Library Homework Assignment

 

HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT AND LITERATURE SEARCHES

Please note -- there is actually very little writing for this assignment.  Most of the work involved here is thinking and/or searching on PsychInfo. 

1.  Generate a list of at least 4 general questions about human nature you are interested in. Your list can include either very general topics (e.g., helping behavior) or very specific topics (e.g., why do women tend to go to the bathroom in pairs). To generate ideas, you might skim through psychology textbooks to refresh your memory from past classes. Textbooks are available in the library (ask a librarian) or check with a faculty member during his/her office hours.  Alternatively, spend some time reflecting on social interactions and your own daily experiences.  Record these 4 questions to turn in with your homework assignment.

 

2.  Choose two research topics from the 4 above (indicate which you’ve chosen on your assignment) and do a literature search using general search strategies. At this point, you just want to know "what is out there" in the literature - so you want to be searching at the keyword level probably, and you want to be paging through many abstracts (100 or so) to get a feel for the topic. For each topic, find at least 7 relevant psychological references and attach the abstracts (print outs from computer database are fine at this point). Sort and label the abstracts by each of the 2 topics. The references should be relevant in some way to the topic, should NOT be dissertations and should be in English (unless you speak a different language also).

 

3.  Based on your search above, decide which of the two topics seem most interesting to you and choose ONE (indicate your choice on assignment). Based on the abstracts you have read and your interests, narrow your topic to a specific testable hypothesis (e.g., people will be more likely to help in an emergency if they are alone rather than in a group.)  Type out this hypothesis in your homework assignment.

 

4.  Conduct a new literature search on your hypothesis. Now you have a very specific question in mind, so you should use the more specific search strategies you have learned. At this point, you want to be paging through 30-50 or so abstracts looking for very specific evidence related to your phenomenon or how you will run your study. Find at least 4 different references (preferably journal articles as opposed to books or book chapters)  that are obviously relevant to your hypothesis. Carefully read those abstracts. Attach those abstracts and indicate the relevance to your hypothesis (handwritten comments on each abstract are fine).

 

5.  At least one of the above articles should be in a journal held by Hanover Library.  Find that one article, photocopy it (attach the article to this assignment) and read it. Pay special attention to the abstract, introduction, and the beginning of the discussion section which often reports an overview of the findings of the study. You may find an article that does multiple studies (in this case look to the “General Discussion” section).

 

6.  Based on your limited readings above (the one article and the abstracts), consider whether your original hypothesis is reasonable, or if it needs to be modified. Develop at least one new hypothesis on the basis of your readings.  Be sure to briefly record your thoughts on your assignment.

 

SAVE YOUR IDEAS - I'D RECOMMEND A RESEARCH NOTEBOOK.

REMEMBER YOU WILL BE COMING UP WITH YOUR OWN RESEARCH IDEA FOR YOUR GROUP PROJECT.

 

REMEMBER TO ATTACH THE APPROPRIATE ABSTRACTS AND ARTICLE, AND TO CLEARLY LABEL EVERYTHING.