Constructing Knowledge: The Role of Graphs and Tables in Hard and Soft Psychology

Because graphs provide a compact, rhetorically powerful way of representing research findings, recent theories of science have postulated their use as a distinguishing feature of science. Studies have shown that the use of graphs in journal articles correlates highly with the hardness of scientific...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American psychologist 2002-10, Vol.57 (10), p.749-761
Main Authors: Smith, Laurence D, Best, Lisa A, Stubbs, D. Alan, Archibald, Andrea Bastiani, Roberson-Nay, Roxann
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computer Graphics - standards
Computer Graphics - statistics & numerical data
Constructivism
Data Display - standards
Data Display - statistics & numerical data
Ethnography
Graphical Displays
Graphs
Humans
Knowledge
Periodicals as Topic - standards
Periodicals as Topic - statistics & numerical data
Psychology
Research Design - statistics & numerical data
Science
Statistical Tables
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Summary:Because graphs provide a compact, rhetorically powerful way of representing research findings, recent theories of science have postulated their use as a distinguishing feature of science. Studies have shown that the use of graphs in journal articles correlates highly with the hardness of scientific fields, both across disciplines and across subfields of psychology. In contrast, the use of tables and inferential statistics in psychology is inversely related to subfield hardness, suggesting that the relationship between hardness and graph use is not attributable to differences in the use of quantitative data in subfields or their commitment to empiricism. Enhanced"graphicacy" among psychologists could contribute to the progress of psychological science by providing alternatives to significance testing and by facilitating communication across subfields.
ISSN:0003-066X
1935-990X
DOI:10.1037/0003-066X.57.10.749