Research Reports in Psychology

These flashcards provide key vocabulary and definitions related to writing research reports in psychology, focusing on structure, methodology, and ethical considerations.

Research report

A document that presents the method and results of scientific research, typically structured into sections such as title, abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, references, and appendices.

APA

American Psychological Association; a format used for writing and citing in psychology that has specific guidelines for research reports.

Abstract

A summary of a research report covering major aspects, usually written after the full report, with a word limit of 150-250 words.

Participants

Individuals who take part in a study, whose characteristics and demographics must be outlined in the research report.

Materials

The tools or instruments used in the research study, which can include psychological tests, questionnaires, and other resources.

Method

Section of a research report that describes how the study was conducted, including participants, materials, and procedures.

Descriptive statistics

Statistical methods that summarize and organize characteristics of a dataset, such as means and standard deviations.

Inferential statistics

Statistical tests used to make inferences or predictions about a larger population based on sample data.

Discussion

The section of a research report where findings are interpreted, and hypotheses are evaluated in relation to previous research.

Plagiarism

Using someone else's work or ideas without proper attribution, considered unethical in academic and research settings.

Conflict of interest

A situation where a researcher has a financial or personal interest that may affect their research integrity.

Appendix

Supplementary material in a research report, included to avoid density in the main text, such as detailed computations or full questionnaires.

Operationalisation

The process of strictly defining variables into measurable factors for a study.

Limitations

Factors that constrict the generalization of research findings, often discussed in the discussion section of a report.

Ethical issues in publication

Concerns related to the integrity of research reporting, including practices like fishing, data fabrication, and plagiarism.