Overview of Scientific Method

Broad View of Various Stages of The Research Process: Finding a topic Reviewing the literature Refining the research Question Generating a Hypothesis Designing & Conducting a Study Analyzing the data Conclusions Results

Model of Scientific Research in Psychology:  Formulate research question Conduct empirical study-designed to answer the question Analyze resulting data Draw conclusions about answer to question Publish results Research literature is primary source for new research questions-this process becomes a cycle-questions can originate outside of the research process-in these cases researcher need to check the research literature to see if the question has already been asked and or answered-refine question based on previous research findings

Finding a Research Topic: A creative process Product of ordinary thinking strategies and persistence  Finding general research ideas Turning them into empirically testable research questions Evaluating those questions  How interesting are they How feasible are they to answer 

Finding Inspiration: Begin with ideas Usually focused on behavior or psychological characteristic  Talkativeness Learning Depression Anxiety Addiction Three places that ideas come from: Informal observations Direct observations-our own or others behavior Newspapers Books etc Practical problems Lead to applied research  Does psychotherapy lead to less depression Do cell phones impair peoples ability to drive Previous research Probably the most common Science is a large scale collaboration Researchers evaluate each others work Conduct new studies to build on it Find research questions by consulting with expert researchers-reading publication-titles & abstracts-narrow down interests into particular topics or domains-use specific jounals

Reviewing the Research Literature: Research literature Published research with any field Reviewing the research literature means Finding  Reading and summarizing published research relevant to the topic of interest This process helps in the following ways To develop new research questions If a question has already been answered  Evaluate the interestingness of the question Ideas on how to conduct study Informs where the study fits with existing research literature  Research literature does not include  Self-help books Pop psychology  Dictionary and encyclopedia entries Websites  Information intended for the public  They are considered unreliable because they are not peer reviewed-wikipedia is considered unreliable. Research considered reliable: Articles in professional journals Scholarly books about psychology

Professional Journals: Periodicals that publish original research articles  Organised into volumes Published in both hard copy and digital format The re one of two basic types: Empirical research reports  Describe new empirical studies conducted by the authors Introduce research question' Explain why it is of interest Review previous research Describe method and results Draw conclusions Review articles Summarize previously published research Present new ways to view and interpret the results Theoretical article Meta analysis 

Double-blind peer review: Submit manuscript to editor  Editor forwards it to 2-2 experts in the field Each writes a critical review and returns it to the editor along with recommendations  Its either published or rejected or recommended changes are communicated

Books: Edited Volumes