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Psychology: Research Methods

General Psychology Orientation

Psychology Research Methods

The resources and search tips are provided to offer special research help for this course.  

Psychology databases are linked from the A-Z List and the Subject List on the Boreham Library page.

What is a Review Article?

A review article presents a summary or a review of research usually conducted over a specified time period.  Review articles are especially valuable for their inclusion of a  list of References that provide information on individual studies listed in the review. 

A meta-analysis reviews articles on a topic and also applies statistical analysis to results..  

                                                Examples of review articles

See No Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak No Evil: Theorizing Network Silence Around Sexual Harassment  

Hershcovis, M. S., Vranjes, I., Berdahl, J. L., & Cortina, L. M. (2021). See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil: Theorizing network silence around sexual harassment. Journal of Applied Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000861

The Universality of the Portrayal of Gender in Television Advertisements: A Review of the Studies in this Century  

Furnham, A., & Lay, A. (2019). The universality of the portrayal of gender in television advertisements: A review of the studies this century. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(2), 109–124. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000161

How to Find a Review Article

                                            PsycARTICLES or PsycINFO

Begin at the Boreham Library page:  https://library.uafs.edu
At "Quick Links", select Databases and then Psychology (from the SUBJECT drop down).
Select PsycINFO or PsycARTICLES.
In the search box, type keywords or search terms to describe your topic.  You can accept the default search "Select a Field" or change the drop down menu to SUBJECT for more specific searching.   If the topic is one about which much has been written or published, you may want to consider a SUBJECT search.
Scroll down the page to find a box labelled METHODOLOGY.
Choose LITERATURE REVIEW.
If you want to LIMIT search results to recent publications, set the Publication Date range to last five years. 
If you want to be sure that the article if available full text, check the box for Full text.
Click SEARCH.

 

TUTORIAL: Using the Methodology Limiter in APA PsycINFO

What is an Empirical Article?

An empirical article is a research study on a topic that may employ any one of several research methods. For example, the methods used might be qualitative, quantitative, a survey, case study, or others.  

Empirical articles are generally based on an experiment or study.  Empirical Articles are usually organized according to a structure known as IMRAD:   

 Introduction     Methods     Results   and   Discussion

 

Example: Nostalgia Promotes Help Seeking By Fostering Social Connectedness 

Juhl, J., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Xiong, X., & Zhou, X. (2021). Nostalgia promotes help seeking by fostering social connectedness.  Emotion, 21 (3), 631-643.   https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000720.supp (Supplemental)

 

When searching PsycARTICLES or PsycINFO, use the Methodology limiter to narrow results to an empirical study. 

How to Find an Empirical Article

                                            PsycARTICLES or PsycINFO

Begin at the Boreham Library page:  https://library.uafs.edu
At "Quick Links", select Databases and then Psychology (from the SUBJECT drop down).
Select PsycINFO or PsycARTICLES.
In the search box, type keywords or search terms to describe your topic.  You can accept the default search "Select a Field" or change the drop down menu to SUBJECT for more specific searching.   If the topic is one about which much has been written or published, you may want to consider a SUBJECT search.
Scroll down the page to find a box labelled METHODOLOGY on the left side of screen.
Choose EMPIRICAL.  There are other options available.  If you need a Review or Meta-synthesis, check this option.
If you want to LIMIT search results to recent publications, set the Publication Date range to last five years. 
If you want to be sure that the article if available full text, check the box for Full text.
Click SEARCH.

 

Finding Empirical Articles When a Methodology Filter Is Not Available

Both PsycArticles and PsycINFO have a special search limiter known as METHODOLOGY.  With this limiter, you can limit to literature reviews, meta-synthesis, and different types of research studies. 

 

NUMA SEARCH and other databases do not have this special search feature.  When you search other databases and need empirical studies, use words such as the following in your search strategy to retrieve the types of studies needed:
  • empirical research or empirical study
  • comparative study
  • quantitative study
  • qualitative study
  • longitudinal study
  • survey
  • studies or research studies

Search example:  Persistence and college students and empirical research

Article Example:  Grit, Self-efficacy, achievement orientation goals, and academic performance in University students