How to read research

https://www.scientifica.uk.com/
neurowire/gradhacks-a-guide-to-
reading-research-papers
Why read a research paper?
Basic Guidelines

Read critically

Read creatively

Make notes!

Try to summarize the paper in one or two sentences after first reading

Compare the paper to other works if possible

Types of research studies

Case Studies

Correlational Studies

Longitudinal Studies

Experimental Studies

Clinical Trial Studies

Case Studies

Single subject OR Single Case

Allows us to assess the development over a period of time to give a detailed

account of what’s going on in “real-life” context

Advantage: get LOTS of information about one case

Disadvantage: cannot be readily applied or generalized to other people
Correlational Studies

Look for relationship between two or

more variables

Cannot tell us anything about cause

and effect

Advantage: Can gather lots of

information at one point in time

Disadvantage: Cannot control

external factors
Confounding Variable

Confounding variables are those that affect other variables in a way that
produce sporadic or distorted association between two variables
 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0057753

Confounding
Variables
in Sport
 Longitudinal Study

How people develop over time

Follow a “cohort” across time, measuring the same

behavior multiple times

Advanage: can pinpoint when change occurs

Disadvantage: takes a long time to complete them

Experimental Studies

What we typically think of when we think of “research”

Two primary types:

Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)
Single-case design

Advantage: examine cause-and-effect relationship

Disadvantage: has poor external validity
Experimental Studies con’t

Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT): participants are randomly assigned to

either receive the intervention (we call this the experimental group) or to a
control group

Single-case Design (SCD): outcomes (dependent variables) are recorded

repeatedly for individual participants across time with varying levels of
intervention (independent variables)
Clinical Trial Studies

A “flavor” of RCT - Typically conducted in a medical/clinical setting

Both RCT and clinical trials should do their best to “blind” both the researcher
and the participant - WHY?

Advantage: can determine effectiveness of intervention compared to

placebo/control

Disadvantage: same as RCT

Sections of a research article

Abstract

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion
 Abstract
Usually 6-7 sentences / 150-250 Words

Context
Central Question or Problem
What’s already known (Previous Work)
Rationale
Methods
Findings, Results, or Arguments
Introduction

Step 1: Introduce your topic

Step 2: Describe the background

Step 3: Establish research problem

Step 4: Specify Objectives

Step 5: Map out your paper (IF NEEDED)

Methods

Step 1: What or Why

Step 2: Describe data collection methods

Step 3: Describe analysis methods

Step 4: Evaluate and justify methods chosen

 Intro
Results

Best Practices:
Written in past tense
Be as concise as possible
Only include results that are relevant Results
Always start with broadest results first
Conclusion

Step 1: Restate the problem

Step 2: Sum up the paper

Step 3: Discuss the implications

Tips for Writing A Summary
1. What is the research investigating?
2. Why did the research investigate this?
3. What was found?
4. Are the findings unusual or do they support other research in the field?
5. What are the implications of the results?
6. What experiments could be carried out to answer any further questions?