Specification: Reporting psychological investigations. Sections of a scientific report: abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion and referencing. 

When psychologists conduct research, they often want to share their findings with the psychology community but if everyone wrote psychological reports in their own individual style it would be very difficult for the reader to navigate. Therefore, everyone uses a conventional format and in the field of psychology, the American Psychological Association (APA) format is typically used. However, there are other variations that can be used, such as Harvard. Whilst there are some minor differences, all formats present research in a similar way. In addition to making it more user‐friendly, following the conventional format also ensures that every author is providing the reader with a standard level of detail about their research.

Exam Hint: In the exam, you might be asked to outline the purpose or structure of the following sections of a psychological report; however, you might also be asked to write a specific part of a report (e.g. abstract, method section or even a reference). Therefore, it is important that not only do you understand the purpose and structure of these sections but you also practice writing them. 

Abstract

The first section in a psychological report is the abstract which is a short summary of the key points of the research in roughly 150–200 words. Since the abstract is typically the first information that the reader will encounter it plays an important role in the report. It should provide enough information to give a general overview of the study and allow the reader to make an informed decision about whether to read the rest of the article or not.

Even though the abstract is simply a summary of the research, there are still key pieces of information that should be included: aim and hypotheses, participants, methods, results, data analysis and conclusions.

Exam Hint: Note that psychologists always write the abstract last, after writing the rest of the report. This ensures that they have all of information that needs to go into the abstract.

Introduction

The introduction section is about justifying the need for conducting research. When developing a study, it is important to think about the research that already exists within the same field of psychology. Researchers try to identify if there a gap in existing research or if previous research created new questions that need to be answered.

In order to better understand the subject, a literature review needs to be carried out. This is an overview of research which already exists within the proposed field of study. Typically, a literature review would start off with consideration of a generally large concept, which is gradually narrowed and explored in more depth. Only after narrowing down the existing research, much like a funnel channels water, can the aim and hypotheses be developed and presented, both of which should be stated at the end of the introduction section of the report. The introduction is an important part of the report, and so should account for about a third of the overall report in volume. 

Method

The method section of a report is typically split into several sections to help ensure that each aspect of the procedure is written in sufficient detail so that the reader would be able to replicate the study (if they wanted to):

• Design

• Sample/participants

• Apparatus/materials

• Procedure

• Ethics

It is important for this section to remain focussed as it is easy to include details which are unimportant or irrelevant, e.g. it is important to state that participants were asked to complete a written consent form, but it is not necessary to state that you gave them a pen and that they sat down to sign it.

The method and results section combined should account for approximately a third of the overall report. 

Method: design

This is where the technicalities of the study are explained, without going into the full procedure (which is given its own subheading). Accurate information presented here will allow the reader to be able to follow the rationale of study more easily, and better comprehend the results section.

The experimental design should be stated here (e.g. independent measures) as well as any independent/dependent variables. If a correlational design was used, there will not be an independent or dependent variable, as the study is measuring a relationship between co‐variables. The different co‐variables looked at should then be stated, and the order in which they were presented (e.g. when measuring the relationship between aggression and hours of television watched, state which the participants were asked about first).

If there are multiple conditions within the experiment, they should have full names by which to identify them, rather than simply calling them Condition 1 and Condition 2. The way in which the conditions are referred to in this subsection should be how they are referred to throughout the whole report, for consistency. How participants were allocated to the conditions and any counterbalancing used should also be stated here.

Method: sample

This is where the researcher explains the nature of the participants who made up their sample and their sampling method (e.g. volunteer). Information such as how many participants were recruited should be included. In addition, any important characteristics of the composition or demographic of the sample will be stated. For example, simple numerical values, such as the mean age of the sample, may be of interest. Other important characteristics that may be included here are factors like level of education, but these will be specific to the study underway.

Method: apparatus/materials

Here, details of all the equipment and materials used in the study should be given. Equipment can include anything needed in order to present the stimuli to the participants, such as a computer. Materials refer to the stimulus itself, such as a questionnaire that participants were asked to complete. Copies of any questionnaire or forms should not be included here, although they should be included as an appendix at the end of the report.

Not all research reports will have this subheading. If a study only uses trivial items, such as pens or a stopwatch, then it is not necessary to devote a section of the method to explaining them. If the apparatus is set up in a specific way, it can sometimes be easier to provide a diagram as an explanation, to ensure that the way in which the study was conducted is clear to the reader such as with Pavlov’s and Skinner’s work, both of which used a diagram to fully explain their complex setup. 

