L10 - Validating New Knowledge & The Role Of Peer Review

Question 1

Validating new knowledge

Answer 1

• before research is carried out, a proposal of the research study must be sent to a number of experts in order to ensure the research will fulfil its aims
• Research councils and funding agencies will only support research that is robust and well designed
• A research ethics committee will also scrutinize research involving human participants to ensure high ethical standards are met at all stages of the research
• When a psychologist conducts research, this does not necessarily mean that the scientific community will accept the work
• Having research published in print such as a journal article is the only way that other researchers can have access to the work, so that they can read and challenge it
• Research is usually published in scientific journals which appear a few times a year
• Getting research published is not easy and the process of peer review is used to check the quality and standard of the work.

Question 2

What’s a peer review?

Answer 2

• psychologist completes a piece of research/article.
• The university will send their work to a another psychologists) working in a similar field (who are usually experts) so that the work can be independently scrutinized
• The work is considered for publishing, (but only if the work is of a high standard and quality, high in validity, significant and original).
• If the work is of a good quality then it can be published in a psychological journal.
• The peer reviewers report on the quality of the research
• Their views are considered by the research panel
• Usually a double blind peer review process occurs whereby the established psychologists) carrying out the peer review are anonymous - so that the psychologist who wrote the research does not know who will peer review their work, and also the peer reviewer will not know whose research they are analyzing,

Question 3

Advantages of psychologists publishing in a journal

Answer 3

• easy to access - ‘open access’ - public can review work
• others can build on the research when peer reviewed, developed further
• psychologists can get more recognition

Question 4

Advantages of using a double blind peer review process?

Answer 4

• can avoid bias and be neutral

Question 5

What happens if research doesn’t meet standards?

Answer 5

• If the research does not meet high standards and is of poor quality, then the research will not be published
• The work would be sent back to the researcher so that they can correct and modify their work
• Some academic journals are more prestigious than others, e.g. “Nature and Science” is very prestigious and some research might never be published in this journal because some psychologists might feel, “The work is not good enough in terms of quality.”

Question 6

Academic journals

Answer 6

• They are expensive to buy, and many universities only buy a few each year, or subscribe to the journals online (very expensive licensing agreements).
• This means that the general public or less well off universities might not have access to these journals or the published research;
• Some psychological research might not necessarily be published in print but might instead go through a different process called, “Open access.”

Question 7

Open access: online peer reviews

Answer 7

• This is a process where new knowledge can be viewed online by the scientific community and the general public, so that anyone can access the research and judge it
• This combines the idea of peer review and the fact that the research can appear in an online journal (Philica.com)
• The work deemed to be of good quality can be trusted and will be accepted and published
• Work that is rated as poor quality and will not be accepted or published.
• Scientific information is now available on numerous blogs and online journals, such as Wikipedia.
• Such information is usually policed by the knowledge of the public.
• Readers decide if work is valid or not and leave comments.
• Several online journals ask readers to rate articles.
• Some journals articles are ranked by peer review and the peer reviews can be read by anyone.

Question 8

Problem of peer review

Answer 8

• anyone can comment - may not actually be helpful
• may be easier to steal research
• comments can be negative and have negative effects on researcher

Question 9

Publishing psychological work

Answer 9

When new research has been conducted in the field of psychology, it is important that it should be published so that:
1) The work can appear in journals used internationally and the research will be disseminated/shared across the world
2) The work will be debated and new ideas can develop which could help establish new theories/research
3) The scientific community will have confidence that the work is of a good quality due to the process of peer review
4) It will increase the reputation of the researcher and also offer them a chance to gain funding for their research in the future.
5) The institutions e.g. university also looks good if many psychologists have conducted research that has been published.
6) Many universities receive government grants for their research, so the university will gain more money.

Question 10

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology suggests that peer review serves three main functions:

Answer 10

• allocation of research funding
• publication of research in academic articles
• assessing the research rating of university departments

Question 11

Allocation of research funding

Answer 11

• Research is paid for by various governments and charitable bodies.
• The organisations spending this money have a duty to spend it responsibly.
• Public bodies like the Medical Research Council require peer reviews to enable them to decide if research is likely to be worthwhile.

Question 12

Publication of research in academic journals

Answer 12

• Peer review prevents publication of irrelevant findings, unwarranted claims, unacceptable interpretations, personal views and deliberate fraud
• It should also improve the quality of research published and so ensure that published research is taken seriously because it has been independently scrutinised.
• Peer review also increases probability of weaknesses/errors being identified before publication

Question 13

Assessing the research rating of university departments

Answer 13

• All university science departments are expected to conduct research and the quality of this research is assessed so that the department can be given a rating to reflect the standard of this research

Question 14

Peer review advantages (x3)

Answer 14

• It is important because is provides a way of checking the validity and credibility of the research, and assessing the quality and appropriateness of the design and methodology
• Peers can be neutral and non biased, especially as the process is a double blind whereby the person who conducted the research is kept anonymous, and they do not know who will peer review their work
• Peer review involves a specialist psychologist in the field judging the work, and they will have exceptional knowledge and expertise in order to make the best iudgement

Question 15

Peer review disadvantages (x3)

Answer 15

• Can be an unfair process whereby some specialists have connections withe certain universities/institutions, and therefore favouritism or bias might occur due to the institution the writer originates from
• Some academic journals are more prestigious than others, and therefore only excellent work would be published in such journals. For low quality journals, they might accept psychological work of a lower standard
• Some of the research might be ground breaking in the field of psychology, but due to being presented in a poor quality fashion, might be rejected