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PSY 289 - Downtown - Psychology Research Methods (Bianchi): Publication Types

Publication types

PowerPoint for Library Session

Food Chain: The Psychological Literature

A Google Slides presentation

Empirical research report: Gratitude and young children

Nguyen, S. P., & Gordon, C. L. (2020). The Relationship Between Gratitude and Happiness in Young Children. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21(8), 2773–2787.

Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Publications

Nguyen, S. P., & Gordon, C. L. (2020). The Relationship Between Gratitude and Happiness in Young Children. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21(8), 2773–2787. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=aph&AN=146754026&authtype=shib&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s8337083

What is Peer Review?

How to spot an empirical study

1. The title gives you clues. Read it carefully and try to understand its purpose.

2. Review the abstract

  • Look in the method section (in middle of the abstract)

  • Look for data that was gathered from participants/subjects (or at least data that was analyzed). This is essential.

3. Make sure the article is NOT a literature review or meta-analysis.

  • If it is one of these things, it will usually mention these words, or it might say "systematic review."
  • A "case study" is a kind of empirical paper, but it is not an empirical research report. Ask your instructor for guidance.

4. In the abstract’s method section: Does it talk about selecting studies or papers for analysis?

  • If so, it is not empirical. It is analytical.

 

Elements in an Empirical Study (and Four "Body Parts")

In APA style, empirical research reports usually contain these eight sections. The bullet points give you a sense of what they discuss.

Title of the article

Author and Institutional Affiliation

  • Samuel T. Brown. University of Arizona

Abstract                             See also "The Abstract" tab.

  • A summary of four essential sections: 
    • Introduction
    • Method
    • Results
    • Discussion

Keywords

  • Words and phrases that describe the content of the article.

 

Text or Body (Contains four "body parts")

  Introduction 

        Note: This section is never has the heading "introduction." It simply begins the article.

  • The problem being studied: concept and importance

  • Literature review: what do previous studies tell us? Do they agree?

  • Purpose of the present study

  • Hypotheses

  • Research strategy and design (an overview)

  Method

  • How the study was conducted

    • ​Participants - their characteristics

    • Sampling: how representative participants were chosen

    • Variables studied: their operational definitions and measures

    • Research design and procedure

      • Experimental interventions (if any)

      • How results were collected

  Results

  • Summary of the data 

  • Any deviations from the research plan

  • Results of statistical tests

  • A comparison of the hypothesis to the actual effect observed

  • Statistical significance and effect sizes

  Discussion

  • What can we conclude?

  • How confident are we?

  • How does this study fit with previous research?

  • Does this study help confirm an existing theory, or does it question the theory?

  • What new research should be done?

  • What are the strengths and limitations of this study?

References

  • All sources cited in the paper (with a few exceptions) will be fully identified here.
  • Nothing will be included that is not cited in the text.