PSYC 217 CH. 2 Where to start

Resources for finding Research Articles

- Library databases - the internet - google scholar - wikipedia

research hypothesis

A statement about something that may or may not be true, informed by past research or derived from a broader theory, and is waiting for evidence to support or refute it. If very little or no research has been conducted previously on a topic, a researcher might choose to conduct purely exploratory research that is not aimed to test a hypothesis.

What to Expect in a Research Article: Abstract

A summary of the research report. It typically runs no more than 120 in length. - includes information about the hypothesis, the procedure, and the broad pattern of results.

Meaning Maintenance Model

A broad theory that offers a single way to explain a vast array of research findings spanning developmental, social, clinical, personality, and cognitive psychology. - *meaning* is defined as a collection of mental representations that allows a person to understand their experiences. Offers parsimony to psych literature: rather than un-parsimoniously pursuing dozens of theories, MMM posits that the basic process underlying various phenomena *is the same*; regardless of whether one is considering schema development, cognitive dissonance reduction, coping with trauma, or the need for cognitive closure. MMM also meets two major criteria for a theory - organizes a vast array of past research findings as examples of a common meaning-maintenance phenomenon, and - triggers new questions.

theory

a system of logical ideas that are proposed to explain a particular phenomenon and its relationship to other phenomena. - a scientific theory is grounded in, and helps explain, actual data from prior research, and it specifies numerous hypotheses that are consistent with the broader theory. These specific hypotheses can then be tested through further research to help evaluate the broader theory. Serves two important functions: - *organize and explain* a variety of specific facts or descriptions of behavior. Such facts/descriptions are not very meaningful by themselves, and so theories are needed to meaningfully relate them to each other. - *generate new knowledge* by focusing our thinking so that we notice new aspects of behavior. Theories help us generate many hypotheses about behavior, which are then evaluated in studies.

parsimony

if multiple theories are equally successful at explaining the same phenomenon, the rule of parsimony dictates that the *least* complex theory is the most desirable, because it's the easiest to falsify. - the theory with the fewest links among variables is better because it is easier to entirely falsify than is the theory with many links.

participants

refers to the people who participate in research projects. - aka *subjects* The APA recommends using *participants* when describing humans who take part in psychological research. *respondents* is used to refer to people who take part in survey research. *informants* to refer to people who help researchers understand the dynamics of particular cultural and organizational settings.

What to Expect in a Research Article: Results

the researcher presents the findings, which have been based on statistical analyses. The results are often presented in three ways: - there is a description in narrative form (researchers try to avoid interpreting these results so that the readers can evaluate them for themselves; comments about what the results mean are typically reserved for the discussion section) - the results are described in statistical language that reflects the analyses that were conducted to test the hypothesis, usually at the end of the narrative sentence. - results are often summarized in tables and/or graphs.

What to Expect in a Research Article: discussion

the researcher reviews the current study from various perspectives. - if the results support the hypothesis, the author should give all possible explanations for the results and discuss why one explanation is superior to another. - if the hypothesis isn't fully supported, the author should give all possible explanations for the results and discuss why one explanation is superior to another. - the researcher also discusses how the results compare with past research results on the topic

Sources of Research Ideas: Theories

Much research in the behavioral sciences tests theory - Research may reveal a weakness in a theory when part of it is not supported by evidence. - Theories often are modified as new research defines their boundaries.

peer review

Once a research has written a paper, it is submitted to for publication to a professional journal. The editor will then solicit reviews from other scientists in the same field and will use these reviews to decided whether the report is to be accepted for publication - to ensure high standards in the quality of research conducted, most papers are rejected. Once accepted for publication by a journal, these reports are considered *primary sources*.

predictions

Once a research hypothesis is stated, it is time to design the specific study to test it. Then performance on these tasks is measured to assess whether crowding affected performance. - After designing the study, the researcher would translate the more general hypothesis into a specific *prediction* concerning the outcome of this particular experiment - predictions are often stated in the future tense because they are referring to the specific study that is about to be conducted.

