Richard D'Amelio, who graduated Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) in 2018, has had his Psychology dissertation published in PSYPAG Quarterly, a postgraduate peer-reviewed journal.
Working alongside his dissertation supervisor Dr Thomas Dunn, Richard's research examined the validity of the Santa Barbara sense of direction scale as a measure of spatial orientation.
Richard’s experiment involved having participants estimate (via pointing) the direction of various landmarks, with examples including the BGU Library, Lincoln Cathedral, London and France, whilst located in a windowless room on BGU's campus. His findings revealed an interesting systematic bias in pointing accuracy which was dependent on the participant's gender.
Speaking following the publication Richard explained what drew him to the study:
“It is incredibly rewarding to see the research featured in a peer-reviewed journal. I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of sense of direction and our ability to navigate the environment (or not), so I thoroughly enjoyed applying the knowledge gained during the course of my degree to this area of study.
However, the successful completion of the project was only made possible by the experience, professionalism, and advice offered by my academic supervisor, Dr Thomas Dunn, in addition to the high quality tuition delivered by the Psychology team at BGU.”
Dr Thomas Dunn, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at BGU, was equally full of praise for Richard’s efforts:
"I am delighted that the quality of Richard's work has been recognised and resulted in a peer-reviewed publication. This was an interesting project to work on with Richard and is reflective of the high standard of research that can be achieved by students at BGU"
Please click here, if you would like to read Richard's article.
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