reporting psychological investigations Flashcards
1
Q
sections of a scientific report - abstract
A
- first section is short summary / abstract that includes all major aspects (aim, hypotheses, method, results and conclusions)
- when researching a topic, psychologists will read loads of abstracts in order to identify which studies are worthy of further examination
2
Q
sections of a scientific report - introduction
A
- literature review of general area of research
- details relevant theories, concepts and studies
- research review should follow logical progression, beginning broadly and becoming more specific until aims and hypotheses are presented
3
Q
sections of a scientific report - method
A
- should include sufficient detail so other researchers can precisely replicate the study if they wish
design - clearly stated, and justification is given
sample - info related to people involved in study, including sampling method and target population
apparatus / materials - details of any instruments used and any relevant material
procedure - recipe style list of everything that happened in investigation, including a verbatim record of what was said to participants
ethics - explanation of how these were addressed
4
Q
sections of a scientific report - results
A
- summarises key findings
- likely to include descriptive statistics such as tables, graphs, charts etc.
- inferential statistics should reference to choice of statistical test, calculated and critical values, level of significance and final outcome
- any raw data or calculations appear in appendix rather than main body of the report
- if qualitative methods have been used, results are likely to include analysis of themes / categories
5
Q
sections of a scientific report - discussion
A
- researcher will summarise results in verbal form
- should be discussed in context of evidence presented in introduction and other relevant research
- should discuss limitations of present investigation, may include suggestions of how these may be addressed in future studies
- wider implications are considered, for example real-world applications of what has been discovered and what contributions it has made to existing knowledge base
6
Q
sections of a scientific report - referencing
A
- full details of any source material cited in the report
- journal references follow the format : author, date, article title, journal name, volume, page number
- book references follow the format : author, date, title of book, place of publication, publisher
- web references follow the format : source, date, title, weblink, date accessed
