reporting psychological studies

• reports 


  allow psychologists to showcase their findings of important and ground breaking research. It is important for Psychologists to detail all of their ingredients used from materials used, to results. Another reason why Psychologists publish research is so that other psychologists can replicate the study conducted
• a report contains the following:


  1. Title
  2. Abstract
  3. Introduction
  4. Aims and hypotheses
  5. Method 
  6. Design
  7. Results
  8. Discussion
  9. References
  10. Appendices
• title 


  • should say what the study is about and include the IV and DV.
• abstract 


  • should be a concise summary of the study, with a brief description of the aims, hypothesis, method, and a summary of the results. Usually between 150 and 200 words long.
• introduction 


  • starts with general theory, briefly introducing the topic, then narrows down to specific and relevant theory and research (2 or 3 studies).  The aim and alternate and null hypotheses are stated after this.
• method 


  describes how the research was carried out. Someone should be able to replicate the study by following the method, so it needs to be detailed. The method should include sufficient detail so that other researchers are able to precisely replicate the study
• design 


  the design is clearly stated, eg independent groups, naturalistic observation etc, and the reasons/justification given for the choice
• sample 


  information related to the people involved in the study; how many there were, biographical/demographic information (as long as this does not compromise anonymity) and the sampling method and target population.
• apparatus 


  detail of any assessment instruments used and other relevant materials
• procedure 


  • a 'recipe-style' list of everything that happened in the investigation from beginning to end. This includes a verbatim record of everything that was said to participants; briefing, standardised instructions and debriefing.
• ethics 


  explain how these were addressed
• results 


   An explanation of the findings – summarizing the results and relating them to the aim and hypothesis. The null hypothesis should be accepted or rejected in the discussion. Any unexpected findings should also be addressed and explained here. The relationship to background research – the results need to be related to the background research and covered in the introduction. The data should be compared to other data and comments made on whether or not the findings of the study support the findings of other studies.
• discussion


  • This contains a summary of the results, relating them to the aims and hypothesis, and also considering the methodology and implications of the study and making suggestions for future research.
• references 


  • he references section contains a list of all the books, articles and websites that have been used for information during the study. It allows the reader to see where the information on the research and theories mentioned in the report (e.g. the introduction) came from. References should be presented in alphabetical order of first author’s surname.
• appendices

  • Consent Form– a copy of the one you give to participants.
  • Standardised Instructions– a script like document which illustrates the experiences of all participants in each experimental condition.
  • Ethics Sheet– this will appear in your consent sheet which will outline the ethical issues that will not be breached.
  • Materials–
  • Raw Data–
  • Statistical Analysis– any calculations conducted on data should appear here