Research & Ethics (ResEthics) Proposal Process for all Master's & Doctoral Programmes

• The Professional Master’s in Clinical, Counselling and Research Psychology programmes consist of two parts, namely; coursework and a mini-dissertation (each component contributes 50% towards the degree)
• The Academic Master’s and Doctoral in Psychology programmes (research only) focus on completing a research dissertation or thesis
• All students in these programmes have to complete a research proposal that has to be accepted by the Faculty of Humanities Research Ethics Committee

• Once an applicant is accepted/selected for the programme applied for, a supervisor will be assigned.
• Students can start developing a proposal on the official full proposal template with the supervisor’s guidance, as soon as registration has been completed.
• The Full Research Proposal Template has guidelines included in the template and needs to be read in conjunction with the Reader Evaluation Form (guides students about the information required in the proposal).
• The student and supervisor collaborate on the proposal until the supervisor is satisfied that the student can proceed to the next step.
• All students need to complete the Memorandum of Agreement for Academic Supervision of PG Students within two months of registration.

1a. Links to Official Forms and/or Templates:

• Memorandum of Agreement Form for Academic Supervision of PG Students (to be completed by both the Student and Supervisor)
• Full Research Proposal Template - Revised_Apr2024
• Proposal Reader Evaluation Template Form - Revised_Apr2024 
• Participant Information Sheet Template - Revised_Apr2024
• Written Consent Form Template - Revised_Apr2024
• Record for Oral Consent Form Template - Revised_Apr2024
• Permission Letter(s) from the place/organisation/institution where research will be conducted (if applicable)

• Visit the library's "Research Guide" webpage for research assistance

• Refer to the Reader Evaluation Template above in point 1a
• The supervisor will submit your proposal to the Departmental Research Committee (ResCom)
• ResCom allocates two readers who have to complete the Reader Evaluation Form within two (2) weeks and send it back to ResCom
• The student and supervisor receive the readers’ comments, implement the changes, and indicate how the reviewers’ comments were addressed on the Reader Evaluation Form
• The student then submits the proposal and Reader Evaluation Form back to ResCom, who will distribute the replies to the original readers
• The readers will indicate their decision on the form, and if positive, the student may proceed to the next step

• ResCom will communicate via email the outcome of the second round of reading to the student and supervisor(s)
• If the proposal is accepted unconditionally or with minor revisions, the student may then continue to the online presentation stage. In the event of major revisions, the proposal will have to undergo the reader evaluation again until a satisfactory outcome is reached
• The presentation is done on the Google Group Platform, and the proposal/presentation is available for 5 working days
• Students need to email the PowerPoint presentation and the research proposal to ResCom on the Friday before the week of their presentation
• Please name the presentation and proposal appropriately to display the following: “Surname_Name_uStudentNumber_Degree_Title_VersionDate” e.g.: "Howard_Anne_u12345678_MAPsych_The_egg-in-face_Syndrome_15Mar2024”

• Preferably a voice-over presentation
• Restricted to slide guidelines (PowerPoint requirements)
• PowerPoint slides must be restricted to the following number of slides and/or topics:
  • Title Slide (Title, Student Name, Supervisor Name, Degree)
  • Problem Statement
  • Rationale/Justification
  • Brief Background (if not yet mentioned)
  • Research Method
  • Design
  • Sample
  • Data Collection
  • Analysis
  • Ethics

• Students and supervisors will receive a final notice from ResCom on the outcome of the presentation
• If approved, students prepare and submit all documents (proposal, permission letters, consent letters, instruments and the MoA) on the online Faculty Ethics system
• The Faculty Research Ethics (ResEthics) Committee convene once a month to consider proposals/ethical applications
• Students and supervisors will be advised of the outcome and, if necessary, will be requested to make further changes

• Humanities Ethics Application Guide for Student Users
• Humanities Ethics Application Guide for External Users
• Approved Student Proposal (template in point 1a)
• Memorandum of Agreement for Academic Supervision of PG Students (template in point 1a)
• Participant Information Sheet Template (template in point 1a)
• Written Consent Form (template in point 1a)
• Record for Oral Consent Form (template in point 1a)
• Permission Letter(s) from the place/organisation/institution where research will be conducted (if applicable)