Reporting psychological investigations

• Identify the sections of a scientific report in

  chronological order.

  Abstract, introduction, methodology, results, discussion, and references.
• Outline the purpose and structure of the abstract section.

  Purpose: Aims to give the reader a general idea of the research without them having to read the full paper.

  Structure: Typically one paragraph that follows the structure of the report. This means it begins with a brief introduction before giving an overview of the methods and results. It ends with a brief discussion of the findings.
• Outline the purpose and structure of the introduction section.

  Purpose: Aims to highlight existing research within the field of the current study and offer reasoning as to why the current study is being conducted.

  Structure: Typically a few thousand words. It works like a funnel by starting with more general ideas about the topic followed by more relevant research. The current research is then identified by providing a clear rationale as to why it is being conducted. This will include identifying the aim of the study and providing hypotheses.
• Outline the purpose and structure of the methodology section.

  Purpose: Aims to give readers/researchers enough information about how the study was conducted so that they could assess its credibility and/or replicate the research to check its reliability.

  Structure: It is divided into the following sections – Design (which design was used), participants (sampling technique, number of participants and their demographic information), materials (details of the materials they used such as forms,

  stimuli etc.) and procedures (a step-by-step of how the study was conducted).
• Outline the purpose and structure of the results section.

  Purpose: Aims to provide readers with a detailed breakdown of the findings.

  Structure: Quantitative research would involve presenting descriptive statistics (e.g. totals, %, averages, measures of dispersions etc.) and inferential statistics (what stats they used and whether they found a significant result). It would also

  include the use of tables and graphs. Qualitative research would include the findings from a content or thematic analysis.
• Outline the purpose and structure of the discussion section.

  Purpose: Aims to draw conclusions about what was found and compares these to the previous research mentioned in the introduction. There is also a discussion of the criticisms and applications of the research which then leads into recommendations for future research.

  Structure: Conclusion, discussion of how this compares to previous research (i.e. does it support or contradict previous research and why this might be), criticisms of the current research, applications it may have, and suggestions for future

  research.
• Outline the purpose and structure of references.

  Purpose: Prevents plagiarism and allows readers to find the mentioned research so they can read about it in more depth. It also allows the reader to check the credibility of the research mentioned.

  Structure: References are written as follows: Author surname, initial of first name. (Date) Title of book. Place of publication. Publisher