Summarize a research article and critically reflect on the methods and findings discussed in the research article.
Search for a psychology research article of your choosing, on any topic of interest to you within the field of psychology. To access these articles, visit any of the psychology databases (open in new window) (Links to an external site.) and search for a topic of your choosing, such as “ethnicity” and “lifespan development”, or “stress” and “mental health”, or “schizophrenia” and “attachment”. Anything related to the field of psychology that interests you- now is your time to dive into the research and present it for this class in paper form!
This paper should be divided into two parts. The summary of the research article (part one) should include the following information and should be less than half the length of the total paper:
Summarize the author(s)’ hypotheses and purpose for the study.
Describe the sample of participants in the study (number, age, gender, etc).
Describe the measures/materials used and the how the study was conducted.
Describe the results/findings of the study.
The critical reflection section (part two) should answer the following questions:
Do you think the method appropriately tested the research question?
Are the authors’ conclusions supported by the research findings? Are alternative interpretations possible? Were there causal conclusions that were inappropriate?
What assumptions did the author(s) make in designing the study, and were these assumptions appropriate?
Was the sample appropriately diverse? Is the research design appropriately inclusive and/or sensitive to the cultural context?
Comment on the authors’ adherence to the ethical principles for conducting psychological research. Do you think adequate protections for the research participants were in place?
What limitations did the authors state? What are the additional limitations that the authors did not acknowledge?
What future research directions did the authors outline? Discuss additional future research directions that you see.
What are the implications of this study for psychology and/or public policy?
