Research Methods in Psychology Chapter 4 Smart Book

Arrange the steps of the basic strategy that can be followed while doing a thorough search of the scientific literature in the correct order of occurrence.

1 Obtain one or more relevant articles. 2 Examine the reference section or bibliography of each article to identify older sources relating to the topic. 3 Ensure that no additional relevant articles can be found by repeating two other steps. 4 Identify more recently published sources that cite the sources that have been already identified. 5 Ensure that there are no gaps between the newer sources and the ones previously obtained.

Basic research

Aimed toward building information about phenomena

Applied research

Aimed toward problem-oriented research

During statistical analysis of data in a psychological research, what is the accepted minimum level of statistical significance?

Alpha=.05

Identify the steps involved in critically reading and analyzing research literature according to the Cornell University Library.

An initial appraisal A careful analysis of content

A nonrefereed journal

Articles in it may be published in the order in which they were received.

Identify a way through which theories can lead to the development of research questions.

By allowing a researcher to predict the behavior expected under new combinations of variables

Identify the questions that need to be asked while evaluating the introduction to a research report

Do the hypotheses logically follow from the discussion? Are the hypotheses testable?

Identify the steps of the basic strategy that should be repeated in the third and fifth steps when conducting a thorough search of the scientific literature.

Examining the reference section or bibliography of each article to identify older sources relating to one's topic Obtaining one or more relevant articles

When is a research question probably important

If its answer will clarify relationships among variables that affect the behavior under study

Identify an advantage of using paper or poster sessions at a convention

Information from these sources is from the very frontiers of research.

Identify a limitation of using a computerized database

It has terms that are used more broadly in the indexed material than anticipated.

PsycARTICLES

It indexes articles appearing in selected journals published by the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Canadian Psychological Association.

PsycINFO

It indexes journals, books, dissertations, and other sources relevant to psychology.

PsycNET

It is closely integrated with the American Psychological Association's Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms.

Identify a true statement about the computer database, JSTOR.

It is not the best search engine for specific topics in psychology.

A refereed journal

It is usually reviewed by two or more reviewers

Identify a true statement about the references section of a research report/paper

It lists the citations in the body of a report.

Identify the three criteria a question must meet in order to be objective.

It must be able to make the observations under precisely defined conditions. Observations must be reproducible when the same conditions are present again. Observations must be confirmable by others.

Identify a true statement about the terror management theory proposed by Solomon, Greenberg, and Pyszczynski.

One develops a variety of strategies to cope with one's mortality as a way of managing terror.

Identify the different research tools available for scientific research in psychology offered by the American Psychological Association (APA).

PsycNET PsycINFO PsycARTICLES

Identify the sources of systematic observation of behavior.

Published research reports A researcher's own previous or ongoing research

Identify the final section of a research report.

References

Identify the sections that can be combined in a standard psychological journal in an APA-style format.

Results and discussion

Which of the following statements reflects the feelings of feminists who believe that one should not only acknowledge that values enter into science but also use them to evaluate all aspects of the research process?

Science should be used to foster social change.

Why are editors reluctant to accept papers in which results fail to achieve the accepted minimum alpha level of .05?

These results stand a relatively high chance of being due to random factors rather than the variables being assessed.

Identify a true statement about scholarly journals.

They appear periodically over the year in monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly issues.

How can theories be a rich source of research ideas?

They are designed to account for known relationships among given variables and behavior.

Identify a true statement about anthologies as a source of research information.

They are most valuable in the early stages of the literature search.

Secondary sources of information

They do not usually present detailed descriptions of methods used in the cited studies.

Identify a disadvantage of defining variables operationally.

They restrict the generality of answers obtained.

Primary sources of information

They tend to be characterized by technical language that makes it a daunting task to read them.

True or false: A question is unimportant if the answer can support only one of several competing models or theoretical views.

This is false. A question is probably important if the answer can support only one of several competing models or theoretical views.

True or false: Findings that do not make sense within the currently accepted framework are considered as breakthroughs and novel in nature.

This is false. Findings that do not make sense within the currently accepted framework are suspect.

True or false: An individual will always be able to infer the causes of observed behavior from his or her casual observations.

This is false. Rarely will an individual be able to infer the causes of observed behavior from his or her casual observations. One can only infer such causes through a careful and systematic study of the behavior of interest.

True or false: Unexpected observations made by a researcher during the course of a project or the need to test the generality of a finding cannot form the basis for further research.

This is false. Unexpected observations made during the course of a project or the need to test the generality of a finding can be the basis for further research. A potent, systematic source of research ideas is a researcher's own previous or ongoing research.

Identify three reasons for conducting a literature review

To keep oneself up to date on current empirical or theoretical controversies in a particular research area To address important design questions To revise one's research project to explore some of the newly identified questions

When does a research question become unimportant?

