Introduction to Research

Methods in Psychology
Observational Report Guidance

Dr Paul Faulkner
 Overview

1. How to write each section of your qualitative research report!

2. Background on smoking research

… this will aid your introduction and discussion sections
 Your Observational Report

For the ‘Quantitative’ aspect of this module, you will submit a report
1500 words
Due by December 14th 2018, @2pm

This will detail an ‘Observational’ study that you will perform

Your Research Question:
Smoking Behaviours
 Your Research Question:

You must devise a question that surrounds smoking behaviours

Remember that your research question is maybe the most

important part of the research process

Bad question = pointless research study

 Your Research Question: Chi-Square Test

Question must be answerable by using a Chi-Square Test

Construct two categorical variables (one is smokers/non-smokers)

The other categorical variable is up to you
Each categorical variable should have two-levels
 Different Sections of a Research Report
1. Title
2. Abstract (100 words)
3. Introduction (~400 words)
4. Method (~300 words)
Design
Participants
Materials
Procedure
5. Results (~300 words)
6. Discussion (~400 words)
7. Supplementary Materials
8. References
 General Points About Research Reports (1)

Report guidance will be available on Moodle in the next few days!

You will write a report that is modelled on scientific journal articles

It will tell a story, and have a logical thread running through it

Scientific reports inform the reader about the theoretical context of the
research, and also allows them to replicate the study
 General Points About Research Reports (2)
Should address the following points about the research in four main sections
Why you did this particular research
Addressed in Introduction section

How you did this research

Addressed in Method section

What you found in this research

Addressed in Results section

What your findings actually mean

Addressed in Discussion section
 Style
Must be readable!

Write mainly in the past tense i.e. state what you did

However, generally accepted ideas should be written in the present tense:

“Research on the cognitive deficits inherent in depression indicates that patients
who are experiencing a depressive episode have difficulty in concentrating,
difficulty in making decisions and hyper-impulsivity”

The report is not personal, so must be written in the 3rd person

“The current research…” or “The current study…”
Title
 Title

Should say enough about the research for the reader to know what
the report is about

Be concise and use no more words than are necessary

Again - Be concise and use no more words than are necessary

Abstract
 Abstract (100-word limit)
Brief summary of the entire report
Approximately a line or two for each section of the report (i.e. introduction, methods,
results, discussion)

Allows the reader to determine whether they want to read on

Should stand alone in capturing the essence of the study

Succinctness is key, but avoid being ‘listy’

Leave out extraneous or overly specific details

Write this section last

Introduction
Introduction (1) (~400-words)
• “Funnel approach”
• Moving from general to specific

• General
• Highlight the broader topic

• Specific
• Discuss theory and research relating to
study

• State hypothesis
 Introduction (2) (~400-words)
Avoid opening with broad statements that do not really say anything...
“Students go through many experiences while at university.”

Discuss previous literature on the topic as a means of demonstrating why you are
doing the current research

Structure becomes more specific to your research and builds towards a rationale
(i.e. the reason for doing the current research)

Rationale notes gaps or issues in previous research that you aim to address
E.g. methodological issues or scarce / conflicting research
 Introduction (3) (~400-words)
Avoid unsubstantiated statements
“Many psychologists agree that conscientiousness and procrastination are negatively related.”
Which psychologists? Are these just accepted facts?

The final paragraph outlines aims of current research and states the hypothesis/hypotheses
The reader should be convinced that the hypothesis makes sense based on what you have
discussed throughout the introduction

Do not discuss your findings

Covered in subsequent sections

Do not assume the reader automatically knows what you did

You will explain this in the Method section
 Brief Background To
Help Your Introduction
 Cigarette Smoking: General background

Tobacco smoking is a leading contributor to disease and death worldwide (WHO, 2017)

While the prevalence of smoking has declined;

19% of adults smoke in the UK (11.5 million smokers)

 Cigarette Smoking: General background

Tobacco smoking is a leading contributor to disease and death worldwide (WHO, 2017)

While the prevalence of smoking has declined;

19% of adults smoke in the UK (11.5 million smokers)

16% of adults smoke in the US (45.2 million smokers)
 Cigarette Smoking: General background

Tobacco smoking is a leading contributor to disease and death worldwide (WHO, 2017)

While the prevalence of smoking has declined;

