✓ Peer Review (AO1 + AO3)

Question 1

What is peer review?

Answer 1

= the assessment of scientific work by others who are specialists in the same field to ensure that any research intended for publication is of high quality

• this is done by 2-3 experts in the field who are unknown to the researcher

Question 2

What are the 3 aims of peer review?

Answer 2

to allocate research funding:
- independent peer evaluation takes place to decide whether or not to award funding to the proposed research project
- this might be co-ordinated by gov-run funding organisations

to validate the quality & relevance of research:
- all elements are assessed for quality & accuracy = the formulation of hypotheses the method chosen, the stat test used, conclusion

to suggests amendments/improvements:
- reviewers may suggest minor revisions of the work & thereby improve the report or, in extreme circumstances they may conclude it’s inappropriate for publication & should be withdrawn

Question 3

What is the purpose of peer review?

Answer 3

prevents the spread of:
- irrelevant findings
- unwarranted claims
- deliberate fraud
⁖ improves quality of research

Question 4

What are the positives of peer review?

Answer 4

• all published research will have gone through the process so is therefore of high quality
• published research is taken seriously bc it has been independently scrutinised
• removes subjectivity in research

Question 5

What are the negatives of peer review?

Answer 5

• the anonymity can be used by rivals to criticise research of each other
• publication bias: editors of journals want to publish high profile research that gives positive results, those that don’t do this could be disregarded
• burying ground breaking research theories that oppose mainstream research can be hidden, reviewers are more favourable to research that supports their own viewpoint, this may slow down the rate of change in psychology