Format
The report
must be written in the standard format (with the following sections: Title
Page, Press
Release, Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion,
References)
and conform to the publication guidelines of the American Psychological
Association (APA). The key
reference for APA style is the Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.)
However, there are some minor variations in format, which override the guidance in section 8.03
of the APA manual as follows:
1. Font:
Use 11 point Arial
2. Page
size: A4
3. Margins:
1 inch
4. Line
spacing: Use 1½ spacing
5. Pagination:
a. The
first page must be a title page with the following information:
1. Coursework:
Report
2. Module
code: PC6P01
3. Module
Name: Psychology Project
4. Course:
BSc Honours Psychology
5. Student
ID: insert your student ID here
6. Supervisor:
insert the name of your supervisor here
7.
Date of submission: insert dd/mm/yyyy here
8.
Word length for the introduction and discussion:
insert the word length here
9. Title
of project: insert the title of project here
10. Student
name: insert your name here
11. Affiliation:
School of Social Sciences – Psychology, London
Metropolitan University, London, UK
b. The
second page must contain the Press Release;
c. The
third page must contain the Abstract;
d. Start
the Introduction on the fourth page;
e. Method,
Results and Discussion come on the following pages, but should not start on new
pages;
f. Tables
and Figures do not need to be placed on separate pages, but can do so, if for
example the Table or Figure is in landscape orientation;
g. Start
a new page for References;
h. Start
a new page for each Appendix.
6. Use
an odd and even page header with your full name on odd pages and the report
title on even pages.
7. Ensure
that all pages are numbered sequentially with the first page as page 1, with
the page number being at the top of the page.
Moreover, the Press Release section, which is described
below, is required for the report even though it is not an APA requirement of
journal articles. The report may also include specific details of test
materials and statistical analyses, more than is normal in journal articles;
this material will be in one or more appendices
The Useful Tools/Report Template Weblearn
folder contains the Microsoft Word
PC6P01 Report Template
for formatting the report according to the above listed rules 1–7, and a sample
report. You are strongly advised to use
the template. If you first write on a different template, and then transfer
the written text to the PC6P01 Report Template, you are advised to first copy
and paste your text in Notepad (or other basic text processor), and then copy
your text from Notepad and paste it in the PC6P01 Report Template. This way the
old formatting will not interfere with that of the PC6P01 Report Template.
Writing style
You should use a clear style of writing, not long-winded,
using technical language only where it is helpful or necessary; your work
should be written in your own words – not closely modelled on written sources
(quotations are acceptable, but should be used sparingly and with proper
attribution to the person quoted). Where it is helpful to do so, you may use
subtitles in the Introduction and Discussion sections. Subtitles are also
acceptable in particularly complex Results sections. For example, where there are
multiple hypotheses it sometimes helps to restate the hypotheses as subtitles
in the Results section.
Using other authors’ work
When you mention the work of other authors in your text,
those authors must be properly credited. They should be explicitly mentioned
both in the main body of text, at the point where you refer to their work, and
then the full details of their publications should be given in a section titled
“References” following the Discussion. When you refer to an author(s) in the
main body of the text, you should just give their surname(s) and date(s) of the
publication(s) you are referring to. Examples of different ways to do this can
be found in the APA manual and also in various books on research methods in
psychology (e.g., Howitt & Cramer, 2017; Wood, Giles, &
Percy, 2012). Where there is considerable use of other
authors’ words without attribution, then the work will be sent to the Casework
Office as a possible instance of plagiarism, and marks will be withheld until
an independent panel has considered the charge.
Research ethics
You should conduct your research within accepted ethical
guidelines at all times. Your report should show an awareness of ethical
issues, at the very least by including the nature of your briefing and
obtaining of consent and by stating any relevant debriefing (full briefing and
debriefing details should be included in an appendix). In the unlikely event
that your design exposes participants to an unusual treatment (e.g., deception
and elicitation of negative emotions) then this should be commented upon, with
a particular focus on debriefing. Ethical considerations must not be taken
lightly: serious breaches of ethical guidelines and principles will result in
failure and may lead to disciplinary action.
Word count limit for the whole report
There
is no overall word count requirement for the report, but there are required
word ranges for specific sections of the report. These required word ranges
are provided in the following section.
Section-specific requirements
Abstract
“A well-prepared abstract can be
the most important single paragraph in an article” (American Psychological
Association, 2009, p. 26). Your abstract is a brief informative summary of the
entire report. Small technical details are not normally reported. You should
state the issue being studied, the general nature of your study (without going
into all the design details), your basic findings, and your main
conclusion.
