Appendix A Reporting Research Results q How do

Appendix A: Reporting Research Results q How do scientists share their research findings with others? q Through what stages does a research report go as it is considered for publication in a scientific journal? q What are the major sections of a research report, and what information is contained in each section? q What are the important goals to keep in mind in the writing of a research report?

Face-to-face Contact Professional Collaboration Share Ideas, lab space, research funds, and their own time Professional Organization American Psychological Association (APA) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology American Sociological Association (ASA) American Anthropological Association (AAA) American Psychological Society (APS) Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin Scientific Meeting Lab meeting, Brown Bag, Departmental Conference, and Conference Poster Presentation or Oral Presentation

Publication in Scientific Journals Completer your research manuscript (APA format) Submission of the manuscripts Publication Lag Peer Review Accept? Reject? Revise?

APA Publication Format Title Page Abstract Introduction Methods Main Contents of the paper Results Discussion References Footnotes and Author Notes Tables and Figures

Title Page Running Head Title Describe the nature of the research in about ten to twelve words Authors Takahiko Masuda Institutional Affiliations University of Michigan

Abstracts Function: Provide a short summary of the entire research report. Contains 1. 2. 3. A maximum of 150 words or 960 characters. Two sentences each from Introduction, Methods, and Results section. It is not usually good idea to review the Discussion section. Task #1 Title-Abstracts

Introduction Function: Justify why you conducted this study Contains: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. (Interesting) introduction to your question Brief review of other research/theory Statement of the problem Brief description of the method to establish link between method and problem Outline of hypotheses What you SHOULD do 1. 2. 3. 4. Define all psychological terms Lay out your purpose clearly so there are no surprises for the reader Make everything relevant to your research – don’t review all aspects of other studies Use subheading for a long intro What you SHOULD NOT do 1. 2. 3. 4. Use “unscientific” language (e. g. I find this study is interesting) Use 1 st person, unless you’re taking credit for a hypothesis “my hypothesis. . ” Assume the reader knows a term or theory Label it “introduction.

Methods Function: Describe the study in enough detail so that another researcher could replicate it exactly Contains: 1. 2. 3. Description of participants (who they are, how you got them to be in the study) Description of procedure (and often a separate section for “materials”). For long method section, use subheadings (e. g. overview, participants, procedure, materials) What you SHOULD do 1. 2. Give your conditions labels based on the manipulation (operational definitions) Be consistent in verb tense What you SHOULD NOT do 1. 2. Label conditions by conceptual definitions Include unimportant information

Results Function: Report what you found, using statistics to punctuate these findings Contains 1. 2. 3. 4. First reveal manipulation checks Were observation converted to data or were they all closed-ended responses? Restatement of each hypothesis followed by results and stats. Mention of helpful tables and figures. What you SHOULD do 1. 2. 3. Try writing your results in prose, THEN inserting the statistics Include all relevant means either in the paper or in a table Follow APA form for statistics carefully What you SHOULD NOT do 1. 2. Make the section one long string of statistics Get into sophisticated discussion of whether or not the hypotheses were supported-save that for the…

Discussion Function: Draw conclusions by interpreting results and relating findings to previous research/theory Contains: 1. 2. 3. 4. Review of the hypotheses you laid out Alternative interpretations of your results or other shortcomings of your study Implications of your findings Broader questions raised by your findings What you SHOULD do 1. 2. 3. Be honest about weaknesses in your study Suggest future studies to account for these weaknesses Explain, yet again, why the audience should care about this study! What you SHOULD NOT do 1. 2. Claim you have “proven” anything Use causal language for a correlational design

References Function: Provide information about the literature which you use to write your research report. Contains A list of all of the literature cited in your paper, alphabetized by the last name of the author.

Footnotes Function: Report important information that would bog down the flow of the story if included in the text itself. Author Notes Function: Provide the authors’ information for future correspondence Contains 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Name of the author The mailing address Telephone number Email address The source of funds Collaborators who are not included as authors Thanks to individuals who contributed to the project

Tables and Figures Function: Provide visual information of the results. Contains 1. Number of the table or the figure 2. A brief title that explains what is included in the Table. 3. Captions explaining Figures.

Tips on Writing the Research Report. 1. Be organized 2. Be precise 3. Be concise 4. Be compulsive 5. Be clear and interesting 6. Be fair Task #2 APA format

Homework Assignment#2: Let’s Use Computer Database “Psych. Info” 1. Go to www. lib. umich. edu It is UM Library Site. 2. Choose “MYRLIN ONLINE CATALOG” 3. Choose “MYRLIN WEB” 4. Click “VALIDATED SIGNON” 5. Enter your UNIQUE NAME and PASSWORD 6. Go to “INDEX CATALOG” 7. Choose “Psych. Info” 8. Enter the KEYWORD (Advanced Search is better) 9. Click TITLE of the articles and see the abstract 10. If you are interested in the articles, click SAVE (5 to 10). 11. Check the JOURNAL on which the article is. 12. Go to “LIBRARY CATALOG” 13. Enter the TITLE of the Journal and find the location. 14. Bring a copy of the article to the next Class (Due M 1/22)