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4.2.2. Los escenarios de aplicación de los MOOC
Chances are you have already used an electronic database to search for infor-mation. Some common ones are EBSCO, JSTOR, Science Direct, and Academic Search Premier. And you have undoubtedly started many of your searches by simply relying on Google (what you might not know is that you can search for scientific literature on a subset of Google called Google Scholar). In psychology, the APA’s PsycINFO Services provides a variety of electronic search tools. The primary data-base, from which all of the others are derived, is called PsycINFO. It includes references to journal articles, doctoral dissertations, technical reports, books, and book chapters. It includes journal articles dating back to 1887, the year American
psychology’s first successful journal, the American Journal of Psychology, was founded.
It includes more than 3 million abstracts, covers literature published in more than 2,500 journals, and is updated weekly. The features of PsycINFO are constantly being improved, so for the most up-to-date information, you should check out PsycINFO’s website at www.apa.org/psycinfo.
Although PsycINFO is the primary database for psychologists, other databases also may be useful, depending on your research interests. For example, if you are interested in education and psychology, then ERIC may be a useful database; if you are interested in neuroscience, MedLine may be pertinent. Most likely, your school’s library has an online search capability in which you can use multiple data-bases for a single search. For instance, EBSCO allows you to select both ERIC and PsycINFO databases to search simultaneously.
You should be able to find PsycINFO among the list of electronic databases on your library’s website. It can appear in any of several formats, depending on how your library subscribes. Regardless of which service is used, the basic features of PsycINFO are the same. So how do you use PsycINFO to find the sources you need?
Search Tips
Experience is the best teacher of PsycINFO, but guidelines can help you become a proficient user. Because PsycINFO contains so much information, you must narrow your search strategy to find the sources most important for your topic. To begin, recall your empirical question and home in on your operational definitions. In PsycINFO, you should always use an Advanced Search, which allows you to enter multiple search terms. For example, if you type in “memory” as a search term, you will end up with 160,435 results (as of the time of this printing; if you try it as you read this, there will certainly be more!). You can be more specific and type in
“eyewitness memory,” thus narrowing your results to 537 items. This is still way too many for you to sift through, so you should include multiple terms in the Advanced Search option. If you try “eyewitness memory” AND “individual differences,” for instance, your search now yields a much more manageable 37 results. We strongly recommend that you keep track of your search terms and the combinations of search terms you use so when you enter PsycINFO again you are familiar with searches that did and did not work so well.
In the Advanced Search, you can search by such fields as author, article title, journal name, and/or year of publication. You can also choose various search limiters. Thus, you could choose a publication type search, a neat device for focusing on specific types of articles. For example, you can limit the search to longitudinal studies, experimental replications, literature review, or meta-analysis.
These last two types of search can be especially useful because they yield articles that summarize the results of many other articles. The reference sections of these literature reviews and meta-analyses alone will have great value in your research.
Another potentially useful feature of PsycINFO is the truncated search. To illus-trate, suppose you performed an Advanced Search on “altruism” AND “evolutionary psychology” and got 136 results. However, there are likely more than 136 sources on this popular topic. By asking for “evolutionary psychology,” you eliminated records that included just the terms “evolution” or “evolutionary.” To solve the problem, the evolutionary psychology term could be “truncated” (i.e., shortened). This is
Reviewing the Literature 103
done by using only the first few key letters and adding an asterisk. For example, using “evol*” retrieves all of the terms that begin with those four letters, including evolutionary, evolution, evolved, and evolving. If you search for “altruism and evol*,”
736 records appear. This is more than 136 but too many to manage, so it may be necessary to add a third search term based on your empirical question and/or operational definitions, or limit your search in other ways as described earlier.
In sum, the best way to learn the mechanics of using PsycINFO is to sit at your computer and experiment, perhaps starting by working your way through the help screens. The APA also publishes various downloadable guides (e.g., www.apa.org/
databases/training/searchguides.html), and reference librarians are always happy to assist you as well.
Search Results
Your search will produce specific results, and you will notice that relevant sources are listed by title in the order of the most recently published to the oldest. If you click on the active link for the source (usually the title of the work), you should be able to read the abstract (or summary) of the article, book chapter, etc. as well as obtain many other relevant details about the source. Figure 3.4 shows you what a typical PsycINFO record for a journal article looks like (you should recognize the article as one featured earlier in this chapter concerning cell phones and driving—
Strayer & Johnston, 2001). As you can see, each record includes several important categories of information. These categories are called fields, and they include, among other things, the article’s title and its author(s), all of the needed refer-ence information (journal, volume, page numbers), an abstract of the article, and descriptors (terms that can be used to search further). Reading the abstracts will tell you whether the article is especially relevant. If so, depending on your library’s subscription to the database, you can probably download, email, and/or print a .pdf copy of the article itself. An important note here: It may be tempting to limit your search to results with available .pdf copies, but this may cause you to miss important articles. Your library can get you these articles through interlibrary loan, usually within a few days.
