Author note contains acknowledgment of special circumstances:
Use of data also appearing in previous publications, dissertations, or conference papers
Sources of funding or other support
Relationships that may be perceived as conflicts of interest
Module A: Reporting Standards for Studies With an Experimental Manipulation or Intervention (in Addition to Material Presented in Table 1 )
Paper section and topic | Description |
---|---|
Method | |
Experimental manipulations or interventions | Details of the interventions or experimental manipulations intended for each study condition, including control groups, and how and when manipulations or interventions were actually administered, specifically including: Content of the interventions or specific experimental manipulations Summary or paraphrasing of instructions, unless they are unusual or compose the experimental manipulation, in which case they may be presented verbatim Method of intervention or manipulation delivery Description of apparatus and materials used and their function in the experiment Specialized equipment by model and supplier Deliverer: who delivered the manipulations or interventions Level of professional training Level of training in specific interventions or manipulations Number of deliverers and, in the case of interventions, the , , and range of number of individuals/units treated by each Setting: where the manipulations or interventions occurred Exposure quantity and duration: how many sessions, episodes, or events were intended to be delivered, how long they were intended to last Time span: how long it took to deliver the intervention or manipulation to each unit Activities to increase compliance or adherence (e.g., incentives) Use of language other than English and the translation method |
Units of delivery and analysis | Unit of delivery: How participants were grouped during delivery Description of the smallest unit that was analyzed (and in the case of experiments, that was randomly assigned to conditions) to assess manipulation or intervention effects (e.g., individuals, work groups, classes) If the unit of analysis differed from the unit of delivery, description of the analytical method used to account for this (e.g., adjusting the standard error estimates by the design effect or using multilevel analysis) |
Results | |
Participant flow | Total number of groups (if intervention was administered at the group level) and the number of participants assigned to each group: Number of participants who did not complete the experiment or crossed over to other conditions, explain why Number of participants used in primary analyses Flow of participants through each stage of the study (see ) |
Treatment fidelity | Evidence on whether the treatment was delivered as intended |
Baseline data | Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of each group |
Statistics and data analysis | Whether the analysis was by intent-to-treat, complier average causal effect, other or multiple ways |
Adverse events and side effects | All important adverse events or side effects in each intervention group |
Discussion | Discussion of results taking into account the mechanism by which the manipulation or intervention was intended to work (causal pathways) or alternative mechanisms If an intervention is involved, discussion of the success of and barriers to implementing the intervention, fidelity of implementation Generalizability (external validity) of the findings, taking into account: The characteristics of the intervention How, what outcomes were measured Length of follow-up Incentives Compliance rates The “clinical or practical significance” of outcomes and the basis for these interpretations |
Reporting Standards for Studies Using Random and Nonrandom Assignment of Participants to Experimental Groups
Paper section and topic | Description |
---|---|
Module A1: Studies using random assignment | |
Method | |
Random assignment method | Procedure used to generate the random assignment sequence, including details of any restriction (e.g., blocking, stratification) |
Random assignment concealment | Whether sequence was concealed until interventions were assigned |
Random assignment implementation | Who generated the assignment sequence Who enrolled participants Who assigned participants to groups |
Masking | Whether participants, those administering the interventions, and those assessing the outcomes were unaware of condition assignments If masking took place, statement regarding how it was accomplished and how the success of masking was evaluated |
Statistical methods | Statistical methods used to compare groups on primary outcome(s) Statistical methods used for additional analyses, such as subgroup analyses and adjusted analysis Statistical methods used for mediation analyses |
Module A2: Studies using nonrandom assignment | |
Method | |
Assignment method | Unit of assignment (the unit being assigned to study conditions, e.g., individual, group, community) Method used to assign units to study conditions, including details of any restriction (e.g., blocking, stratification, minimization) Procedures employed to help minimize potential bias due to nonrandomization (e.g., matching, propensity score matching) |
Masking | Whether participants, those administering the interventions, and those assessing the outcomes were unaware of condition assignments If masking took place, statement regarding how it was accomplished and how the success of masking was evaluated |
Statistical methods | Statistical methods used to compare study groups on primary outcome(s), including complex methods for correlated data Statistical methods used for additional analyses, such as subgroup analyses and adjusted analysis (e.g., methods for modeling pretest differences and adjusting for them) Statistical methods used for mediation analyses |
The entries in Tables 1 through through3 3 and Figure 1 divide the reporting standards into three parts. First, Table 1 presents information recommended for inclusion in all reports submitted for publication in APA journals. Note that these recommendations contain only a brief entry regarding the type of research design. Along with these general standards, then, the JARS Group also recommended that specific standards be developed for different types of research designs. Thus, Table 2 provides standards for research designs involving experimental manipulations or evaluations of interventions (Module A). Next, Table 3 provides standards for reporting either (a) a study involving random assignment of participants to experimental or intervention conditions (Module A1) or (b) quasi-experiments, in which different groups of participants receive different experimental manipulations or interventions but the groups are formed (and perhaps equated) using a procedure other than random assignment (Module A2). Using this modular approach, the JARS Group was able to incorporate the general recommendations from the current APA Publication Manual and both the CONSORT and TREND standards into a single set of standards. This approach also makes it possible for other research designs (e.g., observational studies, longitudinal designs) to be added to the standards by adding new modules.
The standards are categorized into the sections of a research report used by APA journals. To illustrate how the tables would be used, note that the Method section in Table 1 is divided into subsections regarding participant characteristics, sampling procedures, sample size, measures and covariates, and an overall categorization of the research design. Then, if the design being described involved an experimental manipulation or intervention, Table 2 presents additional information about the research design that should be reported, including a description of the manipulation or intervention itself and the units of delivery and analysis. Next, Table 3 presents two separate sets of reporting standards to be used depending on whether the participants in the study were assigned to conditions using a random or nonrandom procedure. Figure 1 , an adaptation of the chart recommended in the CONSORT guidelines, presents a chart that should be used to present the flow of participants through the stages of either an experiment or a quasi-experiment. It details the amount and cause of participant attrition at each stage of the research.
In the future, new modules and flowcharts regarding other research designs could be added to the standards to be used in conjunction with Table 1 . For example, tables could be constructed to replace Table 2 for the reporting of observational studies (e.g., studies with no manipulations as part of the data collection), longitudinal studies, structural equation models, regression discontinuity designs, single-case designs, or real-time data capture designs ( Stone & Shiffman, 2002 ), to name just a few.
Additional standards could be adopted for any of the parts of a report. For example, the Evidence-Based Behavioral Medicine Committee ( Davidson et al., 2003 ) examined each of the 22 items on the CONSORT checklist and described for each special considerations for reporting of research on behavioral medicine interventions. Also, this group proposed an additional 5 items, not included in the CONSORT list, that they felt should be included in reports on behavioral medicine interventions: (a) training of treatment providers, (b) supervision of treatment providers, (c) patient and provider treatment allegiance, (d) manner of testing and success of treatment delivery by the provider, and (e) treatment adherence. The JARS Group encourages other authoritative groups of interested researchers, practitioners, and journal editorial teams to use Table 1 as similar starting point in their efforts, adding and deleting items and modules to fit the information needs dictated by research designs that are prominent in specific subdisciplines and topic areas. These revisions could then be in corporated into future iterations of the JARS.
The same pressures that have led to proposals for reporting - standards for manuscripts that report new data collections have led to similar efforts to establish standards for the reporting of other types of research. Particular attention has been focused on the reporting of meta-analyses.
With regard to reporting standards for meta-analysis, the JARS Group began by contacting the members of the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology and asking them to share with the group what they felt were the critical aspects of meta-analysis conceptualization, methodology, and results that need to be reported so that readers (and manuscript reviewers) can make informed, critical judgments about the appropriateness of the methods used for the inferences drawn. This query led to the identification of four other efforts to establish reporting standards for meta-analysis. These included the QUOROM Statement (Quality of Reporting of Meta-analysis; Moher et al., 1999 ) and its revision, PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses; Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff, Altman, & the PRISMA Group, 2008 ), MOOSE (Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology; Stroup et al., 2000 ), and the Potsdam Consultation on Meta-Analysis ( Cook, Sackett, & Spitzer, 1995 ).
Next the JARS Group compared the content of each of the four sets of standards with the others and developed a combined list of nonredundant elements contained in any or all of them. The JARS Group then examined the combined list, rewrote some items for clarity and ease of comprehension by an audience of psychologists, and added a few suggestions of its own. Then the resulting recommendations were shared with a subgroup of members of the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology who had experience writing and reviewing research syntheses in the discipline of psychology. After these suggestions were incorporated into the list, it was shared with members of the Publications and Communications Board, who were requested to react to it. After receiving these reactions, the JARS Group arrived at the list of recommendations contained in Table 4 , titled Meta-Analysis Reporting Standards (MARS). These were then approved by the Publications and Communications Board.
