Transcript HOW TO WRITE A REPORT! - The Grange School Blogs

HOW TO WRITE A
REPORT!
REPORT?…What's that
about.
• Great, that time of year has come
and you get to be a 'real
psychologists'! What will
differentiate a good report from bad
report will be whether you are able
to be objective and think like a
psychologist.
‘An investigation into the
influence of Music on memory.’
• Before you set your title out you
would have completed some
background reading in your choice
of topic.
• Officially this is called a literature
review.
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ABSTRACT.
The Abstract should be about 250 words
long. It should concisely summarise the
Aim- The aim was to investigate……
Background-Your hypothesis (H1/H2).
Design- Independent/Repeated Measures.
Variables.
Sample- Selection ?Girls ?Boys.
Results and statistical conclusions of your
study- Inferential & Descriptive..Main
findings.
It should be written in the 3rd person and past
tense, in other words you should not write ‘I
found….’
instead ‘The experiment was carried out
INTRODUCTION.
• You should inform your reader of
the background to your
investigation. Psychologists tend to
use an:
• ‘upside down pyramid’ approach to
writing introductions.
HUH????
INTRODUCTION.
General introduction
Specifics
Actual Aim
Approx 250500 words.
Your Hypothesis
INTRODUCTION con….
• Also state the implications of setting a
0.05 level of significance.
• Even in the event of your results being
found to be statistically significant you
recognise there is a 1: 20 probability that
your results occurred by chance.
METHOD…..
• Your method should include descriptions
of the following:
• Design
• Materials
• Variables
• Sample
• Procedure.
• Not necessarily in the above order.
PROCEDURE
• An exceptionally crucial section of the report as
this is what the reader would follow if they were
to replicate your investigation.
• It should outline from start to finish what your
participants did without exception, and end
with you thanking them and thoroughly
debriefing each participant.
• A step-step guide of what to do. (Like a recipe in
a cookbook all steps would need to be followed
in order to make that perfect soufflé!!!)
RESULTS
• First things first..you need to draw a
table to put in input your raw data, this
is the actual scores/answers you take
from each participant.
• Present your results in a meaningful
way.
• The next step will be to tabulate some
descriptive statistics…….
Descriptive
Statistics?????
• These are the first calculations we
complete with the raw data.
• Mean-Add all scores together and
divide by number of participants.
• Median- The Middle value.
• Mode- The most frequent answer.
• Range- The highest value minus the
lowest value.
Tables/ Graphs.
• You could display your results via a
bar chart, histogram, pie chart
scatter gram..
Any of the above are
acceptable as are others that
are not included in this
example
RESULTS
• Next step is an inferential statistic such
as:
• Chi-squared (test of association)
• Mann Whitney
• T-Test
• Spearman's Rho (test of frequency)
Inferential Statistics.
• You will use an inferential statistic
in your results. This will allow you
to accept/reject your null
hypothesis, and thus reject/accept
your experimental.
DISCUSSION.
• Refer to your introduction and your aim
• Keep it structured and remember the
audience the report is aimed
at..academics like yourself, teachers etc.
• Explain your findings referring to some
psychology (ie the introduction/previous
research).
• Refer to your descriptive statistics
(graphs and charts) to back up what you
say - otherwise what was the point of
doing them! Use language like 'As can be
seen from Fig ? on page ….'
Discussion.
• Identify limitations in your investigation
e.g. your design, method, sampling
technique etc.
• Identify further improvements that could
be made
• Identify future research
Lastly in the report you need to end with
a conclusion.
CONCLUSION..
• A conclusion is a brief statement.
• What you were aiming to do.
• What you found
(Descriptive/Inferential).
• Did the findings support or reject
your hypothesis.
• What the research was based on
(piece of research).
APPENDICES..
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An example of raw data,
Stimulus sheets (word lists etc)
Consent form
Debrief sheet
Standard instruction sheet.
Calculations (statistics)
References
Also ensure you have a contents page at
the front of the report.
References
• References.
• Cardwell, M. Flanagan, C. (2004) Psychology A2 The
Complete Companion. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Ltd.
• Baker, J. Bezance, J. Zellaby, E. Aggleton, J. (2004)
Chewing gum can produce context-dependent effects upon
memory. [online] Page 1, 2, 3. Available from:
http://www.scq.ubc.ca/papers/1103gum.pdf [Accessed on
4/3/09]
• Godden, DR. Bsddeley, AD. (1975) Context-dependent
memory in two natural environments: on land and
underwater. [online] Available from:
http://www.uniview.co.uk/pdf/newgodmerge.pdf
[Accessed on 4/3/09]