peer review

• peer review begins when a research paper submitted to a journal is considered to be worthy of publication
• steps of peer review

  1. editor sends research paper to other (unpaid) experts
  2. they critically appraise all aspects of the study
  3. return it with their recommendations whether its acceptable quality or not
  4. if not, researchers revise their work and re submit.
  5. this ensures high standards within psychological research are maintained.
• main aims of peer review:

  1. allocate research funding
  2. validate quality and relevance of the research
  3. suggest amendments and improvements
• peer review is not always reliable, example is Andrew Wakefield and the MMR controversy, where he said MMR vaccine causes autism.
• bordens & abbot (2008) say science is politically conservative and peer review acts to maintain the status quo and prevent potentially revoluntionary research from being published.
• A paradigm shift in psychology is a change in the prevailing theories, methods, and principles of the field, which is usually caused by new evidence that contradicts current thinking. This shift is also known as a "scientific revolution".
• if the results of a study do not fit with the accepted existing knowledge, it can be rejected
• objectivity: a reviewer may strongly support an opposing view making them less likely to provide an unbiased opinion of their work.
• institution bias: research from prestigious universities is favoured
• gender bias: male researchers tend to be favoured
• file drawer problem: bias towards publishing studies with positive results. i.e. those supporting the hypothesis. negative findings tend to be rejected or are never submitted for publication. for every study showing positive findings, there could be 100 with negative results stuffed in uni filling cabinets
• without peer review, we have no idea whether somebody's claims are fact or fiction.