionary psychology, particularly intergenerational conflict
Psychology of religion
Questionnaire design
Object recognition and naming
Reading for meaning in literary texts
Discourse, authorship and readership
Role of shame in counselling, therapy and education

More information about staff research interests can be found on the staff page.

For further details of entry qualifications please contact the Admissions tutor for Psychology .