Peer review and psychological research and the economy

Question 1

Define the term peer review.

Answer 1

Is used to assess the quality of research conducted by psychologists in terms of its validity and reliability.
To ensure that any published findings are trustworthy and high quality. A small group of experts will scrutinise the research and how it was conducted, to ensure that the findings and conclusions are genuine. The reviewers will be anonymous and unknown to the researcher.

Question 2

State the 3 main aims of peer review.

Answer 2

To allocate research funding.
To validate the quality and relevance of research.
To suggest improvements.

Question 3

What happens in the aim to allocate research funding?

Answer 3

Independent peer evaluation takes place to decide whether or not to award funding for proposed research project. Arranged by government-run funding organisations.

Question 4

What happens in the aim to validate the quality and relevance of research?

Answer 4

All elements of research are assessed for quality and accuracy: the formulation, the methodology chosen, the statistical test used and the conclusions drawn.

Question 5

What happens in the aim to suggest improvements.

Answer 5

Reviewers suggests minor revisions of the work and thereby improve the report. In extreme circumstances, they may conclude that the work is inappropriate for publication and should be withdrawn.

Question 6

What are the strengths of peer review?

Answer 6

Establishes validity and accuracy of research - are clear, certain features of the process are open to criticism.
Anonymity - produces more honest appraisal.

Question 7

What are the limitations of peer review?

Answer 7

Anonymity
Publication bias
Burying ground-breaking research

Question 8

How can anonymity affect peer review?

Answer 8

A minority of researchers may use their anonymity as a way to criticise rival researchers who they think they came across in their paths. For this reason, some journals favour open reviewing where the name of reviewer(s) are made public.

Question 9

What is publication bias?

Answer 9

Is the tendency editors of journals have to publish significant ‘headline-grabbing’ findings to increase circulation of their publication.
Creates false impression of the current state of psychology.

Question 10

Give three reason why it is important for scientific reports to include a referencing
section?

Answer 10

• enables readers to track down the sources used
• to give credit to other researchers/acknowledge their ideas
• can avoid plagiarism