how to write a report

• • have a title page
  • have a contents page
  • have page numbers
• 1. the abstract


  the abstract:

  • summary, giving topics that was studied. aim, hypothesis, topic studied
  • description of Ps and setting: who, where, how many, what groups?
  • description of method used, design, any questionnaires, surveys or tests used
  • description of major findings, may include a mention of the descriptive stats used, or one sentence summing up the outcome
• 2. introduction

  introduction:

  • to explain where the hypothesis comes from. outlines previous research that has been carried out on the subject of matter, providing context for your research
  • outlines the aims and hypothesis for the research and how it links (or doesnt link) to what has been done before
• 3. method


  method: (got to be replicable)

  1. design:

  • choice of method (observation, experiment etc)
  • choice of experimental design
  • identification of variables (IV, DV, co-variables)
  • ethical considerations

  1. Ps:

  • researchers (who conducted it)
  • target population (age, sex, education)
  • sampling method
  • actual sample
  • treatment groups: how Ps assigned to conditions

  1. apparatus/materials:

  • copy of instructions, test used, consent forms
• 3. method


  4. standardised procedure:

  • exact steps used, details of debriefing

  5. controls:

  • confounding, extraneous variables, order effect
  • counterbalancing?, how made sure not biased?, inter-researcher ability?, is there validity?
• 4. results


  results:

  • present main results
  • results in tables and presented as graphs
  • stats tests used to analyse the results

  descriptive stats: central tendency measures, range, interquartile range, SD

  inferential stats: spearman, mann whitney, wilcoxson, chi-squared
• 5. discussion


  discussion:

  • main findings of research, and conclusions, how compare to OG hypothesis/previous research
  • evaluation of research, any issues? what would you do differently? what would you investigate further?
• 6. appendices


  appendices:

  • all rough data that was collected, copies consent forms, copy of tests used, other materials, copy of instructions given to your Ps
• 7. references/bibliography


  reference/bibliography:

  author(s) surname(s), initial(s). (year of publication)

  title of book: subtitle. edition followed by ED.

  place of publication: publisher
• 8. consent forms


  consent forms:

  • detailed account of purpose of the research, what they will be required to do, how their data will be used
  • remind them of their right to withdraw, and that their data will be destroyed
  • contact details for any questions
  • thank them
  • signature
• 9. debrief


  debrief:

  • same as consent form, but in past tense, comes after experiment has been conducted