empirical journal articles.
Below are 10 questions to ask about empirical journal
articles.
1. How would
you explain this article to your grandmother in just a minute or so?
2. What were the key research findings?
3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the particular
research methodology?
4. What is the theoretical relevance of this research?
How do
the findings relate to psychological
theory?
5. How do the results and interpretation fit with what is know about other
cognitive processes?
6. Does the work have "ecological validity? Do the results generalize beyond
the laboratory?
7.
What
new or unanswered questions
does this paper leave us with
?
8. What can we learn from the "scientific biography" of this particular
researcher/author? Do a
little research on the (first) author discuss the work in light of this biographical
information.
9. What kind of impact did this work have on the field?
How did it affect the
subsequent literature as indicated by how many times it was
cited according to the
Web of Knowledge Social Science Citation Index
(http://apps.webofknowledge.com.proxy.lib.muohio
.edu/) or Google Scholar
(http://scholar.google.com/schhp?hl=en)? State how many times it
was cited and
assess
and comment upon the impact after reading the titles and
abstracts of a few
key or recent papers citing the work in question. For papers
publishe
d in the last 5
years do a web search for the
Journal
Impact Factor
of the periodical itself (e.g.
Medical Decision Making
)
which is often
on the journal's web site. Briefly comment
on this.
10. How does this article change
your
thinking
