Reporting of Psychological Investigations

Question 1

What is an abstract?

Answer 1

• First section in a journal including all the major elements, aims, hypothesis, method, results and conclusions
• Abstracts are read first to asses whether an investigation is worth of further examination

Question 2

What is an introduction?

Answer 2

• Area that details relevant theories, concepts and studies relevant to the current study

Question 3

How is the Method split up?

Answer 3

Design
- Whether it was Independent groups, naturalistic and justification

Sample
- How many people where there, how they were selected to be involved and the target population

Apparatus/Materials
- Any materials or tools used

Procedure
- List of everything that happened from beginning to the end

Ethics
- How these rights were addressed in the study

Question 4

How are the Results split up?

Answer 4

Descriptive Statistics
- Tables, graphs, charts, measures of central tendency

Inferential statistics
- Choice of statistical test, critical values, level of significance

Question 5

How is the discussion split up?

Answer 5

Summary of Results
- Verbal/written form rather than stats
- Should be discussed in the context of the findings
- Needs to be aware of any limitations with justification
- Real world/Wider applications to the research
- Referencing