Reporting results: APA style

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Reporting results APA style

• Psych 231 Research Methods in Psychology

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Why present your research?

• Purpose of presenting your research
• To get the work out there
• to spur further research
• allow replication
• allow testing/falsifaction of your theory

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Why a structured format?

• To ease communication of what was done
• forces a minimal amount of information
• people know what to expect
• where to find the information in the article

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• The ultimate resource for APA style is the APA
  Publication manual, but also lots of websites to
  help too.
• Appendix A of your textbook is good too.

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Major goal Clarity

• Remember that the goal of your research is to
  communicate what you did, so you want to be as
  clear as you can.
• Avoid jargon when possible, dont be too
  creative, avoid slang and colloquialisms.
• Avoid sexist and biased language
• Also try to be fairly concise dont use a whole
  paragraph when two sentences will do

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Writing style

• Psychological writing tends to differ from other
  academic writings
• Try to avoid using direct quotes, restate things
  in your own words.
• Footnotes are rare, theyre used to
  elaborate/clarify a point. Try to do so in the
  text.

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Parts of a research report

• Title Page
• Abstract
• Body
• References
• Authors Notes
• Footnotes
• Tables
• Figure Captions
• Figures

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Title Page

• Title, Authors, Affiliation, Short title, running
  head
• Title should be maximally informative while short
  (10 to 12 words recommended)
• Order of Authorship sometimes carries meaning
• Affiliation where the bulk of the research was
  done
• Running head will go on each page of published
  article, no more than 50 characters
• Short title goes in header (with page number)
  on each page of the manuscript

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Abstract

• short summary of entire paper
• 100 to 120 words
• the problem/issue
• the method
• the results
• the major conclusions

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Body

• Hourglass shape
• Introduction
• Background
• Literature Review
• Statement of purpose
• Specific hypotheses (at least at operational
  level)

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Body

• Methods (in enough detail that the reader can
  replicate the study)
• Participants
• How many, where they were selected from, any
  special selection requirements, details about
  those who didnt complete the experiment
• Design (optional) suggested if you have a
  complex experimental design, often combined with
  Materials section
• Apparatus/Materials
• Procedure what did each participant do? Other
  details, including the operational levels of your
  IV(s) and DV(s), counterbalancing, etc.

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Body

• Results (state the results but dont interpret
  them here)
• Verbal statement of results
• Tables and figures these get referred to in the
  text, but actually get put into their own
  sections at the end of the manuscript
• Statistical Outcomes

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Body

• Discussion (interpret the results)
• Relationship between purpose and results
• Theoretical (or methodological) contribution
• Implications
• Future directions (optional)

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The rest

• References
• Authors Notes
• Footnotes
• Tables
• Figure Captions
• Figures

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Figures and tables

• These are used to supplement the text.
• To make a point clearer for the reader.
• Typically used for
• The design
• Examples of stimuli
• Patterns of results

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Checklist - things to watch for

• Clarity
• Acknowledge the work of others (avoid plagiarism)
• Active vs. passive voice
• Active Coane and Kearney (2003) hypothesized
  that speakers use to much passive voice
• Passive It was hypothesized by Coane and Kearney
  (2003) that speakers use to much passive voice

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Checklist - things to watch for

• Avoid biased language
• APA guidelines
• Accurate descriptions of individuals (e.g., Asian
  vs. Korean)
• Be sensitive to labels (e.g., Oriental)
• Appropriate use of headings
• Correct citing and references
• Good grammar

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Next time

• Read chapters 45.
• Bring your APA Publication Manual to lab (if
  youve got one)
• Dont forget your first journal summary is due
  this week in lab