The role of the scientific community in validating new knowledge

Question 1

What is a peer review?

Answer 1

The process of subjecting a piece of research to independent scrutiny by other psychologists working in a similar field who consider the research in terms of:
- validity
- significance
- originality

Question 2

State the process of peer review.

Answer 2

• research paper is submitted to a journal
• considered worthy of publication
• editor sends to other experts
• study is critically appraised and returned with recommendations on whether it is of acceptable quality.

Question 3

Why is peer review important?

Answer 3

• difficult to spot every mistake
  -judges quality and significance of the research in a wider context
• new knowledge can be validated

Question 4

what are the problems with peer review?

Answer 4

• institution bias
• publication bias
• anonymity ?

Question 5

What is meant by a report for psychological investigation ?

Answer 5

• final process of a study
• findings and results are written up as a report for publication
• written in scientific style
• divided in sections

Question 6

What are the 6 sections of a report in order?

Answer 6

1) Abstract
2) Introduction
3) Method
4) Results
5) Discussion
6) Referencing

Question 7

What does an abstract include?

Answer 7

• aims, hypothesis, method, results, conclusions and implications
• 200 words
  establishes if the study is worth reading

Question 8

What does the introduction include?

Answer 8

• reviews previous research: theories and studies
• findings lead to aims and hypothesis

Question 9

What does the method include?

Answer 9

• a description of what the researcher did including:
• design
• sample
• apparatus/materials
• procedure
• ethics

Question 10

What does the results section include?

Answer 10

• summarise key findings
• details of what they found including:
• descriptive stats
• inferential stats
• qualitative methods

Question 11

What does the discussion include?

Answer 11

• interpret results and consider implications for future research
• suggests real world application
• summary of results
  consideration to methodology

Question 12

What does referencing include?

Answer 12

• full details of any sources to be cited.