Conventions of Published Research

Question 1

What is an abstract?

Answer 1

• A summary of the study covering the aims, hypothesis, method, results and conclusions.

Question 2

What is an Introduction?

Answer 2

• Paragraph outlining what a researcher intends to investigate.
• Often is a review of related research, providing the background to the study to be conducted.

Question 3

What is the aim?

Answer 3

• What the researcher intends to study in their experiment.

Question 4

What are the hypotheses?

Answer 4

• These are testable statements that outline what the researcher thinks the research is going to show.

Question 5

What is the method?

Answer 5

• The overall method, e.g., lab exp. –> Includes info about the:
• Research Design
• Sample
• Materials/apparatus
• Procedure

Question 6

What are the results?

Answer 6

• This section contains what the researcher found, which includes descriptive stats measures of central tendency and dispersion, and inferential stats.

Question 7

What is the discussion?

Answer 7

• Section may include a no of things, including:
• Summary of the results
• Consideration of the relationship to previous research
• Comments on possible method issues and how to improve them.
• Real-world applications/implications for psychological theory
• Suggestions for future research.

Question 8

What are references?

Answer 8

• A list of other articles, books, and/or websites referred to.

Question 9

What are appendices?

Answer 9

• Contains examples of materials (e.g., a questionnaire), raw data, calculations etc.

Question 10

What is Peer Review?

Answer 10

• The assessment of scientific work by others who’re experts in the same field.
• Aim is to ensure any research conducted/published is of high quality.

Question 11

The decision on whether to publish a research article depends on…

Answer 11

• Article being seen to make a significant contribution to the body of knowledge in the area.
• Strength of the methodology and results analysis
• Usefulness of the conclusions that are drawn
• Whether the study has followed ethical guidelines.

Question 12

Strengths of Peer Review?

Answer 12

• May force researchers to revise their procedures and enhance the validity of their results.
• Allows for replication by other researchers and potential for falsification, strengthening the conclusions.
• By testing, revising and re-testing your research, it allows for scientific progress.

Question 13

Weaknesses of Peer Review?

Answer 13

• Reviewers may use the anonymity of it to bury rival research –> Conducted where people compete for research grants and jobs.
• Editors prefer to publish positive results on headline-catching topics to increase the standing of their journal. –> Misconception of the true facts.
• Researchers tend not to publish research that do not have significant results or results that challenge their preferred hypothesis. –> Biased view of research