Information For Experimenters: The Journal Article Review as an Alternatives to Research Participation

 

Students who do not wish to participate in experiments offered by the department may satisfy the PSYC 103 research requirement by completing the following alternative assignment:

 

Journal Article Review

Approved journal articles are available via electronic reserve.  Interested students will go to the library web page, and from there, access electronic reserves.  Approved articles are found under the course listing, “Research Requirement.”  Using the password “knowledge,” students may access the web page to download and read approved journal articles.  In addition, students may download the “Review Form” from the reserve website and complete it after they have read the article(s).  Students will turn in the completed Review Form and a copy of the article to their introductory psychology professors.

 

Responsibilities of all Experimenters:

 

Before receiving access to the participant pool, each faculty member, each lab class, and each independent study/bachelor’s essay student who wishes to use the pool is responsible for selecting at least one short, accessible journal article to be placed on electronic reserve at the library.  Articles should be short (2-5 pages), and should be accessible to students at the introductory level (American Scientist, Psychological Science, Current Directions, and Scientific American are excellent journal choices). The reports should include one or two (maximum) studies, the nature and purpose of which should be easily discernable to naïve readers. 

 

Experimenters are also responsible for completing the Review Form Key so that PSYC 103 instructors can quickly and easily evaluate the reviews completed by students.  Of course, course instructors also have the option to select their own articles for review, but experimenters must provide at least one article per study so that the onus for this alternative is not placed solely on individual instructors.

 

The participant pool believes that students involved in research (either via lab classes or independent study) should be required to provide articles as research alternatives so that students can fully appreciate the ethical and pragmatic considerations involved in conducting research.  Access to the pool is viewed as a privilege and a responsibility, and it is imperative that students who use the pool understand the necessity for alternative research experiences. 

 

Procedures for Experimenters to Follow:

 

1.         Select a short empirical article for the Participant Pool Committee to place on electronic reserve

 

2.         Download the Journal Review Form for the Psychology Department’s web page by going to http://www.cofc.edu/psychology/, then clicking on “PSYC 103 Research Requirement,” then “Experimenters,” and then “Journal Review Form.”

 

3.         Complete the Journal Review Form for your article; be sure to provide answers to questions at a level appropriate for PSYC 103 students.  Please be sure to complete the Review Form and save it in .html format.  Also, please make sure that the format of the document is maintained by printing a test page.

 

4.         Turn in the following items to the Participant Pool Committee (PPC):

            (1) Place a hard copy of the article in the mailbox of Dr. Carol Toris (57 Coming Street).

(2) Email an html file of your completed Review Form Key to the Experimetrix Web Master: torisc@cofc.edu.