Understanding Research Articles in Experimental Psychology
In my Experimental Psychology class, I like to reinforce concepts from the course by having students read research articles. Often however, students have great difficulty grasping the concepts and identifying key features of these articles. I use whole-class and group discussions to help students make sense of such reading assignments. First, I have the entire class read a research article or two, and then we talk about method, findings, and conclusions. Then, I assign different articles to groups of four students and provide them with a list of questions to answer. These questions include:
What are the independent
and dependent variables and how is each operationalized?- What is the hypothesis of the study?
- Describe the method used.
- Was this an experimental or correlational study?
- What were the results?
- What are the implications of the study?
After each group
decides on its answers to the questions, one member at a time is
asked to answer one of the questions for the class. Each of the
articles chosen can be tailored to a particular concept that
enhances a chapter of the text (e.g., experimental versus
correlational research, reliability, validity).
I have used this strategy with great success in teaching this
course. The hands-on approach enhances students' understanding of
the course concepts and makes the course more enjoyable and less
threatening.
Associate Professor of Psychology
St. Thomas Aquinas College
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