How to Read a Research Paper
Being able to incorporate research into your course work is an important part of this class. When you read a research paper, it is important that you answer a few key questions to ensure that you understand it:
1. What is the report about?
The researchers conducted the study for a reason - their research question. What was it? What was question did the researchers hope to answer? Sometimes there may be more than one research questions, but in most instances, the researchers usually have one principle question. Hint: The research question is typically found in the last one or two paragraphs of the introduction where the researchers outline their hypotheses/predictions.
2. How does the study fit into what is already known?
The purpose of the introduction is to ground the paper within the existing body of research on the topic under examination. For instance, if you started your own research study today and wanted to examine the impact of exercise on obesity you would have to take into account the work that has already been done. In other words, what do you predict the results of your study will be given previous work on this question. This is really important to know! If 99 studies have down a positive effect of exercise on obesity you need to know this - because if yours does not - you need to figure out why that is. On the other hand, if 99 studies have already been done why run yours? Replication is a good idea but sadly it is rarely encouraged in the modern scientific community.
3. How was the study done?
What was the methodology? How many people/animals were tested? How old were they? Was gender considered? Were the people broken into groups? Based on what criteria? What was the key "manipulation"?
Typically, we think of this in terms of INDEPENDENT VARIABLES (things the experimenter manipulates) and DEPENDENT VARIABLES (things the experimenter measures). Let's flesh out the previous example a bit. As a researcher, you decide to examine whether or not exercise helps to reduce obesity. So, you have two groups of participants - one that will do exercise during a prescribed period of time and the other that will not. Amount of exercise (some, none) is now your INDEPENDENT VARIABLE. The DEPENDENT VARIABLE might be the amount or percent of weight lost during the time course of the experiment.
4. What were the key results?
Look at the figures. In most papers, the most important findings will be presented in a figure and/or a table. Hint: The figures should clearly show the INDEPENDENT VARIABLE(S) - typically on the x-axis (but not always!) and the DEPENDENT VARIABLE(S) - typically on the y-axis (but not always!). Use the figures to determine the key results!
5. What do the results mean?
In the discussion, the authors will attempt to do two key things. One, is to explain the results - what do they mean? Going back to out example, if the authors found that both groups lost the same amount of weight during the time course of the experiment they would have to provide an explanation as to why this occurred. You may find you have your own explanation of their results - this is perfectly okay as long as it is grounded in theory.
6. How do the results change or support existing theory?
The second thing the authors will do in the discussion is to frame their results within the existing body of literature - all the stuff they talked about in the introduction. Again with our example - if 99 previous studies showed that exercise helped reduce obesity and the current did not, why is that? What differed between the previous studies and the current study. Sometimes at this point in the discussion you will also see the limitations of the study - what was wrong about how it was done - these are typically found out after the experiment was completed or were beyond the ability of the experimenters to control.
Being able to incorporate research into your course work is an important part of this class. When you read a research paper, it is important that you answer a few key questions to ensure that you understand it:
1. What is the report about?
The researchers conducted the study for a reason - their research question. What was it? What was question did the researchers hope to answer? Sometimes there may be more than one research questions, but in most instances, the researchers usually have one principle question. Hint: The research question is typically found in the last one or two paragraphs of the introduction where the researchers outline their hypotheses/predictions.
2. How does the study fit into what is already known?
The purpose of the introduction is to ground the paper within the existing body of research on the topic under examination. For instance, if you started your own research study today and wanted to examine the impact of exercise on obesity you would have to take into account the work that has already been done. In other words, what do you predict the results of your study will be given previous work on this question. This is really important to know! If 99 studies have down a positive effect of exercise on obesity you need to know this - because if yours does not - you need to figure out why that is. On the other hand, if 99 studies have already been done why run yours? Replication is a good idea but sadly it is rarely encouraged in the modern scientific community.
3. How was the study done?
What was the methodology? How many people/animals were tested? How old were they? Was gender considered? Were the people broken into groups? Based on what criteria? What was the key "manipulation"?
Typically, we think of this in terms of INDEPENDENT VARIABLES (things the experimenter manipulates) and DEPENDENT VARIABLES (things the experimenter measures). Let's flesh out the previous example a bit. As a researcher, you decide to examine whether or not exercise helps to reduce obesity. So, you have two groups of participants - one that will do exercise during a prescribed period of time and the other that will not. Amount of exercise (some, none) is now your INDEPENDENT VARIABLE. The DEPENDENT VARIABLE might be the amount or percent of weight lost during the time course of the experiment.
4. What were the key results?
Look at the figures. In most papers, the most important findings will be presented in a figure and/or a table. Hint: The figures should clearly show the INDEPENDENT VARIABLE(S) - typically on the x-axis (but not always!) and the DEPENDENT VARIABLE(S) - typically on the y-axis (but not always!). Use the figures to determine the key results!
5. What do the results mean?
In the discussion, the authors will attempt to do two key things. One, is to explain the results - what do they mean? Going back to out example, if the authors found that both groups lost the same amount of weight during the time course of the experiment they would have to provide an explanation as to why this occurred. You may find you have your own explanation of their results - this is perfectly okay as long as it is grounded in theory.
6. How do the results change or support existing theory?
The second thing the authors will do in the discussion is to frame their results within the existing body of literature - all the stuff they talked about in the introduction. Again with our example - if 99 previous studies showed that exercise helped reduce obesity and the current did not, why is that? What differed between the previous studies and the current study. Sometimes at this point in the discussion you will also see the limitations of the study - what was wrong about how it was done - these are typically found out after the experiment was completed or were beyond the ability of the experimenters to control.