16 An Introduction to APA-Style Research Reports
-Overview-
We consider Step 9 of the research process: preparing a research report.
A few general element of APA style are considered.
In addition, the details of the contents of each part of the research report are provided.
Finally, the processes of submitting a manuscript for publication and writing a research proposal are discussed
16.1 The goal of a research report
Preparing a research report is Step 9 in the overall research process. When the study is completed and the data are in and analyzed, it is time to share your work with others who are interested in the topic.
Ideally, this means preparing a written report for future publication in a scientific journal. Perhaps your report will be presented as a poster or paper at a professional conference. Possibly, your report will be simply a classroom project to fulfill a course requirement. In any case, the research report fulfills one of the basic tenets of scientific investigation: science is public. Thus, your research is not finished until you have made it available to the rest of the scientific community.
The basic purpose of a good research report is to provide three kinds of information about the research study.
1. What was done. The report should describe in some detail the step-by-step process you followed to complete the research project.
2. What was found. The report should contain an objective description of the outcome. Typically, this involves the measurements that were taken, and the statistical summary and interpretation of those measurements.
3. How your research study is related to other knowledge in the area. As we noted in Chapter 3, a good research study does not stand alone, but rather grows our of an existing body of knowledge and adds to that body of knowledge. The research report should show the connections between the present study and past knowledge.
Although the prospect of writing an entire research report may appear overwhelming at first glance, several factors make this task more manageable. First, throughout the research process you have read and consulted many journal articles, each of which can be view as a good model of how your report should look. Second, if you have kept notes or maintained a journal of your research, you have an excellent foundation for preparing a formal report. Simply noting what background literature you consulted, how you used each journal article, how you obtained a sample for your study, what was done to individuals in your study, what each subject or participant actually did, and so on, should give you a very complete outline for the written report. Finally, you should realize that a research report is a very structured document. It is subdivided into separate, well-defined segments, and each segment has a specified content. Your simply need to describe your own study, piece by piece, in each segment.
Although several styles exist for the preparation of research report in various disciplines, in the following sections of this chapter, we examine the formal style and structure that have become the generally accepted convention for writing research reports in the behavioral sciences. This style and structure have evolved over the years, and the current guidelines are presented in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association; The writing style developed by the American Psychological Association (known commonly as APA style) is used by many publications throughout the behavioral sciences, however, it is not universal. If you are planning to submit a manuscript to a specific journal to be considered for publication, you should consult the journal’s Instructions to Authors for specific information on style and submission requirements. Incidentally, you probably will find that writing a research report is very different from any other writing you have done.
We should also note that this chapter is only a brief summary of some of the more important aspects of APA formal and style; for final answers you should consult the Publication Manual itself. In addition, to assist you with learning APA format and style, APA has also published a workbook, Mastering APA Style: Student’s Workbook and Training Guide 6e and a pocket guide, Concise Rules of APA Style.
Definition : A research report is a written description of a research study that includes a clear statement of the purpose of the research, a review of the relevant background literature that led to the research study, a description of the methods used to conduct the research, a summary of the research results, and a discussion and interpretation of the results.