Reporting Psychological Investigations

• Section 1: Abstract (overall summary)

  • Purpose - allows the reader to gain an overview of the study and help them decide if they want to read on
  • Contents - a summary of the study covering the aims, hypotheses, method, results and conclusions. It is the first part of a psychology report, they are reported in a single paragraph of 150-250 words
• Section 2: Introduction

  • Purpose - gives background on relevant theories and studies to explain how aims and hypotheses are developed
  • Contents - begins by describing previous research in that area, links are made with previous research or it is made clear how the current research will add to previous research. It ends with the researcher stating the aims and hypotheses of the research
• Section 3: Method - Purpose

  • Gives a detailed description of what the researcher did, it should provide enough detail for replication of the study
• Section 3: Method - Contents

  • S - Sampling method: how many took part and information about participants, e.g. age
  • P - Procedure: written with the exact order of events including any standardised instructions
  • E - Equipment: details of any materials and apparatus used
  • E - Ethics: significant ethical issues may be mentioned and how they were dealt with
  • D - Design: e.g. repeated measures, or covert observation. Design decisions should be justified
• Section 4: Results - Purpose

  • To present the overall summary of the findings to the reader rather than reviewing the raw data
• Section 4: Results - Contents

  • Quantitative research: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics
  • Descriptive statistics: tables and graphs showing frequencies and measures of central tendency and dispersion
  • Inferential statistics: stat tests are reported and calculated values and significance levels are detailed
  • Qualitative research: categories and themes are described along with examples
• Section 5: Discussion - Purpose

  • Discusses the findings and suggests possible uses and future areas of research
• Section 5: Discussion - Contents

  • Summary of results: written description of the statistical results focusing on whether the hypothesis was reported, the results from tables and graphs are discussed along with any atypical data
  • Compare with other results: explain whether findings support the results of the studies in the introduction
  • Limitations + modifications: evaluate the present research methods and procedures and explain how this could be improved if repeated
  • Implications + future research: explain how the findings could be used and any potential follow up studies that may be conducted
• References

  • Purpose - to give any details of any other articles or books that are mentioned in the research
  • Articles - author name - date - title of article, journal title, volume, issue number, page numbers
  • Books - author's last name, first initial. (date) Title of book, place of publication: publisher