Project Description
Everyone who is writing a master's thesis at PSI must write a project description. This outlines the project you intend to carry out and makes you aware of the considerations, shortcomings, and obstacles the task may have. The Work and Organizational psychology and HUS have a course in the 2nd semester that is designed to help develop a project description (PSY4401B and PSY4521).
- Template for project description: Procedures for research projects at PSI/Student projects
- Master's: Must submit the project description by 15th September, 3rd semester (The project outline submitted in PSY4401B and PSY4521 for work and organizational psychology and HUS will count as this submission. However, it must be resubmitted if you have changed the project or made significant alterations to it.)
- Professional studies: The project description should be prepared by the student and approved by the supervisor. This replaces the previous practice of submitting a signed form ("Approval of project description for PSYC6100 - Thesis") to the study adviser as done previously. (PSYC6100 course page)
- The supervisor approves the project description by registering the task/project in ForskPro within the deadlines set for the study program (see table, we have to make a table). Registration in ForskPro should occur automatically when the Sikt assessment is available, otherwise, it must be registered by the supervisor
Data Management Plan
Describes the purpose and value of the project and the data being collected, ensuring that the data is stored in a secure and responsible manner.
When completing a data management plan, there are several factors specific to your project that you need to familiarize yourself with. What storage options are available? How will audio recordings be taken? Where will the files be stored? How should they be stored? This is the information you will need to provide in a data management plan. It may be helpful to review the timeline on the front page and make these decisions before or during the preparation of the preliminary documents.
Here is PSI's own template for a Data Management Plan
For more information, please refer to:
- PSI's guidance for completing a data management plan
- UiO’s employee pages - Data management plan
- Sikt's website on Data management plan
Informational Letter and Consent
An informational letter contains all relevant information that participants should know before giving their consent to participate. You can create this letter using a template available on websites such as Sikt and REK. Remember to use the template that aligns with the legal basis you have for processing personal data.
More information about information letters and consent:
- Information for participants in research project Sikt (with templates)
- Consent form and information letter
Consent:
After the participant has reviewed the content of the information letter and still wishes to participate, you can collect their consent. There are several options for obtaining consent:
- You can collect consent through an online form.
- Oral consent: Sikt has recently approved oral consent, where you record the participant verbally giving their consent (can take the form of a pre-written paragraph, it can be included in the informational letter) and save the file in a separate folder in TSD.
- Written, digital consent: You send the information letter and consent form to the participant and have them digitally sign it. It can be safely stored in a separate folder in TSD, but make sure to delete any copies of the document that may have been stored on personal computers or other locations outside of TSD.
- Written, physical consent: The consent form can either be a part of the information letter or on a separate sheet. They are printed out, and the participant signs them by hand before the interview. Physical consent forms can be digitally stored in TSD through the Nettskjema-Bilde mobile app. Afterward, you can destroy the physical forms.
Read more about consent on the Sikt’s website. The information letter should be included as an attachment in the master's thesis.
Interview Guide
If you are conducting an interview, you need an interview guide. An interview guide is a plan for what the interview should be about and how it should be conducted.
An interview guide can be structured, semi-structured, or open. In a structured interview, the conversation is planned and largely led by the interviewer.