reporting psychological investigations

Question 1

what does the abstract include?

Answer 1

● short summary of study (about 150-200 words)

● include all major elements of study (aims and hypotheses, method / procedure, results and conclusions

Question 2

what does the introduction include?

Answer 2

● a literature review

● a look at relevant theories, concepts and studies

● research review should follow a logical progression - beginning broadly and becoming more specific until aims and hypotheses are presented

Question 3

what does the method include?

Answer 3

● design (e.g. experimental design, type of observation) and justifications for choice

● sample (e.g. how many, demographic, sampling method and target population)

● apparatus / material (e.g. any assessment instruments used)

● procedure (recipe style list of everything that happened, included briefing, standardised instructions and debriefing)

● ethics (how were these addressed within study)

Question 4

what does the results include?

Answer 4

● descriptive statistics (e.g. tables, graphs, measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion)

● inferential statistics (e.g. choice of statistical test, calculated and critical values, level of significance and final outcome)

Question 5

what does the discussion include?

Answer 5

● summary of findings written, rather than statistical form

● relationship of results to previous research

● limitations of study and how these may be addressed in future study

● wider real world implications of the research

Question 6

how do you reference a book?

Answer 6

● author(s) (surname, initials)

● date

● title of book (in italics)

● place of publication

● publisher

Question 7

how do you reference a journal article?

Answer 7

● author(s) (surname, initials)

● date

● article title

● journal name (in italics)

● volume (issue)

● page numbers

Question 8

how do you reference a website?

Answer 8

● source

● date

● title

● weblink

● date assessed