Writing Psychological Reports

What are the sections of a scientific report?

• Abstract

• Introduction

• Method

• Results

• Discussion

• Referencing

What is an ‘abstract’?

1 or 2 paragraphs at the start of the scientific report act as a summary of the report. Abstracts are likely to include the aim and the tested research hypothesis, give details about how the researcher conducted the study (method), and who took part (sample) and tell the reader the major the results and conclusions

Why are abstracts helpful?

Abstracts speed up the research process. Researchers planning their studies conduct a literature review, which is reading a wide range of papers related to their planned study. Abstracts allow the researcher to identify if the article is relevant and if they should read the report in full or not

What is an ‘introduction’?

Acts as a guide to the academic background of the study, acting as a justification for why the research is being conducted. The introduction will explain the aim and give the hypothesis

What is the ‘method’?

A complete guide outlining in detail how the research was conducted. This level of detail allows other researchers to see the research has been conducted carefully, but also, a detailed method section gives other researchers the ability to replicate the study exactly and see if they get the same results

What are the 4 things included in the ‘method’?

• Design

• Participants

• Materials

• Procedure

Method → Design

Outlines factors the researcher has chosen in how to conduct the study. Some examples, what research method was chosen? Eg a lab experiment or an observation? What design? If a lab study, the choice of independent groups or repeated measures, if an observation, did the researcher decide to do a covert or overt observation? Also what are the levels of IV and DV? Are there controls in place eg counterbalancing

Method → Participants

The number of participants used, sampling techniques (eg opportunity, systematic) and target population the sample was taken from (eg age range)

Method → Materials

Physical equipment needed to conduct the study (eg hidden cameras, EEG monitors) also paper resources like questionnaires, photographs and word lists

Method → Procedure

A step by step guide on how to actually conduct the study, this can include standardised procedures such as scripts to be read to all participants

What is the ‘results’?

• Summarises the data collected in the research study. There will be tables of descriptive statistics (measures of central tendency and distribution). Key figures will be displayed on appropriate graphs

• Statistical tests will be performed on the data to see if the data collected passes the required level of significance

What is the ‘discussion’?

• Explains what the data analysis in the results section actually means, such as should the alternate/research hypothesis be accepted? What does this finding support or counter previous research? And what are the other potential implications of these results? Does this research create interesting new questions that could be investigated with future research?

• The discussion is also an opportunity for the researcher to criticise their own research, identifying potential extraneous variables

What is the ‘referencing section’?

An alphabetical list (using surnames) of research studies that were used to inform the current research

• This provides credit for other researchers’ ideas (avoiding claims of plagiarism)

• Helps future researchers to identify the author’s sources and find related studies

What style of reference do psychologists use?

Harvard/APA format

How does referencing look IN THE TEXT?

Include the surname and date (page number optional). This could be with either the surname inside or outside the brackets. Et al refers to multiple additional authors

How does referencing look IN THE REFERENCING SECTION?

1. Start with the surname and initials

2. Publication date in brackets

3. Name of book/article

4. Location of publication

5. Name of publisher

(Journal article references will include the journal name with volume and issue numbers and page numbers)