Psychology 329 - Research Methods in Psychology

| Organization |

| Title Page | Abstract |

| Introduction | Method | Results |

| Discussion | Citations & References |

| Tables & Figures | Home | Project Page |

In psychology, as in most scientific fields, experimental reports are written in a specific format. There are two very good reasons for this. First, it is easier for the reader because she or he knows exactly where to look for a particular type of information without reading the entire article. Secondly, the standard format makes the report easier to write. The author is spared all problems dealing with the structure of the report. The format specifies in which section of the report one should place particular types of information about the experiment. Thus, while writing the report, the author can focus on each section without having to make decisions about what information does or does not belong there.

Your paper for this course will roughly follow the standard format used in psychology. Every page should have one inch margins on all four sides. Page numbers are placed in the upper right corner of every page except those that contain figures. All lines should be double spaced. Below are the headings for the different sections that make up a complete experimental report given in their order of appearance. Your paper will include all sections for an experimental report: the cover sheet, abstract, introduction, method and results sections, discussion, and references. A description of what information belongs in each section follows. All sections begin with their heading centered on the page, except for the Cover sheet, the Introduction, and Tables and Figures, which have no headings.

1. Cover sheet

A. Title

B. Author's name and affiliation

3. Introduction

4. Method

A. Participants

B. Materials

C. Procedure

D. Design

6. Discussion

7. References

8. Tables and Figures

The title page includes three elements: the title, author, and affiliation. It is a separate page of the manuscript with the title centered on the page, the author beneath the title, and the affiliation beneath the author.

The principal function of the title is very briefly to inform readers about the experiment. The title should be a concise statement of the main idea of the research, referring to the major variables or theoretical issues you have investigated. For an experimental study, it is often a good idea to state explicitly in the title the actual variables, both dependent and independent, under investigation. For example:
 

The Effect of Acoustic Similarity on Recall of Letters

Display Size and the Span of Apprehension

For studies that are correlational in nature (no manipulation of independent variables), it is best not to use the word "Effect" or other such terms that might imply that the relationship you tested was a cause/effect relationship. Rather, stress the more general relationship by actually using the word "Relationship" in your title or just combining terms. For example:
 

Ethnicity and Self-Esteem in Latino College Students

or

The Relationship Between Ethnicity and Self-Esteem in Latino College Students

Avoid words that serve no useful purpose and only increase length, for example:

"A Study of..." "An Experimental Investigation of..."

The abstract appears on the second page, is presented as a block paragraph (i.e., it is not indented), and is the only section on this page. It is typed as a single paragraph (with no indentation) and should be 100-120 words.

The abstract is a brief summary of the content and purpose of the report. It should be fully intelligible without reference to the body of the paper. It should include succinct information about the research problem, method, results, and conclusions. Variables or techniques which are important in the study should be specifically mentioned. For example, the abstract for a study of tactile memory in blind and sighted subjects would specifically mention the type of subjects used.

One way to write an abstract is to include one or two sentences about each section of the report. It is probably easiest to write an abstract after you have finished the rest of the report.

The introduction/literature review starts on page three. It has no heading. Instead, the title of the paper is repeated at the beginning. The purpose of the introduction is to state the specific research problem under study and to explain its importance in a broader context. In other words, you should explain what you are doing in the study and why. The introduction should include: a brief review of previous work in the area with a clear explanation of the relationship between this work and the problem under study; a brief discussion of relevant theories and how they are related to the problem; a preview of the particular methods used in the study with a statement of the independent and dependent variables; and finally, a statement of the research hypothesis which clearly indicates what you hope to find (best expressed as an if...then statement).

The introduction should be from four to seven pages. The review of previous research should be based on primary sources, namely journal articles and/or chapters in edited books. You are expected to include at least 5 such sources in your review.

The purpose of the method is to describe exactly what was done in the study. The information should be specific enough so that a reader could perform precisely the same study and thus independently verify the results. This information also allows the reader to judge whether the study really measures what it claims to. This section is written in the past tense because the study has already been done.

The method is usually divided into the following subsections, which begin with their headings in the style indicated below: against the left margin, italicized, and capitalized. The next line would be indented, paragraph style.

Participants

    This subsection gives information about who participated in the study. Participants are often described by giving their sex, age, and educational level. Other information, such as how the participants were paid for their time or how long their participation lasted, should be included when it is relevant to the problem under study.

Materials

    If the study requires special apparatus or materials, these should be described here. If you are using tests or questionnaires which have been developed by others, give brief descriptions of their contents and how they are responded to here. Also, if you are developing your own materials, describe them here.

Procedure

    This subsection should summarize each step in the execution of the experiment from beginning to end. It should answer the following questions about the design of the study: were the independent variables manipulated and how many variations were there; were variables manipulated between (different groups of people tested at each level of the independent variable) or within subjects (with the same participants tested at more than one level of the independent variable); what was the order of presentation of the variables (i.e., were the different conditions presented in "blocked" or "random" order?). Instructions should be summarized unless they were an independent variable and thus were used in different versions. In the latter case, the instructions should be presented verbatim. One way to organize the procedure subsection is to think about what a participant experienced from the beginning of the study to the end.

Design

    Describe your design in this section. Include a breakdown of your subject, independent, and dependent variables (whichever are relevant) here and the levels of each. The entire method section should be around 2 - 3 pages in length.

