Mod 3, Communicating Science

Question 1

Outline the differences between scientific and journalistic articles.

Answer 1

Scientific/academic articles have to precise: press/journalism need to make money
A journalist summaries findings and conclusions using everyday accessible terms, without any advanced data analyses, methodologies, or research
A scientist must write the entire detailed account of the rigid scientific process, as in the previous chapter
A journalist is likely unsure on how the data was collected and analyzed, and may not be able to clearly report it; they also were not involved in the data collection and research process being a discussed while a scientist is
A journalist is not trained to hold to academic standards of objectivity: subjective opinions and biases are likely to infiltrate the internal validity and external validity of their writing
A journalist is not entitled to submit their writing for peer review, and is only examined by editors with no scientific training

Question 2

Define the abstract of an article.

Answer 2

summary of the study (immediately follows the articles’ titles and authors name), contains info about study goals, hypotheses, variables, methods, and findings

Question 3

Define the introduction.

Answer 3

review of prior research, current research rationale, hypotheses, follows the abstract

Question 4

Define the methods section.

Answer 4

participants/subjects, study design, materials, procedures, operationally define all variables, allows for replications

Question 5

Define the results section.

Answer 5

Results: statistical analyses, tables, figures,

Question 6

Define the discussion section.

Answer 6

explanation of the findings, evaluation of the study, suggestions for the future, interpretation of the findings, why the results turned out this way and applications

Question 7

Hedging

Question 8

When do results need to be included on a paper?

Answer 8

results can never be omitted regardless of their outcome, and statistics effect sizes, and analysis of data must always be included

Question 9

Define effect size

Answer 9

measure of the strength of a particular finding

Question 10

Define confidence intervals

Answer 10

indicate the likelihood that a statistic will fall between a range of values around the variable’s mean