You might have noticed while reading in the research literature that research reports tend to start immediately – there’s very little “warm up” material involved. However, we are so used to writing this way that it may not be possible to just start at the beginning. If While automated speech technology has become widespread in mainstream society, psychology transcription is gaining more and more prominence currently. What Should Be Included In Psychological Report Writing? In every psychological research study, reports and general writing style. The purpose of a lab report is to communicate to others the important points of a piece of research: (i) why you did it, (ii) how you did it, (iii) what you found and (iv) what you think it means. Readers of reports will sometimes want the answer to very precise questions (e.g., Who were the participants?
How to Write a Lab Report | Simply Psychology
In this section, we look at how to write an APA-style empirical research reportan article that presents the results of one or more new studies. Recall that the standard sections of an empirical research report provide a kind of outline. Here we consider each of these sections in detail, including what information it contains, how that information is formatted and organized, and tips for writing each section.
At the end of this section is a sample APA-style research report that illustrates many of these principles. An APA-style research report begins with a title page. The title is centred in the upper half of the page, with each important word capitalized. The title should clearly and concisely in about 12 words or fewer communicate the primary variables and research questions. This sometimes requires a main title followed by a subtitle that elaborates on the main title, in which case the main title and subtitle are separated by a colon.
Here are some titles from recent issues of professional journals published by the American Psychological Association. Writing psychology research reports we have already seen, the authors are listed in an order that reflects their contribution to the research.
When multiple authors have made equal contributions to the research, they often list their names alphabetically or in a randomly determined order. Here are some examples from recent issues of the Journal Psychological Science. Individual researchers differ quite a bit in their preference for such titles, writing psychology research reports.
Some use them regularly, while others never use them. What might be some of the pros and cons of using cute article titles? For student papers that are not being submitted for publication—including theses—author notes are generally not necessary.
The abstract is a summary of the study, writing psychology research reports. It is the second page of the manuscript and is headed with the word Abstract. The first line is not indented. The abstract presents the research question, a summary of the method, the basic results, and the most important conclusions. Because the abstract is usually limited to about words, it can be a challenge to write a good one.
The introduction begins on the third page of the manuscript. The heading at the top of this page is the full title of the manuscript, with each important word capitalized as on the title page. The introduction includes three distinct subsections, writing psychology research reports, although these are typically not identified by separate headings.
The opening introduces the research question and explains why it is interesting, the literature review discusses relevant previous research, writing psychology research reports, and the closing restates the research question and comments on the method used to answer it, writing psychology research reports.
The writing psychology research reportswhich is usually a paragraph or two in length, introduces the research question and explains why it is interesting. Concrete examples are often very useful here. According to Bem, this would be a poor way to begin a research report:.
The individual who holds two beliefs that are inconsistent with one another may feel uncomfortable. For example, the person who knows that he or she enjoys smoking but believes it to be unhealthy may experience discomfort arising from the inconsistency or disharmony between these two thoughts or cognitions.
This feeling of discomfort was called cognitive dissonance by social psychologist Leon Festingerwho suggested that individuals will be motivated to remove this dissonance in whatever way they can p. Will the answer fill a gap in the literature?
Will it provide a test of an important theory? Does it have practical writing psychology research reports Giving readers a clear sense of what the research is about and why they should care about it will motivate them to continue reading the literature review—and will help them make sense of it, writing psychology research reports.
Researcher Larry Jacoby reported several studies showing that a word that people see or hear repeatedly can seem more familiar even when they do not recall the repetitions—and that this tendency is especially pronounced among older adults. He opened his article with the following humourous anecdote:. During an orientation meeting at the nursing home, the rules and regulations were explained, one of which regarded the dining room.
The dining room was described as similar to a fine restaurant except that tipping was not required. The absence of tipping was a central theme in the orientation lecture, mentioned frequently to emphasize the quality of care along with the advantages of having paid in advance.
Although both humour and personal anecdotes are generally discouraged in APA-style writing, this example is a highly effective way to start because it both engages the reader and provides an excellent real-world example of the topic under study. Immediately after the opening comes the literature reviewwhich describes relevant previous research on the topic and can be anywhere from several paragraphs to several pages in length.
However, the literature review is not simply a list of past studies. Instead, it constitutes a kind of argument for why the research question is worth addressing, writing psychology research reports. By the end of the literature review, readers should be convinced that the research question makes sense and that the present study is a logical next step in the ongoing research process.
Like any effective argument, the literature review must have writing psychology research reports kind of structure. For example, it might begin by describing a phenomenon in a general way along with several studies that demonstrate it, then describing two or more competing theories of the phenomenon, and finally presenting a hypothesis to test one or more of the writing psychology research reports. Or it might describe one phenomenon, then describe another phenomenon that seems inconsistent with the first one, then propose a theory that resolves the writing psychology research reports, and finally present a hypothesis to test that theory.