Length of
Abstract: 150 words minimum – 200 words maximum.
Press Release
The Press Release is not a
section required by APA. It has been introduced at London Met for psychology
reports in order to encourage students to think of the broad, non-technical
implications of their projects. The Collins
English Dictionary defines a press release as “an official announcement or
account of a news item circulated to the press”. Findings from scientific
studies are often communicated to the press and hence to the general public in
the form of a press release.
Examples in psychology can be found in
the Web sites of the British
Psychological Society (http://www.bps.org.uk/press-centre/press-centre) and the American
Psychological Society (http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/). Moreover, you can find
examples of press releases in the library of project reports from the previous
years available on Weblearn.
In writing the press release of
your project you should aim at communicating the take-home and real-life value
of your study and its findings to a large audience of non-psychologists.
Therefore, the Press Release is not an Abstract. The goal is to get the general
(not the specialist) reader engaged and interested in learning more about your
study. A practical way to think of it is that the press release of your project
will become the “business card” you will hand out to potential
employers as you leave the university to enter or re-enter the business world.
Please note that you will not be
taught how to write a press release. This is because writing a press release
essentially is a creative task, so that we do not want to make it into a
procedural task. This is your opportunity to practice your perspective taking
and creativity.
Length of
Press Release: 150 words minimum – 200 words maximum.
Introduction
The introduction begins by
providing accurate descriptions of background models, theories, and empirical
work, showing a good understanding of the topic. After introducing the
background literature, your introduction states the purpose of your own study and
gives a brief overview. Where participants are involved this means giving an
indication of what they were asked to do, but without full technical details at
this point; in the case of other types of study, such as observational studies
or textual analyses, you should give some indication of the basic setup, but
again without going into full technical details.
The hypothesis(-es) or Research
question(-s) should be stated toward
the end of the introduction. It is included as a separate item here in order to
emphasise its importance. In most studies you will be investigating a
particular hypothesis or a set of hypotheses. Each hypothesis should be clearly
stated. Be clear about whether your hypothesis is (a) causal or non-causal, and
(b) directional or nondirectional, for example:
Causal
Non-causal
Directional
More A
causes more (or less B)
More A is related to more
(or
less) B
Non-
directional
A
causes B
A is
related to B
Note.
Table adapted from Howitt and Cramer (2017).
Where you are interested in both
a broad hypothesis (e.g., applying to all participants) and some more specific
hypotheses (e.g., looking at interactions between experimental conditions, or
looking at individual differences), it is normally the case that you should
specify the broad hypothesis first and then work down to the most detailed
hypotheses.
In
the event that your research is purely exploratory then say so.
Length of
Introduction: 1000 words minimum – 1500 words maximum.
Method
This consists of the following
sub-sections, each of which should be given its own heading:
a.
Participants
– At minimum, say how many people took part, how and where they were
recruited. If known, state the number of males and females separately, and give
summary details of participants’ age.
b.
Materials
/ apparatus – This includes everything that was used to run the study,
e.g., personal computer, details of written scenarios, and so on. Where the
materials include lengthy questionnaires or multiple written scenarios, the
full details can be put in an appendix at the end of the report. However, it
would normally be a good idea to include a couple of example questions or
scenarios in this section, by way of illustration.
An alternative subtitle, Measures, is sometimes used with
nonexperimental study designs, typically involving the administration of
several questionnaires to all study participants.
c.
Procedure
– This normally describes the order in which participants engaged in various
behaviours. This might begin, for example, with (1) being seated at a computer,
(2) briefed by the experimenter, (3) engaging in the first task, and so on. For
observational studies, textanalysis studies, or similar, you should give a
clear description of how you went about your activities.
d.
An additional Study design sub-section is required only if the design is complex,
as it is for example the case for experiments involving more than one factor
and more than one dependent variable; straightforward non-experimental studies
do not need such subsection. If you are uncertain about whether to include such
subsection, discuss with your supervisor. If included, such sub-section should
be the first to appear in the Method section.
e.
Research ethics issues are usually dealt with in
the Procedure subsection. However, if a study raises complex research
ethics issues (e.g., as it is the case for studies conducted on vulnerable
study participants who may not be able to provide informed consent and for
studies focusing on deviant behaviour and are exposed to the risk of
compromising the anonimity of study participants), a dedicated Research ethics sub-section should be
added after the Procedure
sub-section.
f.
An additional Data analysis sub-section is required only if the statistical
techniques used are complex and go beyond the syllabus of module PC5001
Research Design and Data Analysis in Psychology (e.g., complex mediation and/or
moderation models that can only be estimated using Hayes’ PROCESS SPSS macro). If you are uncertain about whether to include
such sub-section, discuss with your supervisor. If included, such sub-section
should be the last to appear in the Method section.
