CHAPTER 2

WHERE TO START
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Discuss how a hypothesis differs from a prediction.
• Describe the different sources of ideas for research,
including common sense, observation, theories, past
research, and practical problems.
• Identify the two functions of a theory.
• Summarize the fundamentals of conducting library research
in psychology, including the use of PsycINFO.
• Summarize the information included in the abstract,
introduction, method, results, and discussion sections of
research articles.
THE MOTIVATION TO CONDUCT
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH DERIVES
FROM A NATURAL CURIOSITY ABOUT
THE WORLD.

• “I wonder what would happen if . . .”

• “I wonder why . . .,”
RESEARCH QUESTIONS,
HYPOTHESES, AND
PREDICTIONS
Research Questions
• Is used to identify and describe the
broad topic that they are
investigating, and then conduct
research in order to answer their
research questions.
Hypothesis
• A tentative idea or question that is waiting for
evidence to support or refute it.

• Once a hypothesis is proposed, data must be gathered

and evaluated in terms of whether the evidence is
consistent or inconsistent with the hypothesis.
Prediction
• A guess at the outcome of a hypothesis.

• If a prediction is confirmed by the results of the

study, the hypothesis is supported. If the prediction is
not confirmed, the researcher will either reject the
hypothesis or conduct further research using different
methods to study the hypothesis.
 Relationship bet motivation
and acad procrastination
1. Demog profile
2. What is the level of motivation among respondents
3. What is the level of acad procrastination among respondents
4. Is there a significant relationship bet motivation and acad
procrastination

Ho: There is no significant relationship bet motivation and acad

procrastination
WHO WE STUDY: A NOTE ON
TERMINOLOGY
• Participants to refer to the individuals who participate in
research projects. An equivalent term in psychological
research is subjects.
• Other terms that you may encounter include respondents and
informants.
• The individuals who take part in survey research are usually
called respondents.
• Informants are the people who help researchers understand
the dynamics of particular cultural and organizational settings.
SOURCES OF IDEAS
Common Sense
• One source of ideas that can be tested is the body of
knowledge called common sense.
• Testing a commonsense idea can be valuable because
such notions do not always turn out to be correct, or
research may show that the real world is much more
complicated than our commonsense ideas would have
it.
Observation of the World
Around Us
• Observations of personal and social events can
provide many ideas for research.
• The curiosity sparked by your observations
and experiences can lead you to ask questions
about all sorts of phenomena.
• In fact, this type of curiosity is what drives
many students to engage in their first research
project.
Theories
• A theory consists of a systematic body of ideas about
a particular topic or phenomenon.

 First, theories organize and explain a variety of

specific facts or descriptions of behavior.
 Second, theories generate new knowledge by
focusing our thinking so that we notice new aspects
of behavior theories guide our observations of the
world.
Past Research
• Becoming familiar with a body of research on a topic
is perhaps the best way to generate ideas for new
research.

• Because the results of research are published,

researchers can use the body of past literature on a
topic to continually refine and expand our
knowledge.
Practical Problems
• Research is also stimulated by
practical problems that can have
immediate applications.
EXPLORING PAST RESEARCH

Journals
Online Scholarly Research Databases: Psycinfo
Conducting A Psycinfo Search

Citation Indexes
Other Electronic Search Resources
Google Sscholar
Literature Reviews
 EXPLORING PAST RESEARCH
Before conducting any research project, an investigator
must have a thorough knowledge of previous research
findings.

Thus, it is important to know how to search the literature

on a topic and how to read research reports in
professional journals.

In this section, we will discuss only the fundamentals of

conducting library research
Journals
Online Scholarly Research
Databases: PsycINFO
The American Psychological
Association began the monthly
publication of Psychological
Abstracts, or Psych Abstracts, in
1927.
 PsycINFO,
Conducting a PsycINFO Search
Most commonly, you will want to use
standard psychological terms. The
“Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms” -
lists all the standard terms in psychology

Suppose you are interested in the topic of

distraction while driving. - distraction and
driving
Citation Indexes

Two related search resources

Science Citation Index (SCI)
Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI).
 Can be access using Web of Science in the
internet
 Both allow you to search through citation
information such as the name of the author
or article title.
 Citation Indexes

Science Citation Index Social Sciences Citation

(SCI) Index (SSCI)

includes disciplines includes social and

such as biology, behavioral sciences
chemistry, such as sociology
biomedicine, and and criminal
pharmacology, justice.
Other Electronic Search Resources
The American Psychological Association
maintains several databases in addition to
PsycINFO
 PsycARTICLES- consisting of full-text scholarly
articles,
 PsycBOOKS- a database of full-text books and
book chapters.
 Other major databases include Sociological
Abstracts, PubMed, and ERIC (Educational
Resources Information Center).
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a specialized scholarly search
engine that can be accessed at
http://scholar.google.com. When you do a search using
Google Scholar, you find articles, theses, books,
abstracts, and court opinions from a wide range of
sources, including academic publishers, professional
societies, online repositories, universities, and other
websites.
Access google scholar at: http://scholar.google.com
Evaluating Web information
 Your own library and a variety of websites have
information on evaluating the quality of information found
on the Internet. Some of the most important things to look
for are listed here:
 Is the site associated with a major educational institution
or research organization? A site sponsored by a single
individual or an organization with a clear bias should be
viewed with skepticism.
 Is information provided on the people who are responsible
for the site? Can you check on the credentials of these
individuals?
 Is the information current?
 Do links from the site lead to legitimate organizations?
LITERATURE REVIEWS
literature reviews are another good way to
explore past research. Articles that summarize
the research in a particular area are also useful;
these are known as literature reviews.
 Psychological Bulletin publishes reviews of the
literature in various topic areas in psychology
Annual Review of Psychology publishes
articles that summarize recent developments in
various areas of psychology
ANATOMY OF A RESEARCH
ARTICLE
 Brief summary
ABSTRACT of the article

Outline the Tends to start

INTRODUC
problem, tie to broadly (with a
TION
past research, statement of the
point to question topic) and narrow
and method toward study method
Detailed
METHODOLOG
description of
Y
study design

Objective
RESULTS report of study
results

Tends to recap results

Interpretation and then provide
DISCUSSIO of study results more general
N information

List of all
REFERENCES works cited