Lab 11: How to Write an APA Results and Discussion Andrew Reineberg

Today we will: Learn how to write an APA-styled results and discussion section

APA Results For reporting the results of the data analyses used to test your hypotheses. – Identify data analysis technique – Report your test statistics – Put numerical results in word-form – Provide visual representation of data Analyses should be related to your hypotheses – If not, state that they are exploratory

General Things To Do Start off with general statistics if you have any For example: – “Overall, average performance on the memory task was well above chance (M = 93.52, SD = 7.32).” – “Data for two participants was below chance (50%), thus the analyses reported include data for the full set minus 2 (30 participants).”

1. ID Data Analysis Technique General statement about how you tested your hypothesis For example: – “A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to test the hypothesis that there are gender (male vs. female) differences in the ability to recall single digits.” – “To investigate the effects of emotionality and gender on face perception, a 2 (positive words vs. negative words) x 2 (male vs. female) ANOVA was performed.”

2. Report Your Test Statistics Report: – the descriptive statistics - means (M), standard deviation(SD) – the test statistic (t value) – degrees of freedom (df = ), – and the probability of the result occurring by chance (p value)

Formatting All decimal places (for p & t values) should be consistent throughout whole paper – usually we use 2 decimal places All statistical symbols that are not Greek letters should be italicized – M, SD, t, p, etc. When reporting a significant difference between two conditions, indicate the direction of this difference (see next slide)

2 & 3. Examples “Results indicated a significant difference in male’s ability to recall single digits versus female’s, t(29) = 1.25, p =.08, such that, on average, men (M = 8.4, SD = 1.3) recalled more digits than females (M = 4.2, SD = 3.1).” “Results indicated that the average number of errors was significantly lower in the silence condition (M = 8.11, SD = 4.32) than were those in the white noise condition (M = 12.4, SD = 2.26), F(1, 27) = 8.90, p =.011.”

Notes Usually we report exact p values unless they are smaller than.001. – Just say p <.001 if that happens If your p values is less than.10 but greater than.05, it is okay to report – There was a marginally significant effect of gender…

Hypothesis Testing Reminder: – p values are important for conveying your results, but do not overinterpret them p value is the chance that the result you observed was due to chance alone, not the probability that your null hypothesis is false p of.05 is not sacred, but is widely accepted

4. Visual Representation Use simple graphics with easy to read labels and colors/patterns DO NOT use 3D graphs – No one can read them

Good Example

Bad Examples

Discussion The last content section of a paper To discuss the interpretation and implications of your study – evaluate in respect to your hypotheses Start off with a brief, non-technical summary of the results. Tell the reader about the main findings without using statistical terminology.

Discussion cont’d What do your results mean? – Particularly in light of previous research you highlighted in introduction You are also encouraged, when appropriate, to comment on the importance and relevance of your findings. – How are your findings related to the big picture? An ending paragraph in which you make a final summary statement of the conclusions you have drawn.

The Next Few Weeks Next week = Fall Break Nov 30 th = Rought Draft Due – Turn in via by start of your lab section – Workshop for final papers in class Last week of class – Final paper due via by beginning of last class – Q&A session for your class final if you want