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Reviewing the Research Literature
Reviewing the research literature involves finding, reading, and summarizing published research relevant to a specific topic of interest. Conducting this review early in the research process is crucial because it helps researchers determine if their question has already been answered, evaluate the interestingness of the question, generate ideas for study design, and understand how their own work will fit into the existing scientific dialogue.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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Reviewing the Research Literature
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Which of the following sources is typically included as part of the research literature in psychology?
Match each type of information source with the description that correctly identifies its role and classification within the psychological research literature.
A student researching memory disorders finds a summary of a new experiment on a popular science news website and a full report of the same experiment in a peer-reviewed professional journal. True or False: In the field of psychology, both of these publications are classified as research literature.
A student is filtering search results to build a foundation for a new study. Based on the criteria for inclusion in the psychology research literature, arrange these sources from the most central and rigorously vetted (1) to those most explicitly excluded from the field's professional literature (4).
In a scientific field, sources intended for the general public, such as self-help books and websites, are classified as part of the professional research literature.
Why are sources like self-help books, dictionary entries, and public websites excluded from the formal 'research literature' of psychology, even if they describe actual psychological findings?
A researcher is vetting sources for a professional meta-analysis and decides to reject a factually accurate summary from a reputable news organization. To justify this evaluation, the researcher must identify that the source lacks _____, which is the defining requirement for inclusion in the formal research literature.
An undergraduate student is compiling sources for a literature review on cognitive development. Match each potential source with the correct classification decision based on the definition of research literature.
A research assistant analyzes why a chapter in a handbook of personality psychology is included in their literature database while a personality definition in an online dictionary is excluded. They conclude that the key analytical distinction is that the dictionary entry is intended for the general public and lacks the _____ required of formal scholarly sources.
A student is evaluating sources to build the scientific foundation for their research proposal. Order these potential sources from the highest evaluative suitability (the most central and vetted form of research literature) to the lowest (excluded from the formal research literature due to lack of peer review).
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General Internet Search for Literature
Which of the following is a reason researchers conduct a review of published research on their topic early in the research process?
Match each objective of a research literature review with the specific benefit it provides to the researcher early in the scientific process.
A researcher is interested in investigating whether mindfulness meditation reduces test anxiety in college students. Arrange the following steps in the correct order to demonstrate how they should apply a literature review to this research project.
A literature review that reveals a research question has already been answered by previous studies inherently serves as a definitive evaluation that the question lacks 'interestingness' for the scientific dialogue.
Imagine you are researching the relationship between social media use and sleep quality. After reviewing the existing studies on this topic, you find that they rely entirely on self-report surveys, but none use objective physiological measures like heart rate variability. To design a new research project that effectively builds upon this discovery and contributes to the scientific dialogue, which of the following strategies should you implement?
The process of reviewing the research literature is limited to finding and reading relevant published research, and does not include summarizing it.
A researcher discovers through a literature review that their exact research question has already been definitively answered by several recent, high-quality studies. By concluding that their proposed study would no longer provide a novel contribution to the field, the researcher is using the review to _____ the 'interestingness' of their research question.
A psychology student is preparing a research proposal. Match each action the student takes during their literature search to the corresponding benefit of reviewing the research literature early in the research process.
A researcher searches for and reads ten peer-reviewed articles on memory, but fails to synthesize their findings. In terms of the three core activities of reviewing research literature, the student has failed to perform the step of _____ the published research.
Arrange the following steps in the logical sequence a researcher should follow to review and utilize the research literature when developing a new study.