Research Report

Chapter 15

Research Report APA Format

Title Page

Running head BRIEF TITLE, positioned in upper left corner of no more than 50 characters in length including letters, spaces, and punctuation.

Full title of article, centered on the 1st page and typed in both lower and upper case letter. Authors typed in lower and upper case letters, centered below full title.

Research Report - Abstract

Page number and very short title appears in upper right-hand corner of every page except for pages containing figures. Abstract about 120 words, summarizes objective, methods, procedures, results, and conclusion/implications.

Research Report - Introduction

Starts out for general and becomes increasingly specific to your question. Intro leads into statement of the variables to be studied in this study. Cite relevant and not tangential literature. Cover topics specifically related to your methods. State purpose of your study & hypothesis.

Research Report - Introduction

What What What What

is the question? has been done? will you do? do you expect (hypothesis)?

Research Report - Methods

Detailed description of your methods and procedures.

Research design Participants selection procedure & inclusion/exclusion criteria Measures Procedures Statistical analytical plan

Enable reader to evaluate the validity of your study.

Research Report - Methods

Participants:

Sample size you aimed for Inclusion criteria Exclusion criteria Recruitment procedure (including how consent obtained) Anything you did to help ensure retention of participants.

Research Report Measures or Apparatus

Apparatus model and where bought it from Measure references, brief reliability & validity data Custom-made equipment should be fully described and a drawing or picture of the apparatus included.

Research Report - Procedure

Details from moment of first contact with participant to last contact. Experimental instructions When and how measures conducted Control techniques

E.g., randomization procedure

Research Report - Results

Participant characteristics, participation rate, and attrition rate unless these were reported in the methods.

Descriptive statistics Inferential statistics Include statistical values of test and p values. Decide on tables, figures to be included

Results related to hypotheses

Research Report - Results

Figures & tables

Explain main findings of the figures and tables in text format Tables that include means should also include variance index and cell sample size.

Evidence in support of internal/external validity of the study.

Can also be presented as tables or figures

Tables & Figures

Why show a figure?

Tell us more about our data distributions Tell us more about our results Helps communication

CIDS: Frequency Distribution of ICD Shocks

Total number of all shocks to 12 months
100

80

Frequency

60

40

20 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 11 13 54 66

Total number of all shocks to 12 months

Of 143, 86 receiv ed no shocks, 39 receiv ed 1- 4 shocks, and 18 receiv ed 5 or more shocks

CIDS: Quality of Life Outcomes Certainty of Surviving VT/VF

80 78 76 74 72 70 68 66 64 62 60 58 56 54 52 50

Baseline 6 Months 12 Months

ICD

Amiodarone

ANVOVA - treatment effect p < 0.0001 Linear time by group, p < .05

Research Report - Discussion

Hypotheses confirmed or not Interpret and evaluate research findings. Integrate findings with other relevant published research Report of interpretation of important data that speak to the internal/external validity. Evaluate significant short comings of study Next steps for follow-up research

Research Report - References

List all citations used in the paper in the reference section. Follow APA format for publications in APA journals.

Research Report Author Notes

Printed on separate page Authors and their affiliations Funding information when relevant Special circumstances (e.g., dissertation) Acknowledgements Address of corresponding author

Research Report - Footnotes

Typed on separate page Typed in order they appeared in the report Each footnote is preceded by the appropriate superscript arabic numeral.

Writing Style

Be precise Avoid jargon, wordiness, and redundancy Generally do not refer to yourself as I Avoid plagiarism

However, present others findings in your own words (dont quote).

Language

Avoid demeaning attitudes and biased labels Use precise language (e.g., gender is better than sex). Avoid pejorative or stereotypical labels, including subjects Use active voice rather than passive voice

Writing Style

Use abbreviations sparingly and define them before using them, and try to use only abbreviations that are familiar to the reader (e.g., IQ). Do not start a sentence with a number and use the word rather than the number for numbers less than ten. Measurements are expressed in metric

Manuscript Order of Sections

Title page Abstract Text References Author notes Footnotes Tables Figure captions & then Figures

Common Failings in Published Research Papers

Data collection procedure not carefully controlled Design weaknesses Lack of description of study limitations Research design did not address the research question Inappropriate method of sample selection

Common Failings in Published Research Papers

Results not clearly presented Inappropriate statistical analyses Poorly written Assumptions upon which the study was based was unclear Method used to conduct the study was not clearly described or described at all.

Thank you. You have been a great class!