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Conventions in Research and Reporting

This chapter discusses the conventions of research and reporting, including style, format, and language. It covers title conventions, person and voice, tense, tentative versus definitive statements, simplicity of language, and consistency. It also explores the conventions of format for major sections of reports and the differences between thesis/dissertations and journal articles. Additionally, it mentions the important role of style guides and introduces web resources and software to assist in writing research reports.

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Conventions in Research and Reporting

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  1. Introduction to Educational Research (5th ed.) Craig A. Mertler & C.M. Charles Chapter 9 Preparing a Research Report

  2. Conventions in Research and Reporting • Conventions—agreed-upon procedures that help ensure accuracy, validity, credibility, etc. of a research study • Conventions of style: • Title—should indicate clearly what report is about; limit to approximately 15 words or less • Person and voice—typically written in third person and in passive voice • Tense—generally speaking, final reports written in past tense; proposals written in future tense

  3. Conventions in Research and Reporting (cont’d.) • Tentative versus definitive statements—conclusions usually reported with tentative statements; procedures and results of descriptive analyses can be stated more definitively • Simplicity of language—use plain, straightforward language; don’t try to impress your readers…let your research speak for itself! • Consistency—consistency throughout the report is essential

  4. Conventions in Research and Reporting (cont’d.) • Conventions of format: • Major sections of reports—not always labeled as such, but report is easier to follow if they are • Introduction (Ch. 1 of thesis/ dissertation)—includes statement of problem, questions/hypotheses, limitations/delimitations, assumptions • Review of related literature (Ch. 2) —organized from general to specific, older to more recent; use research questions/hypotheses to guide structure; end with a brief summary of the review

  5. Conventions in Research and Reporting (cont’d.) • Methods (Ch. 3)—includes description of participants and how they were selected, description of instrumentation, (including validity and reliability), data collection procedures, proposed methods of data analysis • Findings or results (Ch. 4)—summarization of new information discovered through analysis of the data; may include tables and graphs; often organized by research question/hypothesis • Conclusions or discussion (Ch. 5)—presents conclusions, implications, recommendations resulting from interpretation of the findings; only section where inclusion of researcher’s own thoughts are appropriate

  6. Conventions in Research and Reporting (cont’d.) • Front material—includes title page, signature page, acknowledgment page, dedication page, table of contents, list of tables and figures, and abstract • Back material—includes references and appendices

  7. Format of Thesis/Dissertations versus Journal Articles • Major differences with respect to: • Length of paper • Inclusion of front and back material

  8. Style Guides • Many are available, including the two most commonly used: • Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.)…“APA Manual” * • The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (14th ed.)

  9. Applying Technology… Web sites and software to help you write research reports • APA-Style Helper 3.0 (http://www.apastyle.org/stylehelper) • *** Take Note! ***

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