Unit 2 Flashcards
Scientific research and information processing
How does good research begin?
with a good research question
What are the Steps for a good literature review?
- Define the objective
- Define the search statement
- Select where you are going to conduct your research
- Define the search strategy
- Execute the search and review the results
What is necessary before conducting any research project and what can help to clarify the concept?
having thorough knowledge of previous research findings
-> reviewing previous studies will help clarify concept
What are 3 points of a good research question?
- Informal observations
- Practical problems
- Previous research
What is the most common source of inspiration?
Previous Research
What are possible sources of literature?
Articles in professional journals and books
-> research literature in psychology is enormous
What are 2 types of articles?
Empirical research reports
Review articles
What are Empirical research reports?
they describe one or more new empirical studies conducted by the authors
What is a review article?
they summarize previously published research on a topic and usually present new ways to organize or explain the results
What do we call a review article that is devoted to present a new theory?
theoretical article
What do we call an article that provides statistical summary of all the previous results?
meta-analysis
What does the term double-blind peer review refer to?
researchers submit a manuscript to the editor. The article will be reviewed by two or three experts on the topic
How many sources are enough for your literature review?
average of sources cited per article was about 50
What is a literature review?
a comprehensive survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic
-> offers a detailed overview of the current state of knowledge (identify key theories, methodologies and gaps in the existing research)
What are Boolean operators?
simple words (AND, OR and NOT) which are used in search engines, databases, or information retrieval systems to refine and improve search results
What is the Function of “AND” in Boolean operators?
Narrows the search by requiring that all specified terms appear in the results.
What is the function of “OR” in Boolean Operators?
Broadens the search by retrieving results that contain any of the listed terms.
What is the function of “NOT” in Boolean operators?
Excludes specific terms from the search results, making the search more focused by filtering out unwanted results.
What improves the efficiency and precision of your search?
using advanced search techniques like truncation, quotation marks, wildcards, and nesting (parentheses)
What is Truncation useful for?
allows you to search for multiple forms of a word by shortening it to its root, followed by a truncation symbol (usually an asterisk )
-> useful for capturing variations of a word
e.g.: Educat (educator, education, educational)
What does Truncation do?
broadens a search to include different word endings
What are Quotation marks used for?
to search for an exact phrase or set of words in a specific order.
e.g.: “social media influence” - will return only results where the exact phrase appears
What do quotation marks do?
narrow the search to an exact phrase
What are Wildcards?
symbols used to replace a single character or multiple characters within a word. Often a question mark (?)
e.g.: wom?n will return both “woman” and “women”