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Back to Positive Psychology: Character, Grit and Research Methods

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Positive Psychology: Character, Grit and Research Methods by University of Pennsylvania

4.4
stars
1,127 ratings

About the Course

Learners discover how apply to research methods to their study of Positive Psychology. In this course, we study with Dr. Angela Duckworth and Dr. Claire Robertson-Kraft. Through an exploration their work "True Grit" and interviews with researchers and practitioners, you develop a research hypothesis and learn how to understand the difference between internal and external validity. You also begin to understand and apply the strengths and weaknesses associated with different types of measurements and evaluation designs. You then interpret the results in an empirical study. Suggested prerequisites: Positive Psychology: Martin E. P. Seligman’s Visionary Science and Positive Psychology: Applications and Interventions....

Top reviews

SM

Oct 21, 2022

An extremely well developed course about not such a simple topic ir research methods. The instructors broke the topics down into easy to learn bytes such that an interested learner can complete easily

RW

Dec 27, 2019

Though i have nightmares of research design from my undergraduate career, this puts a neat spin on it and reminds the sheer importance of it. Thanks for the reminder of what is important UPENN!

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276 - 300 of 329 Reviews for Positive Psychology: Character, Grit and Research Methods

By Jonathan P

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Aug 30, 2020

This course was an interesting way to teach research design and analysis while at the same time teaching some substantive concepts of positive psychology. However, the course has some major design flaws. Many of the course videos seem to be out of order: some videos discuss readings before they are assigned, or state that the unit will include further videos that have already been showed. In addition, the peer-review assignments are poorly explained: for a few of them I wasn't even sure what they were looking for or what the grading criteria were until I had the opportunity to review other students' work.

By Andrea W

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Jan 24, 2022

Although I did learn a lot and feel like I have a better understanding of how to be a critical consumer of research, this course had a few pain points for me. The instructor went way too fast when explaining concepts and it was hard to keep up. I found myself pausing and rewinding the videos very often to make sure I grasped the concepts she was discussing. The videos jumped around too much between the instructor, Angela's course on Grit, and the interviews. The course felt piecemeal and disconnected. I understand how each aspect of the course related to each other, but it was lacking a cohesive flow.

By Paralee K

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Dec 11, 2017

The quality of the content text of links to other internet sites was subpar in comparison to the other courses in this series and not expected in a course for which a certificate is given.

The rubrics for the assignments were nonexistent up front. Only after submittal were the rubrics visible-- during the peer assessment section. Descriptions of the expectations for the assignments were more vague than the assignments in this series of courses. I wasn't sure how long and detailed to make my responses.

The reading demands were relatively intense.

By Liew L Y

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Mar 6, 2020

I liked the discussions on Grit, Self control, Character. The videos like all the others in the Pos Psy Coursera courses are very interesting. Both Claire and Angela did a good job. Whilst the knowledge on Research Design, Methods, Analysis were very relevant to school the consumer of PP research, I must say it was a tad bit technical for my liking and very heavy on the reading. Let's just say it took a lot of Self control and maybe even Grit'-ting of teeth to complete the course. Phew! Though thank you all the same!

By Drea H

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Jul 23, 2019

It generally was a good course, but a bit too theoretical for my taste. The idea that one will be a critical consumer of academic papers and studies in the field of positive psychology was a good idea. But it would have been better if one did not only explain basic concepts but really explained the study "True Grit". Because even after the course and understanding the aims of the study, I was not able to interpret the tables in the article completely. One need way more knowledge of statistics for that.

By Daria K

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Apr 14, 2020

This course is very good if you want to learn about statistics. I had all of these during my studies so these parts weren't needed for me. They are well prepared but I hoped that exercises will be connected with grit or character not with statistic things... But I need to say that both Claire Robertson-Kraft, Ph.D. and Angela Duckworth, Ph.D. are very good lecturers. The grit and character parts were the most interesting for me.

By Deanne S

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May 17, 2021

I struggled through this course, Kraft-Robinson's lectures were bland and mind-numbing, unfortunately. Duckworth's lectures were more interesting. I felt that the materials (how to read a research article) covered in week 4 should have been covered in the first week. Also, while knowing how to thoughtfully consume a research article is important. I would have rather heard more from Duckworth on how to implement grit.

