Article Review #1 Worksheet

PSY205 FALL 2023

Your Name (first and last):

Purpose: One objective of this course is to teach you how to draw logical and objective conclusions about behavior and
mental processes based on empirical evidence. Doing so requires you to be able to read, summarize, and evaluate
psychological research. These represent foundational skills in the field of psychology. Even if you choose not to continue
in the field of psychology, these skills will allow you to be informed consumers of popular media and news that purports to
be based on psychological research. To help accomplish this goal, this article review walks you through the process of
reading and summarizing a scientific, peer-reviewed, empirical research paper from a psychology journal. You will then
bring this knowledge back to your group to contribute to your group’s Research Proposal.

Directions: Read the article you were assigned during your Week 6 Recitation. Then answer all nine questions. You
should answer the questions by summarizing in your own words rather than copying and pasting from the article text.
Most questions can be answered in a few sentences or a brief paragraph.

Questions:

1. Cite your article in proper APA citation format. (Not sure? See Purdue OWL's APA formatting site). Your
citation must include the author(s), year of publication, title of the article, title of the journal, journal volume, issue
number, and page numbers. The typical format for a scientific journal article is:
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume number (Issue
number), Pages.

2. What is already known about the topic? Briefly summarize in your own words what we already know based on
previous research. This is often the bulk of the Introduction section of an article. What are the 2-3 main take-away
points?- Mental health problems that are caused by stress, such as anxiety and depression are very common in
adults with ASD (autism spectrum disorder). Research to combat these mental health issues in people with ASD,
hasn’t been explored much and therefore are very limited. However, some interventions conducted like AAT (animal
assisted therapies), have proven to help in decreasing stress for children with ASD suffering from stress-related
mental health issues.

3. What do the authors want to learn by completing this research? Briefly describe the main purpose of this
research study and what the author(s) expect to find (i.e., their hypothesis). You can find a description of a study’s
aims/purpose and hypothesis in the introduction section of an article. Explain in your own words – don’t copy and
paste!- The main research study is AAT is beneficial to adults with ASD and not just children.

4. What is the study design? Briefly summarize the study design (e.g., survey, case study, observational,
experimental, correlational). Is the study design a good choice to test their hypothesis? Why or why not? You can find
a description of the research design in the methods section of the article. -The study design was a randomized
controlled trial that used an appropriate sampled size, a control group, randomization and valid outcome measures,
for an explorative effect study. The study design was a good choice to test their hypothesis because it guaranteed an
outcome that would directly correlate to addressing their hypothesis.
5. Who participated in the study? Why were they used? Are they representative of the population in
question? Can we generalize from this sample? Describe the participants in this study, including information
about their location, age, gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and any other relevant characteristics. Then
consider how this subsample relates to the population of people the authors are attempting to draw conclusions
about. Information about participants can be found in the Methods section of an article. (note: N = number of
participants) - Participants of the study were recruited in bathes from a mental health care organization. All
participants were adults with ASD. The participants were told what they were participating in through verbal
and written information. The participants were between 18-60 years of age and had an IQ of 80 or above, and
had a high score on the Perceived Stress Scale. The participants were a representative of the population in
question because they were adults with ASD.

6. How did the researchers measure their variables? What materials did they use? Briefly describe the
procedures. Describe the primary variables of interest in this study and how the authors chose to measure each
(e.g., what survey did they use? what behaviors did they observe?). Summarize the procedures (i.e., what participants
did during the study). This information can be found in the Methods section. -The researchers measured their
variables using therapy dogs and adults with ASD, that consisted of 10 weekly one-on-one therapy sessions, 60
minutes per session, where a therapy dog was present during all sessions. After the 10 week follow up, participants
were asked to fill in questionnaires asking about their Perceived stress scale and other symptom checklists.

7. What did the researchers find? Briefly summarize the main results/findings. This information can be found in the
results section of the paper and, often, in the first paragraph of the Discussion section. You don’t need to have a
detailed understanding of the statistical analyses to be able to make sense of the findings. Authors will always explain
the results and tables/figures can help you to make sense of their findings. You also don’t need to describe every
single finding – what’s the most important/relevant finding to your research topic? - The results of the study showed
that AAT with a dog reduced perceived stress levels and agoraphobia symptoms in adults with ASD. The results also
showed that AAT reduced impairments in social responsiveness, as well as depressive symptoms. He effects were
small to medium in size.

8. What did this study contribute to our knowledge of this topic? Are there any implications for further
research or practice? Briefly summarize the main findings in relation to the authors’ aims and hypotheses. Were
they supported or not? Why might people (e.g., the public, psychologists, policy-makers) care about these findings?
The bulk of the discussion section often addresses these issues.- The study contributed to the knowledge that AAT is
a helpful method I combating mental health issues within both adults and children with ASD.

9. Describe at least one limitation of the study. Every study, no matter how strong, will have limitations. Briefly
critique this study. The authors will typically note limitations towards the end of the Discussion section. - A limitation in
the study was that more research is needed since AAT was probably not the only reason for reduced stress levels
because as the researchers state, the physical activity and social contact experienced during the therapy sessions
could also have been a factor in reducing depressive feelings.
10. Briefly describe what else you want to know about this research topic. After reading this article, what
questions do you still have? What might you want to explore further?- I would like to learn more about the differences
in behavior with how adults with ASD who find AAT helpful and those who don’t, combat mental health issues.