Parts of Research Paper - Research Methods - Lecture Slides, Slides of Research Methodology

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Research Methods in Psychology

Parts of a Research Paper

APA Format

• The primary source for style requirements and

format when writing reports of psychological research is the sixth edition of the Publication Manual (2010) of the American Psychological Association (APA).

• Psychology students should not submit class

research projects for publication unless supervised by an instructor or research mentor.

Guidelines for Effective Writing

• Know Your Audience.
  • If you assume your readers know more than they actually do, they’ll be confused.
  • If you underestimate your readers, they’ll be bored with unnecessary details.
  • Err on the side of underestimating your readers.
• Identify Your Purpose.
  • Research manuscripts use expository writing.
  • The principal purposes of a research manuscript are to describe and to convince.

Guidelines (continued)

Write clearly.

Use economy of expression (i.e., be

concise).

Be precise.

Follow grammatical rules.

Guidelines (continued)

 Be concise.

 Say only what needs to be said.  Short words and short sentences are easier to understand.  Write several drafts of your manuscript; decrease wordiness as you edit your drafts.

 Be precise.

 Choose the right word for what you want to say.

 Follow grammatical rules.

 Failure to adhere to grammatical rules distracts the reader and introduces unnecessary ambiguity.  Grammatical errors decrease the credibility of your persuasive argument.

Guidelines (continued)

Write fairly.

• Choose words and sentence constructions that avoid bias on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, racial or ethnic group, disability, or age.
• Describe persons at the appropriate level of specificity (e.g., describe men and women participants rather than the generic term man when referring to human beings).
• Be sensitive to labels used to describe racial and ethnic groups.
• Avoid the term “subjects” when describing human participants.

Guidelines (continued)

Write an interesting report.

Present ideas and findings directly, but in an interesting and compelling manner that reflects your involvement with the research problem. Strive to tell a good story about your research.

Structure of a Research Report

• A research report consists of the following

sections (the main body of the report is in

bold ):

• Title Page ■ References
• Abstract ■ Appendixes
• Introduction ■ Author Note
• Method ■ Footnotes
• Results ■ Tables (if any)
• Discussion ■ Figures (if any)

• Title page
  • The title page contains the title of the research, the authors’ names, where the research was done (i.e., the authors’ affiliation), a brief heading to describe the subject of the research (the “running head”), and a short title (the first 3 words of the title) with the page number.
  • The title should be a concise statement of the main topic of the research and should identify the variables or theoretical issues in the research.

 Abstract

The abstract is a one-paragraph summary of the content and purpose of the research report. The abstract should be 100-200 words. Four main elements should be included: The problem under investigation, Highlights of the experimental method, The main findings, and The conclusions and implications of the findings. Write the Abstract last!

 Introduction

The three primary objectives of the introduction are: to introduce the problem being studied and to indicate why the problem is important; to describe the theoretical implications of the study and to summarize briefly the relevant background literature related to the study (including appropriate citations); to describe the purpose, rationale, and design of the present study with a logical development of the predictions or hypotheses guiding the study. Docsity.com

Introduction, continued

 You should be able to answer the following questions before beginning to write the introduction: Why is this problem important? How do the hypothesis and the experimental design relate to the problem? What are the theoretical implications of the study, and how does the study relate to previous work in the area? What are the theoretical propositions tested, and how were they derived? ( Publication Manual, p. 16)

 Method

The purpose of the Method section is to describe, in detail, how the study was conducted. Based on the Method section, a reader should be able to replicate the study. The three most common subsections of the Method section are: Participants, Materials (or Apparatus), Procedure.

• Method, continued
  • Procedure: This is the most critical component of the Method section.
  • Describe what happened from the beginning to the end of the sessions in which you tested your participants.
  • Include enough detail so that a researcher could replicate the essential aspects of your study.

Method, continued

 Participants: When humans are the participants, report: the procedures for recruiting and compensating them, major demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, age, race/ethnicity), total number of participants, the number assigned to each condition of the experiment, and describe any attrition.  Materials: Describe any materials that are critical to the design and implementation of the study variables;Docsity.com

• Results
  • The results section contains the climax of the report — the actual findings of the study.
  • Answer the questions raised in the introduction, but “stick to the facts” — leave any interpretation of the findings for the Discussion section.

 Results, continued

 The structure of a typical paragraph in the Results section is as follows:

1. State the purpose of the analysis.
2. Identify the descriptive statistic to be used to summarize the results.
3. Present a summary of this descriptive statistic across conditions in the text itself, in a table, or in a figure.

• The structure of a typical paragraph in the Results section is as follows (continued):
  4. If a table or figure is used, point out the major findings on which the reader should focus.
  5. Present the reasons for, and the results of confidence intervals, effect sizes, and inferential statistics.
  6. State the conclusion that follows from each test, but do not discuss implications. These belong in the Discussion section.

• Discussion
  • The Discussion section includes:
    • A clear and concise statement of the essential findings.
    • A clear presentation of how the findings support or refute the hypotheses.
    • A description of how the results are similar to or different from previous research.
    • Limitations or problems in the research.
    • Specific ideas for additional research based on the findings.

 References

The References section includes the complete citation for each source cited in the research manuscript. References are listed in alphabetical order according to the last name of the first author of each source.

• Examples of Reference Citations
  • References to journal articles include the authors’ last names and initials, the year of publication, the title of the article, the name of the journal, the volume number, and the page numbers. Note punctuation, font, and capitalization.

Hollon, S. D., Thase, M. E., & Markowitz, J. C. (2002). Treatment and prevention of depression. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 3, 39-

• Examples of Reference Citations, continued
  • References to books include the authors’ last names and initials, the copyright date, the title, the city in which the book was published, and the publisher.

Posavac, E. J., & Carey, R. G. (2003). Program evaluation (6 th^ ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

• Examples of Reference Citations, continued
  • The reference for a chapter in an edited volume includes the authors’ last names and initials, the year of publication, the chapter title, the editors of the book, the title of the book, page numbers of the chapter, the city of publication, and the publisher:

Buchanan, T. (2000). Potential of the Internet for personality research. In M. H. Birnbaum (Ed.), Psychological experiments on the Internet (pp. 121- 139). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

 Examples of Reference Citations, continued

The citation for an electronic journal identifies the specific Internet address:

Kirsch, I., & Sapirstein, G. (1998). Listening to Prozac but hearing placebo: A meta-analysis of antidepressant medication. Prevention and Treatment [On-line serial], 1. Available: journals.apa.org/prevention/volume1/pre001000 2a.html.

 Appendixes

Although appendixes are rare in published research reports, they may be required by instructors for class research projects. An appendix is sometimes used to provide a verbatim copy of instructions to participants or a copy of particular materials used in a research study.