Guidelines For Research Article Review Bonus Paper Social Behaviour

Guidelines for Research Article Review Bonus Paper

The purpose of this assignment is to get you beyond the textbook and into the recent

social psychological literature. The first requirement, then, is that you find a research

article published in a relevant psychology journal sometime in the last 10 years. The

specific article is up to you, but it must meet the following criteria: (a) it must be in the

area of social psychology; (b) it must be published since 2006; (c) it must describe some

research, as opposed to being a solely theoretical article or an article that only reviews the

literature in some research area (please ask me if you are unsure whether an article meets

this criterion); (d) it must be an article located by you; and (e) it must be a different

article than the one you used for any other class requirement.

If you have any doubts about the suitability of a potential article, I would be happy to

look at it. Please note that most items you might locate in magazines or on the Internet,

although potentially relevant to social psychology, are not appropriate for this

assignment.

One way to find an article is simply to flip through recent volumes and unbound issues of

various social psychology journals, such as Basic and Applied Social Psychology, the

Journal of Social Psychology, and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Recent full text articles from Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin are available via

the computerized research databases accessible on campus, and the Journal of

Experimental Social Psychology is accessible from Saint Mary’s at

www.sciencedirect.com/science/journals. Another way to find an article is to start with a

topic you are interested in and then search PsycINFO, a computerized database that is

available via the Saint Mary’s library website.

You will find that many published articles describe more than one study; if this is the

case for the one you choose, just focus on a single study when you write the assignment.

In writing this assignment, please follow the nine requirements described below, and

structure your paper in the same manner and order. In other words, it is not necessary that

you write in “essay” format—simply number and answer each of the nine questions

separately.

1. Include a full reference to the article using the exact format recommended by the

American Psychological Association (APA). An example is provided below:

Darley, J.M., & Latane, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of

responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8, 377-383.

2. Summarize the purpose of the article, and briefly describe how the study follows from

earlier social psychological research and theory. What was the primary hypothesis of

the study?

2

3. What was/were the primary independent variable(s)? What was/were the primary

dependent variable(s)? Note that even in correlational research—where causal

relationships cannot be determined with certainty—there are usually implied or

theoretically specified “predictors” (i.e., independent variables) and “outcomes” (i.e.,

dependent variables).

4. What was the nature of the data—experimental or correlational? Briefly explain your

answer.

5. Briefly summarize the method of the study.

6. What were the one or two primary findings of the study? Did they support the

primary hypothesis?

7. Make one suggestion for further research that builds on the study you reviewed.

Explain how this would extend the findings of the study.

8. Briefly relate some aspect of the article to something relevant considered by Myers

and Smith (2015) in our textbook, Exploring Social Psychology.

9. Attach a copy of the article to your paper (or a pdf version if you are submitting via

email).

Suggested page length: No more—and possibly less—than four double-spaced, typed

pages. Try to be clear and concise.

 

 

A warning regarding plagiarism: The work you hand in must be your own. Be aware of

the definition of plagiarism used by Saint Mary’s: “Plagiarism is the presentation of

words, ideas or techniques of another as one’s own. Reference to or appropriation of

another’s work whether by direct quotation or paraphrase must be acknowledged by

proper citation. When in doubt, one should seek the advice of the instructor before

submitting the work” (St. Mary’s University Calendar 2016-2017, p.17-25).

http://www.smu.ca/webfiles/UGcalendar2016-1726April2016.pdf)