Psychology
Peer Review and Economic Applications of Research
Peer review is a process in which experts in a field evaluate research before it is published. In economics, peer review is important for ensuring the validity and reliability of research findings. It helps to maintain the quality of economic research and ensures that it is useful for policymakers and practitioners.
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4 Key excerpts on "Peer Review and Economic Applications of Research"
eBook - ePub- Peter Spurgeon, Roy Davies, Antony Chapman(Authors)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
Economic psychology, on the other hand, is mainly a research discipline, at least as a student is likely to experience it; it is concerned with general laws rather than particular instances. It is true that some of the findings of economic psychology may be relevant to the formation of economic policy. Furthermore, quite a lot of its methods, and some of its findings, may be used by particular economic agents (mainly firms, either as employers or as sellers of goods). But the information such firms generate is unlikely to come into the public domain: if a firm discovers an efficient way of marketing its goods, it is not going to publish the results in a scientific journal for its competitors to read. At the moment, therefore, the main aim of economic psychology as an academic discipline is to understand the two-way relation between the psychology of individuals and the workings of the economy.Research in Economic Psychology May Have Commercial ValueJust because economic psychology deals with economic behaviour, the results it obtains may have economic consequences. Put more simply, it may be possible to make money, or to make more money, by knowing the regularities in other people’s economic behaviour. This complicates the academic study of economic psychology in two ways.First, as has already been mentioned, research is likely to be carried out by active economic agents, who will have no incentive to publish their results. They may even have an incentive to mislead the wider community about the extent and conclusions of their research. Although we have never encountered a case of this sort, we have, for example, encountered a large financial organization that was in a position to monitor a substantial proportion of all the consumer purchases made in the United Kingdom, and was doing so. Its staff were understandably not interested in sharing their observations with academic researchers.The second complication is more subtle. Suppose we discover a regularity about, say, the way people bid at auctions (the subject of some interesting current research: Smith, 1989; Thaler, 1988). It may then become possible to become a more effective bidder, and make more money, by behaving in a way that breaks the ‘law’ we have just discovered. We see, therefore, that formulating a ‘law’ in economic psychology may in fact undermine it. This is an example of what has been called the ‘uncertainty principle’ that applies in all human sciences: if a prediction about behaviour is communicated to the subjects of the prediction, they may be induced to change their behaviour, if only because they resent being predicted. Where economic behaviour is concerned there may be a financial advantage, as well as sheer cussedness, to induce people to violate our predictions. Economics itself suffers from this problem, of course, but to a lesser extent, because it tends to base its predictions on an assumption of rational behaviour and it is rarely financially advantageous to behave irrationally. Economic psychology is more vulnerable, because it is open-minded about rationality.
eBook - PDFImproving the Effectiveness of the Helping Professions
An Evidence-Based Approach to Practice
- Morley D. Glicken(Author)
- 2004(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
The review process may involve having the author do extensive revisions of the article that may include providing more detail regarding the methodology used. Universities 55 56 THE CORE BELIEFS OF EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE sometimes publish academic journals. Academic journals might also be the flagship journals for professional organizations such as the National Association of Social Workers, the American Sociological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, or the American Psychological Association. Some professions have annual reviews that publish summary articles on important topics. The Annual Review of Psychology comes to mind. Two very useful articles for this book came from that publication: “Individual Psychotherapy Outcome and Process Research: Challenges Leading to Greater Turmoil or a Positive Transition?” by Kopta, Lueger, Saunders, and Howard (1999) and “Empirically Supported Psychological Interventions: Controversies and Evidence” by Chambless and Ollendick (2001). Both articles are excellent examples of very objective, clearly written, and highly useful pieces of scholarship. The purpose of research is to share information with a broad audience. If you, the reader, can’t make sense out of the language in an article, the author is either hiding something, the review panel is overly impressed with abstract language, or the material really is too technical to fully understand and perhaps you should ask for help in deciphering it. Asking for help is essential in becoming an informed consumer of research. Agency-based clinicians might benefit from having a research specialist available who can help them track down best practices and explain the findings when they are unclear. 2. Professional Journals. These journals are also refereed and have an editorial board, but the articles published in professional journals may be less empirical and may include theoretical articles that summarize existing research.
- Michael C. Roberts, Stephen S. Ilardi, Michael C. Roberts, Stephen S. Ilardi(Authors)
- 2008(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
Scientific Process and Publishing Research 35 Book reviews Journals sometimes publish book reviews relevant to a particular topic or field of psy-chology. Evaluations of books help define the progress of psychological thinking, and help potential book buyers judge whether or not to acquire a book. Different journals publish different styles and contents of their book reviews. Not all journals publish reviews, nor do all those that publish them accept unsolicited reviews. One journal, Contemporary Psychology , is devoted entirely to invited book reviews, and a relatively high standard is imposed on those accepted. Convention presentations Oral presentation of research findings at psychology conventions is another form of scientific publication. The session at which research is presented on posters, with the researcher standing nearby for discussion, is another convention or conference format common for research dissemination. Conventions and conferences now rarely publish proceedings with presented papers included, but preparing a project for such presen-tation is an excellent first step in getting to the write-up for journal submission. An additional benefit is the opportunity to get feedback and discuss implications of the project from fellow conference participants to include in the manuscript. Research topics A great deal of fad research exists in clinical psychology, with “hot” topics waxing and then waning in popularity in a manner not dissimilar to the latest fashion trends. Most researchers and practitioners want to be on the cutting edge of the scientific discipline. However, the novice researcher is frequently misled by a perceived zeitgeist reflected in the published literature. There are several difficulties with attempting to determine “hot” topics. First, what may be popular this year may not be publishable next year.
- Cary Cooper, Ivan T. Robertson, Cary Cooper, Ivan T. Robertson(Authors)
- 2003(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
‘The ultimate criterion of all economic activities and economic policy is human well-being,’ wrote van Veldhoven (1988, p. 53). He stated: ‘In the 34 I NTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF I NDUSTRIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 2003 end, all distribution of scarce means and goods serves the fulfilment of needs and aspirations and the achievement of satisfaction of individuals and groups. Thus, economic reality cannot adequately be understood without the analysis of the subjective and psychological dynamics that underlie and guide eco- nomic behaviour of both individuals and groups.’ From about the 1970s onward, social scientists and economists have emphasized the importance of economic psychology and behavioural economy (Wa¨ rneryd, 1988, 1993). Lunt (1996), however, criticizes the attempts of economically oriented psychologists who adopt economists’ agendas and introduce psychological insight into elaborate economic models. He claims that psychologists should start to examine economic theory to open new lines of collaboration that will allow them to apply their own conception of psychology to economics. The International Association for Research in Economic Psychology (IAREP) was founded primarily by European psychologists and economists, and has the influential Journal of Economic Psychology since 1981. The Association successfully bridges psychology and economics. In the USA, there are two related associations consisting for the most part of a combina- tion of economists and sociologists, concerned with behavioural concepts in economic matters: the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) and the Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), which publishes the Journal of Socio-Economics.
Index pages curate the most relevant extracts from our library of academic textbooks. They’ve been created using an in-house natural language model (NLM), each adding context and meaning to key research topics.