Meta-Analysis Reporting Standards (MARS): Information Recommended for Inclusion in Manuscripts Reporting Meta-Analyses
Paper section and topic | Description |
---|---|
Title | Make it clear that the report describes a research synthesis and include “meta-analysis,” if applicable Footnote funding source(s) |
Abstract | The problem or relation(s) under investigation Study eligibility criteria Type(s) of participants included in primary studies Meta-analysis methods (indicating whether a fixed or random model was used) Main results (including the more important effect sizes and any important moderators of these effect sizes) Conclusions (including limitations) Implications for theory, policy, and/or practice |
Introduction | Clear statement of the question or relation(s) under investigation: Historical background Theoretical, policy, and/or practical issues related to the question or relation(s) of interest Rationale for the selection and coding of potential moderators and mediators of results Types of study designs used in the primary research, their strengths and weaknesses Types of predictor and outcome measures used, their psychometric characteristics Populations to which the question or relation is relevant Hypotheses, if any |
Method | |
Inclusion and exclusion criteria | Operational characteristics of independent (predictor) and dependent (outcome) variable(s) Eligible participant populations Eligible research design features (e.g., random assignment only, minimal sample size) Time period in which studies needed to be conducted Geographical and/or cultural restrictions |
Moderator and mediator analyses | Definition of all coding categories used to test moderators or mediators of the relation(s) of interest |
Search strategies | Reference and citation databases searched Registries (including prospective registries) searched: Keywords used to enter databases and registries Search software used and version Time period in which studies needed to be conducted, if applicable Other efforts to retrieve all available studies: Listservs queried Contacts made with authors (and how authors were chosen) Reference lists of reports examined Method of addressing reports in languages other than English Process for determining study eligibility: Aspects of reports were examined (i.e, title, abstract, and/or full text) Number and qualifications of relevance judges Indication of agreement How disagreements were resolved Treatment of unpublished studies |
Coding procedures | Number and qualifications of coders (e.g., level of expertise in the area, training) Intercoder reliability or agreement Whether each report was coded by more than one coder and if so, how disagreements were resolved Assessment of study quality: If a quality scale was employed, a description of criteria and the procedures for application If study design features were coded, what these were How missing data were handled |
Statistical methods | Effect size metric(s): Effect sizes calculating formulas (e.g., s and s, use of univariate to transform) Corrections made to effect sizes (e.g., small sample bias, correction for unequal s) Effect size averaging and/or weighting method(s) How effect size confidence intervals (or standard errors) were calculated How effect size credibility intervals were calculated, if used How studies with more than one effect size were handled Whether fixed and/or random effects models were used and the model choice justification How heterogeneity in effect sizes was assessed or estimated s and s for measurement artifacts, if construct-level relationships were the focus Tests and any adjustments for data censoring (e.g., publication bias, selective reporting) Tests for statistical outliers Statistical power of the meta-analysis Statistical programs or software packages used to conduct statistical analyses |
Results | Number of citations examined for relevance List of citations included in the synthesis Number of citations relevant on many but not all inclusion criteria excluded from the meta-analysis Number of exclusions for each exclusion criterion (e.g., effect size could not be calculated), with examples Table giving descriptive information for each included study, including effect size and sample size Assessment of study quality, if any Tables and/or graphic summaries: Overall characteristics of the database (e.g., number of studies with different research designs) Overall effect size estimates, including measures of uncertainty (e.g., confidence and/or credibility intervals) Results of moderator and mediator analyses (analyses of subsets of studies): Number of studies and total sample sizes for each moderator analysis Assessment of interrelations among variables used for moderator and mediator analyses Assessment of bias including possible data censoring |
Discussion | Statement of major findings Consideration of alternative explanations for observed results: Impact of data censoring Generalizability of conclusions: Relevant populations Treatment variations Dependent (outcome) variables Research designs General limitations (including assessment of the quality of studies included) Implications and interpretation for theory, policy, or practice Guidelines for future research |
A definition of “reporting standards”.
The JARS Group recognized that there are three related terms that need definition when one speaks about journal article reporting standards: recommendations, standards, and requirements. According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary (n.d.) , to recommend is “to present as worthy of acceptance or trial … to endorse as fit, worthy, or competent.” In contrast, a standard is more specific and should carry more influence: “something set up and established by authority as a rule for the measure of quantity, weight, extent, value, or quality.” And finally, a requirement goes further still by dictating a course of action—“something wanted or needed”—and to require is “to claim or ask for by right and authority … to call for as suitable or appropriate … to demand as necessary or essential.”
With these definitions in mind, the JARS Group felt it was providing recommendations regarding what information should be reported in the write-up of a psychological investigation and that these recommendations could also be viewed as standards or at least as a beginning effort at developing standards. The JARS Group felt this characterization was appropriate because the information it was proposing for inclusion in reports was based on an integration of efforts by authoritative groups of researchers and editors. However, the proposed standards are not offered as requirements. The methods used in the subdisciplines of psychology are so varied that the critical information needed to assess the quality of research and to integrate it successfully with other related studies varies considerably from method to method in the context of the topic under consideration. By not calling them “requirements,” the JARS Group felt the standards would be given the weight of authority while retaining for authors and editors the flexibility to use the standards in the most efficacious fashion (see below).
There is an innate tension between transparency in reporting and the space limitations imposed by the print medium. As descriptions of research expand, so does the space needed to report them. However, recent improvements in the capacity of and access to electronic storage of information suggest that this trade-off could someday disappear. For example, the journals of the APA, among others, now make available to authors auxiliary websites that can be used to store supplemental materials associated with the articles that appear in print. Similarly, it is possible for electronic journals to contain short reports of research with hot links to websites containing supplementary files.
The JARS Group recommends an increased use and standardization of supplemental websites by APA journals and authors. Some of the information contained in the reporting standards might not appear in the published article itself but rather in a supplemental website. For example, if the instructions in an investigation are lengthy but critical to understanding what was done, they may be presented verbatim in a supplemental website. Supplemental materials might include the flowchart of participants through the study. It might include oversized tables of results (especially those associated with meta-analyses involving many studies), audio or video clips, computer programs, and even primary or supplementary data sets. Of course, all such supplemental materials should be subject to peer review and should be submitted with the initial manuscript. Editors and reviewers can assist authors in determining what material is supplemental and what needs to be presented in the article proper.
The general principle that guided the establishment of the JARS for psychological research was the promotion of sufficient and transparent descriptions of how a study was conducted and what the researcher(s) found. Complete reporting allows clearer determination of the strengths and weaknesses of a study. This permits the users of the evidence to judge more accurately the appropriate inferences and applications derivable from research findings.
Related to quality assessments, it could be argued as well that the existence of reporting standards will have a salutary effect on the way research is conducted. For example, by setting a standard that rates of loss of participants should be reported (see Figure 1 ), researchers may begin considering more concretely what acceptable levels of attrition are and may come to employ more effective procedures meant to maximize the number of participants who complete a study. Or standards that specify reporting a confidence interval along with an effect size might motivate researchers to plan their studies so as to ensure that the confidence intervals surrounding point estimates will be appropriately narrow.
Also, as noted above, reporting standards can improve secondary use of data by making studies more useful for meta-analysis. More broadly, if standards are similar across disciplines, a consistency in reporting could promote interdisciplinary dialogue by making it clearer to researchers how their efforts relate to one another.
And finally, reporting standards can make it easier for other researchers to design and conduct replications and related studies by providing more complete descriptions of what has been done before. Without complete reporting of the critical aspects of design and results, the value of the next generation of research may be compromised.
It is important to point out that reporting standards also can lead to excessive standardization with negative implications. For example, standardized reporting could fill articles with details of methods and results that are inconsequential to interpretation. The critical facts about a study can get lost in an excess of minutiae. Further, a forced consistency can lead to ignoring important uniqueness. Reporting standards that appear comprehensive might lead researchers to believe that “If it’s not asked for or does not conform to criteria specified in the standards, it’s not necessary to report.” In rare instances, then, the setting of reporting standards might lead to the omission of information critical to understanding what was done in a study and what was found.
Also, as noted above, different methods are required for studying different psychological phenomena. What needs to be reported in order to evaluate the correspondence between methods and inferences is highly dependent on the research question and empirical approach. Inferences about the effectiveness of psychotherapy, for example, require attention to aspects of research design and analysis that are different from those important for inferences in the neuroscience of text processing. This context dependency pertains not only to topic-specific considerations but also to research designs. Thus, an experimental study of the determinants of well-being analyzed via analysis of variance engenders different reporting needs than a study on the same topic that employs a passive longitudinal design and structural equation modeling. Indeed, the variations in substantive topics and research designs are factorial in this regard. So experiments in psychotherapy and neuroscience could share some reporting standards, even though studies employing structural equation models investigating well-being would have little in common with experiments in neuroscience.
One obstacle to developing reporting standards encountered by the JARS Group was that differing taxonomies of research approaches exist and different terms are used within different subdisciplines to describe the same operational research variations. As simple examples, researchers in health psychology typically refer to studies that use experimental manipulations of treatments conducted in naturalistic settings as randomized clinical trials, whereas similar designs are referred to as randomized field trials in educational psychology. Some research areas refer to the use of random assignment of participants, whereas others use the term random allocation. Another example involves the terms multilevel model, hierarchical linear model, and mixed effects model, all of which are used to identify a similar approach to data analysis. There have been, from time to time, calls for standardized terminology to describe commonly but inconsistently used scientific terms, such as Kraemer et al.’s (1997) distinctions among words commonly used to denote risk. To address this problem, the JARS Group attempted to use the simplest descriptions possible and to avoid jargon and recommended that the new Publication Manual include some explanatory text.
A second obstacle was that certain research topics and methods will reveal different levels of consensus regarding what is and is not important to report. Generally, the newer and more complex the technique, the less agreement there will be about reporting standards. For example, although there are many benefits to reporting effect sizes, there are certain situations (e.g., multilevel designs) where no clear consensus exists on how best to conceptualize and/or calculate effect size measures. In a related vein, reporting a confidence interval with an effect size is sound advice, but calculating confidence intervals for effect sizes is often difficult given the current state of software. For this reason, the JARS Group avoided developing reporting standards for research designs about which a professional consensus had not yet emerged. As consensus emerges, the JARS can be expanded by adding modules.
Finally, the rapid pace of developments in methodology dictates that any standards would have to be updated frequently in order to retain currency. For example, the state of the art for reporting various analytic techniques is in a constant state of flux. Although some general principles (e.g., reporting the estimation procedure used in a structural equation model) can incorporate new developments easily, other developments can involve fundamentally new types of data for which standards must, by necessity, evolve rapidly. Nascent and emerging areas, such as functional neuroimaging and molecular genetics, may require developers of standards to be on constant vigil to ensure that new research areas are appropriately covered.
It has been mentioned several times that the setting of standards for reporting of research in psychology involves both general considerations and considerations specific to separate subdisciplines. And, as the brief history of standards in the APA Publication Manual suggests, standards evolve over time. The JARS Group expects refinements to the contents of its tables. Further, in the spirit of evidence-based decision making that is one impetus for the renewed emphasis on reporting standards, we encourage the empirical examination of the effects that standards have on reporting practices. Not unlike the issues many psychologists study, the proposal and adoption of reporting standards is itself an intervention. It can be studied for its effects on the contents of research reports and, most important, its impact on the uses of psychological research by decision makers in various spheres of public and health policy and by scholars seeking to understand the human mind and behavior.
