How to Write Findings

One important topic in writing papers is writing

findings. It is important to gain an understanding of how to
write findings for college papers (e.g., a psychology
research paper) and theses. College papers should be
consistent with an academic writing style and academic
writing standards. Papers and theses should report
findings in an accurate, specific, precise, and informative
manner.
Below are some guidelines for writing findings:
1.
Describe the findings in a manner that allows
the reader to gain a clear understanding of the type
of study that was involved in the research. It should
be clear to the reader whether the study was a case study,
a correlational study, or an experiment. It would be best to
state the type of study when describing the findings. For
example, if it was an experiment, a sentence could start
with the words, "In the experiment..."
2.
If the findings are from a correlational study,
the description of the findings could involve a brief
description of how the variables were measured. For
example, if the study addressed the relationship between
empathy and helping behavior, the description of the
findings could involve a description of how empathy was
measured in the study.
3.
If the findings are from an experiment, the
description of the study could involve a description
of the conditions in the experiment. For example,
imagine that an experiment addressed the influence of
listening to music on productivity, and there were two

conditions: experimental condition with music and control

condition without music. In this example, it would be would
to describe both the experimental condition and the control
condition.
4.
If the study was an experiment, it is important
to mention whether the participants were randomly
assigned to conditions.Random assignment allows us to
make causal conclusions because we can rule out
explanations based on personality and individual
differences.
5. It is important to mention whether the findings
are statistically significant. If the findings
are not statistically significant, we would not conclude that
there is a difference between conditions in an experiment,
or that variables are associated in a correlational study.
Generally, a finding of a study is considered statistically
significant if the chance probability is less than .05 (the p
value for the finding is indicated as less than .05).
6. Causal conclusions should not be made from
correlational findings. We cannot make causal
conclusions from correlational findings because we are not
able to rule out alternative explanations. Thus, causal
language should not be used when describing correlational
findings. Words such as "effect," "cause," and "influence"
should not be used for correlational findings. However, it
would be fine to use the words "relationship," "association,"
and "correlation" for correlational findings. For example,
imagine that empathy was found to be associated with
helping behavior in a correlational study. In this example, it
would be acceptable to state that empathy was found to be
associated, correlated, or related to helping behavior. In

this example, it would not be acceptable to state that

empathy influenced, caused, or had an effect on helping
behavior.