19% of adults smoke in the UK (11.5 million smokers)

16% of adults smoke in the US (45.2 million smokers)
28% of adults smoke in China (350 million smokers)
 Cigarette Smoking: General background

Tobacco smoking is a leading contributor to disease and death worldwide (WHO, 2017)

While the prevalence of smoking has declined;

19% of adults smoke in the UK (11.5 million smokers)

16% of adults smoke in the US (45.2 million smokers)
28% of adults smoke in China (350 million smokers)
13.5% of adults smoke worldwide (1 billion smokers)
 Cigarette Smoking: General background

Tobacco smoking is a leading contributor to disease and death worldwide (WHO, 2017)

While the prevalence of smoking has declined;

19% of adults smoke in the UK (11.5 million smokers)

16% of adults smoke in the US (45.2 million smokers)
28% of adults smoke in China (350 million smokers)
13.5% of adults smoke worldwide (1 billion smokers)

If current trends continue, 1 billion people worldwide will die

this century due to cigarette smoking
 Cigarette Smoking: General background

Cigarette smoking can also affect cognition

Compared to non-smokers, smokers have more difficulty concentrating (Faulkner et al., 2017)

Compared to non-smokers, smokers are more impulsive (Bickel et al., 1999)

Compared to non-smokers, smokers have more difficulty recalling information (Hill et al., 2003)
 Cigarette Smoking: General background

• You should tie your introduction in to the specific question that you are asking
If you are observing the effects of age on smoking, you must briefly introduce
research suggesting that age is important (e.g. do older people smoke more/less?)
If you are observing whether people are more likely to smoke when alone or when
in a group, state why (i.e. to assess potential harm of second-hand smoke?)

• You do not need to write a lot about this, just a few sentences with references,
that justify why you are performing the study you are performing.
Introduction (1) (~400-words)
• “Funnel approach”
• Moving from general to specific

• General
• Highlight the broader topic

• Specific
• Discuss theory and research relating to
study

• State hypothesis
Methods
 Methods (~300-words)

Allows for replication of the research

Do not use bullet points or list things

Must use subheadings

This section is a good place to start writing the report

 Methods - Design

What type of research was undertaken?

Non-experimental, naturalistic observation

Variables
List the independent variable and dependent variable
List the levels of measurement
 Methods - Participants
How many participants took part?

Details about age and gender of participants

Where recruited from

How recruited

Sampling method

Any special characteristics about the sample

 Methods - Materials

Describe relevant instruments or experimental tasks that were used that

would allow researchers to replicate
Ignore basic things like pen and paper, type of computer used, etc.

Impulsivity task
What type of stimuli was used? £15 £57
Examples 2 weeks 7 months
Example stimulus display

Example stimulus display

 Methods - Procedure
Chronological account of what participants did

Where and when data collection took place

Be careful about giving overly specific details that do not aid replication
“Data was collected in room 2060 at 9am…”

Impulsivity task:
What did a trial consist of?
Timings, order of presentation, etc.
How long did participation take?

Mention how you ensured that the Chi-Squared Test was the correct test to run
Checked for normal distribution – Skewness and Kurtosis etc
 Results (~300-words)

Reminder…

Descriptive Statistics
Allow you to describe the data

Inferential statistics
Allow you to make inferences about relationships in data using a ‘p value’
Results
 Results – Descriptive Statistics

Start with the descriptive statistics

Mean
Standard Deviation
etc…

Bar-chart Figure Legend

Clearly labelled
Clear figure legend
Figure 1. Smokers self-reported lower DERS
scores than non-smokers
 Results – Inferential Statistics
Explain which statistical test was performed – Chi Squared

State whether the findings are significant or non-significant – p value

e.g.: ‘A Chi Squared Test of Association revealed a significant association
between [Variable A] and [Variable B], X2 (1, N = 83) = 6.29, p = 0.012

Do not include raw tables from SPSS – this should go in the Supplementary
Materials section

We will analyze your data together in the workshops next week

Discussion
Discussion

• “Inverse-funnel approach”
• Moving from specific to general

• Relate results to hypothesis

• Were the hypotheses supported by the
findings?

