This blog will show you the basics of writing a research report in psychology. I have written it from the perspective of a third-year BSc psychology student with the intention of helping other students, such as A-level students, who may be struggling with the basics. Please be aware that what I intend on showing you is about writing the report rather than carrying out the research and analysing any data. Ultimately, it is up to you to carry out the research and analyse your data as it is you who will be doing the research. To help you with the write up, however, I have included a complete walk-through of every section within a standard psychology research report. Additionally, I have also included a section at the end with some general tips that will help you achieve better grades. I hope this blog helps you and thank you for taking the time to read through it. Please be aware that there is quite a lot to this. Sadly, it is not very colourful but it should help you. Please read every section carefully, and please note that I have written both formally and informally.
Your assignment
If you have been asked to carry out some research in psychology, it is highly likely that your tutor/lecturer will have given you a research topic at some point. For the purpose of this blog, I have included an example research question. The reason I have done this is so that I can exemplify and highlight particular points to help you when you write your own paper. Try and not generalise the question I am using too much when you read this. I am simply expecting you to acknowledge the standard approach for writing psychology research papers and how to write the report.
Lets assume that you have been asked to conduct some social psychological research, which was a task that I was given when I studied psychology at Higher level (A-level). The following question is very similar to the one that I got:
Investigate the attitudes of the general public towards elderly people within society.
In order to successfully conduct research on the topic outlined above, you are going to have to study background material on the particular topic area. Ask your tutor/lecturer to point you in the right direction of relevant resources for your topic. Your research question could likely be on a completely different topic area, such as intelligence or memory, but the write up of the report will be the same.
For the above question, for example, you would be expected to research the topic of prejudice. Then, you will have to find relevant research that specifically looks at prejudice towards elderly people. It is likely that if you look in the correct places there will be numerous research on this. The first thing that comes to mind is probably either books or the internet. However, you have to be careful with the internet when it comes to citing your sources and that you use the correct ones. Simply Psychology is good to help us understand a topic, but I personally wouldn't recommend using it as a reference. The reason being is that it is not academic enough.
In the write up of your report, you should only include academic references. Generally speaking, the best two types of academic references that should be included in an A-level assignment are citations from books and journal articles. I agree that it is more flexible at A-level than university to use other types of sources, such as random internet pages, newspapers or magazines, but please try and familiarise yourself with journal articles and be careful of what websites to use as your references. By the time you complete your first year at university, I can assure you that journal articles will be bleeding from your eyes and ears, as will the term 'do not use Wikipedia as a reference'.
So, assuming that you are confident with your topic area and you have done extensive reading about it, you are going to have to carry out some research. At this point, I would like to encourage you to consult with your classmates and your tutor about how to go about this. The way you conduct your research is ultimately based on your research topic and question. For example, the research topic that I have used in this blog would be best approached using a simple questionnaire and Likert scale, which ultimately falls within the survey method. Then, I would try and obtain a varied sample of around 15-20 people in the population ranging from around 18-69 and ask them to complete the questions.
Following this, I would then analyse participant's scores for each question.
Anyway, lets assume that you have designed your research and have gathered your data. You are now going to have to present your findings in the form of a research/lab report. The next part will now look at writing the report.
Writing the report
Depending on personal preference, you may prefer to begin writing your report as soon as you have been given the question. If you have a clear mind and plan about what you should be doing then by no means wait around. Like me, you may like to start at your introduction. However, it is sometimes wiser to begin at your method section as you have just carried out your research. Whichever way you decide to do this it is entirely up to you. I do, however, wish to show you the following image of an inverted triangle. The reason for this is because this is the shape that your report should take.
The top of this inverted triangle should resemble your introduction. Your introduction, along with the discussion, is typically the largest part of a research report in psychology. Simply speaking, tutors want to see that you have read a lot about your topic and that your background knowledge of the subject is very broad. This is very important when it comes to your findings because in order to present them confidently, you have to be able to relate them to previous literature. They call the beginnings of a psychology report the literature review.
On the flip side, the bottom of this inverted triangle should resemble your conclusion. Your conclusion will be a very short part of your report in comparison with the previous sections and will simply summarise your entire findings. This is also where you will have the opportunity to suggest some future research which may better address the topic that you have studied.
