Virginia Pacheco Chávez

EFECTOS DE UN ENTRENAMIENTO CORRECTIVO EN LA ELABORACIÓN Y FUNDAMENTACIÓN DE PREGUNTAS DE INVESTIGACIÓN

The effects of corrective training in the identification and development of some elements of empirical articles (framed within the Experimental Analysis of Behavior) were analyzed. The impact of feedback and instructions on conditional discrimination tasks were studied with the aim of determining whether this would promote the development of skills to elaborate and substantiate research questions. Twenty psychology students from a Mexican public university aged between 20 and 22 years were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. Both groups were exposed to a baseline, two training phases (except the control group) and to an assessment session. During baseline and assessment, participants read two experimental articles and formulated and justified a new research question derived from them. The experimental group was exposed to a corrective training in identifying (exercise 1) and developing (exercise 2) the various elements of scientific articles that were intended to improve reading and writing technical materials at extrasituational and intrasituational levels. Results showed that for most participants in the experimental group, correct answers increased in comparison to baseline and that six of the ten participants were able to write and justify their research questions at an extrasituational level. The control group failed on both counts. Data are discussed in terms of the importance of identifying effective strategies for training new researchers, especially regarding the development of reading and writing skills.