Doing a psychology degree: an analysis of newly recruited student accounts

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Doing a psychology degree an analysis of newly
recruited student accounts

• Jodi Wallwork, Sarah Mason, Bere Mahoney
  University of Worcester

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Introduction

• Student beliefs, knowledge, ability
• Haggis (2003) accessibility and lifelong
  learning
• Perry (1968 1970) certainty uncertainty
• Gamache (2002) personal knowledge structures
  thinking and action
• Dahl et al (2005) knowledge beliefs affect
  learning

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Purpose of the research

• Psychology undergraduates metacognitive beliefs
  about nature of psychology and studying
  psychology at university across three year
  programme
• Conceptual framework
• Schommer (1990 1993) knowledge and learning
  system
• Cano (2005) metacognitive development
• Methodological framework
• Focus groups (open-ended questionnaire)

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Method

• Qualitative open-ended questionnaire focus
  groups
• Focus groups year 1
• N4 (5 per group)
• A-level/matures, female/male
• Semi-structured schedule
• Audiotaped, transcribed

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Analysis

• Framework
• broadly, discourse analysis (e.g. Billig, 1987
  1991 Potter Wetherell, 1987 Potter Edwards,
  1996 Wetherell, 1998)
• discourseaction, making sense,
• Procedure
• All considered 4 transcripts thematic analysis
• consistencies/contradictions
• Framework developed all considered again
• Final more detailed analysis 1 researcher

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Analysis

• Students understandings about psychology
• Students expectations about the studying process

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What is psychology?

• Applications
• Pathology
• People fixing
• Focus on the individual

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• P1 it can go the way to sort of solve
  problems really sort of the social sort of
  background and things um like mob behaviour and
  things like that and er .hhh er so er think
  football hooligans for instance yknow you got
  like a couple of people who sort of influence
  the yknow sort of actions of yknow dozens of
  people (.) that sort of thing you can sort of
  look at problems like that sort of kind of look
  for a solution (.) same as things like er sort of
  biological sort of thing uh if someones had a
  stroke or something their behaviour will change
  but (.) its like being in a car accident and
  someones had brain damage but that sort of
  thing and (.) yknow sort of solutions to
  problems within ourselves and in our behaviour
  and how we interact with other people
• I lots of yes going (.) agreement going
  on are you sort of
• P2 mm yeah
  
• P3 yeah it is yeah total agreement yes the
  individual problems and social problems (.)
  treating phobias as well as um crowd control

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P4         and I think having a degree or erm
you know because I may actually this may
become my major, this is why I've gone part
time you know, erm, is having some kind of
influence in changing the ways erm, people,
especially people I think probably with
problems, you know how theyre ill, how the
approach towards them, you know, their life,
their quality of life can be improved really,
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• P1 I think with psychology being used in the
  wrong way as well I think if you understand
  erm, conforming and obedience and everything
  you can manipulate people to do things they
  don't want to do, in an extreme case like erm,
  Hitler like thing, erm he obviously knew how to
  present himself and his ideas to encourage
  everybody else like he was doing the right
  thing. In the wrong hands in the wrong group and
  the wrong person he could really do some damage
  like if they understood how to make people like
  conform into groups.

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Studying psychology

• Contradiction
• Excitement of exploring a fascinating subject
• Negative constructions of independent learning

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• P2 well, at first I was a bit apprehensive taking
  the subject at A-Level because I didn't like
  things where you couldnt say that this is a
  fact and this isn't, but I thought I'd give it a
  go and now I really like that because you can
  make up anything you want to and as long as you
  can prove it in some way then you actually have
  a basis, and I think it's really fun, just make
  up what you want and try and find something to
  back it up
• P1 There's no right or wrong, if you disagree
  with someone's idea you're perfectly welcome to
  say well I disagree, I've done research and this
  is my evidence towards it, I think my opinions
  will count, whereas if you did that in any other
  subject like English or Science, you can't say
  I disagree 'cause they go tough, that's what it
  is

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• P1 a chance to actually do some experiments
  yourself or um sort of time spent in the lab
  doing something um something practical rather
  than just sort of reading all the time and to
  have sort of hands on experience of (.) um (.)
  interviewing people like me huh hu
• general laughter
• P1 looking through a one way mirror yknow
• I mm
• P1 watching people do stuff an yeah sort of
• I right
• P2 we we do get to do a bit of our own

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• P3 it's quite daunting actually
• P1 at university you have to teach yourself quite
  a bit of reverse psychology, I don't want to go
  out and drink I don't want to go have fun I do
  want to stay in and do my work. It doesn't
  seem to work too well but I think it could get
  there

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Why this contradiction?

• Independent leaning equates to first hand
  observations
• Impatience with reading and theory

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Conclusions

• Dispel myths early in the first year
• Accommodate myths early in the first year
• Integrate myths