By dawn a

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Jun 2, 2020

This was my least favorite of the courses so far. The positive aspect is that Dr. Duckworth and Dr. Robertson-Kraft are highly knowledgeable psychologists, and I learned from their expertise. The part of the course that taught about grit and character was excellent, however the research methods aspect was tedious and boring. I had to harness all the grit I could muster to get through it.

By Gianna B

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Oct 15, 2017

Although highly necessary, research methods is a dry subject. This was my first experience traversing experimental design. I am extremely happy with the knowledge I gained in understanding and designing experiments. I learned how "gritty" I was by my attempts to understand and complete the cumulative assignment. I recommend this course to anyone who is serious about pursuing research.

By Valentin

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May 29, 2019

I have learnt on Statistics and research methods but I think carácter issur shoudl be enhanced on this course. It was teo much oriented on demonstrate that grit improves performance. Not sure about the added value of this particular. It was good to explain the research results but not the intrinsic subject of character.

By Ines B

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Mar 7, 2020

I appreciated very much Claire Robertson-Kraft's videos, as she is very well-structured and they were filmed in a good setting. I did not appreciate Angela Duckworth's videos: they were filmed in the context of classes in the university, the sound is terrible, and I find her line of thought quite messy.

By Tarmala C

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Dec 23, 2019

Would like to have learnt more about grit than research methods. I already have 2 degrees with significant research components so of no interest to me. Found the subject tedious. Although necessary, do it as a stand alone subject so people can choose. I felt duped. Only enjoyed videos with Angela.

By Oktay

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Dec 30, 2019

-The sections about "Grit" are to short

-Research methods is a general topic which is well prepared, but it should not be part of such a specialisation, maybe better to put at the beginning of all the specialisation or making an additional course about research methods would make sense.

By Thomas N

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Sep 21, 2021

Given the technical nature of the subject matter, I thought it deserved more and better explanation. I learned a lot but some of it I never understood. Given my review of the assignments of other students, I believe they were more confused than I was about many of the concepts.

By sridhar l

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Feb 23, 2019

Material on GRIT was informative and insightful, however the research information was too academic and only relevant to those focusing on research, a better and more detailed description would have helped me course 3 and only focus on the other 4 for this specialisation.

By Stephanie G

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May 29, 2019

It felt like they were trying to combine two courses into one (Character/Grit & Research Methods). I would love if this was broken out into two courses, especially because the learnings on grit were minimized by the focus on research methods.

By Lydia O

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Aug 16, 2018

I really didn't love this course as much as I loved the rest of the certificate program. It was a lot of social science 101, and while perhaps neccesssary for critical science literacy I just wasn't as compelled by the material.

By TEDDI M D B

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May 18, 2020

I wasn't a fan of Angela Duckworth's presentations. She was often turned away from the camera, and it didn't feel like I was in the room the way I did when Dr. Seligman presented or during the presentation on Resilience.

By Auli K

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Jun 28, 2020

It's nice to know, but lacking crucial information, as qualitative methods have only been scratched on the surface. The whole course is about quantitative methods and analyses. Mrs. Duckworth's lectures are pure ace!

By Silvia C P

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Jun 2, 2020

The structure of this course and Mrs. Claire explanations are very didactic. I missed lessons from Mrs. Angela directed for this course and not some takes interacting with students of another program.

By Wolfgang P

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Feb 12, 2020

The videos of Angela have not the same quality than all the others of the positive psychology moduls. For sure the content is good, but her style of teaching is hard to follow.

By Brenda A

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Sep 29, 2020

This part of the specialisation was a bit more difficult to comprehend and to find was of making relevant to my work.

By Jonas W

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Nov 5, 2019

Good content, research aspects are rather "dry" took me ages to complete. Note: I am not a research type of person.

By Georgeta P

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Jul 11, 2017

this course was pretty scattered. Too much focus on research and not enough on grit application.

By Andrea

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Jan 1, 2018

It's an interesting course, but quite repetitive sometimes and not very well organised.