Psyco 105 Individual and Social Behaviour Help Psych Home
Sec. P1, TR 11:00 - 12:30 E-mail


Reading Reports of Empirical Studies


The Abstract is a brief but comprehensive summary of the empirical research report. The Abstract includes a concise statement of the goal of the research, outlines the methods, and presents the essential results and conclusions.

Read the Abstract to get an overview of the research. A general orientation to the article and specific aspects your instructor wants you to concentrate on are presented below.

Time Use and Mathematics Achievement among American, Chinese, and Japanese High School Students

Andrew J. Fuligni and Harold W. Stevenson

Harold Stevenson and other have done a lot of research on academic achievement of students in different countries. Generally, students from Asian countries score much higher than American and European students on tests of academic achievement.

What are some reasons for these cross-national differences in achievement? Stevenson argues that some of the differences are due to cross-national differences in attitudes toward academic achievement. In this research Fuligni and Stevenson investigate how students spend their time outside of school as a possible explanation for cross-national differences in achievement.

As you read the article, pay particular attention to:

  • How Fuligni and Stevenson develop and rationalize their research questions,
  • What methods they use to address their research questions,
  • What answers they obtain to their research questions, and
  • What conclusions they draw about how time use influences achievement.

    • read.gif (919 bytes)   Reading the Research Questions to Consider
      Title Abstract Introduction Method Results Discussion References