Writing a Report

Report writing is a necessary skill and one that easily contributes to the student's final marks if learnt correctly. I've already given an orientation to this subject here. It's time to get practical now. Keep in mind that I am discussing the report written after psychological tests and experiments, and not a dissertation or full-fledged paper. Let's look at how the report is written in the APA format, looking step-by-step at the different sections:

Introduction

What this section is not meant for:

• Giving lengthy explanations of theories
• Increasing the length of the report
• Covering up for lack of knowledge of how to write the other sections

What this section is meant for:

• Explaining why the experiment/test was conducted
• A succinct review of theories relevant to the present experiment
• Making evidence-based predictions of expected results from the conduct

How this section should be organized (in general):

• Introduction of the research problem in the first paragraph
• Chronological enumeration of relevant past studies, with a precise description of their findings in the next paragraph
• Statement of the hypotheses in the next paragraph 
• Giving headings and subheadings is incorrect

 Method

This section is further divided into various sub-sections:

Sample/Participants-

 What this section is not meant for:

• Giving an identification of the participant to the reader (that is absolutely unethical)
• Discussing irrelevant behavior of and remarks made by the participant
• Comparing one's participants with other participants in the present or past 
• Describing irrelevant characteristics of the participant like appearance, tone of voice, academic performance, etc. (I am not exaggerating, I have read reports of this kind)

  What this section is meant for:

• Outlining the characteristics of the participant relevant to the experiment/test conducted such as number, age, gender, volunteerism, etc.
• Describing the overall emotional state/motivation of the participant

 How this section should be organized (in general):

• There is a very specific format to be adhered to, here:
• e.g. The participant(s) (N=x, S=y,) participated in the experiment in order to obtain the necessary credits for the completion of her FYBA. (S)he was found to be anxious/calm/unmotivated,etc. by the Experimenter/Test user.

Method is completed by writing out the materials/apparatus and procedure sections.

Results

(*Some universities demand a separate data analysis section prior to this, in the Methods section, sometimes as a part of procedure, which is ideal. Others include data analysis as a part of this section.)

This section is divided into data analysis, and data obtained - though these subheadings are not explicitly stated as in the case of the method section. This section also requires presentation of data obtained in the form of tables and graphs, which are to be included as per the requirement of clear comprehension of data, and not as the student believes is the best mode of presentation. Generally, which table and figure is to be used is specified by the University for each experiment.

Data Analysis

 What this section is not meant for:

• Elaborate explanation of calculations made for coming to results
• Explanations of why a data analysis technique was chosen over other available methods
• Explanations of why particular statistical tools were used to interpret the data (for this should be obvious from the nature of data collected), unless there is something done that was unusual and therefore, demands justification

What this section is meant for:

• Clearly stating the manual/computerized procedure used for making statistical calcultations
• Clearly stating the statistical techniques used to describe and interpret data

 
 How this section should be organized (in general):

• In a precise single paragraph, mentioning the aforementioned details.

After presenting the statistical results obtained, this section is complete. It is important to keep in mind that this section is restricted to numerical data obtained, and verbal explanations are strictly a part of the next section.

Discussion

 What this section is not meant for:

• Repeating the introduction section as it is or by making slight changes
• Describing past research relevant to the data
• Writing data presented numerically in the results in the form of sentences (that should have been done in the results section itself)
• Ranting about the participant's behaviour or his/her answers to the post-interview
• Making conclusions and generalizations about theories or research in Psychology from data obtained

What this section is meant for:

• Checking results with respect to the hypotheses presented in the introduction, and justifying in-line results by connecting data obtained in the present experiment to findings of past research; or justifying contrary results by presenting evidences of participant behaviour, experimental conditions, methodological concerns, etc. that might have confounded results
• Discussing limitations inherent in the study and suggestions for possible improvement, connecting data obtained, which reflects these limitations
• Presenting suggestions for future research in the area that could overcome limitations of the present study or uncover new understandings 
• Presenting practical applications of the study and the contribution it makes to the study of Psychology

 
 How this section should be organized (in general):

• This section can be simply presented by using a paragraph each for each of the points mentioned above. There should be no headings or subheadings for the same

Conclusion

An often neglected section, this is a simple one-line statement of the data being in-line, or contrary to the hypotheses.

References

This section has a very rigid format that must be verified by consulting the latest APA manual. (check here. There are a few guidelines that the student must keep in mind, for example:

• References are to be listed in alphabetical order
• The last names of the researchers are used for listing, first names are only presented as initials
• Not a single reference must be omitted
• Referencing does not permit plagiarism
• Names of authors, papers/publications, publishers, year of publication, doi/web address, etc. are all essential to referencing

Often, professors expect references to be stated in internal reports while not mentioning what is to be done for the examination. Since students cannot be expected to memorize a whole list of references, for the purpose of examination only, the major two-three references of the experiment/test can be listed as 'chief/main references)

(PS: Different universities demand slight variations of the presented report format. The ideology however, remains the same)