The Working Group on Journal Article Reporting Standards was composed of Mark Appelbaum, Harris Cooper (Chair), Scott Maxwell, Arthur Stone, and Kenneth J. Sher. The working group wishes to thank members of the American Psychological Association’s (APA’s) Publications and Communications Board, the APA Council of Editors, and the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology for comments on this report and the standards contained herein.
Saul Mcleod, PhD
Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester
Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Learn about our Editorial Process
Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc
Associate Editor for Simply Psychology
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education
Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.
Research methods in psychology are systematic procedures used to observe, describe, predict, and explain behavior and mental processes. They include experiments, surveys, case studies, and naturalistic observations, ensuring data collection is objective and reliable to understand and explain psychological phenomena.
Hypotheses are statements about the prediction of the results, that can be verified or disproved by some investigation.
There are four types of hypotheses :
All research has an alternative hypothesis (either a one-tailed or two-tailed) and a corresponding null hypothesis.
Once the research is conducted and results are found, psychologists must accept one hypothesis and reject the other.
So, if a difference is found, the Psychologist would accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null. The opposite applies if no difference is found.
Sampling techniques
Sampling is the process of selecting a representative group from the population under study.
A sample is the participants you select from a target population (the group you are interested in) to make generalizations about.
Representative means the extent to which a sample mirrors a researcher’s target population and reflects its characteristics.
Generalisability means the extent to which their findings can be applied to the larger population of which their sample was a part.
Experiments always have an independent and dependent variable .
Operationalization of variables means making them measurable/quantifiable. We must use operationalization to ensure that variables are in a form that can be easily tested.
For instance, we can’t really measure ‘happiness’, but we can measure how many times a person smiles within a two-hour period.
By operationalizing variables, we make it easy for someone else to replicate our research. Remember, this is important because we can check if our findings are reliable.
Extraneous variables are all variables which are not independent variable but could affect the results of the experiment.
It can be a natural characteristic of the participant, such as intelligence levels, gender, or age for example, or it could be a situational feature of the environment such as lighting or noise.
Demand characteristics are a type of extraneous variable that occurs if the participants work out the aims of the research study, they may begin to behave in a certain way.
For example, in Milgram’s research , critics argued that participants worked out that the shocks were not real and they administered them as they thought this was what was required of them.
Extraneous variables must be controlled so that they do not affect (confound) the results.
Randomly allocating participants to their conditions or using a matched pairs experimental design can help to reduce participant variables.
Situational variables are controlled by using standardized procedures, ensuring every participant in a given condition is treated in the same way
Experimental design refers to how participants are allocated to each condition of the independent variable, such as a control or experimental group.
If we wish to compare two groups with respect to a given independent variable, it is essential to make sure that the two groups do not differ in any other important way.
All experimental methods involve an iv (independent variable) and dv (dependent variable)..
Case studies are in-depth investigations of a person, group, event, or community. It uses information from a range of sources, such as from the person concerned and also from their family and friends.
Many techniques may be used such as interviews, psychological tests, observations and experiments. Case studies are generally longitudinal: in other words, they follow the individual or group over an extended period of time.
Case studies are widely used in psychology and among the best-known ones carried out were by Sigmund Freud . He conducted very detailed investigations into the private lives of his patients in an attempt to both understand and help them overcome their illnesses.
Case studies provide rich qualitative data and have high levels of ecological validity. However, it is difficult to generalize from individual cases as each one has unique characteristics.
Correlation means association; it is a measure of the extent to which two variables are related. One of the variables can be regarded as the predictor variable with the other one as the outcome variable.
Correlational studies typically involve obtaining two different measures from a group of participants, and then assessing the degree of association between the measures.
The predictor variable can be seen as occurring before the outcome variable in some sense. It is called the predictor variable, because it forms the basis for predicting the value of the outcome variable.
Relationships between variables can be displayed on a graph or as a numerical score called a correlation coefficient.
After looking at the scattergraph, if we want to be sure that a significant relationship does exist between the two variables, a statistical test of correlation can be conducted, such as Spearman’s rho.
The test will give us a score, called a correlation coefficient . This is a value between 0 and 1, and the closer to 1 the score is, the stronger the relationship between the variables. This value can be both positive e.g. 0.63, or negative -0.63.
Correlation does not always prove causation, as a third variable may be involved.
Interviews are commonly divided into two types: structured and unstructured.
A fixed, predetermined set of questions is put to every participant in the same order and in the same way.
Responses are recorded on a questionnaire, and the researcher presets the order and wording of questions, and sometimes the range of alternative answers.
The interviewer stays within their role and maintains social distance from the interviewee.
There are no set questions, and the participant can raise whatever topics he/she feels are relevant and ask them in their own way. Questions are posed about participants’ answers to the subject
Unstructured interviews are most useful in qualitative research to analyze attitudes and values.
Though they rarely provide a valid basis for generalization, their main advantage is that they enable the researcher to probe social actors’ subjective point of view.
Questionnaire Method
Questionnaires can be thought of as a kind of written interview. They can be carried out face to face, by telephone, or post.
The choice of questions is important because of the need to avoid bias or ambiguity in the questions, ‘leading’ the respondent or causing offense.
Its other practical advantages are that it is cheaper than face-to-face interviews and can be used to contact many respondents scattered over a wide area relatively quickly.
There are different types of observation methods :
A pilot study is a small scale preliminary study conducted in order to evaluate the feasibility of the key s teps in a future, full-scale project.
A pilot study is an initial run-through of the procedures to be used in an investigation; it involves selecting a few people and trying out the study on them. It is possible to save time, and in some cases, money, by identifying any flaws in the procedures designed by the researcher.
A pilot study can help the researcher spot any ambiguities (i.e. unusual things) or confusion in the information given to participants or problems with the task devised.
Sometimes the task is too hard, and the researcher may get a floor effect, because none of the participants can score at all or can complete the task – all performances are low.
The opposite effect is a ceiling effect, when the task is so easy that all achieve virtually full marks or top performances and are “hitting the ceiling”.
In cross-sectional research , a researcher compares multiple segments of the population at the same time
Sometimes, we want to see how people change over time, as in studies of human development and lifespan. Longitudinal research is a research design in which data-gathering is administered repeatedly over an extended period of time.
In cohort studies , the participants must share a common factor or characteristic such as age, demographic, or occupation. A cohort study is a type of longitudinal study in which researchers monitor and observe a chosen population over an extended period.
Triangulation means using more than one research method to improve the study’s validity.
Reliability is a measure of consistency, if a particular measurement is repeated and the same result is obtained then it is described as being reliable.
A meta-analysis is a systematic review that involves identifying an aim and then searching for research studies that have addressed similar aims/hypotheses.
This is done by looking through various databases, and then decisions are made about what studies are to be included/excluded.
Strengths: Increases the conclusions’ validity as they’re based on a wider range.
Weaknesses: Research designs in studies can vary, so they are not truly comparable.
A researcher submits an article to a journal. The choice of the journal may be determined by the journal’s audience or prestige.
The journal selects two or more appropriate experts (psychologists working in a similar field) to peer review the article without payment. The peer reviewers assess: the methods and designs used, originality of the findings, the validity of the original research findings and its content, structure and language.
Feedback from the reviewer determines whether the article is accepted. The article may be: Accepted as it is, accepted with revisions, sent back to the author to revise and re-submit or rejected without the possibility of submission.
The editor makes the final decision whether to accept or reject the research report based on the reviewers comments/ recommendations.
Peer review is important because it prevent faulty data from entering the public domain, it provides a way of checking the validity of findings and the quality of the methodology and is used to assess the research rating of university departments.
Peer reviews may be an ideal, whereas in practice there are lots of problems. For example, it slows publication down and may prevent unusual, new work being published. Some reviewers might use it as an opportunity to prevent competing researchers from publishing work.
Some people doubt whether peer review can really prevent the publication of fraudulent research.
The advent of the internet means that a lot of research and academic comment is being published without official peer reviews than before, though systems are evolving on the internet where everyone really has a chance to offer their opinions and police the quality of research.
Validity means how well a piece of research actually measures what it sets out to, or how well it reflects the reality it claims to represent.
Validity is whether the observed effect is genuine and represents what is actually out there in the world.
A significant result is one where there is a low probability that chance factors were responsible for any observed difference, correlation, or association in the variables tested.
If our test is significant, we can reject our null hypothesis and accept our alternative hypothesis.
If our test is not significant, we can accept our null hypothesis and reject our alternative hypothesis. A null hypothesis is a statement of no effect.
In Psychology, we use p < 0.05 (as it strikes a balance between making a type I and II error) but p < 0.01 is used in tests that could cause harm like introducing a new drug.
A type I error is when the null hypothesis is rejected when it should have been accepted (happens when a lenient significance level is used, an error of optimism).
A type II error is when the null hypothesis is accepted when it should have been rejected (happens when a stringent significance level is used, an error of pessimism).
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Learning objectives.
Once you have conducted your descriptive statistical analyses, you will need to present them to others. In this section, we focus on presenting descriptive statistical results in writing, in graphs, and in tables—following American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines for written research reports. These principles can be adapted easily to other presentation formats such as posters and slide show presentations.
When you have a small number of results to report, it is often most efficient to write them out. There are a few important APA style guidelines here. First, statistical results are always presented in the form of numerals rather than words and are usually rounded to two decimal places (e.g., “2.00” rather than “two” or “2”). They can be presented either in the narrative description of the results or parenthetically—much like reference citations. Here are some examples:
The mean age of the participants was 22.43 years with a standard deviation of 2.34.
Among the low self-esteem participants, those in a negative mood expressed stronger intentions to have unprotected sex ( M = 4.05, SD = 2.32) than those in a positive mood ( M = 2.15, SD = 2.27).
