Reading Reports of Empirical Studies

After presenting the results, the authors provide conclusions and implications in the Discussion section. The Discussion section should start with a summary of the most important results and then get into a discussion of how the results address the research questions. As you read the Discussion section of the published article, think about the following questions:

• What conclusions do the researchers draw from their results?
• Are the conclusions important? Why or why not?

These questions will help you evaluate the overall "worth" of the research in terms of theory, applications, and/or relevance for understanding psychology.

Are the conclusions important?

Fuligni and Stevenson stated that, although Asian students spent more time on academic activities than American students, they still lead well balanced lives, including watching t.v. and hanging out with their friends. As well, although the amount of time adolescents spent engaging in academic activities was very strongly related to mathematics achievement, Fuligni and Stevenson concluded that academic success does not require "exclusive" attention to academics.

Fuligni and Stevenson suggested that the amount of time American students estimated that they spent in working and leisure activities was striking and may have been an explanation for the low mathematics achievement scores obtained by these students.

The authors argued that by using the same interview in each country, and by selecting cities that were representative of similar socioeconomic and cultural levels within each country, their results are reliable and valid.

Fuligni and Stevenson's overall conclusion was that the structure of adolescents' days have an important impact on their development.