As you are searching, be especially primed to notice articles in the journals Psychological Bulletin, Psychological Review, and Perspectives in Psychological Science as well as chapters in the book series Annual Review of Psychology. All publish long literature reviews and theoretical articles that are potential gold mines because they contain extensive reference lists. Once you begin finding good articles on your topic of choice, you can use the reference sections of the actual articles as a means of further search. From these references you might pick up new search terms, and you can identify names of researchers who seem to publish a lot on the topic, enabling further searches by author. In addition, because PsycINFO lists the items by most recent date, it is always a good idea to look at the most recent articles first; they represent what is most current in the field, and their reference sections tell you the most important earlier articles. Thus, if you yield a search of many records, reviewing the most recent ones will give you a good start.
Once you have sources in hand, you have to read them. You should carefully examine Table 3.1 at the end of this chapter for tips on how to read a psychology research article effectively. The knowledge you gain from effectively reviewing the
literature puts you in a better position to develop more ideas for research, formu-late them as empirical questions, and develop them into testable hypotheses. With a good research hypothesis, you are ready to design a study that will provide answers to your empirical question. The problem of design will be dealt with shortly. First, however, it is necessary to introduce you to the basics about the data that you will be collecting. It is important to familiarize yourself with how psychologists measure and analyze the data they collect in order to answer their empirical questions.
Title: Driven to distraction: Dual-task studies of simulated driving and conversing on a cellular telephone.
Pub. Yr.: 2001
Author(s): Strayer, David L.; Johnston, William A.
Affiliation: U Utah, Department of Psychology
Source: Psychological Science. Vol. 12(6), Nov. 2001, 462–466.
Abstract: Dual-task studies assessed the effects of cellular-phone conversations on performance of 48 Ss (aged 18–30 yr) on a simulated driving task. Performance was not disrupted by listening to radio broadcasts or listening to a book on tape. Nor was it disturbed by a continuous shadowing task using a handheld phone, ruling out, in this case, dual-task interpretations associated with holding the phone, listening, or speaking. However, significant interference was observed in a word-generation variant of the shadowing task, and this deficit increased with the difficulty of driving. Moreover, unconstrained conversations using either a handheld or a hands-free phone resulted in a twofold increase in the failure to detect simulated traffic signals and slower reactions to those signals that were detected. The authors suggest that cellular phone use disrupts performance by diverting attention to cognitive context other than the one immediately associated with driving.
Subjects: Attention; Distractibility; Driving Behavior; Reaction Time; Telephone Systems; Distraction; Task Analysis; Task Complexity
Classification: Attention; Transportation
Age Group: Adulthood (18 yrs and older); Young Adulthood (18–29 yrs);
Thirties (30–39 yrs) Digital Object
Identifier (DOI): 10.1111/1467-9280.00386
Figure 3.4 The PsycINFO record for the study by Strayer and Johnston (2001) on the effects of cell phone use on driving.
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TABLE 3.1
Getting the Most Out of Reading Journal Articles At some point in your research methods course (and
other psychology courses as well), perhaps as part of an assignment to complete a literature review, you will find yourself reading empirical research articles in one of the many psychology journals. It is impor-tant to keep in mind that journal articles were not written for an undergraduate audience; rather, they are aimed at other professional researchers. So they can be hard to read. Most empirical research articles follow a certain structure—an introduction, followed by descriptions of method and results, and ending with a discussion of the results. These sections of the paper are described in more detail in Appendix A, which will teach you how to write one of these reports.
As for reading an empirical research article, here are some good tips:
rGet as much as you can out of the abstract. This is a summary of the research and probably the easiest section of the paper to read and understand. Read it several times.
rIn the opening paragraph or two of the introduc-tion, look for a general statement of the problem being studied. By the way, this part of the paper will not be labeled “Introduction,” but it will include everything between the abstract and the section la-beled “Method.”
rThroughout the introduction, take note of any theo-ries that are described and if a particular theory is being tested. Keep in mind that the introduction may provide other relevant sources for your litera-ture review. You can find all the citations in the text of the introduction at the end of the article in the references list.
rNear the end of the introduction, probably in the final paragraph, look for statements of the hypoth-esis or hypotheses being tested in the study. These will emerge from the problem statement and the research questions raised by the studies described in the middle part of the introduction (the literature review portion). Write down the hypotheses and keep them in mind as you continue reading. Don’t be concerned if the word hypothesis does not appear.
