Writing an APA- Style Research Report Chapter 16

APA style Is used by many publications throughout the behavioral sciences, however, it is not universal.

Some Elements of Writing Style

Writing Style A research report is not the same as creative writing Don’t try to amuse, entertain, challenge, confuse, or surprise your reader

Impersonal style should be written in an objective style. Avoid distracting the reader with literary devices such as alliteration, rhyming, deliberate ambiguity, or abrupt changes in topic.

Impersonal style You should avoid colloquial expressions such as “ once in a blue moon” ( in place of “ rarely”)

Impersonal style You may use personal pronouns to describe what you did as a researcher, “ I instructed the participants,” but keep in mind that you are writing a research report, not a personal journal. There is a difference between qualitative and quantitative reports.

Verb Tense When discussing past events that occurred at a specific time, use the past tense In your literature review If not at a specific time or is continuing into the present, use the present perfect tense When you present your results, always use the past tense. After you have described the study and presented the results, switch to the present tense to discuss the results and your conclusions (“ the data suggest”).

Be Specific Describe people with a level of specificity that is accurate. For example, when describing ethnic groups, instead of general terms such as Asian American or Hispanic American, use Korean American or Mexican American.

Reducing Biased Language Be sensitive to labels; call people what they prefer to be called. For example, “ people diagnosed with schizophrenia” and “older adults” are currently preferred to “ schizophrenics” and “ the elderly.” Gay or homosexual?

Citations

Citations Previous research has shown that response to an auditory stimulus is much faster than response to a visual stimulus ( Smith & Jones, 2009). In a related study, Jones ( 2008) found that… It has been found that word recall decreases as a function of age ( Jones, Smith, & Brown, 2002).

Citations When a publication has six or more authors, you only include the first author’s last name followed by “et al.” and the date for the first and subsequent citations. (Katz et al., 2002)

Multiple citation ( Jones, Smith, & Brown, 2002; Smith & Jones, 2009)

Citations

Literature Review

Literature Review Try to find a few closely related studies rather than many unrelated studies. Select only those references that are truly useful and contribute to your arguments.

Quotations Quotations should be used sparingly. As a general rule, it is better to paraphrase a point using your own words than to quote directly from another work.

Direct Quote For short quotations, fewer than 40 words, the quotation is embedded in the text with quotation marks at both ends. Resenhoeft, Villa, and Wiseman ( 2008) report that participants judged a model without a visible tattoo as “ more attractive, athletic, and intelligent than the same model shown with a tattoo” ( p. 594).

More than 40

language It also is customary to distinguish between citations of empirical results and citations of theory or interpretation. To report an empirical result, for example, you could use: Jones ( 2008) demonstrated… To cite a theory or speculation, for example, you might use: Jones ( 2008) argued…

Samples of APA-style research report

Title Page

Title Page

Title 1. Avoid unnecessary words. “ A study of women in higher education” or “ Investigating the relationship between IQ and Math score.” 2. If possible, the first word in the title should be of special relevance or importance to the content of the paper. 3. Avoid cute or catchy titles

Abstract A one- sentence statement of the problem or research question. A brief description of the subjects or participants ( identifying how many and any relevant characteristics). A brief description of the research method and procedures. A report of the results . A statement about the conclusions or implications.

Abstract

Introduction =? (lit review) A general introduction to the topic of the paper and why this problem is important and deserves new research. The relevant literature; only the articles that are directly relevant to your research question. Do not provide detailed descriptions. The literature review should not be an article- by- article description of one study after another; instead, the articles should be presented in an integrated manner. The specific goal, hypothesis, or question that the research study addresses. State the problem or purpose of your study, and clearly define the relevant variables. Briefly describe the research strategy . Also explain how the research strategy provides the information necessary to address your hypothesis or research question.

Method A- Subjects or participants (selection procedures) B- Procedures The settings and locations, Operational definitions Ethical standards met and safety- monitoring procedures, Groups or conditions and how many individuals were in each condition, Instructions given to participants, Any experimental manipulation or intervention Research design and Statistical analysis C- Instruments , equipments, tools (validity & Reliability)

Results Usually, a results section begins with a statement of the primary outcome of the study, followed by the basic descriptive statistics (usually means and standard deviations), then the inferential statistics ( usually the results of hypothesis tests), and finally the measures of effect size. The results section simply provides a complete and unbiased reporting of the findings, just the facts, with no discussion of the findings

Reports of statistical significance ( 1) the type of test used, (LSD, Bonferroni, Sidak, Scheffe) ( 2) the degrees of freedom, ( 3) the outcome of the test, ( 4) the level of significance, ( 5) the size and direction of the effect

Sample Result

Discussion The discussion section should begin with a restatement of the hypothesis. In the discussion section, you offer interpretation, evaluation, and discussion of the implications of your findings.

Discussion It can be helpful to think of the discussion section as a mirror image of the introduction. Remember, the introduction moved from general to specific, using items from the literature to focus on a specific hypothesis. Now, in the discussion section, you begin with a specific hypothesis ( your outcome) and relate it back to the existing literature. In the last paragraphs of the discussion section, you may reach beyond the actual results and begin to consider their implications and/ or applications.

References

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Tables & Figures As a general rule, tables and figures supplement the text; they should not duplicate information that has already been presented in text form, and they should not be completely independent of the text. Tables, formatted according to APA specifications, are each typed separately on a new page. The table number and title, respectively, are displayed at the top of the page, each at the left margin.

1- Title page

Dissertation

2- Abstract Running head No indent

free-floating table

Regular table

Table Space The main text of the manuscript will begin with three empty line spaces between the end of the table and the text

Figures (boxed)

Figures (Unboxed)

This is an Example of a Landscape Figure (Tables will read in the same direction).

Research Proposal The basic purpose of a good research proposal is to provide three kinds of information about the research study. 1. What will be done. 2. What may be found. 3. How your planned research study is related to other knowledge in the area.

Proposal Should describe ( 1) how the data will be collected and analyzed, ( 2) the expected or anticipated results, ( 3) other plausible outcomes, and ( 4) implications of the expected results.

Exceptions 1. An abstract is optional in a research proposal. 2. The literature review in the introduction is typically more extensive than the review in a research report. 3. The results and discussion sections are typically replaced either by a combined Results/ Discussion section, or a section entitled Expected Results and Statistical Analysis or Data Analysis and Expected Results.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu

The Research Report Format of the Research Report http://www.csulb.edu/library/guide/serv/documents/thesis_manual.pdf