1.9 - how science works

what are the strengths of peer review?

stops academic research being biased by one person
maintains professionalism in terms of suitability/ethical issues when planning/conducting psychological research

what is a journal?

professional ‘magazine’ inviting researchers to submit papers. paper is written article describing a study

what are the weaknesses of peer review?

can be judged on reputation of author/researcher rather than quality
no universal grading system as different journals have different standards

what are the sections of a report?

abstract
introduction
method
results
discussion
references
appendices

what is the abstract section of a report?

summary including aim, method, results and conclusion

what is the introduction section of a report?

places the study in the context of relevant theories and research, leading to a justification of what is being done and why

what is the method section of a report?

not procedure - includes details like design/sampling method, procedure, apparatus and materials

what is the results section of a report?

not findings - contains descriptive and inferential statistics (calculations not included here)

what is the discussion section of a report?

not conclusions - considers the results in light of the context presented in the intro to draw conclusions about meaning of results. may include important failings of study and suggestions for future study

what is the references section of a report?

lists all other journals that have been referred to in intro/discussion

what is the appendices section of a report?

can include original materials such as stimuli/questionnaires or raw data tables/examples of results

how do you reference books using the harvard system?

author’s surname and initials
year of publication
title of book (in italics)
name of publisher and town where publisher is located

how do you reference journals using the harvard system?

author’s name and initials
year of publication
title of article (in italics)
title of journal
volume
(issue)
page numbers