MAELD5900 Master Thesis Course description

Language of instruction: Norwegian/English

Under supervision, the students will conduct an independent research or development project, or a literaturestudy. Students can choose to write the master’s thesis individually or in pairs. On application, large, interdisciplinary innovation projects can be written in groups of up to four students. Students can also apply to write the master’s thesis with students from other specialisations if they so wish, provided that the scope of the master’s thesis is the same. If more than one student work on the master’s thesis together, each student’s contributions must be documented. The thesis can be written as a monograph or as a scientific article on a specialised topic.

Development of the project description in preparation for the master’s thesis is part of the course MAVIT4070 Research Design and Project Description, 10 ECTS credits.

All compulsory courses in the programme must be passed before the student can submit their master's thesis for assessment.

This course will provide a nuancing of various principles of behavior and relate these principles to the understanding of complex human behavior.

On successful completion of the course the student has the following learning outcomes classified as knowledge:

Knowledge

The student can

• describe and discuss radical behaviorism as a philosophy of science
• describe and discuss important aspects of verbal behavior
• describe and discuss verbal governance and contingency shaping of behavior
• describe and discuss principles involved in joint Control
• describe and discuss important aspects of stimulus equivalence
• describe and discuss the naming hypothesis
• describe and discuss Relational Frame Theory
• describe and discuss problem-solving, thinking, remembering, and higher-order classes of behavior

Skills

The student can

• analyze variables influencing complex human behavior

In the BSCA specialisation, campus-based lectures, discussion from readings, exercises and Interteaching are the main teaching methods. Literature from the curriculum for the Interteaching sequences are announced at the university’s digital learning platform. In the BSII specialisation, the main teaching method is digital course sequences, and feedback on details of course content, and supervised discussion groups will be available during pre-determined time periods. Feedback on written assignments is used in both specialisations.

Individual home examination, 5 hours. Exam questions are in English. Students may submit their exams in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.

All

Grade scale A-F

All examinations are assessed by an internal and an external examiner. The student's supervisor cannot be an examiner for the master's thesis.