week 7 - writing skills --> research reports

qualities of scientific writing

• Objective 

• Accurate

• Clear

• Knows it audience

• Uses of jargon appropriately (appropriate terminology) 

• Follows style guidelines

  • Verb tenses and active vs. passive voice

  • Self-reference 

  • Bias-free and inclusive language 

  • Parallel form and repetition 

  • Numbers

good scientific writing - accurate

• Information and ideas

• Vocabulary, jargon

• Grammar

• Style

• Precise, e.g

  • Avoid ambiguous statements, such as increased slightly or changed a lot more

good scientific writing - clear and coherent

• Well-organised

  • Standard APA report format 

  • Basic 3-part essay structure

• Write simply and directly 

  • Be concise - short, simple sentences

  • Avoid vague words like really and quite

  • Don't waste words - not unlikely = likely, actually reported = reported

audience

• Intelligent non-psychologists and non-neuroscientists who have no expertise in statistics or experimental design?

  • Introduction and discussion sections must be accessible 

• Someone with a background in Psychology or Neuroscience but who is not an expert on the specific topic?

  • Method and results sections must be comprehensive

use of past, present and present perfect tenses

• Introduction - present and present perfect

• Method - past

• Results - past

• Discussion - combination of present and past tenses

use of active voice

• Passive: medication was provided by the investigators when pain was reported 

• Active: the investigators provided medication when pain was reported

self-reference

• First-person pronouns can be used, but use them sparingly 

  • “I was blind to the condition” or “We were blind to the condition”

• Avoid writing about yourself in the third person

  • “The author (or experimenter) was blind to the condition 

• Don’t use the editorial “we”

  • “In daily social interactions, we tend to misattribute other people’s good intentions”

bias-free and inclusive language

• Use accurate and appropriate language to describe individuals and groups 

• Avoid using adjectives as nouns (e.g. smokers) 

  • Use adjectival forms instead (e.g. people who smoke)

parallel form and repetition

Avoid using synonyms for recurring words or varying sentence structure in places where it can affect the clarity of your writing

numbers

• Use numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) for 

  • Numbers 10 and above 

  • Statistics, units of measurement, times, ages, dates, scores and points on a scale, exact sums of money - e.g. 

    • Items were rates on a 6-point Likert scale 

    • Children aged 5-years old were recruited from the local primary school

    • Participants received £7.50 in compensation

• Use words (zero, one, two, three, etc.) for 

  • Numbers zero through nine 

  • Numbers beginning a sentence, heading, or title

generic report marking criteria

• Title and abstract

• Introduction

• Method(ology) 

• Results

• Discussion

• Use of language

• Use of Generative AI

• Overall comments

introduction - introduce research problem or question

• Describe an actual event, fictional scenario, or common occurrence

• Identify scope of previous research

• Present statistic

• Cite a quotation

introduction - concisely review the literature

• summarise current knowledge

• emphasise relevant findings

• highlight methodological issues

• major conclusions

introduction - present your study

• provide brief overview

• state rationale

  • use previous research and theory to make a critical argument for your hypothesis

  • provides a smooth transition to the method section

method - subsections (qualitative)

• epistemological and ontological position

• participants

• data collection

• data analysis

• ethical considerations

• reflection

method - subsections (quantitative)

• participants

• materials/measures/stimuli/equipment

• procedure

• ethical considerations

• data preparation or analysis

method - overview

• Written in the past tense to reflect completed actions 

• Detailed enough to allow replication by other researchers 

• Specific details, e.g.

  • Ppts, e.g. demographics, selection criteria, and number 

  • Measures, e.g. types of assessments or surveys 

  • Materials and equipment: tools, devices and software 

  • Ethical considerations, e.g. consent, debriefing

  • Data preparation or analysis, e.g. computing scores or averages 

• Describe chronological steps in process:

  • From recruitment and selection of ppts to data collection to data preparation of analysis 

results

• Describes findings of data analysis 

• E.g. quantitative study 

1. Restate hypothesis in conceptual terms 

2. Reword hypothesis in operational terms 

3. State finding plainly 

4. Summarise what was found 

• Supplement the text with tables and figures, as appropriate 

• Describe the findings, but don’t interpret them

discussion - overview

• Interpret the results 

• In opening paragraph, restate research problem/question

  • Summarise the findings in conceptual terms (don’t include statistics here)

  • State whether the hypothesis was supported

discussion - account for your findings

• Compare them to previous research (cited in introduction)

• Explain their implications 

• Offer tentative explanations for unexpected findings

discussion - outline strengths and limitations

• Discuss threats to study’s internal validity and external validity (generalisability), inadequacy of measurement, etc. 

• This should lead to research recommendations (future research directions)

discussion - conclude

• State potential implications for research, theory, and/or practice

• Link back to research question or problem

recommendations

• What are the next steps in research (or practice)?

• “More research is needed” is too general and doesn’t show your understanding 

• Instead:

  • Propose a specific and original direction(s)

  • Address limitations (“better research is needed”)

  • Rule out alternative explanations (i.e. a better test if the hypothesis)

  • Examine the limits of the findings 

  • Test the implications of the findings 

  • Apply to a different area of investigation

  • Test findings in context of a specific, real-world problem

abstract

• Brief, but comprehensive summary of the study 

• Must be able to stand alone

• Write 1-2 sentences on the main points from:

  • Introduction:

    • Key aspects of the literature review 

    • Research problem or question 

    • Hypothesis / hypotheses

  • Methods:

    • Descriptions of study design, sample, and sample size (method)

  • Results (main)

  • Discussion 

    • Implications - importance, applications

title

• Capture the topic area, aim, and research question

• Informative and specific, avoids ambiguity, includes keywords 

• Concise (approx, 10-15 words)

• Should be able to stand alone