Research Methods, 9th Edition Theresa L. White and Donald H. McBurney Chapter 4 Writing in Psychology

Scientific Method Define the Problem Form a Hypothesis Collect and Analyze the Data Draw Conclusions Communicate Findings – With the Discourse Community Group of people who share common goals, public forum, common knowledge, and a specialized language.

Ways to Communicate Archival publications – Journal articles – Books Invisible college – – Phone – Snail mail – Lab visits – Professional meetings

The Purpose of Scientific Writing Convey a message – Clearly – Concisely – Interestingly Persuade and inform Present an argument for a thesis

Aspects of the Written Report Clarity – Say precisely what you mean – Avoid jargon – Watch grammar and spelling – Use APA Style – Avoid sexism and racism Brevity – Don’t waste time! Felicity – Pleasing style

Parts of a Paper Title – Use Keywords – Make each word count Authors and Affiliations – Listed in order of contribution

Parts of a Paper Abstract – Objective of study – Describe participants – Describe procedure – Statement of results – Implication of findings

Parts of a Paper Introduction – Headed with the title of the paper – States the main question – Background of the problem

Parts of a Paper Method – Enough information to repeat the study – Sub-Sections Participants Materials Design Procedure

Parts of a Paper Results – Statistics – Refers to Tables or Figures, but does not contain the actual Tables or Figures

Parts of a Paper Discussion – Interpretation in light of introduction – Weakness in the study – Ideas for future experiments

Parts of a Paper References – List only those cited in the paper – In the case of secondary citations, both the source and the secondary source should appear in the reference list.

Parts of a Paper Tables – Heading and caption at top of page – Tabular presentation of data – Separate page for each table

Parts of a Paper Figures – Professionally created – Clear and brief caption appears under the figure

Documenting Credit the ideas of others Show how your ideas fit into a broader framework Give more information about a theory Avoid Plagiarism Do not cite anything you haven’t read – Secondary citations

APA Style of Documentation Two authors – Jones and Smith (2006) found that…. – Recent work (Jones & Smith, 2006) shows that…. More than two (but less than six) authors – First citation Jones, Smith, and Brown (2006) found that… – Later citations Jones et al. (2006) found that…

The Reference List Contains an Entry for Each Work Cited in the Paper – Author – Date – Title of the article or book – Publication Information Journal Name (journals only) Publisher’s Name and Location (books only) DOI (online sources)

Steps in the Publication Process 1.Decide where to submit the paper 2.Consult a recent issue 3.Prepare a cover letter 4.Submit paper electronically 5.Editor reads paper and determines reviewers 6.Reviewers read paper and write comments 7.Reviewers return paper to Editor 8.Editor determines the paper’s fate and tells you 9.You make changes Reviewers suggested 10.Editor makes final decision

Steps in the Publication Process 11. Wait …

Steps in the Publication Process 12.Copy edited version 13.Page proofs arrive 14. Paper appears in the journal!

Oral Presentations At conferences or meetings Simplified version of research paper – Mainly (Methods and) Results Summarize at the end Visual aids are essential Practice, practice, practice

Poster Presentations Simplified version of research paper Stand by them and talk Good way to meet people/get ideas