reporting psychological investigations

Question 1

what are the 6 sections of a scientific report?

Answer 1

1. abstract
2. introduction
3. method
4. results
5. discussion
6. referencing

Question 2

what is the abstract?

Answer 2

• short summary with key details: aims and hypotheses, method / procedure, results and conclusions
• when researching a particular topic, psychologists will often read lots of abstracts to identify studies that are worthy of further examination

Question 3

what is the introduction?

Answer 3

literature review of the general area of research detailing relevant theories, concepts and studies that are related to the current study

Question 4

how should an introduction follow a logical progression?

Answer 4

begin broadly and gradually become more specific until the aims and hypotheses are presented

Question 5

what subsections should the method have?

Answer 5

• design
• sample
• apparatus / materials
• procedure
• ethics

Question 6

why should the method include a lot of detail?

Answer 6

so other researchers are able to precisely replicate the study if they wish

Question 7

method: design

Answer 7

• design is clearly stated eg. independent groups
• reason given for choice

Question 8

method: sample

Answer 8

information related to the people involved in the study:

• how many there were
• biographical / demographic info (maintaining anonymity)
• sampling method
• target population

Question 9

method: apparatus / materials

Answer 9

detail of any assessment instruments used and other relevant materials

Question 10

method: procedure

Answer 10

• list of everything that happened in the investigation from beginning to end
• includes verbatim record of everything said to participants (briefing, standardised instructions, debriefing)

Question 11

method: ethics

Answer 11

an explanation of how these were addressed in the study

Question 12

what is the purpose of the results section?

Answer 12

to summarise the key findings from the invesigation

Question 13

what does the results section include?

Answer 13

• descriptive statistics
• inferential statistics

Question 14

what descriptive statistics might the results section include?

Answer 14

• tables
• graphs
• charts
• measures of central tendency
• measures of dispersion

Question 15

what inferential statistics might the results section include?

Answer 15

• reference to choice of statistical test
• calculated and critical values
• level of significance
• final outcome ie. which hypothesis was rejected

Question 16

what part of the results appears in an appendix rather than the main body of the report?

Answer 16

• any raw data that was collected
• any calculations

Question 17

describe the results found when researcher uses qualitative methods of research

Answer 17

results / findings are likely to involve analysis of themes and / or categories

Question 18

what should be included in the discussion section? (5)

Answer 18

• summary of results in verbal, rather than statistical, form
• discussion of results in context of evidence provided and other relevant research
• limitations of present investigation
• suggestions of how limitations could be addressed in a future study
• wider implications of research eg. real-world applications of discovery, contribution of investigation to existing knowledge-base in field

Question 19

what does a reference include?

Answer 19

full details of any source material cited in the report

Question 20

format of journal references

Answer 20

author(s), date, article title, journal name (in italics), volume (issue), page numbers

Question 21

format of book references

Answer 21

author(s), date, title of book (in italics), place of publication, publisher

Question 22

format of web references

Answer 22

source, date, title, weblink, date accessed