Method: procedure

This section is perhaps the most straightforward section to write, as it is simply the ‘recipe’ for the reader to follow in order to replicate the study. The study should be presented from beginning to end, with everything in the correct order as it occurred. Any details about standardised instructions provided to participants, as well as informed consent and debriefing forms, should be given here. It is important for the writer to be concise and keep to the point.

Method: ethics

In the final subheading of the method section, it is important to consider any ethical issues that arose within the study, and how they were addressed. For example, if participants were being deceived about the true aims of the study, then it is important for the researcher to explain that there was an issue with informed consent, but that this was dealt with using a debrief following completion of the study.

Results

The results section of the report is about presenting the findings. Much of this section will be numerical and presented in graphs and tables since there is the chance to talk about the findings in greater detail in the discussion section. Even though there is likely to be a lot of quantitative data in this section, raw data should not be presented here, but should be included as an appendix.

The results section should be presented in chronological order, starting with a simple explanation of how the data was treated. The reader should be clear as to how the data has been taken from its raw form into the form used for analysis.

Descriptive statistics should be presented which are the statistical values of the composition of the sample (typically the number and percentage breakdown) and the composition of any conditions (e.g. control, experimental, etc.). Measures of central tendency and dispersion should also be provided here. Following this should be the inferential statistics with the purpose of reaching conclusions regarding the statistical significance of the differences between DVs measured, or the relationship between co‐variables. The choice of statistical test(s) used should be justified, with reference to both the calculated values and critical values. The exact information that is needed here will be dependent on the statistical test chosen, as each is reported in its own unique way, with its own test values (e.g. the t‐value for the t‐test).

The p‐value should also be reported to three decimal places (e.g. p = 0.05). The results should be linked back to the hypotheses by stating which hypothesis is rejected or retained.

Exam Hint: Remember that results can support a hypothesis, but not ‘prove’ or ‘disprove’ it. 

Discussion

The discussion is arguably the most important part of the report since it allows for the findings to be interpreted and ‘discusses’ what they may mean. Here, the results are interpreted in verbal, rather than statistical, form. The discussion should link everything, including information discussed in the literature review from the introduction to the final statistics from the analyses. As a general rule of thumb, the discussion should progress as follows:

1. How the findings compare with the initial research questions and hypotheses

2. How the research compares with other relevant research that has been published within the field

3. The implications for future research

Each of the discussion points listed should be explored within the context of the existing research, to help the reader place the findings of the study respectively within the field.

The discussion section should start by reiterating what was found, linking back to the research questions and telling the reader explicitly what the research shows. Also, any results that were not expected are identified, as it is easy to have overlooked these when reading the results section.

Next, findings need to be linked back to the field, using the research from the literature review. Limitations of the research should also be considered here by thinking critically about how the research was conducted.

Finally, it is important for the researcher to think about where the results leave the field of psychology now, by providing a critical analysis of the impact of the research. The discussion should make up the final third of the report.

References

The purpose of referencing is to give credit to the original authors of any work that has been referred to or cited within the research report. This could be existing research referred to in the introduction, or a psychological theory on which the study has been based. When presenting references in a research paper, they should always be given in alphabetical order of the last name of the author.

Information is obtained from a number of different sources, all of which will be referenced in a slightly different manner (e.g. the information we acquire from a book will be referenced differently from that obtained from a journal article). However, all references should again be written in accordance with APA format.

A book is typically referenced in the following format:

Author, initial (year of publication). Book title in italics. Place of publication: Publishers.

For example: Beck, A. (1967). Depression: clinical, experimental and theoretical aspects. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania.

A journal article is slightly different, as there is slightly more information needed to accurately identify the article that is being referred to. A journal can contain multiple volumes and editions, each holding thousands of research papers, so this information must be included if the reader is to be able to find it quickly and easily. It is typically referenced in the following format:

Author, initial (year). Article title. Journal title in italics, volume number in italics, issue number if available, page range.

For example: Loftus, E. (1975). Leading questions and the eyewitness report. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 560–572.

If the journal article is only available online, then it is necessary to also provide information to direct the reader to a link for the article. 

Possible exam questions

1. Explain the purpose of the introduction section in a psychological report. (2 marks)

2. Briefly outline what information psychologists should include when writing an abstract. (2 marks)

3. Identify three important subsections that should be included within the method section of a psychological report. (3 marks)

4. Identify and describe two sections of a psychological report. (4 marks)

5. Imagine you are a psychologist. Design a research study to test whether there is a difference in the ability of short‐sighted students and long‐sighted students to play a musical instrument. You have access to a sixth form of 150 female students. You must:

• identify the design that you would use

• explain an appropriate sampling method with justification

• describe the procedure, including details of how you would assess musical ability

• write a suitable debrief for the participants. (10 marks)