Peterson, J. J., & Sesma, A. (2017). Introductory Psychology: What’s Lab Got to Do With It? Teaching of Psychology, 44(4), 313–323.
This study sampled a national, randomly selected pool of colleges and universities to provide a descriptive account of research experiences offered in introductory psychology courses, and to explore instructors’ perceptions of and perceived barriers to integrating research. The authors are from St. Catherine University, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. A total of 259 individuals completed the survey for an estimated response rate of 26%. Results show that although few of the introductory courses have a separate laboratory (5%), over 75% of the respondents indicated some manner of research activity in their courses. Most introductory courses included opportunities to read and critique original research, but few provided students with hands-on research, APA writing, or data presentation opportunities. Respondents also rated activities such as designing, conducting, and interpreting research as not especially important for introductory courses. Primary barriers to integrating research are logistical in nature. A promising avenue for future research is to examine potential moderating effects of students’ achievement levels on the relation between research experiences in introductory psychology courses and student recruitment to or retention in a psychology major.