Instead, you might see prediction or expectation.
rIn the method section, take note of the participants tested, particularly if the type of participant is a fac-tor being explored in the study (e.g., individuals
with bipolar disorder versus those with major de-pression).
rAlso in the method section, review the materials used for the study; these often include the tests used (e.g., Beck Depression Inventory, or BDI). It is important to keep track of this information to see how it compares with tests used in other articles. For example, depression might be measured with the BDI in one study but by some other test in a second article.
rPay careful attention to the description of the proce-dure used and the experimental design. Try to place yourself in the role of a participant in the study and develop a clear idea of what the participants did. If the study is experimental, identify and write down the independent and dependent variables (you’ve encountered these terms in your general psychology course, and you’ll learn much more about them in Chapter 5).
rThe results section might be especially difficult be-cause it will include statistical information and sym-bols that might seem incomprehensible. Statistics is considered a language of its own, one that provides the reader with the exact evidence of the conclu-sions drawn on the basis of the study data. A good results section presents a clear description of the results. You should be able to understand the gist of what happened in the study without looking at a single number. You should also find graphs and ta-bles helpful; they are often visually compelling and make the basic results easy to grasp.
rThe last main part of the article is the discussion section. It often begins with a paragraph that sum-marizes the main results, so if the results section is Greek to you, there’s still hope. The main purpose of the discussion section is to explain the results with reference to the original hypotheses, so the writer makes connections to the introduction. The researcher also addresses any weaknesses that might have existed in the study, or alternative explanations of the results. Finally, look for a description of what research should be done next (the what’s-next?
question). This part points toward future research and is a great source of ideas. If your assignment in-volves doing a literature search and then developing a research proposal, this what’s-next? portion of the discussion is where you’ll get excellent ideas.
Chapter Summary
Varieties of Psychological Research
Basic research in psychology aims to discover fundamental principles of behavior, while applied research is undertaken with specific practical prob-lems in mind. Both basic and applied research can take place in either the laboratory or a field setting. Laboratory research allows greater control, but field research more closely approximates real-life situations. Research that involves participants in the procedures (i.e., has experimental reality), even if it places people in situations far removed from everyday living, can yield important informa-tion about behavior. Most research in psychology is quantitative in nature, involving numerical data subjected to statistical analysis, but recent years have seen an increase in qualitative research (e.g., content analysis of structured interviews, observa-tional research).
Asking Empirical Questions
The initial step in any research project is to formulate an empirical question—one that can be answered with the evidence of objective data.
Empirical questions include terms that are defined precisely enough (i.e., operationally) to allow repli-cation to occur. Several studies on the same topic might use different operational definitions of terms yet converge (converging operations) on the same general conclusion about behavior (e.g., frustration leads to aggression).
Developing Research from Observations of Behavior and Serendipity
Some research ideas derive from reflection on everyday observations, especially of events unusual enough to attract one’s attention. Specific prob-lems to be solved also lead to research; much of applied research in general and program evalua-tion research in particular develops this way. Some-times we observe events that occur unexpectedly or accidentally. Serendipity is the act of discovering something by accident; serendipitous events often yield ideas for further research. The discovery of edge detectors in vision is an example.
Developing Research from Theory
Theories summarize and organize existing knowl-edge, provide a basis for making predictions, and provide a working explanation about some phenom-enon. The relationship between theory building and research is reciprocal. Empirical questions can be deduced from theory and lead to specific hypoth-eses and then to the design of experiments. The conclusions of the completed experiments either support or fail to support the theory. A theory can be discarded, but only after a consensus develops that it is consistently failing to make good predic-tions. In most cases, theories evolve to take into account the accumulating knowledge about some phenomenon. Theories in psychology are useful to the extent they generate research that increases our understanding of behavior. Also, good theories are parsimonious and stated precisely enough to be falsified by well-designed research.
Developing Research from Other Research Researchers in psychology seldom think in terms of isolated experiments. Instead, they produce programs of research, series of interrelated experi-ments within a specific area. They continually use the results of experiments as starting points for the next experiment. Research programs often include studies that involve replications or partial replica-tions of existing findings, along with extensions into new areas.
Creative Thinking in Science
Scientific creativity occurs when researchers make connections among ideas or events that other people perceive as unrelated. The creative scien-tist must be knowledgeable in a particular research area and prepared to notice the relevance of events apparently unrelated to the problem at hand.
Reviewing the Literature
Empirical questions occur more frequently to the investigator who knows the research literature in a particular area. Most searching is done electroni-cally using such tools as PsycINFO.
Chapter Summary 107
Chapter Review Questions
1. What is the essential difference between basic and applied research? Use the basic shadowing and applied cell phone studies to illustrate.
2. What are the comparative advantages and dis-advantages of research completed in and out of the laboratory?
3. In the Bushman and Anderson study of the ef-fects of media violence on helping, why did the researchers believe it necessary to complete the field study, given the results of their laboratory study?
4. What are pilot studies, and what purpose do they serve? What is a manipulation check?
5. Give three operational definitions of hunger, and explain why research using all three could result in converging operations.
6. What is a theory in psychology? What are the attributes of good theories?
7. Use cognitive dissonance theory to illustrate the reciprocal relationship between theory and research. Be sure to work the terms deduction, induction, and hypothesis into your answer.
8. Explain why you are unlikely to hear scientists
8. Explain why you are unlikely to hear scientists