Excelsior PSY305 2020 December Module 4 Discussion Latest

PSY305 RESEARCH METHODS

Module 4 Discussion

DQ1 Metacognitive Moments

During Module 3, we discussed sampling techniques and data collection. Think about how you can use this information in your daily life, both personally and professionally.

ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS

Week 7:

Provide an example of how you are using a more critical lens when presented with information. Share the questions that you are asking because of what you now know about sampling techniques and data collection.

Week 8:

Now that you have a better understanding of what research methods is, reflect on what you wrote at the beginning of and midway through this course. How has your understanding changed? Provide an example of how research methods apply in your discipline. How might you be able to use what you learned in this course in your life, personally and professionally?

All Metacognitive Moments combined are 5% of your final course grade.

DQ2 Whose Responsibility Is It?

Watch the video and read the two articles about the ethical issues that can and do arise in research that is publicly shared. The last link is to a website called "Retraction Watch." This website consists of a searchable database on research in all disciplines that has been retracted due to fraud (fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism), as well as other types of ethical misconduct.

What A Massive Database of Retracted Papers Reveals about Science Publishing's 'Death Penalty' (Links to an external site.)

Viewpoint: Why So Many Scientific Studies Are Flawed and Poorly Understood (Links to an external site.)

Retraction Watch (Links to an external site.)

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

Let’s start this discussion with your opinion. If publishing research results is a form of advertising, as mentioned in the video, does the responsibility of researchers end once they have published their findings? 

Using the Reaction Watch database, identify a study that has been retracted within your discipline recently. Summarize the ethical misconduct - in other words, why the study was retracted. What was the potential harm that the findings could have or resulted in? ?Did the author(s) face any consequences? 

When responding to your peers, discuss your concerns with their studies and the potential implications. Discuss how we can prevent faulty studies from being published, or should we not interfere and leave it up to the consumers who are potentially going to utilize those findings?  Who is at fault, the researcher or the consumer?