Now that you hopefully follow my logic here, let me introduce you to the contents of a psychology lab report.
The psychology research report structure
This structure is ordered correctly in accordance with the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines and must be followed as below, unless your tutor has suggested otherwise which I highly doubt.
- Title page
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Methods (contains numerous subheadings: participants, design, materials and procedure)
- Results
- Discussion
- References
- Appendix
Once you are familiar with the above structure, have a look at the next part which shows you how to allocate words to each part. Lets assume that your report has to be 3000 words. Each section below has been given appropriate word limits, but this could vary somewhat depending on the nature of your research. Please note that this is just a guide and also that the introduction and discussion are by far the largest parts. The introduction and discussion will always be the largest parts of any given psychology report.
- Title (20-30 words)
- Abstract (250 words max)
- Introduction (1000 words max)
- Methods (600 words max)
- Results (300 words max)
- Discussion (800 words max)
- References (references at end not included: references in-text are)
- Appendix (normally not included)
Now that you are familiar with this, please allow me to walk you through each individual section of the report. I will try and include as much detail as I can.
Abstract
When you write a research report in psychology, you are often expected to include what is known as an abstract but please check this with your tutor as sometimes it is not included. Please also check whether the abstract is included in your word count because sometimes it is not.
What is the abstract?
Simply speaking, the abstract is a very short paragraph which is normally between 150-200 words that summarises the entire report from start to finish and will most often than not be written at the end. This can be tricky to write, but please note that only the most important things should be included in an abstract. When I write my abstract, I will usually write about why I was initially interested in the research based on previous work, why I carried out the research, how I carried out the research, what my findings were and what my findings suggest or imply. In your abstract, you should briefly mention your variables too, such as whether you used a questionnaire or not or whether your study used an experimental design. Lastly, you should include the sample size (how many participated) and write it as n=20 if there were 20 participants.
Note: your abstract requires a main heading which will be the only one in the report that will sit central at the top of the page. Your introduction, which is discussed next, will begin on the next page. Furthermore, the American Psychological Association recommends that you include a sentence below the abstract which says Keywords, followed by five or six key words form your study. Please have a look online about this to see how you should write it. It should simply look like this: Keywords: prejudice, discrimination, elderly, attitudes, participants, and should be italicised.
Introduction
The introduction is where you will now introduce the reader to appropriate background research which should include at least three or four decent studies - try and aim for more than this, though. Remember the triangle I presented earlier? Keep this image in mind keep your introduction broad. This is typically called a literature review and will act as the foundation of your entire report. In order to obtain the appropriate research, you should consult books and journal articles. As this report is on attitudes, we could simply look online for journal articles that have previously examined attitudes towards elderly people. Google scholar is an example of a place to search for relevant journal articles.
Once you have read this and have included some research in your paper, you must now present the aim of your research as the very last paragraph of your introduction. Sometimes, the aim is called the rationale but it simply means the same thing. The aim should simply state what the purpose of your research was and should briefly refer to your previous literature which you wrote about before.
Then, you will have to add a hypothesis to this, usually known as the alternative hypothesis. You might have more than one of these and will have to let the reader know exactly what they are. Simply speaking, an alternative hypothesis is simply a prediction and is built upon your previous research. Lets assume in my example that previous research has shown that a particular age group within society, lets say 40-year-olds, are very judgmental towards the elderly. The alternative hypothesis in my study would thus be that my findings will directly reflect this. Contrary to this, you will also need to add the null hypothesis, which simply states that there will be no relationship between age and participant's attitude scores. Furthermore, we must also briefly state in this paragraph how we are attempting to obtain our data (i.e. are we using a questionnaire or an interview).
To help you, below is an example of a generic rationale section which addresses the question included in this blog:
The aim of the current study was to investigate, with the use of a questionnaire and Likert scale, the attitudes of the general public towards the elderly. Previous research by Jones (2016) has shown that within the UK, 40-year-old adults are very judgemental towards elderly people. Similarly, other researchers have found that elderly people are regularly discriminated in numerous settings within society, predominantly by adults over 40-years-of-age (Jackson and Smith, 2010). Thus, the alternative hypotheses for this study predicts that elderly people will be judged by society, particularly 40-year-old adults. The null hypothesis predicts that there will be no difference between age and prejudice towards the elderly.
