SOURCES OF RESEARCH IDEAS

 

 

·        Unsystematic Observation (casual)

 

Observation of everyday behavior

 

Observation of animal behavior

 

·        Systematic Observation

 

Observation of behavior under naturally occurring conditions

 

Published research reports

 

Theories

 

Your own previous or ongoing research

 

 

Figure 2.1  How New Research Grows Out of Old

 

FINDING PAST RESEARCH ON A TOPIC

Primary vs. Secondary sources (Journal articles or books?)

 

·        Abstracts

 

Psychological Abstracts

 

·        Social Science Citation Index

 

·        Literature reviews

 

Psychological Bulletin

 

Psychological Review

 

Annual Reviews

 

·        Books and book chapters

 

·        Computer literature searches

 

                  PsycINFO

                  Science Direct

 

Figure 2.7  The Process of Conducting a Literature Search (p. 53)


 

 

DEVELOPING GOOD RESEARCH QUESTIONS

 

·        Ask Answerable Questions  

Translate ideas into a set of testable predictions

 

·        Ask the Right Question

 

You must be able to address your question with scientific methods

  You must be able to address your question with empirical observations

 

·        Ask Important Questions

 

Questions must justify the expense and time involved in doing the research

  Important questions clarify theoretical or empirical issues or address important practical issues

READING A RESEARCH ARTICLE CRITICALLY

 

·        Determine if the results reported are durable. Can they apply over a wide range of situations?

 

·        Base your assessment of the quality of research on how sound the methods are, not on the source of research funding.

 

·        Consider the reputation of the scientist(s) who conducted the research.  Although not a guarantee of quality, this can be used as a crude index of the quality of research.

 

·        Know the language used by scientists.  Familiarize yourself with the terms used in a particular research area.

 

·        Approach published research with a degree of skepticism.  Don’t assume that because research is published in a scientific journal, it is necessarily sound.