I hate the way research articles are written and I hate APA style (except for citation guidelines).
I suspect it's because there's a fear that "exciting" presentation is somehow linked to failure to properly critique the method and consider confounds, alternative hypotheses etc. I don't think that has to be the case, but, there you go... Nancy Melucci Long Beach City College Long Beach CA -----Original Message----- From: Michael Britt <mich...@thepsychfiles.com> To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) <tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu> Sent: Fri, Jan 6, 2012 11:50 am Subject: [tips] Why does published research have to be so cryptic I just finished reading another research article for possible use in an upcoming odcast and while I think the study itself was well done, I am once again left ondering why it all has to be so boring. I mean, we tell students (at least I id) that we do research because we're curious about human behavior. We usually o research because we've observed something about ourselves and we want to nderstand it better. After this initial curiosity we usually talk about our research idea with riends and colleagues over lunch. We even get excited about it. Now, of ourse, the research process itself is a serious matter and I am not saying that e need to dumb down the process (blah, blah, blah). I'm just saying that what omes out the other end - the published article - is typically so mindnumbingly oring to read. And it's not just that. The other thing that discourages me is hat all the curiosity, all the excitement the researchers probably had at the tart of the process is nowhere to be found in the publication. In fact, I'm ot even clear as to what the researchers saw as important (even potentially nteresting) about this research I just read. Isn't there a way to capture ANY f the initial excitement? Can't we have a section in which researchers are llowed to tell us what the applications of the research are to "real life"? I now they sometimes do this in the Discussion, but you'd often be hard pressed o find it. We criticize lawyers for their cryptic legal documents - what about s? No wonder students hate research methods. We've sucked the "wonder" out of it. Michael ichael A. Britt, Ph.D. ich...@thepsychfiles.com ttp://www.ThePsychFiles.com witter: mbritt -- ou are currently subscribed to tips as: drna...@aol.com. o unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=12993.aba36cc3760e0b1c6a655f019a68b878&n=T&l=tips&o=15138 r send a blank email to leave-15138-12993.aba36cc3760e0b1c6a655f019a68b...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=15139 or send a blank email to leave-15139-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
