Why might it make sense to think of some ideas before consulting the literature? What advantages are there to using your personal experience to develop research ideas? Write down two potential research ideas that come out of your personal experience and two that come from the Internet.
What is the Library of Congress classification system? What is a keyword? What kinds of resources would you expect to find in the Reference Section? In what ways can librarians help with your research project?
What do the number of experiments and sophistication of data analyses suggest about an article? What is Beall’s List? When we talk about the publication practices of a journal, what do we mean? Why do reviewers need ethical standards? State the null hypothesis in your own words. Why might replications become more common in the future? What is the file drawer phenomenon?
Explain how you would obtain an article that is not available as full text download-able. What is the difference between PDF Full Text and HTML Full Text? What is the difference in journal coverage between PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES?
Explain how you would obtain a book that your library does not own.
Explain what information you should keep track of in each of the following sections: Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion. What are the three sections of the Method? What is the internal consistency of a measure? What is the shape of the Introduction? The Discussion? Why are the Limitations and Future Directions sections important in developing research ideas?
Explain what a third variable is and why it makes sense to narrow the research gap. What role do demographic variables play in narrowing the research gap? Where should you look to determine which demographic variables to include?