The treatment group had a mean of 23.40 ( SD = 9.33), while the control group had a mean of 20.87 ( SD = 8.45).
The test-retest correlation was .96.
There was a moderate negative correlation between the alphabetical position of respondents’ last names and their response time ( r = −.27).
Notice that when presented in the narrative, the terms mean and standard deviation are written out, but when presented parenthetically, the symbols M and SD are used instead. Notice also that it is especially important to use parallel construction to express similar or comparable results in similar ways. The third example is much better than the following nonparallel alternative:
The treatment group had a mean of 23.40 ( SD = 9.33), while 20.87 was the mean of the control group, which had a standard deviation of 8.45.
When you have a large number of results to report, you can often do it more clearly and efficiently with a graph. When you prepare graphs for an APA-style research report, there are some general guidelines that you should keep in mind. First, the graph should always add important information rather than repeat information that already appears in the text or in a table. (If a graph presents information more clearly or efficiently, then you should keep the graph and eliminate the text or table.) Second, graphs should be as simple as possible. For example, the Publication Manual discourages the use of color unless it is absolutely necessary (although color can still be an effective element in posters, slide show presentations, or textbooks.) Third, graphs should be interpretable on their own. A reader should be able to understand the basic result based only on the graph and its caption and should not have to refer to the text for an explanation.
There are also several more technical guidelines for graphs that include the following:
Axis Labels and Legends
As we have seen throughout this book, bar graphs are generally used to present and compare the mean scores for two or more groups or conditions. The bar graph in Figure 12.12 “Sample APA-Style Bar Graph, With Error Bars Representing the Standard Errors, Based on Research by Ollendick and Colleagues” is an APA-style version of Figure 12.5 “Bar Graph Showing Mean Clinician Phobia Ratings for Children in Two Treatment Conditions” . Notice that it conforms to all the guidelines listed. A new element in Figure 12.12 “Sample APA-Style Bar Graph, With Error Bars Representing the Standard Errors, Based on Research by Ollendick and Colleagues” is the smaller vertical bars that extend both upward and downward from the top of each main bar. These are error bars , and they represent the variability in each group or condition. Although they sometimes extend one standard deviation in each direction, they are more likely to extend one standard error in each direction (as in Figure 12.12 “Sample APA-Style Bar Graph, With Error Bars Representing the Standard Errors, Based on Research by Ollendick and Colleagues” ). The standard error is the standard deviation of the group divided by the square root of the sample size of the group. The standard error is used because, in general, a difference between group means that is greater than two standard errors is statistically significant. Thus one can “see” whether a difference is statistically significant based on a bar graph with error bars.
Figure 12.12 Sample APA-Style Bar Graph, With Error Bars Representing the Standard Errors, Based on Research by Ollendick and Colleagues
Line graphs are used to present correlations between quantitative variables when the independent variable has, or is organized into, a relatively small number of distinct levels. Each point in a line graph represents the mean score on the dependent variable for participants at one level of the independent variable. Figure 12.13 “Sample APA-Style Line Graph Based on Research by Carlson and Conard” is an APA-style version of the results of Carlson and Conard. Notice that it includes error bars representing the standard error and conforms to all the stated guidelines.
Figure 12.13 Sample APA-Style Line Graph Based on Research by Carlson and Conard
In most cases, the information in a line graph could just as easily be presented in a bar graph. In Figure 12.13 “Sample APA-Style Line Graph Based on Research by Carlson and Conard” , for example, one could replace each point with a bar that reaches up to the same level and leave the error bars right where they are. This emphasizes the fundamental similarity of the two types of statistical relationship. Both are differences in the average score on one variable across levels of another. The convention followed by most researchers, however, is to use a bar graph when the variable plotted on the x- axis is categorical and a line graph when it is quantitative.
Scatterplots are used to present relationships between quantitative variables when the variable on the x- axis (typically the independent variable) has a large number of levels. Each point in a scatterplot represents an individual rather than the mean for a group of individuals, and there are no lines connecting the points. The graph in Figure 12.14 “Sample APA-Style Scatterplot” is an APA-style version of Figure 12.8 “Statistical Relationship Between Several College Students’ Scores on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale Given on Two Occasions a Week Apart” , which illustrates a few additional points. First, when the variables on the x- axis and y -axis are conceptually similar and measured on the same scale—as here, where they are measures of the same variable on two different occasions—this can be emphasized by making the axes the same length. Second, when two or more individuals fall at exactly the same point on the graph, one way this can be indicated is by offsetting the points slightly along the x- axis. Other ways are by displaying the number of individuals in parentheses next to the point or by making the point larger or darker in proportion to the number of individuals. Finally, the straight line that best fits the points in the scatterplot, which is called the regression line, can also be included.
Figure 12.14 Sample APA-Style Scatterplot
Like graphs, tables can be used to present large amounts of information clearly and efficiently. The same general principles apply to tables as apply to graphs. They should add important information to the presentation of your results, be as simple as possible, and be interpretable on their own. Again, we focus here on tables for an APA-style manuscript.
The most common use of tables is to present several means and standard deviations—usually for complex research designs with multiple independent and dependent variables. Figure 12.15 “Sample APA-Style Table Presenting Means and Standard Deviations” , for example, shows the results of a hypothetical study similar to the one by MacDonald and Martineau (2002) discussed in Chapter 5 “Psychological Measurement” . (The means in Figure 12.15 “Sample APA-Style Table Presenting Means and Standard Deviations” are the means reported by MacDonald and Martineau, but the standard errors are not). Recall that these researchers categorized participants as having low or high self-esteem, put them into a negative or positive mood, and measured their intentions to have unprotected sex. Although not mentioned in Chapter 5 “Psychological Measurement” , they also measured participants’ attitudes toward unprotected sex. Notice that the table includes horizontal lines spanning the entire table at the top and bottom, and just beneath the column headings. Furthermore, every column has a heading—including the leftmost column—and there are additional headings that span two or more columns that help to organize the information and present it more efficiently. Finally, notice that APA-style tables are numbered consecutively starting at 1 (Table 1, Table 2, and so on) and given a brief but clear and descriptive title.
Figure 12.15 Sample APA-Style Table Presenting Means and Standard Deviations
Another common use of tables is to present correlations—usually measured by Pearson’s r —among several variables. This is called a correlation matrix . Figure 12.16 “Sample APA-Style Table (Correlation Matrix) Based on Research by McCabe and Colleagues” is a correlation matrix based on a study by David McCabe and colleagues (McCabe, Roediger, McDaniel, Balota, & Hambrick, 2010). They were interested in the relationships between working memory and several other variables. We can see from the table that the correlation between working memory and executive function, for example, was an extremely strong .96, that the correlation between working memory and vocabulary was a medium .27, and that all the measures except vocabulary tend to decline with age. Notice here that only half the table is filled in because the other half would have identical values. For example, the Pearson’s r value in the upper right corner (working memory and age) would be the same as the one in the lower left corner (age and working memory). The correlation of a variable with itself is always 1.00, so these values are replaced by dashes to make the table easier to read.
Figure 12.16 Sample APA-Style Table (Correlation Matrix) Based on Research by McCabe and Colleagues
As with graphs, precise statistical results that appear in a table do not need to be repeated in the text. Instead, the writer can note major trends and alert the reader to details (e.g., specific correlations) that are of particular interest.
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Effective collaboration within teams relies significantly on emotion regulation, a process vital for managing and navigating emotional responses. Various methods have been employed to measure emotional responses in team contexts, including self-report questionnaires, behavioral coding, and physiological measures. This review paper aims to summarize studies conducted in teamwork contexts that measured team members' emotional responses, with a particular focus on the methods used. The findings from these studies can lead to identification of emotion regulation strategies and can lead to effective interventions to improve team performance in future. The core question guiding this review is: What are effective measures in capturing individuals' emotional responses in team dynamics? Using a scoping review, the study aims to answer three research questions (RQs): 1: What was the distribution over time of the studies that examined team members’ emotional responses and/or regulation of emotions in team dynamic? 2: What type(s) of data were collected, and what are the theories used in these studies? 3: What are the advantages and challenges of each type of measurement on emotional responses in team dynamics? The synthesis of the findings suggests that multimodal data, combining various measures such as physiological data, observations, and self-reports, offer a promising approach to capturing emotions in teamwork contexts. Furthermore, combining multimodal data can benefit capturing individual and inter-personal regulation, including self-, co-, and social emotion regulation in teamwork. This paper highlights the importance of integrating multiple measurement methods and provides insights into the advantages and challenges associated with each approach.
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We would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Jason M. Harley and Dr. Adam K. Dubé for their invaluable contributions and insightful feedback during the development of the first draft of this article.
This work is supported by the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC) awarded to Xiaoshasn Huang and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) under the grant number of 895–2011-1006. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper, however, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the FRQSC and the SSHRC.
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The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest concerning the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Xiaoshan Huang is a PhD candidate in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology (ECP) at McGill University, and a member of the ATLAS (Advanced Technologies for Learning in Authentic Settings) Lab. Her areas of research interests include investigating learners’ cognition, motivation, and emotion regulation in both academia and the workplace using intelligent tutoring systems, as well as socially shared regulation in collaborative learning.
Huang, X., Wu, H., Liu, X., & Lajoie, S. (2024, May). Examining the Role of Peer Acknowledgements on Social Annotations: Unraveling the Psychological Underpinnings. Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3641906
Huang, X., Li, S., Wang, T., Pan, Z., & Lajoie, S. P. (2023). Exploring the co‐occurrence of students' learning behaviours and reasoning processes in an intelligent tutoring system: An epistemic network analysis. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning , 39 (5), 1701–1713. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12827
Huang, X., Li, S., & Lajoie, S. P. (2023, May). The Relative Importance of Cognitive and Behavioral Engagement to Task Performance in Self-regulated Learning with an Intelligent Tutoring System. In International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (pp. 430–441). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
Huang, X., & Lajoie, S. P. (2023). Social emotional interaction in collaborative learning: why it matters and how can we measure it? Social Sciences & Humanities Open , 7 (1), 100447. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2023.100447
Huang, X., Huang, L., & Lajoie, S. P. (2022). Exploring teachers’ emotional experience in a TPACK development task. Educational technology research and development , 70 (4), 1283–1303.
