We cover research methods in the latter part of Chapter 1 in the 1st edition of our textbook. We moved and expanded our research methods coverage to Chapter 3 in the 2nd edition of our book. In both of these chapters, we have a feature where we challenge students to find a news story talking about a research finding and then trace it back to its original source. They then need to get the actual research article, read it, and compare how the study is discussed in the news source and the scientific article.
This comes from an assignment I regularly do in my Health Psychology course where I have students find a news report about a health study and then find and read the original research. They then have to, depending on the semester, either write about the similarities and differences, discuss this as part of an in-class activity with their peers, or present on their experience as part of a brief oral presentation (occasionally as a video talk).
Depending on the news story they find, they may identify explicit problems such as reporting a correlational finding using causal language. At a minimum, however, they generally find that the news story only provides part of the picture as the actual study, and its results, are usually more complex and involved.
Depending on the background of your students, they may be very familiar with reading scientific research – something that makes this activity more straightforward. If you do this activity, however, other students may need more guidance on how to read research and what to look for, but this can provide a great context for them to wade into reading peer-reviewed research since their own interests drive the selection of the study they’ll focus on. I find this an especially great warm-up in the first third of the term before they undertake library research for larger projects.
In the context of Psychology of Women and Gender courses, one of the great things this can help students think about is how bias can creep into how research is discussed and shared. We do frame it this way in our 1st edition, but we frame much of chapter 3 in our 2nd edition around a tool for helping students identify and critique hidden biases in research. But that’s another post….
Want to learn more about this framework we’ve developed based on some amazing resources that are already out there in the world? Make sure you request a review copy of the new edition of the textbook!