State Exam Review 1 Be familiar with the use of PSYCHINFO How do you search for an article What types of information sources can be found there How do you narrow down results Psych Info is the best most comprehensive tool for sorting through the vast number of psychological research articles maintained and updated weekly by APA Searching in specific fields o Author Title Publication year keywords au baumeister ti personal attachments py 1995 kw attachments motivations Au author Ti title Py publication year Kw o Boolean Operators And Or Not combine search terms to narrow or broaden results o How to limit your search Data range specific set of years Publication Type limit search to a specific publication or document type such as peer reviewed journal authored book encyclopedia bibliography editorial review etc Population limit search to group of participants in a research study human animal female male Age age of participants in a study Methodology methodology used in research study such as clinical case study literature review meta analysis Supplemental Data limit search to research which contains appended materials such as 3D modeling images data sets tables and figures etc 2 Be familiar with the major components of an APA journal article Abstract important because many journal readers first read to determine if entire article is worth reading Should describe introduction method results and discussion Introduction background literature on topic literature review is often vey helpful to provide a theoretical or empirical basis for research State purpose of the research it will give you three main pieces of information the research question the theoretical context within which the research is being conducted and the research hypothesis Method cultural background used o Participants number of participants percentage of female and male mean age and their ethnicity or o Research Design Independent variables described here also describe dependent variables o Measures describes test or instruments used to collect data describe any questionnaires that you o Procedure data collection procedures How participants were recruited what asked to do how they were compensated so someone could replicate it if they wanted to just by reading Results state results alpha level you adapted Discussion interpret and explain your results limitations of the study and describe implications of your findings to theory and practice Title page goal to make a goof first impression and make reader want to read on Abstract briefly describe all aspects of study so readers wants to read 1 sentence on each the jhypothesis results method discussion Introduction goal to describe reason and rationale for your current research research question past research in the area theories hypothesis near end Method goal to describe how you conducted your study so that it can be critiqued and replicated 3 subsections participants materials and procedures Results Goal to describe statistical analyses used and the results of your analyses include statistics valued degrees of freedom significance report data in sufficient detail to justify your conclusions Discussion goal to evaluate and interpret the implication of you results especially with respect to your original hypotheses clear statement of the support or nonsupport of your original hypotheses explain why or why not References goal to create an organized list of the sources you used so others can look them up Tables Figures 3 Know the scientific method Ask a Question Do Background Research Construct a Hypothesis Test your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion and Communicate your results 1 Purpose What do you want to learn Research Hypothesis Predict answer to the problem Experiment Design a test or procedure to find out if your hypothesis is correct Analysis Record what happened during experiment Conclusion Review data and check to see if your hypothesis was correct Theory means by which we organize and explain facts or patterns of behavior ex Someone who is center of attention you might want to use a personality psychological approach such as self monitoring theory Hypothesis falsifiable statement While the research question asks why the hypothesis is a statement that proposes an answer to the research question that can be empirically tested and shown to be false 4 Be familiar with the theory data cycle What do you do if you fail to reject the null hypothesis Theory data cycle usually testing association or causal claims to investigate support for a theory o Process of designing studies to test a theory and using the data from the studies to reject refine or support the theory o External validity matters much less than internal validity Theory leads researchers to pose particular research questions which lead to an appropriate research design In the context of the design researchers formulate hypotheses Researchers then collect and analyze data which feed back into the cycle o Non supporting data lead to revised theories or improved research design o Supporting data strengthen the theory 5 Be familiar with Experimental Correlational Quasi experimental descriptive case study design Naturalistic observation multiple observations of multiple participants are made over a period of time within settings where the behavior naturally occurs goal is to describe a phenomenon rather than test a hypothesis Used when little is known about the behavior Two concerns participation should researcher interject into situation and concealment does presence of researcher have an effect on observed behavior Survey Questionnaires and interviews are employed to identify beliefs attitudes and behaviors of interest to researcher Case study in depth study of one participant Participant is observed within a clinical setting with the foal of identifying the interesting characteristics o Pros easy to follow single participant increases understanding of rare phenomena or things that cant be manipulated Cons results could be due to almost anything no control only one participant generalizable Experimental Design manipulation of the variables you want to study controlling certain variables random assignment experimental conditions receive a treatment control do not and there are two types of variables independent and dependent o Defining characteristic of the experimental design is control control over independent dependent and confounding variables and ransom assignment
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