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Learning objectives.
In this section, we look at how to write an APA-style empirical research report , an article that presents the results of one or more new studies. Recall that the standard sections of an empirical research report provide a kind of outline. Here we consider each of these sections in detail, including what information it contains, how that information is formatted and organized, and tips for writing each section. At the end of this section is a sample APA-style research report that illustrates many of these principles.
Title page and abstract.
An APA-style research report begins with a title page . The title is centered in the upper half of the page, with each important word capitalized. The title should clearly and concisely (in about 12 words or fewer) communicate the primary variables and research questions. This sometimes requires a main title followed by a subtitle that elaborates on the main title, in which case the main title and subtitle are separated by a colon. Here are some titles from recent issues of professional journals published by the American Psychological Association.
Below the title are the authors’ names and, on the next line, their institutional affiliation—the university or other institution where the authors worked when they conducted the research. As we have already seen, the authors are listed in an order that reflects their contribution to the research. When multiple authors have made equal contributions to the research, they often list their names alphabetically or in a randomly determined order.
In some areas of psychology, the titles of many empirical research reports are informal in a way that is perhaps best described as “cute.” They usually take the form of a play on words or a well-known expression that relates to the topic under study. Here are some examples from recent issues of the Journal Psychological Science .
Individual researchers differ quite a bit in their preference for such titles. Some use them regularly, while others never use them. What might be some of the pros and cons of using cute article titles?
For articles that are being submitted for publication, the title page also includes an author note that lists the authors’ full institutional affiliations, any acknowledgments the authors wish to make to agencies that funded the research or to colleagues who commented on it, and contact information for the authors. For student papers that are not being submitted for publication—including theses—author notes are generally not necessary.
The abstract is a summary of the study. It is the second page of the manuscript and is headed with the word Abstract . The first line is not indented. The abstract presents the research question, a summary of the method, the basic results, and the most important conclusions. Because the abstract is usually limited to about 200 words, it can be a challenge to write a good one.
The introduction begins on the third page of the manuscript. The heading at the top of this page is the full title of the manuscript, with each important word capitalized as on the title page. The introduction includes three distinct subsections, although these are typically not identified by separate headings. The opening introduces the research question and explains why it is interesting, the literature review discusses relevant previous research, and the closing restates the research question and comments on the method used to answer it.
The opening , which is usually a paragraph or two in length, introduces the research question and explains why it is interesting. To capture the reader’s attention, researcher Daryl Bem recommends starting with general observations about the topic under study, expressed in ordinary language (not technical jargon)—observations that are about people and their behavior (not about researchers or their research; Bem, 2003 [1] ). Concrete examples are often very useful here. According to Bem, this would be a poor way to begin a research report:
Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance received a great deal of attention during the latter part of the 20th century (p. 191)
The following would be much better:
The individual who holds two beliefs that are inconsistent with one another may feel uncomfortable. For example, the person who knows that he or she enjoys smoking but believes it to be unhealthy may experience discomfort arising from the inconsistency or disharmony between these two thoughts or cognitions. This feeling of discomfort was called cognitive dissonance by social psychologist Leon Festinger (1957), who suggested that individuals will be motivated to remove this dissonance in whatever way they can (p. 191).
After capturing the reader’s attention, the opening should go on to introduce the research question and explain why it is interesting. Will the answer fill a gap in the literature? Will it provide a test of an important theory? Does it have practical implications? Giving readers a clear sense of what the research is about and why they should care about it will motivate them to continue reading the literature review—and will help them make sense of it.
Researcher Larry Jacoby reported several studies showing that a word that people see or hear repeatedly can seem more familiar even when they do not recall the repetitions—and that this tendency is especially pronounced among older adults. He opened his article with the following humorous anecdote:
A friend whose mother is suffering symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) tells the story of taking her mother to visit a nursing home, preliminary to her mother’s moving there. During an orientation meeting at the nursing home, the rules and regulations were explained, one of which regarded the dining room. The dining room was described as similar to a fine restaurant except that tipping was not required. The absence of tipping was a central theme in the orientation lecture, mentioned frequently to emphasize the quality of care along with the advantages of having paid in advance. At the end of the meeting, the friend’s mother was asked whether she had any questions. She replied that she only had one question: “Should I tip?” (Jacoby, 1999, p. 3)
Although both humor and personal anecdotes are generally discouraged in APA-style writing, this example is a highly effective way to start because it both engages the reader and provides an excellent real-world example of the topic under study.
Immediately after the opening comes the literature review , which describes relevant previous research on the topic and can be anywhere from several paragraphs to several pages in length. However, the literature review is not simply a list of past studies. Instead, it constitutes a kind of argument for why the research question is worth addressing. By the end of the literature review, readers should be convinced that the research question makes sense and that the present study is a logical next step in the ongoing research process.
Like any effective argument, the literature review must have some kind of structure. For example, it might begin by describing a phenomenon in a general way along with several studies that demonstrate it, then describing two or more competing theories of the phenomenon, and finally presenting a hypothesis to test one or more of the theories. Or it might describe one phenomenon, then describe another phenomenon that seems inconsistent with the first one, then propose a theory that resolves the inconsistency, and finally present a hypothesis to test that theory. In applied research, it might describe a phenomenon or theory, then describe how that phenomenon or theory applies to some important real-world situation, and finally suggest a way to test whether it does, in fact, apply to that situation.
Looking at the literature review in this way emphasizes a few things. First, it is extremely important to start with an outline of the main points that you want to make, organized in the order that you want to make them. The basic structure of your argument, then, should be apparent from the outline itself. Second, it is important to emphasize the structure of your argument in your writing. One way to do this is to begin the literature review by summarizing your argument even before you begin to make it. “In this article, I will describe two apparently contradictory phenomena, present a new theory that has the potential to resolve the apparent contradiction, and finally present a novel hypothesis to test the theory.” Another way is to open each paragraph with a sentence that summarizes the main point of the paragraph and links it to the preceding points. These opening sentences provide the “transitions” that many beginning researchers have difficulty with. Instead of beginning a paragraph by launching into a description of a previous study, such as “Williams (2004) found that…,” it is better to start by indicating something about why you are describing this particular study. Here are some simple examples:
Another example of this phenomenon comes from the work of Williams (2004).
Williams (2004) offers one explanation of this phenomenon.
An alternative perspective has been provided by Williams (2004).
We used a method based on the one used by Williams (2004).
Finally, remember that your goal is to construct an argument for why your research question is interesting and worth addressing—not necessarily why your favorite answer to it is correct. In other words, your literature review must be balanced. If you want to emphasize the generality of a phenomenon, then of course you should discuss various studies that have demonstrated it. However, if there are other studies that have failed to demonstrate it, you should discuss them too. Or if you are proposing a new theory, then of course you should discuss findings that are consistent with that theory. However, if there are other findings that are inconsistent with it, again, you should discuss them too. It is acceptable to argue that the balance of the research supports the existence of a phenomenon or is consistent with a theory (and that is usually the best that researchers in psychology can hope for), but it is not acceptable to ignore contradictory evidence. Besides, a large part of what makes a research question interesting is uncertainty about its answer.
The closing of the introduction—typically the final paragraph or two—usually includes two important elements. The first is a clear statement of the main research question and hypothesis. This statement tends to be more formal and precise than in the opening and is often expressed in terms of operational definitions of the key variables. The second is a brief overview of the method and some comment on its appropriateness. Here, for example, is how Darley and Latané (1968) [2] concluded the introduction to their classic article on the bystander effect:
These considerations lead to the hypothesis that the more bystanders to an emergency, the less likely, or the more slowly, any one bystander will intervene to provide aid. To test this proposition it would be necessary to create a situation in which a realistic “emergency” could plausibly occur. Each subject should also be blocked from communicating with others to prevent his getting information about their behavior during the emergency. Finally, the experimental situation should allow for the assessment of the speed and frequency of the subjects’ reaction to the emergency. The experiment reported below attempted to fulfill these conditions. (p. 378)
Thus the introduction leads smoothly into the next major section of the article—the method section.
The method section is where you describe how you conducted your study. An important principle for writing a method section is that it should be clear and detailed enough that other researchers could replicate the study by following your “recipe.” This means that it must describe all the important elements of the study—basic demographic characteristics of the participants, how they were recruited, whether they were randomly assigned to conditions, how the variables were manipulated or measured, how counterbalancing was accomplished, and so on. At the same time, it should avoid irrelevant details such as the fact that the study was conducted in Classroom 37B of the Industrial Technology Building or that the questionnaire was double-sided and completed using pencils.
The method section begins immediately after the introduction ends with the heading “Method” (not “Methods”) centered on the page. Immediately after this is the subheading “Participants,” left justified and in italics. The participants subsection indicates how many participants there were, the number of women and men, some indication of their age, other demographics that may be relevant to the study, and how they were recruited, including any incentives given for participation.
Figure 11.1 Three Ways of Organizing an APA-Style Method
After the participants section, the structure can vary a bit. Figure 11.1 shows three common approaches. In the first, the participants section is followed by a design and procedure subsection, which describes the rest of the method. This works well for methods that are relatively simple and can be described adequately in a few paragraphs. In the second approach, the participants section is followed by separate design and procedure subsections. This works well when both the design and the procedure are relatively complicated and each requires multiple paragraphs.
What is the difference between design and procedure? The design of a study is its overall structure. What were the independent and dependent variables? Was the independent variable manipulated, and if so, was it manipulated between or within subjects? How were the variables operationally defined? The procedure is how the study was carried out. It often works well to describe the procedure in terms of what the participants did rather than what the researchers did. For example, the participants gave their informed consent, read a set of instructions, completed a block of four practice trials, completed a block of 20 test trials, completed two questionnaires, and were debriefed and excused.
