Chapter 2: Where to Start

Hypothesis

a tentative answer to a research question; tentative idea or question

Theory

consists of a systematic body of ideas about a particular topic of phenomenon; grounded in data from prior research and multiple hypotheses

Meta-analysis

research technique to analyze the results of a number of studies using statistical procedures

Literature reviews

summaries of previous on a particular topic

Prediction

directly testable, and includes specific variables and methodologies; a deliberate guess at the answer to the hypothesis

Research question

first step in designing and conducting a research investigation; a good research question must be specific so that it can be answered with a research project; a description of the broad topic of study

PsycINFO

a searchable, online database that provides brief summaries of the scientific and scholarly literature in psychology