Note: the introduction does not require a heading at all. It must, however, begin on a separate page after the abstract.
Methods
When writing your method section you will have to break it down into appropriate sub-headings. I have shown you what these are below. These sub-headings have to be included in your report. If they are not included then you will lose marks. This section has to be ordered very accurately.
Participants:
Please try and include how many people took part (sample size should be written as n=followed by number), who participated (friends, family, public) what age, what gender, where from, ethnicity. Please include as much information here as you can. The reason is because in order to replicate your study we must know who participated so that a future researcher can obtain a similar sample.
Design:
Your design should either be within or between subjects. For this type of research, it is going to be between as we are selecting numerous different participants for the research. If it was a within subject design, we would use the same participants and perhaps present them to different conditions of the research (typically seen in an experimental design). You should also state what your independent and dependent variables are (in psychology, the independent variable is what you are manipulating; the dependent variable is what you are measuring).
In our example, we are measuring a range of participant's attitude scores towards the elderly (dependent variable). To do this, we are using particular questions within a questionnaire which have been created to try and exploit their attitudes (independent variable).
Materials/apparatus:
What was used to gather your data? What type of questionnaire was it? Did it have a Likert scale? Did you have a consent form? Did you have a debrief form? You must show the reader all of the materials that you used. A future researcher has to know this so that he/she can use the same materials for a future replication study.
Procedure:
You must describe in very vivid detail the exact procedure of the research. For example, how did you obtain your data? Did you issue questionnaires to people within a college setting? Did you issue them to family or friends? Did you enable people to fill out questionnaires in a quiet location? Your procedure should show the reader exactly how you obtained your data.
Note: the method section in your report should begin on a new page and will contain four main sub-sections (see above). The title 'Methods' should be flush left at the top of your page followed by the first sub-section directly underneath. These sub-sections should be in italics or underlined
Results:
The results section is a place where you will present either graphs or tables, sometimes both. Please note that this section does not require a lot of text. Do not discuss your findings in the result section. Rather, simply illustrate what your graphs show. Students also often make the mistake by including what is known as 'raw data' in this section. Please do not do this. Raw data, if required, will go in your appendix section and will usually look like a page full of calculations.
When you come to the result section, you will be expected to analyse your data. You are going to have to work out what to do with it all and how to obtain meaningful figures form it. I assume that your tutor will keep your right with this and will show you what sort of analysis you should be using. Typically, you will probably have to calculate means, medians, modes and standard deviation results. Thankfully at A-level it is normally just the mean that you will be using. When you reach first year at university, however, you will have to demonstrate how to add the variance into your graphs. On this occasion, I have not done it. I have simply used mean scores. Not that you will have to know this I don't think, but the variance in a graph will be shown as error bars and is normally calculated by using the standard deviation or the standard error in your particular data.
Below is what a typical result section may look like in a psychology report. Please forgive me for the slight mistake on the y-axis which is supposed to say 100 and not 90. Once I realised I had done this, I couldn't change it as the graph is now saved as a Jpg.
Following a detailed analysis of each participants response to the questionnaire, mean attitude scores (0-100) were arranged in accordance with participant's ages in 5 individual groups ranging from age 18 - 69. As shown in figure 1, mean attitude scores varied significantly between the age groups with 40-year-old adults holding the most negative attitude towards the elderly.
Figure 1. Mean attitude scores for participants (100 = negative; 0 = positive) in a series of age groups (range = 18 - 69).
You could include other graphs in your report which show different findings. For example, what about the differences between males and females? Or even differences in ethnicity depending on what your sample is like? You could also add a better heading than mine, but it is just an example.
Note: result section requires a main heading which simply says Results, flush left. Contained within this section are usually graphs and/or tables, with a very short statement of the findings above the chart with a key below the chart.
Discussion
Now that you have presented your results in the form of appropriate charts, you should now move on to the discussion. This is now your chance to discuss what your results mean. This is very important: you must now refer back to your graphs and also your introduction. Are your results in line with previous research? Can you support your predictions? What do your results mean? You must elaborate in depth in this section.