In the third basic way to organize a method section, the participants subsection is followed by a materials subsection before the design and procedure subsections. This works well when there are complicated materials to describe. This might mean multiple questionnaires, written vignettes that participants read and respond to, perceptual stimuli, and so on. The heading of this subsection can be modified to reflect its content. Instead of “Materials,” it can be “Questionnaires,” “Stimuli,” and so on. The materials subsection is also a good place to refer to the reliability and/or validity of the measures. This is where you would present test-retest correlations, Cronbach’s α, or other statistics to show that the measures are consistent across time and across items and that they accurately measure what they are intended to measure.
The results section is where you present the main results of the study, including the results of the statistical analyses. Although it does not include the raw data—individual participants’ responses or scores—researchers should save their raw data and make them available to other researchers who request them. Several journals now encourage the open sharing of raw data online.
Although there are no standard subsections, it is still important for the results section to be logically organized. Typically it begins with certain preliminary issues. One is whether any participants or responses were excluded from the analyses and why. The rationale for excluding data should be described clearly so that other researchers can decide whether it is appropriate. A second preliminary issue is how multiple responses were combined to produce the primary variables in the analyses. For example, if participants rated the attractiveness of 20 stimulus people, you might have to explain that you began by computing the mean attractiveness rating for each participant. Or if they recalled as many items as they could from study list of 20 words, did you count the number correctly recalled, compute the percentage correctly recalled, or perhaps compute the number correct minus the number incorrect? A final preliminary issue is whether the manipulation was successful. This is where you would report the results of any manipulation checks.
The results section should then tackle the primary research questions, one at a time. Again, there should be a clear organization. One approach would be to answer the most general questions and then proceed to answer more specific ones. Another would be to answer the main question first and then to answer secondary ones. Regardless, Bem (2003) [3] suggests the following basic structure for discussing each new result:
Notice that only Step 3 necessarily involves numbers. The rest of the steps involve presenting the research question and the answer to it in words. In fact, the basic results should be clear even to a reader who skips over the numbers.
The discussion is the last major section of the research report. Discussions usually consist of some combination of the following elements:
The discussion typically begins with a summary of the study that provides a clear answer to the research question. In a short report with a single study, this might require no more than a sentence. In a longer report with multiple studies, it might require a paragraph or even two. The summary is often followed by a discussion of the theoretical implications of the research. Do the results provide support for any existing theories? If not, how can they be explained? Although you do not have to provide a definitive explanation or detailed theory for your results, you at least need to outline one or more possible explanations. In applied research—and often in basic research—there is also some discussion of the practical implications of the research. How can the results be used, and by whom, to accomplish some real-world goal?
The theoretical and practical implications are often followed by a discussion of the study’s limitations. Perhaps there are problems with its internal or external validity. Perhaps the manipulation was not very effective or the measures not very reliable. Perhaps there is some evidence that participants did not fully understand their task or that they were suspicious of the intent of the researchers. Now is the time to discuss these issues and how they might have affected the results. But do not overdo it. All studies have limitations, and most readers will understand that a different sample or different measures might have produced different results. Unless there is good reason to think they would have, however, there is no reason to mention these routine issues. Instead, pick two or three limitations that seem like they could have influenced the results, explain how they could have influenced the results, and suggest ways to deal with them.
Most discussions end with some suggestions for future research. If the study did not satisfactorily answer the original research question, what will it take to do so? What new research questions has the study raised? This part of the discussion, however, is not just a list of new questions. It is a discussion of two or three of the most important unresolved issues. This means identifying and clarifying each question, suggesting some alternative answers, and even suggesting ways they could be studied.
Finally, some researchers are quite good at ending their articles with a sweeping or thought-provoking conclusion. Darley and Latané (1968) [4] , for example, ended their article on the bystander effect by discussing the idea that whether people help others may depend more on the situation than on their personalities. Their final sentence is, “If people understand the situational forces that can make them hesitate to intervene, they may better overcome them” (p. 383). However, this kind of ending can be difficult to pull off. It can sound overreaching or just banal and end up detracting from the overall impact of the article. It is often better simply to end by returning to the problem or issue introduced in your opening paragraph and clearly stating how your research has addressed that issue or problem.
The references section begins on a new page with the heading “References” centered at the top of the page. All references cited in the text are then listed in the format presented earlier. They are listed alphabetically by the last name of the first author. If two sources have the same first author, they are listed alphabetically by the last name of the second author. If all the authors are the same, then they are listed chronologically by the year of publication. Everything in the reference list is double-spaced both within and between references.
Appendices, tables, and figures come after the references. An appendix is appropriate for supplemental material that would interrupt the flow of the research report if it were presented within any of the major sections. An appendix could be used to present lists of stimulus words, questionnaire items, detailed descriptions of special equipment or unusual statistical analyses, or references to the studies that are included in a meta-analysis. Each appendix begins on a new page. If there is only one, the heading is “Appendix,” centered at the top of the page. If there is more than one, the headings are “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” and so on, and they appear in the order they were first mentioned in the text of the report.
After any appendices come tables and then figures. Tables and figures are both used to present results. Figures can also be used to display graphs, illustrate theories (e.g., in the form of a flowchart), display stimuli, outline procedures, and present many other kinds of information. Each table and figure appears on its own page. Tables are numbered in the order that they are first mentioned in the text (“Table 1,” “Table 2,” and so on). Figures are numbered the same way (“Figure 1,” “Figure 2,” and so on). A brief explanatory title, with the important words capitalized, appears above each table. Each figure is given a brief explanatory caption, where (aside from proper nouns or names) only the first word of each sentence is capitalized. More details on preparing APA-style tables and figures are presented later in the book.
Figures 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, and 11.5 show some sample pages from an APA-style empirical research report originally written by undergraduate student Tomoe Suyama at California State University, Fresno. The main purpose of these figures is to illustrate the basic organization and formatting of an APA-style empirical research report, although many high-level and low-level style conventions can be seen here too.
Figure 11.2 Title Page and Abstract. This student paper does not include the author note on the title page. The abstract appears on its own page.
Figure 11.3 Introduction and Method. Note that the introduction is headed with the full title, and the method section begins immediately after the introduction ends.
Figure 11.4 Results and Discussion The discussion begins immediately after the results section ends.
Figure 11.5 References and Figure. If there were appendices or tables, they would come before the figure.
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Presenting Your Research
Learning objectives.
In this section, we look at how to write an APA-style empirical research report , an article that presents the results of one or more new studies. Recall that the standard sections of an empirical research report provide a kind of outline. Here we consider each of these sections in detail, including what information it contains, how that information is formatted and organized, and tips for writing each section. At the end of this section is a sample APA-style research report that illustrates many of these principles.
Title page and abstract.
An APA-style research report begins with a title page . The title is centered in the upper half of the page, with each important word capitalized. The title should clearly and concisely (in about 12 words or fewer) communicate the primary variables and research questions. This sometimes requires a main title followed by a subtitle that elaborates on the main title, in which case the main title and subtitle are separated by a colon. Here are some titles from recent issues of professional journals published by the American Psychological Association.
Below the title are the authors’ names and, on the next line, their institutional affiliation—the university or other institution where the authors worked when they conducted the research. As we have already seen, the authors are listed in an order that reflects their contribution to the research. When multiple authors have made equal contributions to the research, they often list their names alphabetically or in a randomly determined order.
In some areas of psychology, the titles of many empirical research reports are informal in a way that is perhaps best described as “cute.” They usually take the form of a play on words or a well-known expression that relates to the topic under study. Here are some examples from recent issues of the Journal Psychological Science .
Individual researchers differ quite a bit in their preference for such titles. Some use them regularly, while others never use them. What might be some of the pros and cons of using cute article titles?
For articles that are being submitted for publication, the title page also includes an author note that lists the authors’ full institutional affiliations, any acknowledgments the authors wish to make to agencies that funded the research or to colleagues who commented on it, and contact information for the authors. For student papers that are not being submitted for publication—including theses—author notes are generally not necessary.
The abstract is a summary of the study. It is the second page of the manuscript and is headed with the word Abstract . The first line is not indented. The abstract presents the research question, a summary of the method, the basic results, and the most important conclusions. Because the abstract is usually limited to about 200 words, it can be a challenge to write a good one.
The introduction begins on the third page of the manuscript. The heading at the top of this page is the full title of the manuscript, with each important word capitalized as on the title page. The introduction includes three distinct subsections, although these are typically not identified by separate headings. The opening introduces the research question and explains why it is interesting, the literature review discusses relevant previous research, and the closing restates the research question and comments on the method used to answer it.
The opening , which is usually a paragraph or two in length, introduces the research question and explains why it is interesting. To capture the reader’s attention, researcher Daryl Bem recommends starting with general observations about the topic under study, expressed in ordinary language (not technical jargon)—observations that are about people and their behavior (not about researchers or their research; Bem, 2003 [1] ). Concrete examples are often very useful here. According to Bem, this would be a poor way to begin a research report:
Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance received a great deal of attention during the latter part of the 20th century (p. 191)
The following would be much better:
The individual who holds two beliefs that are inconsistent with one another may feel uncomfortable. For example, the person who knows that they enjoy smoking but believes it to be unhealthy may experience discomfort arising from the inconsistency or disharmony between these two thoughts or cognitions. This feeling of discomfort was called cognitive dissonance by social psychologist Leon Festinger (1957), who suggested that individuals will be motivated to remove this dissonance in whatever way they can (p. 191).
After capturing the reader’s attention, the opening should go on to introduce the research question and explain why it is interesting. Will the answer fill a gap in the literature? Will it provide a test of an important theory? Does it have practical implications? Giving readers a clear sense of what the research is about and why they should care about it will motivate them to continue reading the literature review—and will help them make sense of it.
