To fully understand a research study, you need to identify its key components: im, method, procedure, results and onclusions. You also need to be able to evaluate a study by identifying its strengths and limitations.

Being able to identify and formulate these components is an important skill. As research studies are described throughout this book, these components will or will not be explicitly stated. When they are not, the expectation is that you can ll in the gaps yourself, on the basis of context and your prior knowledge.

Review what you know about Sperry and Gazzaniga’s research with split-brain patients and discuss the following questions.

1. What research method (or methods) did they use?

2. What are the main results and the main conclusions?

Note that it is essential to separate the two. Results are the ndings obtained in the study; they are related to the measurement of the key variables.

Conclusions are based on how these ndings relate to the background theory or the aim of the study.

3. What are the main strengths and limitations?

Review Unit 1 on research methodology if you nd answering this question dicult. For example, if you decided that the study is an experiment, what threats to internal validity could have caused problems? How can you characterize sampling, credibility, generalizability and bias as applied to this research study?

“Filling in the gaps” is a very useful exercise as you are reading this book.