Psychology Journals and research

Original research is considered a primary source.

An article is considered original research if...

• it is the report of a study written by the researchers who actually did the study.
• the researchers describe their hypothesis or research question and the purpose of the study.
• the researchers detail their research methods.
• the results of the research are reported.
• the researchers interpret their results and discuss possible implications.

Theoretical research is explanatory, and leads to the advancement of “knowledge for knowledge’s sake. This type of research attempts to gather knowledge about a phenomenon or idea whose conclusions may not have any immediate real-world application. It is sometimes referred to as "basic research."

Examples of Theoretical research in psychology might include:

• An investigation looking at whether stress levels influence how often students engage in academic cheating
• A study looking at how caffeine consumption impacts the brain
• A study assessing whether men or women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression
• A study looking at how attachment styles among children of divorced parents compare to those raised by married parents

Notice in all of these examples, the goal of the research is merely to increase the amount of knowledge on a topic, not to come up with a practical solution to a problem.

Meta Analysis refers to a research strategy where instead of conducting new research with participants, the researchers examine the results of several previous studies. This is done with the purpose of gaining greater confidence in the results because of the larger pool of participants, as long as steps are taken to avoid errors that may have existed in the original studies.

Opposing theories and disparate findings populate the field of psychology; scientists must interpret the results of any single study in the context of its limitations. A researcher might study the studies by assimilating data across studies identified through a literature review. Meta-analysis has many strengths. First, meta-analysis provides an organized approach for handling a large number of studies. Second, the process is systematic and documented in great detail, which allows readers to evaluate the researchers’ decisions and conclusions. Third, meta-analysis allows researchers to examine an effect within a collection of studies in a more sophisticated manner than a qualitative summary.