reporting investigations + writing up a research report

Question 1

journal articles

Answer 1

• These pieces of research are formally written up in published peer-reviewed academic journals for everyone to read.
• There is a format to follow when researchers write up their final findings.

Question 2

what are the stages of formatting research

Answer 2

1. a brief summary of report
2. introduction
3. methodology
4. procedure
5. results
6. discussion
7. references

Question 3

expand on the first stage, a brief summary of report

Answer 3

• Aim
• Method (lab, field or natural)
• Design (repeated measures, independent groups or matched participants)
• Participants (how many, how sampled?)
• IV and DV
• Brief procedure (what they did)
• Brief summary of the results and 1 or 2 line conclusion

Question 4

expand on the second stage, introduction

Answer 4

• You should inform your reader of the background to your investigation.
• Psychologists tend to use an ‘upside down pyramid’ or a ‘funnel’ approach to writing introductions.

Question 5

expand on the 3rd stage, methodology

Answer 5

Design
- Method (lab, field or natural)
- Design (independent groups, repeated measures, matched pairs)
- IV and DV (and how they were operationalised)
Participants
- Number, ages range, gender, how sampled (opportunity, random etc)
Materials/apparatus
- Consent form
- Standardised instructions
- Experimental stimulus (what they were given / did)
- Debriefing form
Procedure
- Bullet point of each step on the study

Question 6

expand on the 4th stage, procedure

Answer 6

• A crucial section of the report as this is what the reader would follow if they were to replicate your investigation.
• It should outline from start to finish what your participants did without exception, and end with you thanking them and thoroughly debriefing each participant.
• It is a step-by-step guide of what to do.

Question 7

expand on the 5th stage, results

Answer 7

• Descriptive statistics = measure of central tendency (mean, median or mode) and measure of dispersion (range or standard deviation)
• Graph of the descriptive
• Inferential statistics and why that particular test was chosen (either mann-whitney, wilcoxon, spearmans rho, chi squared)

Question 8

expand on the 6th stage, discussion

Answer 8

• Conclusion of the results
• Accept or reject alternative hypothesis
  -Link findings to previous research from introduction
• Recommend areas for future research linked to this study
• Acknowledge limitations
• Suggest constructive ways to improve your study if appropriate.
• What are the implications of your findings? Say what your findings mean for the way people behave in the real world.
• Suggest an idea for further research triggered by your study, something in the same area, but not simply an improved version of yours. Perhaps you could change one of the variables (IV or DV).

Question 9

expand on the 7th stage, references

Answer 9

• The reference section is the list of all the sources cited in the essay (in alphabetical order). It is not a bibliography (a list of the books you used).
• Every time you refer to a name (and date) of a psychologist you need to reference the original source of the information.
• What textbooks, internet sites, journals were used in researching the topic?
• References need to be set out APA and Harvard style
• The reference section is the list of all the sources cited in the essay (in alphabetical order). It is not a bibliography (a list of the books you used).
• Every time you refer to a name (and date) of a psychologist you need to reference the original source of the information.
• What textbooks, internet sites, journals were used in researching the topic?
• References need to be set out APA and Harvard style