Psychological reports

• what person/tense are investigations usually written in

  third person and in the past tense
• what are the 7 sections of a scientific report

  abstract

  introduction

  method

  results

  discussion

  references

  appendices
• abstract + purpose

  - summary (around 200 words) of whole report

  - should be written last

  - give overview of all aspects of research to allow others the decision whether they want to keep reading or not
• what to include in an abstract (5)

  - aims + hypotheses

  - background research upon which study based on

  - method (main points of procedure)

  - results

  - conclusions
• purpose of introduction

  - provides literature review (background research like theories/studies) related to investigation and explain how A/H were derived
• order of writing an introduction (3)

  1) outlining background research - start with general area of research and then lead to more specific research

  2)citing aims

  3) citing hypotheses
• method

  - detailed account of what researcher did in their investigation

  - must be concisely written
• purpose of method

  - allow investigation to be replicated
• 4 sub-heading used in the method

  1) design

  2) participants

  3) materials/apparatus

  4) procedure
• what is in the design sub-heading of a procedure

  - research method and where appropriate design used

  - justification for why method/design chosen

  - specific details upon research method you used

  - ethical issues + how to deal with them
• what is in the pp's sub-heading of a procedure

  - how many pp's used and info like age range, gender, background etc

  - sampling method n+ target population
• what is in the materials/apparatus sub-heading of a procedure

  - details of equipment (laptop,DVD) and/or written material (questionnaires, marking scales etc)

  - included at end of report in appendix
• what is in the procedure sub-heading of a procedure

  - exact steps taken in conducting research, including where research undertaken and detailed of pilot study, if appropriate

  - includes account of exactly what said to pp's - consent forms, standardised instructions, debriefing notes
• what are the 2 sub-sections in the results section

  descriptive statistics - tables, graphs, charts, measures of central tendency + dispersion and justify why chosen measures

  inferential statistics - statistical test chosen + justification, statement of significance includes which makes reference to: calculated values, critical values, level of significance and which hypothesis supported/rejected
• purpose of discussion section

  - offer possibilities for other researchers to replicate or modify research, or to progress understanding with new investigations
• 4 sub-sections of the discussion section

  explanation of findings -written summary of findings, including suggestions as to why unusual data obtained

  relationship to background research -comparison of findings with research described in intro, if different suggest why

  limitations + modification -problems encountered/limitations of study considered (lack of counterbalancing, difficulties in procedure), for each criticism a modification proposed

  implications + suggestions for further research -wider practical or theoretical implications of findings suggested, ideas for follow-up research stated
• purpose of reference section

  avoid plagiarism, help those interested in finding original articles used, give credit not other authors
• format for referencing a journal article

  Surname, initials. (date). title of article. journal, volume, page numbers
• format for referencing books

  Surname, Initials. (date). title of book. place of publication. publisher
• appendix

  includes raw data/calculating used for findings, any materials used like consent forms, questionnaires etc