Communicating Results

							                              Communicating Results
                                        Lecture 11.1

Why APA style?
    - Readers know where to find info
    - Easy to make sure that necessary info is included
    - Manuscript style helpful for editing (e.g. double-spacing & big margins) and typesetting
        (e.g. tables, figure captions, and figures separate at the end)
    - For formatting, just follow the rules
Order in manuscript
    1. Title
    2. Abstract
    3. Intro
    4. Methods
    5. Results
    6. Discussion/General discussion
    7. References
    8. Author Note
    9. Footnotes (/Endnotes – avoid, if important enough to say, important enough to appear in
        text)
    10. Tables
    11. Figure Captions
    12. Figure
Common order for writing
    1. Methods
    2. Results, figures, f. captions, tables
    3. Gen. Discussion
    4. Intro (maybe earlier based on proposal)
    5. References
    6. Author note
    7. Abstract
    8. Title
Headings follow hierarchical structure of manuscript
    - Level one – Title, Methods, Results, Discussion, etc
    - Level three – Participants, Materials, Design, etc
Parts of an Article
    - Title
            o Concise (10-15) words, imply/include IV and DV
    - Abstract
            o Short summary of the whole article
            o Maximum of 120 or 150 words
            o Includes purpose, variables, task, results, implications
            o Usually written last because that’s when you’ll know what the conclusion is
    - Introduction
            o Introduces topic
            o States the problem to be addressed by research, and the purpose of the research
       o Situates the present study with respect to past research
               Acknowledge contributions of other researchers understanding the
                  problem and note controversies
       o Outlines their research strategy – what is the relationship between the question
          addressed and the method used to address it
       o Justifies and states the hypotheses
       o Necessary components
               Typically in order:
                       Broad introductions to the problem
                       Citation of background lit that frames the research
                       State purpose and rationale of the study with a logical development
                          of the predictions or hypotheses guiding the research
       o Do NOT provide an exhaustive literature review!
               Only say as much as needs to be known
       o Understanding your reader
               The reader is not inside your head, they haven’t read the same literature,
                  or spent as much time thinking about the problem
               Make logical transitions between paragraphs
               See chapter 16 for advice on style and citations
               Have somebody else read your proposal before turning in
-   Methods
       o Enough info to repeat study
       o Start with first
       o Use past tense throughout
       o Use informative labels for variables and conditions (NO ABBREVIATIONS)
       o When people really know an area well, the will sometimes skip to the Methods
          section since they already know what would be in the Intro or can infer it from the
          Methods
       o Subsections
               Participants/Subjects
                       Who took part: how many, where you found them, criteria for
                          inclusion/exlclusion, compensation, and excluded participant’s
                          data that was excluded and why
               Apparatus
                       What equipment did you use? Including brands, models. What
                          kind of software? Remember other researchers need to be able to
                          replicate your study.
               Materials
                       Often this is part of what is manipulated. Often mentions variables
                          that were controlled in some way.
               Design
                       Sometimes included as its own section, sometimes combined with
                          Materials or Procedure
                       IVs, DVs, within/between-subjects manipulations,
                          counterbalancing
               Procedure
          What is the gist of the instructions? Where did the study take place
           and who was present? What did the experimenter (or computer)
           and participants do?
          Usually an overview of phases of the experiment, then sequence of
           events within each trial.
   Results
        First of all, describe any conditions for including or excluding data
            (if not mentioned in participants)
        Then, describe the pattern of data
                 o E.g. differences in average measures or relationships
                    between variables
        Even if info is also present in a table or figure, it needs to be
            described in words
        When you learn inferential stats, these will supplement these
            descriptions, indicating whether they are statistically significant.
            Don’t get hung up on numbers and statistics.
        Usually write after methods or intro
   Discussion
        First, restate the results in plain language
        Relates the results to predictions and hypotheses
        Addresses the real and perceived limitations of the study,
            discrepancies
        May provide “next steps” for future research and speculation about
            unexpected events
        Results more generally to past research and/or theories to explain
            outcome
        At end, provides broad context for study
   References
        All citations in an article described in full detail, so that any reader
            can find the reader themselves
        1:1 relationship between citations and references
        Alphabetical order
        APA format