Researcher Larry Jacoby reported several studies showing that a word that people see or hear repeatedly can seem more familiar even when they do not recall the repetitions—and that this tendency is especially pronounced among older adults. He opened his article with the following humorous anecdote:
A friend whose mother is suffering symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) tells the story of taking her mother to visit a nursing home, preliminary to her mother’s moving there. During an orientation meeting at the nursing home, the rules and regulations were explained, one of which regarded the dining room. The dining room was described as similar to a fine restaurant except that tipping was not required. The absence of tipping was a central theme in the orientation lecture, mentioned frequently to emphasize the quality of care along with the advantages of having paid in advance. At the end of the meeting, the friend’s mother was asked whether she had any questions. She replied that she only had one question: “Should I tip?” (Jacoby, 1999, p. 3)
Although both humor and personal anecdotes are generally discouraged in APA-style writing, this example is a highly effective way to start because it both engages the reader and provides an excellent real-world example of the topic under study.
Immediately after the opening comes the literature review , which describes relevant previous research on the topic and can be anywhere from several paragraphs to several pages in length. However, the literature review is not simply a list of past studies. Instead, it constitutes a kind of argument for why the research question is worth addressing. By the end of the literature review, readers should be convinced that the research question makes sense and that the present study is a logical next step in the ongoing research process.
Like any effective argument, the literature review must have some kind of structure. For example, it might begin by describing a phenomenon in a general way along with several studies that demonstrate it, then describing two or more competing theories of the phenomenon, and finally presenting a hypothesis to test one or more of the theories. Or it might describe one phenomenon, then describe another phenomenon that seems inconsistent with the first one, then propose a theory that resolves the inconsistency, and finally present a hypothesis to test that theory. In applied research, it might describe a phenomenon or theory, then describe how that phenomenon or theory applies to some important real-world situation, and finally suggest a way to test whether it does, in fact, apply to that situation.
Looking at the literature review in this way emphasizes a few things. First, it is extremely important to start with an outline of the main points that you want to make, organized in the order that you want to make them. The basic structure of your argument, then, should be apparent from the outline itself. Second, it is important to emphasize the structure of your argument in your writing. One way to do this is to begin the literature review by summarizing your argument even before you begin to make it. “In this article, I will describe two apparently contradictory phenomena, present a new theory that has the potential to resolve the apparent contradiction, and finally present a novel hypothesis to test the theory.” Another way is to open each paragraph with a sentence that summarizes the main point of the paragraph and links it to the preceding points. These opening sentences provide the “transitions” that many beginning researchers have difficulty with. Instead of beginning a paragraph by launching into a description of a previous study, such as “Williams (2004) found that…,” it is better to start by indicating something about why you are describing this particular study. Here are some simple examples:
Another example of this phenomenon comes from the work of Williams (2004).
Williams (2004) offers one explanation of this phenomenon.
An alternative perspective has been provided by Williams (2004).
We used a method based on the one used by Williams (2004).
Finally, remember that your goal is to construct an argument for why your research question is interesting and worth addressing—not necessarily why your favorite answer to it is correct. In other words, your literature review must be balanced. If you want to emphasize the generality of a phenomenon, then of course you should discuss various studies that have demonstrated it. However, if there are other studies that have failed to demonstrate it, you should discuss them too. Or if you are proposing a new theory, then of course you should discuss findings that are consistent with that theory. However, if there are other findings that are inconsistent with it, again, you should discuss them too. It is acceptable to argue that the balance of the research supports the existence of a phenomenon or is consistent with a theory (and that is usually the best that researchers in psychology can hope for), but it is not acceptable to ignore contradictory evidence. Besides, a large part of what makes a research question interesting is uncertainty about its answer.
The closing of the introduction—typically the final paragraph or two—usually includes two important elements. The first is a clear statement of the main research question and hypothesis. This statement tends to be more formal and precise than in the opening and is often expressed in terms of operational definitions of the key variables. The second is a brief overview of the method and some comment on its appropriateness. Here, for example, is how Darley and Latané (1968) [2] concluded the introduction to their classic article on the bystander effect:
These considerations lead to the hypothesis that the more bystanders to an emergency, the less likely, or the more slowly, any one bystander will intervene to provide aid. To test this proposition it would be necessary to create a situation in which a realistic “emergency” could plausibly occur. Each subject should also be blocked from communicating with others to prevent his getting information about their behavior during the emergency. Finally, the experimental situation should allow for the assessment of the speed and frequency of the subjects’ reaction to the emergency. The experiment reported below attempted to fulfill these conditions. (p. 378)
Thus the introduction leads smoothly into the next major section of the article—the method section.
The method section is where you describe how you conducted your study. An important principle for writing a method section is that it should be clear and detailed enough that other researchers could replicate the study by following your “recipe.” This means that it must describe all the important elements of the study—basic demographic characteristics of the participants, how they were recruited, whether they were randomly assigned to conditions, how the variables were manipulated or measured, how counterbalancing was accomplished, and so on. At the same time, it should avoid irrelevant details such as the fact that the study was conducted in Classroom 37B of the Industrial Technology Building or that the questionnaire was double-sided and completed using pencils.
The method section begins immediately after the introduction ends with the heading “Method” (not “Methods”) centered on the page. Immediately after this is the subheading “Participants,” left justified and in italics. The participants subsection indicates how many participants there were, the number of women and men, some indication of their age, other demographics that may be relevant to the study, and how they were recruited, including any incentives given for participation.
After the participants section, the structure can vary a bit. Figure 11.1 shows three common approaches. In the first, the participants section is followed by a design and procedure subsection, which describes the rest of the method. This works well for methods that are relatively simple and can be described adequately in a few paragraphs. In the second approach, the participants section is followed by separate design and procedure subsections. This works well when both the design and the procedure are relatively complicated and each requires multiple paragraphs.
What is the difference between design and procedure? The design of a study is its overall structure. What were the independent and dependent variables? Was the independent variable manipulated, and if so, was it manipulated between or within subjects? How were the variables operationally defined? The procedure is how the study was carried out. It often works well to describe the procedure in terms of what the participants did rather than what the researchers did. For example, the participants gave their informed consent, read a set of instructions, completed a block of four practice trials, completed a block of 20 test trials, completed two questionnaires, and were debriefed and excused.
In the third basic way to organize a method section, the participants subsection is followed by a materials subsection before the design and procedure subsections. This works well when there are complicated materials to describe. This might mean multiple questionnaires, written vignettes that participants read and respond to, perceptual stimuli, and so on. The heading of this subsection can be modified to reflect its content. Instead of “Materials,” it can be “Questionnaires,” “Stimuli,” and so on. The materials subsection is also a good place to refer to the reliability and/or validity of the measures. This is where you would present test-retest correlations, Cronbach’s α, or other statistics to show that the measures are consistent across time and across items and that they accurately measure what they are intended to measure.
The results section is where you present the main results of the study, including the results of the statistical analyses. Although it does not include the raw data—individual participants’ responses or scores—researchers should save their raw data and make them available to other researchers who request them. Many journals encourage the open sharing of raw data online, and some now require open data and materials before publication.
Although there are no standard subsections, it is still important for the results section to be logically organized. Typically it begins with certain preliminary issues. One is whether any participants or responses were excluded from the analyses and why. The rationale for excluding data should be described clearly so that other researchers can decide whether it is appropriate. A second preliminary issue is how multiple responses were combined to produce the primary variables in the analyses. For example, if participants rated the attractiveness of 20 stimulus people, you might have to explain that you began by computing the mean attractiveness rating for each participant. Or if they recalled as many items as they could from study list of 20 words, did you count the number correctly recalled, compute the percentage correctly recalled, or perhaps compute the number correct minus the number incorrect? A final preliminary issue is whether the manipulation was successful. This is where you would report the results of any manipulation checks.
The results section should then tackle the primary research questions, one at a time. Again, there should be a clear organization. One approach would be to answer the most general questions and then proceed to answer more specific ones. Another would be to answer the main question first and then to answer secondary ones. Regardless, Bem (2003) [3] suggests the following basic structure for discussing each new result:
Notice that only Step 3 necessarily involves numbers. The rest of the steps involve presenting the research question and the answer to it in words. In fact, the basic results should be clear even to a reader who skips over the numbers.
The discussion is the last major section of the research report. Discussions usually consist of some combination of the following elements:
The discussion typically begins with a summary of the study that provides a clear answer to the research question. In a short report with a single study, this might require no more than a sentence. In a longer report with multiple studies, it might require a paragraph or even two. The summary is often followed by a discussion of the theoretical implications of the research. Do the results provide support for any existing theories? If not, how can they be explained? Although you do not have to provide a definitive explanation or detailed theory for your results, you at least need to outline one or more possible explanations. In applied research—and often in basic research—there is also some discussion of the practical implications of the research. How can the results be used, and by whom, to accomplish some real-world goal?
The theoretical and practical implications are often followed by a discussion of the study’s limitations. Perhaps there are problems with its internal or external validity. Perhaps the manipulation was not very effective or the measures not very reliable. Perhaps there is some evidence that participants did not fully understand their task or that they were suspicious of the intent of the researchers. Now is the time to discuss these issues and how they might have affected the results. But do not overdo it. All studies have limitations, and most readers will understand that a different sample or different measures might have produced different results. Unless there is good reason to think they would have, however, there is no reason to mention these routine issues. Instead, pick two or three limitations that seem like they could have influenced the results, explain how they could have influenced the results, and suggest ways to deal with them.
Most discussions end with some suggestions for future research. If the study did not satisfactorily answer the original research question, what will it take to do so? What new research questions has the study raised? This part of the discussion, however, is not just a list of new questions. It is a discussion of two or three of the most important unresolved issues. This means identifying and clarifying each question, suggesting some alternative answers, and even suggesting ways they could be studied.
Finally, some researchers are quite good at ending their articles with a sweeping or thought-provoking conclusion. Darley and Latané (1968) [4] , for example, ended their article on the bystander effect by discussing the idea that whether people help others may depend more on the situation than on their personalities. Their final sentence is, “If people understand the situational forces that can make them hesitate to intervene, they may better overcome them” (p. 383). However, this kind of ending can be difficult to pull off. It can sound overreaching or just banal and end up detracting from the overall impact of the article. It is often better simply to end by returning to the problem or issue introduced in your opening paragraph and clearly stating how your research has addressed that issue or problem.
