Paper Alternative for Research Participation Credit
1 Paper = 1 credit  ALL REPORTS DUE ON OR BEFORE the next-to-the-last Friday of classes.
For those of you who cannot or do not wish to complete the 4 credits of research participations, summaries of published psychology research
reports may be substituted, one for one, for research participation credits. Reading research reports is another way to become familiar with the
research methods psychologists use and the types of investigations they conduct.

Select an article reporting the results of psychological research from the journals suggested below. The bound  and unbound (recent issues) journals are
located in the basement of the library. You MUST select a research report (it will have a "Method" section and "Results" section), NOT a Psychology Today or other popular magazine article. Xerox the first page of the article to attach to your paper and answer the following:


Author(s) of your article:
 

Title of the article:
 

Journal title:
 

Journal Volume:                                              Year:                                             Page numbers of article:

What were the researchers investigating?
 
 
 
 
 

Who or what were the participants in the study, how many were there, what were their characteristics, and where did they come from?
 
 
 
 

Were these participants divided into different groups (e.g. an experimental group and control group)? If so, describe
and explain how they were treated or tested differently:
 
 
 

What observations were made or what tests were given or what data was collected?
 
 
 
 
 

Does this study seem to fit one of the basic types of research we discussed (naturalistic observation, survey, correlational research,
experiment, quasiexperiment)? If so, which type and why do you think so?
 
 
 
 
 

What did the researchers find out? What conclusions did they draw?
 
 
 
 
 

Now consider the topic of the research and the variables that were studied. Look through the index and modules of
our text - can you relate the TOPIC of this study to something discussed in our text? If Plotnik were going to add
the study you read to our text, where might he include it (cite the pages in our book that are most closely related?
What field of psychology does it represent (e.g. developmental psych, social psych, biopsych, etc.)?
 
 
 
 
 

Suggested psychology journals:
Developmental Psychology (BF712.D46)                              Popular magazines like
Journal of Abnormal Psychology (RC321 J67)                     Psychology Today are not appropriate.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology (RJ499 A1J57)
Journal of Counseling Psychology (BF637C6 J68)
Journal of Social Psychology (HM251.J68)
Animal Learning & Behavior (QL785 A725)              You can recognize a professional research
Behavior Research & Therapy (RC321 B43)               report by its careful description of
Journal of Experimental Psychology (BF311 J64)       subjects, methods, results and a
Journal of Research in Personality (BF1 J62)              discussion of the implications of the
British Journal of Psychology (BF1 B722)                  research.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Journal of Personality & Social Psychology (HM251.J67)
Perceptual & Motor Skills (BF311 P36)