The results section presents a summary of the data collected in the experiment. You will be collecting and analyzing a limited amount of real data for this paper. In this section you should describe 1) the hypothesis which you investigated, 2) the type of coding or recoding which was done to the data (if any), 3) the analysis used, and 4) the results. (Your presentation of information relative to the results section should be summarized in about two paragraphs.)

This section should first state the main hypothesis of the experiment. and end with a verbal description of the main results. You should be very careful to state only what the data show, not an interpretation of the data. There are usually data to be presented in tables or figures. You must verbally describe in the results section any tables or figures you wish to include. However, discuss only the highlights in the text; if every item is discussed, the table becomes unnecessary. Usually you do not present data in tables or figures when they can be presented as well in a few sentences in the text. You should refer to data concerning the effects of all independent variables, even if they run counter to your hypothesis.

Here is a sample paragraph which you can tailor to your particular data and analyses: 

	The hypothesis that (state hypothesis) was tested at an alpha of .05.  For 

(name of variable 1) the mean/median was _______ and for (name of variable 2) the 

mean/median was _______.  Figure 1 presents (e.g., a scatterplot of the correlation 

between these variables or a graph of the group means/medians).  A (name of the 

inferential test) was used in analyzing the data.  The results were/were not significant

...(include statistic if significant). These results support/do not support the hypothesis 

that ...

With specific reference to your results, present a short discussion section covering 1) what your data mean in relation to your hypothesis and 2) what alternative explanations might be made for results which support your hypothesis. It is okay to be critical of your methodology and to suggest possible follow-up studies. See the class handout for specific issues you should address in your discussion.

All speculations and inferential statements are placed in this section. In the discussion, you should first evaluate your results with respect to your original hypothesis. You might also give attention to the implications of the results for the theoretical issues raised in the introduction. You should note any differences between your results and the previous research reviewed in the introduction. You should state clearly and directly what conclusions can be drawn from the study. In addition, the discussion is the place to qualify your results and the conclusions that can be drawn from them.

The reference section begins on a separate page. In it you must list ALL references cited in the research report. It is assumed that you have read all references cited. All references that are included in the references section must be cited at least once in the main body of your paper. The references must be cited and listed in the references section according to a specific format, the rules of which are given below.

IN THE MAIN BODY OF YOUR PAPER:

Refer to an article by citing the name of the author or authors, and put the date of the article in parentheses:

According to Smith (1990),...

Smith and Garcia (1994) showed that....

...as found by Smith, Garcia, and Chen (1997)...,

The interpretation given by Smith et al. (1997) is that...

Occasionally you will want to make a statement about a theory or result without actually writing the author's name into the sentence. In this case the citation may be put in parentheses within or at the end of the sentence. For example,

It has been suggested that the capacity of STM is 7±2 items (Miller, 1956).

If more than one paper is cited within parentheses, the citations are listed in alphabetical order separated by semicolons. For example,

...as concluded in several studies (Albert & Obler, 1984; Hamburg, 1979; Woodson, 1990).

Jones (1996, as cited in Martin, 2002) suggested...

IMPORTANT!!!

One last note about citing: DO NOT use the title of the paper or the journal name in your citation. Also do not use the date as part of the sentence -- it should only occur in parentheses!

In 2001, Valencia-Laver wrote an article entitled "Understanding how not to cite research articles" published

in the journal Pretend Studies in Psychology.

IN THE REFERENCE SECTION:

IMPORTANT! ! !

All reference information should be double-spaced! Pay attention to the placement of all spacing, punctuation, capitalization, and italics.
 

For journal articles the format is:

Smith, A., Garcia, Q., & Chen, J. (XXXX). The title of the article goes here.

The Name of the Journal, vol#, page-page.

Smith, A., Garcia, Q., & Chen, J. (1996). How to write a research paper for a

methods course in psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 18, 94 - 107.

For chapters from edited books the format is:

Smith, A., Garcia, Q., & Chen, J. (XXXX). The title of the chapter goes here.

In E. Miller & P. Rogers (Eds.), This is the title of the book from which

the chapter came (pp. # - #). City: Publisher.

Smith, A., Garcia, Q., & Chen, J. (2002). How to write a research paper for a

methods course in psychology. In E. Miller & P. Carlos (Eds.), Research

Methods in Psychology (pp. 94 - 107). Albany, CA: Technical Books.

For entire books the format is:

Miller, E. & Carlos, P. (XXXX). The title of the book goes here. City:

Publisher.

Miller, E. & Carlos, P. (1996). Research Methods in Psychology. Albany, CA:

Technical Books.

Be sure to note the specific punctuation in these examples and that, within a given reference the hanging indented paragraph style is used. If you do not see an example for a source you have used (e.g., an electronic source, newspaper or magazine article), please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition (2001).

Tables and figures are usually used to report results. Tables are placed after the reference section and they are followed by any figures you may have.

Tables

Number all tables with Arabic numerals in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Give every table a brief by clear explanatory title. In the title make clear what the data are, e.g., mean number of correct responses, percent errors, mean response time, etc. Put the title in italics. When the data are statistics (e.g., means, standard deviations) it is customary to round off to two places to the right of the decimal point.

Figures

All graphs, charts, and illustrations are called figures when mentioned in text. Each figure should be placed on its own page without a caption. The figure captions are numbered and placed on a separate page which comes after the tables, but before the figures themselves. Make sure that the sequence of figures corresponds to the sequence of captions. Any figures that contain graphs should have the axes and individual curves clearly labeled.