WHERE TO START © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Discuss how a hypothesis differs from a prediction Describe the different sources of ideas for research Identify the two functions of a theory © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Summarize the fundamentals of conducting library research in psychology, including the use of PsycINFO Summarize the information included in the abstract, introduction, method, results, and discussion sections of research articles © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Hypothesis: A tentative question waiting for evidence to support or refute it Prediction: A statement that makes an assertion concerning what will occur in a particular research investigation © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Participants (APA preferred term for humans taking part in studies) Subjects Respondents Informants © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Common Sense Observation of personal and social events Theories—systematic body of ideas that Organize and explain Generate new knowledge Can be modified by new research Past Research Practical Problems © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The Nature of Journals Where researchers publish the results of their studies Psychological Abstracts Abstracts published in hardcopy each month PsycINFO Electronic index of all abstracts from 1800s to present Updated weekly PsycFIRST Electronic index of all abstracts published in last 3 years © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Some PsychINFO search strategies Strategy 1: Use fields such as TI and AU. Example: (divorce) in TI requires that a term appear in the title Strategy 2: Use AND to limit search Example: divorce AND child requires both terms to be included Strategy 3: Use OR to expand search. Example: divorce OR breakup includes both terms. Strategy 4: Use NOT to exclude search terms. Example: shyness NOT therapy excludes shyness with therapy Strategy 5: Use the wildcard asterisk (*) Example: child* finds any word that begins with these letters © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Other Electronic Search Resources FirstSearch Sociological Abstracts MEDLINE ERIC PsycARTICLES © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

 Other Indexes  Science Citation Index (SCI)  Includes biology chemistry, biomedicine, and pharmacology  Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)  Includes behavioral and social science such as sociology and criminal justice © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Internet Searches Scholar.google.com Professional meeting searches Evaluating web information Site sponsor Credentials of the webmaster Timeliness Links (to reputable organizations) © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Abstract Introduction Method Results Discussion © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Abstract A summary of the research report 120 words or less Includes the hypothesis, procedure, and the broad pattern of results © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Introduction Outlines the problems investigated Past research and theories relevant to the problems described Formal hypotheses or specific expectations are introduced and connected to past research © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Method section Subsections depend of complexity of the design Overview of design Characteristics of participants Procedure Equipment or testing materials © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Results section Findings presented three ways: Description in narrative form Description in statistical language Material in table or graphs © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Discussion section Review research from various perspectives Present methodological weaknesses and/or strengths Explain how the results compare with past results Include suggestions for practical applications Include suggestions for future research on the topic © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The journal has “instructions to authors” or submission guidelines and peer-review process. The article is written by the researchers that conducted the study. The article includes abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion and reference sections. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The editor and/or reviewers decide whether or not to accept the article for publication. The intended audience is scholars that have knowledge in or are interested in the field. The article is not written for profit. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.