In applied research, writing psychology research reports might describe a phenomenon or theory, then describe how that phenomenon or theory applies to some important real-world situation, writing psychology research reports, and finally suggest a way to test whether it does, in fact, apply to that situation. Looking at the literature review in this way emphasizes a few things.
First, it is extremely important writing psychology research reports start with an outline of the main points that you want to make, organized in the order that you want to make them. The basic structure of your argument, then, should be apparent from the outline itself. Second, it is important to emphasize the structure of your argument in your writing.
One way to do this is to begin the literature review by summarizing your argument even before you begin to make it. Here are some simple examples:. Finally, remember that your goal is to construct an argument for why your research question is interesting and worth addressing—not necessarily why your favourite answer to it is correct. In other words, your literature review must be balanced. If you want to emphasize the generality of a phenomenon, then of course you should discuss various studies that have demonstrated it.
However, if there are other studies that have failed to demonstrate it, you should writing psychology research reports them too. Or if you are proposing a new theory, writing psychology research reports, then of course you should discuss findings that are consistent with that theory. However, writing psychology research reports, if there are other findings that are inconsistent with it, again, you should discuss them too. It is acceptable to argue that the balance of the research supports the existence of a phenomenon or is consistent with a theory and that is usually the best that researchers in psychology can hope forbut it is not acceptable to ignore contradictory evidence.
Besides, a large part of what makes a research question interesting is uncertainty about its answer. The closing of the introduction—typically the final paragraph or two—usually includes two important elements. The first is a clear statement of the main research question or hypothesis. This statement tends to be more formal and precise than in the opening and is often expressed in terms of operational definitions of the key variables, writing psychology research reports.
The second is a brief overview of the method and some comment on its appropriateness. Here, for example, is how Darley and Latané [2] concluded the introduction to their writing psychology research reports article on the bystander effect:, writing psychology research reports.
These considerations lead to the hypothesis that the more bystanders to an emergency, the less likely, or the more slowly, any one bystander will intervene to provide aid. Each subject should also be blocked from communicating with others to prevent his getting information about their behaviour during the emergency. The experiment reported below attempted to fulfill these conditions.
Thus the introduction leads smoothly into the next major section of the article—the method section. The method section is where you describe how you conducted your study. At the same time, writing psychology research reports, it should avoid irrelevant details such as the fact that the study was conducted in Classroom 37B of the Industrial Technology Building or that the questionnaire was double-sided and completed using pencils.
The participants subsection indicates how many participants there were, the number of women and men, some indication of their age, other demographics that may be relevant to the study, and how they were recruited, including any incentives given for participation. After the participants section, the structure can vary a bit. Figure In the first, the participants section is followed by a design and procedure subsection, which describes the rest of the method.
This works well for methods that are relatively simple and can be described adequately in a few paragraphs. In the second approach, the participants section is followed by separate design and procedure subsections.
This works well when both the design and the procedure are relatively complicated and each requires multiple paragraphs. What is the difference between design and procedure? The design of a study is its overall structure. What were the independent and dependent variables? Was the independent variable manipulated, and if so, was it manipulated between or within subjects? How were the variables operationally defined? The procedure is how the study was carried out.
It often works well to describe the procedure in terms of what the participants did rather than what the researchers did. For example, the participants gave their informed consent, read a set of instructions, completed a block of four practice trials, completed a block of 20 test trials, completed two questionnaires, and were debriefed and excused. In the third basic way to organize a method section, the participants subsection is followed writing psychology research reports a materials subsection before the design and procedure subsections.
This works well when there are complicated materials to describe. This might mean multiple questionnaires, written vignettes that participants read and respond to, perceptual stimuli, and so on. The heading of this subsection can be modified to reflect its content.
The results section is where you present the main results of the study, writing psychology research reports, including the results of the statistical analyses. Several journals now encourage the open sharing of raw data online. Although there are no standard subsections, it is still important for the results section to be logically organized.
Typically it begins with certain preliminary issues. One is whether any participants or responses were excluded from writing psychology research reports analyses and why. The rationale for excluding data should be described clearly so that other researchers can decide whether it is appropriate.
Writing Reports in Psychology
, time: 4:23Writing in Psychology Research Report Introductions
While automated speech technology has become widespread in mainstream society, psychology transcription is gaining more and more prominence currently. What Should Be Included In Psychological Report Writing? In every psychological research study, You might have noticed while reading in the research literature that research reports tend to start immediately – there’s very little “warm up” material involved. However, we are so used to writing this way that it may not be possible to just start at the beginning. If well as tips for writing in a style appropriate for Psychology papers. Remember, it is always best to check with your department-approved writing book and your professor if you have any questions or concerns. Component 1: The Title Page • On the right side of the header, type the first words of your full title followed by the page number. This header will appear on every page of you report
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