Your discussion should be almost as long as your introduction. Actually, sometimes it will be the same length because it provides not only a chance to refer back to your literature review but also a chance to personally evaluate your research. Were your participants interested? Did some of your participants not take part? What implications may this have had? What about your materials, were they good enough? What about your questions, were they clear enough?
Then, end your discussion with a conclusion. Your conclusion does not have a title. This is an area where many students get confused. They say 'oh, we must need a heading for the conclusion surely?'. The simple answer is no, you don't. It simply flows from your discussion and will be found at the very end. Importantly, your conclusion should be very short and concise. You must tie up loose ends with this part of your paper and also recommend future research which may better answer your question. Please remember to recommend a future area that could be further addressed. You have to think outside the box a little here but it is important to show the reader that you have thought about future research and how another study could better analyse your topic area.
Note: your discussion requires a main heading saying Discussion, flush left at the top of the page. This is all that is required despite the fact that you will write your conclusion within this section. Your conclusion does not need a main heading or a subheading.
References
Please reference everything that you have used. Please follow APA guidelines on referencing. The current edition is the 6th edition and shows you how to reference every single source possible, from books and journal articles to Facebook posts and magazine clippings. Referencing is very important in a psychology report so please adhere to the APA guidelines. Very important: make sure they are alphabetical!
Note: the reference section also requires a main heading saying References on a separate page at the top left of the page.
Appendix
All raw data should be here. You should also have your questionnaire here, including any consent and debrief forms. Each item should be titled Appendix A, B C and so on, and you must use this throughout your report when you are referring to an item. This may also be where you put any transcribed data or anything else that you may be asked to keep a hold of.
Note: the appendix section also requires the main heading Appendix at the top left of the page. Place this on a separate page
Ethics
This short section is not required in a research report. However, I thought I would include it at the end of this blog because I want you to become familiar with what psychological ethics are and what it means. In psychology, we cannot cause harm to other humans or animals, and we must always allow our participants the right to withdraw from our research at any time. In addition, we must also ask them for their consent before we conduct research, followed by a debrief of what the study was investigating. It is ok to use harmless deception, but please ask your tutor about this. Furthermore, if you are working with children, it is likely that you may need PVG checks and you will 100% have to ask the parent or guardian for their permission. There is more to this than what I have written so please do familiarise yourself with this.
Final comments
I hope to have covered the basics of writing a psychology report. I am sorry that I cannot cover any more than this. Psychology reports are very unique and detailed, and it is simply beyond the scope of this blog to go any further. I will give you some tips now which you should try and adopt each and every time you write in psychology. It is good practice to use these tips because you will lose marks at university if you do not adhere to them regularly.
Tips
- place a running head on your document (see YouTube)
- use either Arial or Times New Roman size 12 for main text
- title page should be size 14
- make sure all graphs are labelled and numbered correctly
- graphs are called figures; tables are called tables
- active or passive voice is generally acceptable providing it is academic and not chatty
- reference your work in accordance with APA 6th edition guidelines
- stay within your word limit (check with your tutor if you have 10% allowance either way)
- write your abstract last
- do not start sentences with numbers (i.e. 16). Always say the number (sixteen).
- references should be alphabetical
- write numbers with text (i.e. one) until you reach the number 10, which is digits thereafter.
- do not use contractions in academic writing (don't, won't, can't). Its too chatty
- try and limit the use of I and We in academic writing.
- use as little quotations as possible (1 per essay max)
- rule of thumb: at least 1 reference per paragraph
- paragraphs should generally come after about 6 or 7 lines
- new paragraphs require an indentation at the beginning
- use double line spacing throughout your work
- your reference list should be 'hanging' - see YouTube on how to hang references
- page numbers should be at the top right corner
- try and use words such as 'in addition' or 'furthermore' when making points
- paragraphs should flow into the next with linking sentences and words
- learn psychological jargon (variables, hypothesis, counterbalancing etc.)
- in academic writing, never use the term etc. I just done it above but this is not academic lol
- when making a point, back it up with a reference
- two spaces are required after full stops, question marks, exclamation marks and colons
- the people we include in our research, our sample, are participants (not subjects)
- if we are investigating animals, then we refer to them as subjects
- follow everything I have shown you in this blog and you will improve your grade
Best wishes and good luck
David
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