20&21 - writing the research report

Writing the Research ReportWriting the Research Report

KNES 510KNES 510Research Methods in Research Methods in

KinesiologyKinesiology

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Contents of the Proposal

Introduction (Chapter 1)

• Introduction

• Brief review of literature

• Statement of problem

• Hypothesis

Review of Literature (Chapter 2)

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Contents of the Proposal, cont’d

Methods (Chapter 3)

• Participants

• Instruments and measurements

• Procedures

• Design and analysis

Figures and tables

References

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The Proposal Process

Order of events

• Proposal and your advisor

• Proposal to committee

Proposal meeting

• What you do

• What your committee will do

• The outcome

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How to Write the Results Section

• This is what you found, your unique contribution to knowledge.

• Organization– By hypotheses– Validating outcomes first– Important characteristics– Most important first– Incorporating tables and figures– Reporting statistics

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What to Include in the Discussion Section

• Rules– Discuss results, not what you wish they were.– Relate results to hypotheses.– Relate results to introduction and literature.– Relate results to theory.– Recommend applications.– Summarize and state conclusions.

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Five Commandmentsfor Writing the Discussion

1. Thou shalt not say “more research is needed.”

2. Thou shalt not resort to methodological cop-outs.

3. Thou shalt not try to solve humanity’s problems.

4. Thou shalt not swallow a thesaurus.

5. Thou shalt not become Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbes):

“I used to hate writing assignments, but now I enjoy them. I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity.”

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Tables and Figures

• Do you need a table or figure?

• What do tables and figures do?– Basic: store data– Intermediate: show trends– Advanced: deep structure (e.g., trends by

groups)

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Useless Table 1

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Useless Table 2

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Useful Table

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Preparing Tables

• Getting information from a table is like extracting sunlight from a cucumber (Farquhar & Farquhar, 1891)

• Basic rules– Like characteristics should read vertically.– Heading should be clear.– Reader should understand without referring to

the text.

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Improving Tables

• Order columns and rows so they make sense (e.g., seldom alphabetically).

• Round off multiple decimal places (only to the level measured).

• Use summary rows and columns.

• Do not duplicate the text.

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Preparing Figures

• Do not duplicate the text or tables.

• Consider which type of figure to use.

• Should show trends.

• Do not make figures visually distracting.

• Make figures easy to understand.

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Good Figure

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Useless Figure

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Basic Writing Guidelines

• Obtain official documents on thesis and dissertations policy.– Department

– Graduate school

– Writing style manual (e.g., APA)

• Review previous theses or dissertations.• Allow twice as much time as you expect.

– When several things can go wrong, the one that will go wrong is the one that will cause the greatest harm.

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Format: Journal Versus Chapter

• Reasons for journal format; limitations of chapter style

• Structure of journal format– 1.0 Preliminary materials

• 1.1 title page

• 1.2 Acknowledgments

• 1.3 Abstract

• 1.4 table of contents

• 1.5 List of tables

• 1.6 List of figures18

Format: Journal Versus Chapter, cont’d

– 2.0 Body of the thesis or dissertation• 2.1 Introduction• 2.2 Method• 2.3 Results• 2.4 Discussion• 2.5 References• 2.6 Tables• 2.7 Figures

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Format: Journal Versus Chapter, cont’d

– 3.0 Appendixes• 3.1 Extended literature review• 3.2 Additional methodology• 3.3 Additional results• 3.4 Other additional materials

– 4.0 One-page curriculum vitae

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Successful Journal Writing• Give thought to picking a journal.• Read the journal’s publication guidelines.• Read papers from the journal.• Review process for journals

– What to send

– What to expect

– How long

– Decisions

– Revising

– Publication lag

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Writing Abstracts• Thesis and dissertation abstracts: read

your graduate school rules.• Abstracts for published papers: usually

short. Read the journal’s rules.• Conference abstracts: often longer. Read

the rules.• Contents of abstracts

– Problem– Methods– Results– What’s important 22

Oral Presentations• Know the time limit.

• Practice (a lot).

• Leave time for questions.

• Preparing visual materials.

• 6 x 6 rule

• Light letters on a dark background

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Oral Presentations, cont’d• Time frame for 15-min presentation

– Introduction: 3 min– Statement of the problem: 1 min– Method: 3 min– Results: 3 min– Discussion: 2 min– Questions: 3 min

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Poster Presentations• Advantages over oral presentations• Rules

– Know how much space.– Provide material to attach.– Mount on contrasting backgrounds.– Use figures or tables when possible.– Use large lettering.

• Parts of a poster: introduction, problem, method, results discussion, conclusions, references

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Setup for Poster

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