Your task is to locate a research report (not a theoretical review, letter to the editor, opinion paper, etc.) in one of the professional journals from the field of psychology, read enough of the report to answer the questions listed below.  Research reports are the published primary sources - reports by investigators explaining why they did their study, how they did their study, what they found, what they conclude, and what they intend to do in the future. A research report can usually be recognized by clearly labeled Method, Results and Discussion sections within the body of the paper.

Select one or more of the psychology journal titles below to look up using the Title option on  the library’s Unistar system. Type carefully! You may have to click on the journal title on a couple of screens before you see the call number.  Write down the call number of the journal (1 pt). Then look for this call number either among the bound volumes of journals at the north end of the basement of the library, or among the as yet unbound recent issues at the south end of the library basement not far from the Multiservice Center. Look through the journal for an interesting research report that you can make sense of. You may have to look at several journals to find one you like. Photocopy the first page of an appropriate article to show you have located it in the stacks (1 pt). Read through the article so that you can answer the following questions:

1)What were the researchers interested in? What was their hypothesis or what research question were they trying to answer? (2 pts)

2) Who were the participants in this study (how many, what were their characteristics)? (2 pts)

3) How was the research conducted? (describe what they did) Does this research fit one of the basic research methods we discussed (naturalistic observation, survey/questionnaire, case study of single individual, experiment, correlational research? Which? Why do you think so? If it was an experiment, what variable was manipulated ? What was measured, recorded or observed? What did they find? (4 pts)

* Beware of plagarism - write your answers in your own words, not those of the authors or those of a friend also doing this assignment.

Extra Credit:
From the library homepage click on Databases A-Z, then click on P-Z, and select PsycINFO (the database that keeps track of almost all published research related to psychology). Choose 2 of the keys terms describing the focus of your research article (e.g. memory and Alzheimer’s;  sex differences and mating). Type the 2 terms (with “and” between them) in the box (type carefully!) and press “Search”. Near the top of the page you can see how many references PsycINFO located that contained the 2 terms you were searching for and then a list of the first 40 of these references. Put a check mark in the little box right next to the first reference, and click on the little printer icon at the right side of the screen (you will also have to press print on 2 later screens that show up). Turn in this 1 page printout with your assignment to show that you successfully made use of the PsycINFO database to search for other sources on the same general topic.(4 pts)

Some suggested journals:
Behavioral Neuroscience (brain research in animals)
Cognitive Therapy and Research
Cross-Cultural Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Health Psychology
Infant Behavior and Development
Journal of Health and Social Behavior
Journal of Comparative Psychology
Journal of Clinical Child Psychology
Journal of Applied Psychology
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied
Journal of Comparative Psychology
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Journal of Personality
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Journal of Social Psychology
Journal of Applied Social Psychology
Journal of Applied Psychology
Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
Journal of Counseling Psychology
Journal of Educational Psychology
Memory and Cognition
Perceptual and Motor Skills
Psychological Report
Psychological Bulletin
Psychology and Aging
Teaching of Psychology

This assignment is very similar to the paper alternative to participating in experiments. You may read and report on a published research study from the professional psychology journals to earn each credit that you need.