ENG-456 Communicating Scientific Ideas to Popular Audiences

In order to communicate the importance and meaning of scientific research, you will need to understand the research you read. Most research articles assume a basic familiarity with the field and will not define technical terms or include background knowledge.

Reference sourcesensure you have a correct understanding of the underlying science.

What Is a Reference Database?

In Library terms, a reference source is one that contains basic facts and information. Examples of reference sources are dictionaries and encyclopedias. A reference database, like Credo Reference, collects many different reference books together to make them easy to search across.

Sage Research Methodsis a specialized reference database that focuses on research. If you have a question about how research was done--i.e. what does a longitudinal study really involve, how are p values determined? Sage has the answer.

Most research articles follow the same basic layout, with the same general sections.

Abstract

The brief summary or recap of the article.

• Read the abstract before the article!
• The abstract will tell you an overview of what they did and what the results were.

Introduction

This section introduces the article. It gives an overview of the problem, and the rationale for the study. 

1. Read the intro first.
   • Look for:
     • Why was this study necessary?
     • What question were they trying to answer?
     • What's the point of this research?
     • What's the bigger context for why research in this area is being done?
     • A good research objective is measurable, realistic, and timely. 

 Pause.

Check your understanding here.

• If the abstract and introduction aren't making sense, do more background research before reading the rest.

Results

Also called Discussion or Findings.

The results of the study. This includes analyzing the data, drawing conclusions based on the data, and determining if the hypothesis/research question was correct.

2. Read Results second. This allows you to immediately compare the question with the answer. 
   • Look for:
     • Are the conclusions in line with the research questions? 
     • Do they discuss limitations or flaws in the results?

Conclusion

Summarizes the research study and explains what conclusions the results support. 

3. Read after the results. Make sure to compare the conclusion to the introduction. 
   • Look for:
     • A clear answer to the research question established in the introduction.
     • Why the findings matter.
     • What additional research needs to be done in this area.

Method

The research methods used, the population sample, and the data collection process. The actual study part of a study.

4. Read the methods last.
   • The methods section will generally be the most technical section, so reading and understanding the other parts will make understanding it easier.
   • Compare the methods to the conclusion.
   • Look up methods in Sage Research Methods if you aren't familiar with them.
   • Look for: 
     • Does the design make sense? Especially given the conclusions. 
     • Do they identify the analysis and scales clearly? Are these validated scales that have been used in other studies?
     • Does the sample size match the conclusions made?
       • Watch out for a claims of significance or absolute findings when dealing with a small number of subjects.
       • Be aware of p -hacking.

References

A list of all the sources the authors used in conducting their research and writing the paper. 

• Check the references if you want to follow up on a study mentioned in the paper, for the full information to locate it.

Some articles may also include a section reviewing other studies that did the same or similar research, called a literature review.

• If there is one, look for: 
  • Are they in line with or contradicting prior research?

For a more in depth look at working with empirical/research articles, the Library recommends viewing the video How to Read and Understand a Research Study from Sage Research Methods, as well as reading Evaluating Research Studies from the Handbook of Research Design & Social Measurement .