All the sub-sections of the
Method section should be written in continuous prose, not as a list of items.
Length of
Method: no limit, but conciseness is paramount.
Results
Results should be presented in
the order with which the relevant hypotheses were stated in the Introduction
section. In deciding how much numerical information should be provided in the
text and how much in tables or figures (graphs), you should ask yourself what
is likely to be most easily understood by the reader – this is a matter of
judgment. As a general rule, data that are presented in figures should not also
be presented in tables, and vice versa, unless there is a very good reason
(usually because the data are highly complex, which is not usually the case in
student reports). Tables and figures should be labelled (e.g., “Table 1”,
“Figure 1”) and meaningfully titled (e.g., “Percentage of participants
responding correctly”). Avoid vague titles (e.g., “The descriptive results”).
Regardless of the use of tables and figures, you should also present a clear
textual description of your results.
In case numerous and extensive
analyses are reported, the Results section can be structured in sub-sections,
each of which should be given its own heading (e.g., Data description, Hypothesis
testing, and Additional analyses).
If you are uncertain about whether to use sub-sections in the Results section,
discuss with your supervisor.
Length of
Results: no limit, but conciseness is paramount.
Discussion
Whereas the Results section is
mainly a description of the outcomes, the discussion should interpret the results in relation to the
theoretical/empirical background described in the Introduction. The discussion
should also show your awareness of any limitations of your study, perhaps
arising from the nature of the methodology or from potentially confounding
factors that were not foreseen. Where appropriate you should indicate
outstanding issues and possibilities for future research. You should also
include a concluding paragraph to summarise the study and its contribution.
Sub-sections are sometimes used
in the Discussion section to enhance the structure of presentation. Each
sub-section should be given its own heading (e.g.,
Key findings, Additional
findings, Potential applications,
Study limitations, Directions for future
research, and Conclusion). If you
are uncertain about whether to use sub-sections in the Discussion section,
discuss with your supervisor.
Length of
Discussion: 1000 words minimum – 1500 words maximum.
References
In the References section there
is a strict format to follow, which differs slightly for journal articles,
books, book chapters, and online sources. Again, you are advised to check
examples from the APA manual, and books on research methods in psychology
(e.g., Howitt & Cramer, 2017; Wood et al., 2012).
Appendix(-ces)
Important information that is
not appropriate for the main body of the report should be included at the end
in an appendix or in several appendices. These should appear in the same order
that they are referred to in the main body of the report. This includes:
g. Any
task materials that were too lengthy for the main report;
h.
Any statistical calculations done by hand OR the
output from statistical packages such as SPSS.
Start a new page for each Appendix.
Identifying information, such as
participants’ consent forms, should not be included as appendices in order not
to compromise confidentiality.
Qualitative project reports
Chapter 18 in Howitt and Cramer (2017) addresses the
question “Why qualitative research methods?”. Whether you are using
quantitative or qualitative methods you should be clear about the reasons for
doing so. Simply finding numbers difficult to work with is not a good reason
for using a qualitative design, and in fact qualitative analyses can have their
own complexities.
In terms of reporting qualitative research, Chapter 27 in
Howitt and Cramer (2017) note that there is no universally agreed structure for
qualitative research reports. However, the authors recommend following the
report structure used in laboratory research but making modifications where
this is necessary (e.g., additional headings or omission of headings).
For a fuller account of reporting qualitative work you
should read Chapter 27 in Howitt and Cramer (2017), but their recommendations
are here condensed into a brief list of bullet points:
●
The literature review is as important for
qualitative reports as for quantitative ones.
●
Although you are unlikely to be stating
hypotheses, be clear about the aims
of your research.
●
The scope and level of detail in the Method
section should be comparable to a quantitative report. Even if the procedure is
relatively simple, be precise about what was done.
● Be
clear about how the analysis was conducted. It is not enough to say “a grounded
theory analysis was performed”.
●
Transcripts of conversations from all
participants should be included in an appendix.
●
In the Results section, simply linking a few
quotes with some narrative does not constitute an analysis, so make sure your
report a proper analysis.
●
Chapter 25 in Howitt and Cramer (2017)
illustrates the systematic presentation of qualitative data as part of an IPA
analysis.
●
Statistical information can be useful, e.g.,
about the frequency with which particular themes occurred.
●
Chapter 26 in Howitt and Cramer (2017) provides
various criteria for assessing the adequacy of a qualitative study.
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