Writing the Research Writing the Research Report Report KNES 510 KNES 510 Research Methods in Research Methods in Kinesiology Kinesiology 1
Dec 22, 2015
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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