• Relate results to theory and research

 Discussion (~400 words)
Begin by restating the research question and study aims

Briefly summarise findings in psychological terms (i.e. do not include statistics) and clearly
state whether the hypothesis was supported

Your findings represent new evidence, so you should situate them in the wider literature

Interpret your findings by relating them to the research you discussed in Introduction
Note which findings do and do not support previous research
Consider why you got the findings you did
Give your findings a fair hearing initially – also discuss the limitations later
 Discussion (~400 words)
Avoid introducing new prior research at this stage – introduce previous research in the Introduction
section, then refer back to it here

In your Introduction:
“…it appears that there are significant gender differences in both academic and life stress
experiences; female students are more stressed than males (Abouserie, 1994).” (Michie,
Glachan, & Bray, 2001, p. 459).

In your Discussion:
“Abouserie (1994) identified gender differences in academic stress where females reported
higher levels of academic stress than males. The current study found evidence to support this,
and additionally found females to be less confident about their peers’ evaluation of their own
abilities.” (Michie et al., 2001, p. 467)
 Discussion (~400 words)
You must also state the limitations of your research
Focus on methodological flaws
How might this affect the conclusions you have drawn?
Don’t undermine your research, but accept that it cannot be perfect

State the practical implications of your findings

Discuss possible future directions of research in this area

Summarize the final conclusions about your research

 In-text Citations
Previous research must be cited in a APA format (i.e. author surname, year)

√ “Smith and Jones (2003) found…”

√ “…was found (Smith & Jones, 2003).”
X “(Smith & Jones, 2003) found…” [only the year needs to be in brackets, as the authors are
being discussed as part of the sentence]
X “Smith, S. and Jones, A. (2003) found…” [do not state authors' initials when citing sources in-
text]

Cite secondary references appropriately

“…was found (Peters, 1990, cited in Smith & Jones, 2003)”
“Peters (1990, cited in Smith & Jones, 2003) found…”
Smith and Jones (2003) would appear in the reference list, not Peters (1990)
References
 References Section
APA Style
Alphabetical
If in doubt about referencing style for a particular source consult the APA style guide
link on Moodle, or examples can be found by googling APA style referencing
Follow the format exactly – be very precise or you will lose marks!

e.g.

Durik, A. M., Noh, M., Rozek, C. S., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2015). What if I can’t?
Success expectancies moderate the effects of utility value information on situational
interest and performance. Motivation and Emotion, 39(1), 104–118.
Supplementary Materials
 Supplementary Materials
Put the SPSS output from all of your statistical analyses here

SPSS output can be converted into a word document:

‘File’ --> ‘Export’
‘Document type: Word/RTF’
Give the document a name and choose a folder location to save
this file, then click ‘OK’
Copy and paste the SPSS tables into the Supplementary Materials
 Tips On The Order Of Writing This Report
1. Set up a word document with all of the section headings for the report
Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Supplementary Materials

2. Begin by writing the Methods section – then analyse your data using SPSS (following the SPSS guide)

3. Write the Results section and put the SPSS output into the Supplementary Materials section

4. Do some reading on the background to the study and write your Introduction section

5. Write the Discussion section – make sure it connects with the introduction

6. Write the Abstract, Title and References list

7. Proofread and make sure the story of the research and the argument are all clear and coherent!
Observational Report Guidance
 Reading List
1. Cancer Research UK: Smoking Facts and Evidence
(https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/smoking-and-cancer/smoking-facts-and-
evidence#smoking_facts0)

2. Hill RD, Nilsson L-G, Nyberg L & Beckman L (2003). Cigarette smoking and cognitive performance in healthy swedish
males. Age and Ageing, 32 548-550. (https://bit.ly/2OTeG1d)
THIS IS A GOOD SUMMARY OF HOW SMOKING CAN ALTER COGNITION, AND A GOOD TEMPLATE FOR HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR REPORT

3. World Health Organization: 10 Facts on Gender and Tobacco

(www.who.int/gender/documents/10facts_gender_tobacco_en.pdf)

4. Syamal G, Mazurek JM & Dube SR (2014). Gender differences in Smoking Among U.S Working Adults. Am J Prev Med.
(https://publichealth.gsu.edu/files/2014/08/Smoking-gender-working-adults_Dube.pdf)
ONLY READ THE INTRODUCTION AND DISCUSSION AS A GUIDE
 Summary Of Learning Outcomes

You should now…

…know how to write up your Quantitative Research Report!

• paul.faulkner@roehampton