Lab 1 – Introduction and Literature Review Psych 2820E TA: Nini Longoria Date: September 20th, 2021 Overview • What is psychological research? • Stages of psychology research • How to choose a topic for a research project • Effective work/study habits of successful students INTRODUCTION Purpose of the Lab • Learn the process of conducting scientific research • Improve scientific writing skills • Develop effective communication skills • Learn to critically evaluate scientific papers and empirical studies • Apply computational skills learned in the lecture PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH What is Psychological Research? Stages • • Main interest is in human and animal behaviour and appraisals (thoughts) Six Stages of Psychological Research: Description Assignment 1 Generate the research idea 2 Review the literature Annotated bibliography 3 Frame your Study Introduction 4 Plan your methods Methods 5 Data collection and analysis Results 6 Discuss and interpret findings Discussion (Final Project) The “Hourglass Model” of Research https://conjointly.com/kb/structure-of-research/ Stage 1- Generating a Research Idea • 1)Select a topic area of interest – Example: Creativity and psychopathology • 2) Ask a research question about the topic area – Example: Are artists and creative writers often more depressed than less creative individuals? Generating a Research Idea • Find a topic that interests you! – What interests you in general? • What are you curious about? • Are there any two variables you think would be interesting to pair up? – Ex. In my first psychology research class, I studied gender differences in distress when a partner cheats (with either an opposite sex or same sex partner) – My thoughts were: I wonder if men or women get more upset when their partners cheat on them….hmm….I wonder if it would be more upsetting if it was a same sex or opposite partner? Stage 2- Literature Review • Purpose: Find out what is currently known about your topic and what important questions are left unanswered – Background Information - What has been done? – Study Rationale - What does future research need to address? • How: – Use electronic databases to research for related articles • Look up your topic on PSYCINFO and/or PUBMED (available via UWO library) – Course textbook (or other assigned readings) • Take note of the citations on your topic and look them up in the reference section of the textbook • Find the referenced article (via electronic database) and look for further articles on the topic Stage 3- Frame Your Study • Annotated Bibliography – Helps with organizing the information gathered from the literature review – Generate research hypothesis based on past findings • Write up the Introduction – – – – – – What is the problem/topic of interest? What have past studies done? What is missing? Present rationale for study State research question State hypothesis Stage 4: Plan the Method • How will you conduct the study? – Who are your participants? – How will you measure your variables? • Describe questionnaires and scoring key – List the procedures for the study – What statistical analysis will you conduct? • Ethical Considerations – – – – Does the study cause harm or risks to the participants? Voluntary participation and freedom to withdraw Method of obtaining informed- consent Participant confidentiality Stage 5: Data Collection and Analysis Data Collection Data analysis Summary of results •Avoid selection biases •Individual or group testing environment? • How will you evaluate your collected data? • Present statistical analyses and visual displays (tables and figures) Stage 6: Discuss and Interpret Findings • State whether results support or refute study hypothesis – Link back to introduction • Discussion of the implications of results – Relate findings to the literature • Identify limitations/problems with the study – How can the study be improved? • Suggest directions for future research The “Hourglass Model” In More Depth: http://psych242.class.uic.edu/Week2.html What Comes How to Choose a TopicNext…. for Your Project • 1) Select your topic (discussed with TA) – Review topics covered in your psychology courses – Think about your interests or everyday observations • 2) Define the problem – Come up with a specific question for your topic that you are interested in answering • You will need to analyze the problem using a statistical analysis learned in the course (relationships between two variables, t-tests, ANOVAs, and chi-square) • 3) Is the topic feasible? – Quick search on Googlescholar or use textbooks – Available measures? EFFECTIVE WORK & STUDY HABITS Effective Habits • • • • • • • • • • Read the week’s material before attending lecture/lab Watch lab video before our scheduled lab time so that any relevant questions can be answered in a timely manner (i.e. during office hours) COME TO CLASS COME TO OFFICE HOURS ☺ Review material more than once to improve understanding and memory for concepts/analyses – This includes practicing how to solve statistical problems – 20 minutes of daily practice can solve headaches and prevent “all-nighters” Start thinking about/working on assignments EARLY to avoid rushing near the due date. Edit your written work – first drafts are never as good as final drafts Back up your assignments using Dropbox/Google Drive, etc. Ask questions (!!!) and be involved in lecture/lab Attend writing and skills workshops offered by Western REVIEWING PSYCHOLOGICAL LITERATURE & WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW Literature Review • Occurs in the Introduction section of a paper • Summarizes previous research RELEVANT to topic, without simply listing a number of studies. – E.g., “Able and Peters (2009) found… Simon et al. (2016) also showed…” • Emphasize pertinent findings, relevant methodological issues, and major conclusions. • Important to address any controversies in the area. – Providing conflicting evidence from different studies can be helpful and intriguing to readers • Provides empirical basis for development of the hypothesis. Literature Review • A good literature review demonstrates logical continuity between previous and present work – This involves comparing and contrasting studies – Integrate literature, need to demonstrate how the studies interrelate • Leads readers to your research hypothesis – At the end of the introduction, readers should know exactly what is being studied, why, and should be able to predict general hypotheses Literature Review • Avoid the temptation to include everything you find in your literature review – Do not list as many studies as you can find – Do not describe past research in excruciating detail • E.g., unless the size of the sample or the number of women/men who participated in a study is important, leave it out. • When investigating a heavily researched area, review only those works that are directly related to your specific problem • When investigating a new or little researched problem area, review any study related in some meaningful way to your topic Literature Review • A common sequence for detailed discussion of an empirical paper is as follows: – Describe Specific Study: Briefly set out the aim, methods, results, and conclusions in sufficient detail to introduce your critique. – Justify detailed discussion of specific study: Show that the study is influential and relevant to your study. – Draw implications: Summarize what the preceding discussion means for the present research and how it relates to the previous or next study being discussed. **It is VERY important to connect studies** QUESTIONS?
