Overview of Options:

 either

(1) a year-long capstone project supervised or co-supervised by a member of the Psychology Faculty.

 or

(2) capstone by coursework, comprised of two advanced courses that include a substantial research component.

Both options satisfy the capstone requirement for an Honours degree at Yale-NUS.

Both options are eligible for the Psychology capstone prize.

The year-long capstone project offers students the ability to design, conduct, and report original research, creating a substantial piece of scholarly work. Students taking this option will enroll in the Psychology Capstone Seminar in Year 4, Semester 1. The capstone by coursework option is designed for students interested in deepening their knowledge of particular subject domains that are already covered through existing courses available at Yale-NUS.

For either option, the capstone requirements are in addition to other major requirements. That is, a given course cannot count towards the major requirement (e.g. a 3000-level lab course) and the capstone. Another 3000-level lab course would need to be taken in this case.

All Psychology students will be expected to make a public presentation of their research at the poster presentation event held at the end of the second semester. Other arrangements, such as a presentation to fellow students and the instructor or a talk in another public setting, will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Option 1: Year-long Capstone Project

Each project must have a substantial empirical component that involves quantitative data analysis. The collection of original data involving human subjects is encouraged, though other approaches (e.g., using a secondary data set if data collection for a topic of interest cannot be feasibly carried out due to contextual or timeline limitations) are also possible. Any topic in Psychology that is agreeable to the student and supervisor(s) can be selected for a capstone project. The project should be feasible, meaning it a) can be answered in the available research period, b) has data or research materials that are accessible, and c) uses a methodology the student can be reasonably expected to master at the undergraduate level within the available time frame. Most projects will also require ethical clearance, either from the Yale-NUS College Ethics Review Committee (CERC) or the NUS Institutional Review Board (IRB).

The final product should be in the range of 6,000 to 10,000 words (excluding abstract, references, tables, and figures), in the form of a research thesis.  The ideal length should be discussed with the thesis supervisor, and would depend on the complexity of the topic, the number of studies, graduate school requirements, etc. The report should include an abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion along with a bibliography. The thesis should use formatting guidelines from the APA and use APA conventions for statistics, citations, and references.

The capstone project includes assessment of four components:

• A write-up of the question, background literature, proposed methods, and proposed analytical approach. Due at the end of Semester 1.
• A presentation during the capstone seminar in Semester 2.
• The capstone supervisor’s assessment of the process, including independence, resourcefulness, creativity, and navigation of challenges.
• The write-up itself. This final product will be graded by both the supervisor and one additional Faculty member.

Option 2: Capstone by Coursework

The capstone by coursework option involves two 5 Units semester-long advanced research courses, both normally taken in the senior year, one course per semester. By default, all 4000-level courses offered in the Psychology major, as well as all 3000-level Psychology lab courses, count towards the requirement. Under exceptional circumstances, and subject to capstone coordinator and HoS approval, a course offered at NUS, a course taken during one’s third year, a course taken during semester abroad, or a 3000-level independent study course (Special Project in Science) can count towards the capstone requirement. If the course involves examination by faculty outside Yale-NUS, the HoS or capstone coordinator will designate a Yale-NUS Psychology Faculty member to read the key assignment(s) produced for the course in order to confirm that the course meets our capstone requirements.