PSYC 2300 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Popular Publications, Baby Steps, Secondary Source
Document Summary
What interests you: read a little, be open, narrow it down, baby steps. Sources of research ideas: your very own experience! Observation of everyday behavior of animal behavior. Example: motivating people to vote: bright ideas. Even if they aren"t fleshed out yet: published research or reports. Why did they only study white males: theory. Predictions of behavior occurring under new combinations of variables. Two theories make competing predictions about behavior. Example: trichromatic theory and opponent process theory of cv. Developing good research questions: ask interesting questions, ask just right questions. Not too easy, not too hard: ask specific questions. But not too specific: ask answerable questions. Must be able to use the scientific method. Identify a gap in that knowledge base that your study will attempt to fill. Let the literature guide you: the purpose of the literature search. Get ideas about variables to include, design, materials and procedures. Find a set of research articles that relate to your idea.
