Searching the Literature Foundations of Science

Types of articles Empirical articles Review articles Reports of original research Typically have intro, method, results, & discussion Review articles Organizes, integrates, & evaluates previous work Theoretical articles Presenting new theory, refining existing theory Methodological articles Presenting new data analytic approaches, methods, equipment Meta-analyses Review the literature, use statistics to find effect sizes and patterns Before searching the literature on a given topic, it’s important to recognize that there are different types of articles out there. Empirical articles – these articles typically have introduction, method, results, and discussion section. The authors of these articles have conducted an empirical study in which they outline their hypotheses, test them, and report and interpret the results. There may be more than one study reported in the article. Review articles – organizes, integrates, & evaluates previously published work in an area. Usually the authors are not presenting any new data. Good place to start if you know nothing about a particular area. You can think of this as a more qualitative reflection of the state of the literature on a given topic. The authors identify relations, contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies in the literature. They usually also address what needs to be examined and clarified within the literature. Theoretical articles – present a new theory. The authors describe their theory and may compare/contrast it with old theory, to examine how well new theory fits with existing data. However, if the authors test the theory by collecting some data then the article may actually be an empirical article. Methodological articles – present or describe a new data analytic approach, method, or equipment. Meta-analyses – similar to review articles, the authors of these articles search the literature on a given topic, but they also collect statistics from those articles. They use these statistics to find effect sizes and patterns. For example, the authors may find 100+ experimental studies that have investigated the effect of violent media on participants’ aggression. After pulling the data from these studies, they might be able to identify the overall general average effect. APA manual Chapter 1

Primary vs. Secondary Sources Original source Secondary Describes or summarizes previously published work Why is it important to read the original work? Improve your understanding Secondary source could be wrong More clearly evaluate the quality It is also important to consider whether the information you are reading is considered a primary or secondary source. Primary Sources - Presents new empirical research (like the empirical studies we just talked about). This is original published work that includes descriptions of the rationale of the study & specific info that could be used to replicate the study. In other fields, this could be diaries, speeches, letters, interviews, news film footage, autobiographies, etc. Secondary sources – those that describe or summarize previously published work. Review articles, theoretical articles, textbooks, chapters, popular magazines, etc. Reading secondary sources can be an excellent place to start to learn about a topic; however, it is really important that you read the original work – why? It’ll improve your understanding Secondary authors could be wrong (books are not always subject to the same standards as journal articles), only presented part of the story (or story that fit with their perspective), make sure you’re getting your facts straight (otherwise, can be like the telephone game). The secondary source may only present a summary of the information or present portions of the original work; thus, you’d need to go to the original source in order to evaluate the quality of the study.

Searching the Literature KSU Supersearch http://library.kennesaw.edu/index.php Databases Psychology Databases http://libguides.kennesaw.edu/content.php?pid=610003 PsychINFO Use search restrictions, thesaurus, subject or key word searches Use reference section, new citations One way to search the literature at KSU is to use the library Supersearch, which searches through the KSU holdings. These holdings include books, magazines, journal articles, etc. Using restrictions functions you can narrow search by year or publication type. However, if you are looking specifically for research articles in the field of psychology then there are databases that psychology focused. The KSU library provides a guide to the psychology-related databases at the link provided above. One popular database is PsychINFO, which allows us to use an advanced search option. Within this option, we can narrow our search by year, publication type, sample characteristics, research type (e.g., review, empirical). If we want only peer-reviewed sources, then we can indicate that in this search. Additionally, there is a thesaurus function in PsychINFO, which may provide alternative search terms (e.g., youth vs. adolescents) Once we find an article that meets our specifications, it might be a good idea to review the reference section of that article. We may also search the literature to see if there are any new articles that cite this article.

Searching the Literature Google Scholar Internet search Author(s) Check out vita Lab website Library Services Research Guides http://libguides.kennesaw.edu/index.php Research Appointments http://library.kennesaw.edu/services/researchappointments.php You may have to expand/restrict your searches Might take a little while for you to figure out the key words in the field, which is why some general searches through google or google scholar might be helpful. Authors of research typically specialize in topics and thus are likely to publish multiple works on the same topic. It may be worthwhile to conduct a literature search of the author to see if you can find his or her vita (i.e., academic resume). You may also want to see if the author has a lab website where they discuss their specific research projects. Don’t forget to use the services provided by the library. Most university libraries have guides and staff to assist you in your research. At KSU, we even have a chat service that is available. As you are conducting your literature search you may realize that it is bigger or smaller than you initially thought; thus, you may have to expand or restrict your searches. For example, if you are interested in examining the effects of bullying, you might find that this is far to large of a literature. You may need to narrow it down by say focusing on cyberbullying and maybe even go further by examining the effects of cyberbullying on adolescents who have disabilities. In other cases, you may find you need to expand your searches.

Mini-Review Explain the difference between articles that are empirical and those that are reviews. Identify ways to narrow your literature search. When writing research papers why is it preferable to use primary sources?