Uses vs. Cautions of using Google Scholar

Useful for: - Exploring topics fairly broadly within books, dissertations, peer-reviewed journal articles, patents, etc. - Setting basic search limits - Accessing some full-text articles - Finding some references to journal articles for database searches. - Learning some important terminology for a new area of study - finding sources for multidisciplinary topics Caution: - need to be on campus/have an account for full-text links. - results include all disciplines - cannot set advanced search limits. - can be difficult to find peer-reviewed journal articles amid dissertations and books. - citation counts are unverified and can be falsely inflated - not monitored for accuracy.

Uses vs. Cautions of using Internet

Useful for: - exploring a topic very broadly (e.g. blog posts, magazine articles, videos, etc.) - Finding researchers' websites for original articles and their full publication records. Caution: - Cannot set advanced search limits (e.g. to limit to peer reviewed articles) - Can be difficult to find peer-reviewed journal articles amid broad, general search results. - not monitored for accuracy

Uses vs. Cautions of Library Databases

Useful for: - finding specific articles - setting advanced search limits - reliable cited reference searches - complete, searchable bibliographic details. - trusting that the database is monitored for accuracy - accessing many full-text articles when connected to campus library - Learning disciplinary jargon. Cautions: - hard to access if you don't have a login or aren't on campus. - knowing important terminology in your topic is important

Uses vs. Cautions of using Wikipedia

Useful for: - learning some important terminology for a new area of study - finding some references to journal articles for database searches Caution: - not monitored for accuracy - entries often have greatly limited or absent references. - not considered an acceptable source for most research papers and assignments.

Sources of Research Ideas

- Questioning common assumptions - Observation of the World Around Us - Practical Problems - Theories - Past Research

Citations

Names and dates at the end of some of the sentences. These citations serve as a short form for the full reference, which is listed alphabetically. - found in the references section at the end of the report. - the purpose of citations in academic writing is to signal readers that the idea or result described in that sentence was stated or found by the people cited, not the current author. - Writers in the psychology and other sciences tend to paraphrase others' work instead.

Sources of Research Ideas: Observation of the World Around US

Observations of personal/social events can lead us to develop intuitions about the world. - taking a *scientifically skeptical* mindset because we push these intuitions to fuel research ideas. e.g. Intuition we gain from part-time jobs/volunteering positions, claims made in books/media e.g. Keenly obseving the world can help people take advantage of *serendipity*. Like when Pavlov discovered classical conditioning while he was actually trying to study the digestive system in dogs.

What to Expect in a Research Article: Method

Provides information about exactly how the study was conducted, including any details necessary for the ready to *replicate* the study. It is often subsections. - characteristics of the participants - details of the procedure (it's important that no potentially crucial detail to be omitted while describing stimulus materials presented to the participants, the way participants' behavior was recorded, etc.) - -

Sources of Research Ideas: Questioning common assumptions

Questioning common assumptions that people make to explain the world. Testing widely held assumptions is valuable because they don't always turn out to be correct, or research may show that the real world is much more complicated than our assumptions would have it. Conducting research on common assumptions often forces us to go beyond a common-sense theory of behavior.

Sources of Research Ideas: Practical Problems

The purpose of applied research is to address practical problems; - the very existence of those real problems can trigger a research project idea. Researchers who tend to conduct more basic research may also draw inspiration from societal problems

What to Expect in a Research Article: Introduction

The researcher outlines the problem that has been investigated. Past research and theories relevant to the problem are described, a gap in the existing knowledge is identified, and the current study is introduced as an attempt to fill this knowledge gap. - the investigator introduces the research project by building a logical case that justifies why this study and the expected results will make an important contribution to understanding behavior.

Sources of Research Ideas: Past Research

Virtually every study raises questions that can be addressed in subsequent research. As you become familiar with the research literature on a topic, you may notice inconsistencies in research results that need to be investigated, and you may want to study alternative explanations for the results. -this may lead you to propose a new theory to account for existing results and spur new ideas.

What to Expect in a Research Article

When a scientist has research results or a new theory to share with the scientific community, it is time to write up a report to submit for publication in a professional journal. Across all sciences, research articles that report the results of one study usually have six major sections: - an abstract - an introduction - a method - results - a discussion - references