Chapter 2 - Where to Start

Steps of the "key article" method

- choose an article that was published sufficiently long ago to allow time for subsequent related research to b conducted and reported - search for the subsequent articles that cited the key articles - identify a key article that is relevant to the topic of interest

Reviewing Scientific Literature

- cumulative record of knowledge gained from scientific investigations - ideas and theories often revisited and revised based on new data - imperative for researchers to clarify and refine new research ideas - design studies - place their studies into larger context

Methods

- describe key aspects of the study in detail - organized into subsections: research design, subjects/participants, materials, procedure, data analysis - more subsections may be necessary depending on the complexity of the study and experimental materials - GOAL: provide enough detail to allow others to critically evaluate the methods and independently replicate the study

Practical Problems

- identify a practical problem and design a study to acquire information on how to best address the issue

Research Questions

- identify and describe general area of scientific inquiry - guide the development and execution of research to answer those questions - should be specific enough to develop a hypothesis and make specific predictions

Peer-Review process

- intitial submission by author - editor's initial review: desk reject, solicitation of anonymous reviews by other experts - evaluated by several reviewers - reviews sent to authors w editor decision, reject - authors revise the paper and resubmit - accepted for publication or rejected

Introduction

- introduces/outlines the topic or problem under study - describes the current state of knowledge of the topic/problem - general description of the purpose of the current study - formal statement of hypothesis predictions - GOAL: organized to show how previous research and theory relate to the current investigation and expected results

Previous research

- may be the best way to generate research questions - research projects often raise more questions than they answer - identify gaps or inconsistencies in the scientific literature/topic

References

- must provide detailed references for all studied cited in the body of the research article - allows others to find original sources cited in the article

two key functions of theories

- organize/explain facts or descriptions of behavior - generate new knowledge by helping to focus thinking

Library resources

- psychological research: Sarah Vaughn - online resources available

Hiearchy of scientific inquiry

- research question - hypotheses - predictions

Online Databases

- reviewing every issue of every volume of every journal to find what you need is impractical - PsycINFO - PubMed - Google Scholar - Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)

Results

- the findings - described in 3 ways: narrative form, statistical outcomes, data shown in tables/figures - dont be intimated by the statistical language: important area to think critically about BUT..knowing about the statistics is not necessarily required to understand the outcomes - GOAL: clearly communicate results of the study

If result are contrary to the prediction

- the hypothesis is NOT supported - fail to reject null hypothesis (H0)

If result of study confirm the prediction

- the hypothesis is supported - rejected null hypothesis is supported - retain alternative hypothesis

Common sense

- things we all believe to be true - testing "common sense" ideas is often beneficial because these ideas may not be correct - must rely on empiricism to make assertions about the way things are

Peer-reviewed journals

- where scientific investigators publish their research findings for others to read, evaluate and reference - known as "periodicals" - published a few times a year - each issue contains different types of reports: original research reports, review papers, commentaries, editorials

Predictions

A more specific guess about the outcome of testing a particular hypothesis

Respondents

Individuals who participate in survey research

Participants

Individuals who take part in a research study - the terms subjects is also acceptable to describe humans participating in research

Theory

a systematic body of ideas about a particular topic or phenomenon - more than just an idea (a hypothesis) - often modified as new information from investigations emerge to define the scope of the theory

General Structure

abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, bibliography

Hypothesis

an untested idea or question in need of evidence (data) to support or refute (falsify) it

Five soruces of ideas

common sense, observation, theories, previous research, practical problems

Null hypothesis (H0)

no difference between conditions

Observations

seeing things happen in the world around you can lead you to formulate research questions - personal experiences, social events

Alternative hypothesis (H1)

there is a difference between conditions

Research Article: General Structure

- Research articles have a relatively consistent organization and structure across various journals - benefits of organizational structure: ensures important information is included, allows readers to find key information

Abstract

- brief summary of resarch article - typically no more than 120-250 words - describes the purpose and/or topic or problem under study - states the hypothesis - describes the general methods and procedures - general conclusions

Discussion

- briefly remind readers the purpose of the study and what was done - describe and interpret the primary findings: what happened & what does it mean? were the hypothesis supported by the data? - place results in context of previous research: are current findings in agreements or contrary to previous findings? - what are potential implications of the findings - limitations of study - general conclusions/recommendations for future research - GOAL: help the reader understand what the findings mean and how they fit with extant literature

Informants

Help researchers understand complex dynamics in cultural and organizational settings

Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)

Includes behavorial and social science such as sociology and criminal justice

Science Citation Index (SCI)

Includes biology, chemistry, biomedicine, and pharmacology

PsycARTICLES

Includes full-text scholarly articles and is mantained by the American Psychological Association (APA)