Slides Week 3

Question 1

Three types of literature sources

Answer 1

• General
• Secondary
• Primary

Question 2

General Sources

Answer 2

• Overview of topic
• Provides leads to further information

Examples: newspapers, periodicals and magazines, Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature , New York Times Index

Question 3

Secondary Sources

Answer 3

• Sources “once removed” from original research -

Examples: review papers, anthologies of readings, textbooks, encyclopaedias

Question 4

Primary Sources

Answer 4

• Original reports of original work Examples: journal articles , other original work including abstracts

Question 5

Process of review for Journals

Answer 5

• Researcher submits article in format specified by Journal (eg APA)
• Editor distributes article to three reviewers ⇒peer review + blind review
• Several outcomes
  
  • Accept outright
  • Accept with Revisions
  • Reject with suggestions for revision
  • Reject outright
  • Editor conveys result to author
• Average rejection rate is 80%
• Publication bias (significant results 3x more likely to be published)

Question 6

What is APA manuscript

Answer 6

• The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
• offers guidance on submission for work for publication
• “developed to assist reading comprehension in the social and behavioural sciences”

Question 7

Sections of a Manuscript (10+2)

Answer 7

• Title page
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Method
  
  • Participants
  • Materials and Procedure
• Results
• Discussion
• References
• Appendices
• Author Notes
• Footnotes

Question 8

Manuscripts - The Title

Answer 8

• Summarises the main idea of the manuscript - first impression!
• Concise statement; identify variables/theoretical issues explored
• Stand alone (fully explanatory) and suggest importance of idea
• Statement of content for abstracting/search
• Avoid irrelevant wording (e.g., “A study of…”)
• Avoid abbreviations
• Upper and lowercase

Question 9

The Manuscript - Abstract

Answer 9

• Brief, but comprehensive, summary of the report; perhaps the most vital paragraph!
• Usually written last
• Dense with information (150 250 words*); keywords
• Reader should understand purpose of paper, research approach, design, findings, and implications
• Used for searching and cataloguing (e.g., EndNote)
• Almost all journals require an abstract
• Should be accurate, non evaluative, concise
• Use past tense for describing manipulations, outcomes, etc.
  
  • Use present tense when describing conclusions drawn

Question 10

Abstract

Answer 10

Start abstract on a new page, identified with running head

Should contain;

• The problem (one sentence) and/or purpose
• Description of participants (including notable characteristics)
• Features of method
• Basic findings (often including effect sizes and p values)
• Conclusions
• Implications/applications

N.B The above applies to an experimental report. However, the abstract

• may take different form based on different methods (e.g., meta
• analysis, theory based paper, case study, etc.)

Question 11

The Introduction Funnel

Answer 11

General - The Problem

What’s been done -

The Evidence

Your Approach

^{Fill in the Gap}

^{Specific Hypothesis to be tested here.}

Question 12

The Introduction

Answer 12

• Left Justified
• Indent first line of every paragraph
• No spaces between paragraphs
• Use past tense
• Can be first person
• The Hypothesis/es

Question 13

Method (“What did I do)

Answer 13

• Detailed desccription of how the study was conducted
• Define/operationalise variables
• Have you run the study in such a way that you have appropriately tested your hypotheses. Have you given your hypotheses a fair test?
• Allows for replication
• Divided into subsections (these vary)
  
  • Participants
  • Materials and Procedure

Question 14

Method Participants

Answer 14

• Crucial to psychology: generalisation, replication.
• “Psychology is the study of rats and undergrad psych students”.s
• Exclusion and inclusion criteria
• Include major demographics (where relevant!) (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity, socio economic status, education, disabilities, etc.)
• Be as specific as possible•
• Emphasise those characteristics that may have bearing on findings
• (e.g., cultural
• Identify sub groups (e.g., clinical versus control)
• For animals (report species, sex, age, weight, etc.)
• Describe sampling procedure
• Payments or other incentives
• Ethical standards

Question 15

The Manuscript - Method

Answer 15

• Left Justification
• Title Centred, bold, no underline, no italics
• never underline
• Indent paragraph

Question 16

Method - Materials and Procedure

Answer 16

• Not enough info, the reader asks questions
• Too much info, burdens the reader (message lost!)
• Materials encompass anything that was used to administer your study/experiment
• Stimulus/stimuli (in great detail, including examples)
• Apparatus (in great detail, e.g., model numbers, manufacturers), including key settings
• If using scales and questionnaires reliability and validity, along with
• descriptions of the scale and its items.

Question 17

Method - Materials and Procedure continued

Answer 17

• Procedure refers to the details relevant to you administering your method/experiment
• Identify your research design
• Participant assignment to groups
• Within/between subjects design?
• Conditions what manipulations? what order?
• Describe instructions given to participants (verbatim)
• Describe testing conditions in detail
• Describe data acquisition
• In some cases, describe the experimenter

Question 18

Results (What did I find?)