1 Assessment 1 Context In order for research to have scientific merit, it must achieve three things: 1. It must contribute something new to the scientific knowledge base in the field—in this case, psychology. In order for research to do this, a researcher must conduct a thorough literature review to identify a research problem. A research problem is something that has not been addressed by previous research and would be meaningful to the field of psychology. Often, the research problem is referred to as a "gap in the literature." 2. The research must contribute to psychological theories in a particular field of study. Theories are the primary tools by which science organizes its knowledge—the tools that allow psychology researchers to explain previous and current findings and predict future ones. Research that has scientific merit can advance theories in several ways, including confirming, extending, refuting, or proposing theories. 3. The research must meet the hallmarks of good research. This is the component that is most emphasized in this course as you learn about the defining characteristics of the two methodologies and the various approaches of both. A researcher who has conducted high-quality research has only met this criterion of scientific merit to the extent that the research design and procedures—such as sampling, data collection, and data analysis—allowed the research problem to be solved and the research questions to be answered. It is crucial to remember that the purpose of research is to solve a research problem by investigating something that has not been previously researched—that is, to fill the gap in the literature. Research methods are simply tools that researchers use to do this. When researchers effectively use research methods to solve a research problem, then we can say that the research has met the hallmarks of good research. Professionals in many fields are called upon to use research findings in the literature pertaining to that field. In order to do so, it is the responsibility of the researcher to evaluate the scientific merit of the research that produced those findings While most research published in peer-reviewed journals can be trusted to have good scientific merit, it can be risky not to evaluate research for yourself, especially research findings most pertinent to your work and career. Running head: APA STYLE PAPER TEMPLATE 1 APA STYLE PAPER TEMPLATE 8 [Instructional text in this template is contained in square brackets ([…]). After reading the instructional text, please delete it, and use the document as a template for your own paper. To keep the correct format, edit the running head, cover page, headings, and reference list with your own information, and add your own body text. Save this template in a file for future use and information. The running head is an abbrevia.