Reporting investigations

Question 1

What are the 6 features of psychological reports in order?

Answer 1

1- Abstract
2- Introduction
3- Method
4- Results
5- Discussion
6- Referencing

Question 2

What is the abstract?

Answer 2

Short summary, including:
- Aims and hypothesis
- Method/procedure
- Results and conclusions

Question 3

What is the introduction?

Answer 3

• Details relevant theories, concepts and studies that relate to the current study
• Logical progression: begin broadly, gradually becomes more specific, until aims and hypothesis are presented

Question 4

What is the method?

Answer 4

• Design (+ reasons/justification)
• Sample (size, biographical info, sampling method, traget population)
• Apparatus/materials
• Procedure (recipe-style list from beginning to end- including: briefing, standardised instructions, debriefing)
• Ethics (how they have been addressed)

Question 5

What are the results?

Answer 5

• Summary of key findings
• Feature descriptive stats (table, graph, charts, measures of central tendency and dispersion)
• Inferential stats include reference to stats test, calculated/critical values, significance levels)

Question 6

What is the discussion?

Answer 6

• Summarise results/findings in verbal form
• Findings discussed in context of the evidence presented in the intro
• Discussion of limitations and suggestions on how to overcome these
• Wider implications of research considered

Question 7

What is referencing?

Answer 7

• Includes full details of source material cited in report
• Types: journal, book, websites

Question 8

How to reference a journal?

Answer 8

Author(s), date, article title, journal name (in italics), volume (issue), page numbers

E.g:
Gupta, S. Effects of time of day and personality on intelligence scores. Personality and individual differences, 12 (11), 1227-1231

Question 9

How to reference a book?

Answer 9

Author(s), date, book title (in italics), place of publication, publisher

E.g:
Skinner, B.F. (1953) Science and human behaviour. New York: MacMillan

Question 10

How to reference websites?

Answer 10

Source, date, title, weblink, date accessed

E.g:
NHS (2018) Phobias https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/phobias/ [Accessed May 2020]