Abstract

VALARINO, Elizabeth; MENESES, Rocío; YABER, Guillermo  and  PUJOL, Lydia. VEINTE AÑOS DE INVESTIGACIÓN EN LOS TRABAJOS DE GRADO DE MAESTRÍA EN PSICOLOGÍA DE LA UNIVERSIDAD SIMÓN BOLÍVAR. Investigación y Postgrado [online]. 2001, vol.16, n.2, pp.73-102. ISSN 1316-0087.

The analysis and comparison of the Master´ theses of psychology at Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela in a period of 20 years is presented. Master´ theses were classified in six areas (Clinical, Counseling, Social, Industrial, Educational and General Psychology). The model describes who, what, how, and when each psicology thesis was done through an analysis model with 22 variables. Results showed productivity improvement across time, in the quantity and the quality of the research as well as the prevalence of the experimental studies using inferential statistics. The theorical approach is varied, according with the speciality, but predominates the behavioral. Questionnaires were the instruments applied by more master’s students to collect the data and Female researchers were predominant. Undergraduate higher education was the context of most of the studies, without financial support. The majority of studies focused on the emotional and social characteristics of students while the role of the psychological counselor was rarely studied. The analysis model of the investigations has been validated in different areas of psychology, and it is a valuable analysis resource that could be extended in the future to other disciplines in the social sciences.

Keywords : Graduate education; Psychologic research; Theses.