When there is no a priori reason to believe that the variables in question are causally related

Suls and Martin suggest that using anonymous reviewers might encourage them to be overly critical of a paper due to lack of _____.

accountability

When determining whether to accept or reject a paper for publication, editors and reviewers must assess the degree to which the findings described in the paper contribute to the

advancement of knowledge

One drawback to paper and poster sessions at a convention is that they

are expensive to attend

Anthologies are useful sources of research information because they

assemble papers that an editor believes are important in a given area

The method section of a research report is a set of directions for

conducting a study

When reading a journal article, a researcher must think of himself or herself as a(n)

consumer of research

The results section of a research report presents the

data of the study

An operational definition of a variable involves

defining a variable in terms of the operations required to measure it

A question that can be answered with objective observation is called a(n) _____.

empirical question

Scientists typically allow values to interfere in the research process when they

endeavor to define what is "right" based on research findings

A question is probably unimportant if its answer is already

firmly established

If different scientists have replicated a research finding and agree that the finding does occur under the stated conditions, it means that the answer is

firmly established

JSTOR provides access to abstracts and allows a researcher to download a full version of an article

free of charge in a number of different formats

The method section of a research report describes precisely

how the study was carried out

A tentative statement relating two or more variables that a researcher is interested in studying is known as a

hypothesis

Developing a testable hypothesis and defining the specific methods to be used to test the hypothesis is the next step after

identifying a research idea

Research papers that report anomalous findings and do not build on the existing structure of knowledge in the field are said to be

inconsistent with previous knowledge

The most fundamental library research tool for doing a literature search is a(n)

index

Questions that check if an author had correctly represented the results from previous research and whether the author clearly states the purposes of the study and the nature of the problem under study should be asked during the evaluation of the_____ section of a research report.

introduction

Systematic observation of behavior is different from unsystematic observation in that systematic observation

is planned

Hypothesis development is an important step in the research process because

it will drive a researcher's later decisions concerning the variables to be manipulated and measured in the study

The process of locating, obtaining, reading, and evaluating the research literature in your area of interest is known as a(n)

literature review

The analysis in which a researcher statistically combines or compares the results from research in a particular area to determine which variables are important contributors to behavior is known as a(n)

meta-analysis

Suls and Martin point out that even though reviewers are supposed to be experts, they may lack expertise relating to the

methods and issues within a field

The question, "Does God exist?" is not answerable by scientific means because _____.

one cannot find the answer through objective observation

When a computer database finds every reference that includes a researcher's keywords or when the terms are used more broadly in the indexed material than anticipated, it is suggested that the researcher uses a(n) _____ to identify a more useful keyword.

online thesaurus

A source of research finding where researchers present their research, usually within a 15-to 20-minute time period, omitting details of methodology is known as a(n)

paper session

When the materials to be published or presented are reviewed by experts in the area that the material covers, it is known as a(n) __ __ process.

peer review

Paper sessions are usually simultaneously conducted in different rooms, while a(n) __ __ is a presentation format in which a presenter prepares a poster that is displayed on a bulletin board at a convention.

poster session

A source of research information containing a full research report, including all details necessary to duplicate the study, is known as a(n)

primary source

A source of research information that includes descriptions of the rationale of the study, its participants or subjects, materials or apparatus, procedure, results, and references is called a(n) _____.

primary source

Applied research, or the need to solve practical complications, is

problem oriented

The results from any inferential statistical tests applied to the data are presented in the

results section

Identifying and familiarizing oneself with research already conducted in one's area of interest in order to develop a testable hypothesis and define the specific methods to be used to test the hypothesis is known as

reviewing the literature

For current research and theories regarding a subject, researchers should turn to

scholarly journals

The first step in developing a workable research project is by asking the kind of question that one can answer with the

scientific method

A source of research information that summarizes information from primary sources, such as presenting the basic findings, is known as a(n)

secondary source

Meta-analysis is a type of

secondary source

Sources of research information that include review papers and theoretical articles that briefly describe studies and results, as well as descriptions of research found in textbooks, newspaper articles, television programs, or lectures are known as _____.

secondary sources

Students rely heavily on secondary sources of information rather than primary sources because

secondary sources help in saving time

As compared to a refereed journal, the information in a nonrefereed journal is

sketchy and incomplete

Beginning with a summary of the major findings of the study, the discussion section of a research report is followed by the author's interpretations of the data and a(n)

synthesis of the findings with previous research and theory

Perusing research projects that are being run on the Internet is a form of _____.

systematic observation

The discussion section of a research report usually begins with a summary of

the major findings of the study

A research question is probably unimportant if _____.

the variables under scrutiny are known to have small effects on the behavior of interest

A set of assumptions about the causes of behavior and rules that specify how those causes act is known as a(n) _____.

theory

Journals nowadays insist that a paper should report a series of experiments or at least a parametric study involving several levels of

two or more variables

If observations about bird migration lead to some general questions regarding the factors that cause migration, then they are examples of _____.

unsystematic observation

In the peer-review process, the experts receive a copy of the materials and do a thorough review of the content, after which they recommend to the editor of the journal

whether to accept or reject it