Chapter 15 Glossary
plagiarism: using someone else's words, thoughts, or work without giving proper credit. Plagiarism is considered a serious act of academic dishonesty. Indeed, at some institutions, students convicted of plagiarism are expelled. Furthermore, concerns about plagiarism are no longer limited to colleges and universities. More and more, the world economy is based on information. Thus, more and more, businesses and individuals are concerned about the theft of ideas (intellectual property). Therefore, if you quote someone's work, use quotation marks; and if you paraphrase or in any sense borrow an idea from a source, cite that source. (p. 622)
research journal: a diary of your research ideas and your research experiences. The research journal can be a useful resource when it comes time to write the research proposal. (p.606)
abstract: a short, one-paragraph summary of a research proposal or article. The abstract must not exceed 120 words. It comes before the introduction. (p. 628)
introduction: after the Abstract comes the introduction to the study. In the introduction, the authors tell you what their hypothesis is, why their hypothesis makes sense, how their study fits in with previous research, and why their study is worth doing. (p.608)
method section: the part of the article immediately following the introduction. Whereas the introduction explains why the study was done, the method section describes what was done. For example, it will tell you what design was used, what the researchers said to the participants, what measures and equipment were used, how many participants were studied, and how they were selected. The method section could also be viewed as a "what we did" section. The method section is usually subdivided into at least two subsections: participants and procedure. (p. 620)
results section: the part of
the article, immediately following the method
section, that reports statistical results and relates those results to the
hypotheses. From reading this section, you should know if the results supported
the hypothesis. (p. 630)
discussion: the part of the article, immediately following the results section, that discusses the research findings and the study in a broader context and suggests research projects that could be done to follow up on the study. (p. 626)
exploratory study: a study investigating an entirely new area of research. Unlike replications, an exploratory study does not follow directly from an existing study. (p. 613)
direct replication, exact replication: a copy of the original study. Direct replications are useful for establishing that the findings of the original study are reliable. (p. 615)
systematic replication: a study that varies from the original study only in some minor aspect. For example, a systematic replication may use more participants, more standardized procedures, more levels of the independent variable, or a more realistic setting than the original study. (p. 616)
conceptual replication: a study that is based on the original study, but uses different methods to better assess the true relationships between the variables examined in the original study. In a conceptual replication, you might use a different manipulation or a different measure. The conceptual replication is the most sophisticated kind of replication. (p. 617)
probability value (p value): the chances of obtaining a certain pattern of results if there really is no relationship between the variables. (p. 614)