The references section begins on a new page with the heading “References” centered at the top of the page. All references cited in the text are then listed in the format presented earlier. They are listed alphabetically by the last name of the first author. If two sources have the same first author, they are listed alphabetically by the last name of the second author. If all the authors are the same, then they are listed chronologically by the year of publication. Everything in the reference list is double-spaced both within and between references.
Appendices, tables, and figures come after the references. An appendix is appropriate for supplemental material that would interrupt the flow of the research report if it were presented within any of the major sections. An appendix could be used to present lists of stimulus words, questionnaire items, detailed descriptions of special equipment or unusual statistical analyses, or references to the studies that are included in a meta-analysis. Each appendix begins on a new page. If there is only one, the heading is “Appendix,” centered at the top of the page. If there is more than one, the headings are “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” and so on, and they appear in the order they were first mentioned in the text of the report.
After any appendices come tables and then figures. Tables and figures are both used to present results. Figures can also be used to display graphs, illustrate theories (e.g., in the form of a flowchart), display stimuli, outline procedures, and present many other kinds of information. Each table and figure appears on its own page. Tables are numbered in the order that they are first mentioned in the text (“Table 1,” “Table 2,” and so on). Figures are numbered the same way (“Figure 1,” “Figure 2,” and so on). A brief explanatory title, with the important words capitalized, appears above each table. Each figure is given a brief explanatory caption, where (aside from proper nouns or names) only the first word of each sentence is capitalized. More details on preparing APA-style tables and figures are presented later in the book.
Figures 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, and 11.5 show some sample pages from an APA-style empirical research report originally written by undergraduate student Tomoe Suyama at California State University, Fresno. The main purpose of these figures is to illustrate the basic organization and formatting of an APA-style empirical research report, although many high-level and low-level style conventions can be seen here too.
Figure 11.1 image description: Table showing three ways of organizing an APA-style method section.
In the simple method, there are two subheadings: “Participants” (which might begin “The participants were…”) and “Design and procedure” (which might begin “There were three conditions…”).
In the typical method, there are three subheadings: “Participants” (“The participants were…”), “Design” (“There were three conditions…”), and “Procedure” (“Participants viewed each stimulus on the computer screen…”).
In the complex method, there are four subheadings: “Participants” (“The participants were…”), “Materials” (“The stimuli were…”), “Design” (“There were three conditions…”), and “Procedure” (“Participants viewed each stimulus on the computer screen…”). [Return to Figure 11.1]
An article that presents the results of one or more new studies.
A brief summary of the study's research question, methods, results and conclusions.
Describes relevant previous research on the topic and can be anywhere from several paragraphs to several pages in length.
Where you present the main results of the study, including the results of the statistical analyses.
Research Methods in Psychology Copyright © 2023 by William L. Kelemen, Rajiv S. Jhangiani, I-Chant A. Chiang, Carrie Cuttler, & Dana C. Leighton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
Top 20 Principles for Students with Disabilities
Psychological science has much to contribute to enhancing teaching, learning, and well-being in the classroom. Psychology provides key insights on effective instruction; classroom environments that promote learning; and appropriate use of data, tests, and measurement.
We present here a document for listing and describing the top 20 psychological principles for use in the context of pre-K to 12 classroom teaching and learning, as well as the implications of each principle as applied to classroom practices for students with disabilities. These principles are categorized into five areas of psychological functioning:
Download the full report PDF, 521KB
Thinking and Learning Principles 1-8
Motivation Principles 9-12
Social-Emotional Learning Principles 13-15
Classroom Management Principles 16-17
Assessment Principles 18-20
All Top 20 Principles
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Psychological Reports is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed journal that publishes original and creative contributions to the field of general psychology. The journal carries experimental, theoretical, and speculative articles and comments in all areas of psychology. View full journal description. This journal is a ... Sage Research Methods ...
In psychology, a lab report outlines a study's objectives, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions, ensuring clarity and adherence to APA (or relevant) formatting guidelines. A typical lab report would include the following sections: title, abstract, introduction, method, results, and discussion.
An APA-style research report begins with a ... In some areas of psychology, the titles of many empirical research reports are informal in a way that is perhaps best described as "cute." They usually take the form of a play on words or a well-known expression that relates to the topic under study.
The journal publishes cutting-edge research articles and short reports, spanning the entire spectrum of the science of psychology. This journal is the source for the latest findings in cognitive, social, developmental, and health psychology, as well as behavioral neuroscience and biopsychology. View full journal description
Psychological Report Writing March 8, 2021 - Paper 2 Psychology in Context | Research Methods Back to Paper 2 - Research Methods Writing up Psychological Investigations Through using this website, you have learned about, referred to, and evaluated research studies. These research studies are generally presented to the scientific community as a journal article. […]
Psychological Science, the flagship journal of the Association for Psychological Science, is the leading peer-reviewed journal publishing empirical research spanning the entire spectrum of the science of psychology.The journal publishes high quality research articles of general interest and on important topics spanning the entire spectrum of the science of psychology.
Research Open Access 26 Jun 2024 Scientific Reports Volume: 14, P: 14698 Comparison of networks of loneliness, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms in at-risk community-dwelling older adults ...
Principles on psychological report writing derived from seminal papers in the field of psychological assessment were adapted and used as an organizing tool to create a template on how to write all varieties of psychological reports that incorporate evidence-based assessment methods.
oping comprehensive reports that will support their review. Guidance is provided for how to best present qualitative research, with rationales and illustrations. The reporting standards for qualitative meta-analyses, which are integrative analy-ses of findings from across primary qualitative research, are presented in Chapter 8.
THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY GUIDE TO WRITING RESEARCH REPORTS The following set of guidelines provides psychology students at Essex with the basic information for structuring and formatting reports of research in psychology. During your time here this will be an invaluable reference. You are encouraged to refer to this document each time you ...
Includes links to task force reports as well as APA's Stress in America and Work and Well-Being surveys. ... Topics in Psychology. Explore how scientific research by psychologists can inform our professional lives, family and community relationships, emotional wellness, and more. ... APA conducts an annual survey of psychology practitioners to ...
Experimental reports: Experimental reports detail the results of experimental research projects and are most often written in experimental psychology (lab) courses. Experimental reports are write-ups of your results after you have conducted research with participants. This handout provides a description of how to write an experimental report .
Component 1: The Title Page. • On the right side of the header, type the first 2-3 words of your full title followed by the page number. This header will appear on every page of you report. • At the top of the page, type flush left the words "Running head:" followed by an abbreviation of your title in all caps.
These topics include a wide range of issues, from ability tests for employees to research on drugs and the brain, school violence, the impact of AIDS on family members and the ways in which children learn. A variety of resources about psychology are available on the Internet or at any library, including books, journals, newspapers, pamphlets ...
This article is the report of the JARS Group's findings and recommendations. It was approved by the Publications and Communications Board in the summer of 2007 and again in the spring of 2008 and was transmitted to the task force charged with revising the Publication Manual for consideration as it did its work. The content of the report roughly follows the stages of the group's work.
A psychology Research Report, or Lab Report, gives an account of an experiment about humanbehaviour. The account not only includes the information about the process of the experiment, but also communicates the relevance, validity, and reliability of the research in a well-developed line of argument.
In some areas of psychology, the titles of many empirical research reports are informal in a way that is perhaps best described as "cute." They usually take the form of a play on words or a well-known expression that relates to the topic under study. Here are some examples from recent issues of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc. Research methods in psychology are systematic procedures used to observe, describe, predict, and explain behavior and mental processes. They include experiments, surveys, case studies, and naturalistic observations, ensuring data collection is objective and reliable to understand and explain psychological phenomena.
There are a few important APA style guidelines here. First, statistical results are always presented in the form of numerals rather than words and are usually rounded to two decimal places (e.g., "2.00" rather than "two" or "2"). They can be presented either in the narrative description of the results or parenthetically—much like ...
In psychology, research reports follow the technical writing style set by the American Psychological Association (called APA format or APA style). This format is described in detail in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. • One-inch margins, 12 pt. font (Ariel or Times New Roman). • Double-spacing throughout.
In reviews of research, we applied a scoping review by searching four major databases in the domains of psychology, education, and educational technology. For this review, we selected English-language scientific studies on participants' emotional responses in teamwork and set a scope of published year from 2010 to present.
Sport psychology practitioners (SPP) ground their applied work in psychological and sport science theories, research, professional practice reports, and their professional experience. Applied work ...
The Hidden Consumer Motivators Behind Loyalty Program Success The Heart of Loyalty: 2024 Consumer Research Report Reveals the Behavioral Psychology that Underpins Consumer Loyalty and What Strategies Brands Can Activate ST PETERSRBUG, FLA, June 26, 2023 —Kobie, a global leader in loyalty marketing technology and services, today released The Heart of Loyalty: 2024 Consumer Research
The research specialist will work with the faculty principal investigator and grant staff to assist with NIH-funded research by conducting assessments on early development in infants and toddlers with neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g., Down syndrome) using multiple developmental, physiological, and language measures. This position also assists with data management, preparing summary reports ...
According to a recent report from the Surgeon Generals office, rates of psychological distress among young people, including symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders ...
Identify the major sections of an APA-style research report and the basic contents of each section. ... In some areas of psychology, the titles of many empirical research reports are informal in a way that is perhaps best described as "cute." They usually take the form of a play on words or a well-known expression that relates to the topic ...
Psychology Consulting and Related Relationships At The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, we support a faculty member's research and consulting in collaboration with medical device, research and/or drug companies because a faculty member's expertise can guide important advancements in the practice of medicine and improve patient care.
Sections of a Research Report Title Page and Abstract. An APA-style research report begins with a title page. The title is centered in the upper half of the page, with each important word capitalized. ... In some areas of psychology, the titles of many empirical research reports are informal in a way that is perhaps best described as "cute ...
Principles from psychology to enhance pre-K to 12 teaching and learning of students with disabilities. ... Topics in Psychology. Explore how scientific research by psychologists can inform our professional lives, family and community relationships, emotional wellness, and more. ... Report lists eight recommendations for scientists, policymakers ...