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Research Empirical

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|Empirical Research Report Format |[pic] |

|1. Title | |
| | |
|2. Authors |Affiliations |
| | |
|3. Abstract |Synopsis of study |
| |Literature review, statement of goals, research questions, and hypotheses |
|4. Introduction | |
| |Participants, measures, equipment, statistical techniques, etc. |
|5. Methods and Materials | |
| |Summaries and analyses of the measures obtained |
|6. Results | |
| |Interpretations and implications of the study |
|7. Discussion | |
| |APA, AAA, or CBE style |
|8. References | |

Grant MacEwan College http://wire.rutgers.edu/research_assignments_empirical_link.html |Title |[pic] |
|The title is a concise summary of the empirical research | |
|report. The title should convey appropriate information | |
|about the study or studies presented in the report. | |

Ask yourself the following questions in order to begin to determine the relative merit of the research:
|Who did the research? |
| |
|Where was the research published? |

People who make a major contribution to the study are listed as authors. You might want to do a background search on the authors in order to determine the expertise the researchers have.
Reports of empirical studies are most often published in journals devoted to publishing empirical research. Many journals have an editorial board of experts who evaluate the research based on strict criteria of scientific and theoretical rigor.
………

|Abstract |
| |
|Abstract: Something that concentrates in itself the essential |
|qualities of anything more extensive |
|~Webster's College Dictionary, ed. |
|Richard Marius. NY: McGraw Hill, |
|1991~ |

A report of an empirical study also includes an Abstract that provides a very brief summary of the research. The Abstract is a brief but comprehensive summary of the empirical research report. The Abstract includes a concise statement of the goal of the research, outlines the methods, and presents the essential results and conclusions.
Read the Abstract to get an overview of the research. A general orientation to the article and specific aspects your instructor wants you to concentrate on are presented below.
Summarize your study:
|Objectives |Why did you do the study? |
|Method |How was the study done? |
|Results |What did you find? |
|Discussion |Why are these findings important? |
| |Note: Sub-headings aren't usually included here, |
| |though they may be. |

Example:

Example Abstract
Effects of Day Care on the Development of Cognitive Abilities in 8-Year-Olds: A Longitudinal Study
A. G. Broberg, H. Wessels, M. E. Lamb, C. P. Hwang
This study, conducted in Goteborg Sweden, was designed to measure long-term effects of day-care on children's math and verbal abilities when they were 8 years old. It used a longitudinal design, studying the same children on a number of occasions.

At the start of the study, the average age of the children was 16 months and none were enrolled yet in out-of-home care. As the study progressed, some children started center day-care, others started family day-care, and others continued to be cared for exclusively at home.

Because the researchers studied the children before and after they were enrolled in out-of-home care, they were able to determine whether differences among the groups were due to their different child care arrangements, or whether the differences existed even before children started different types of care.

In addition, they included other measures, such as the quality of the home environment, the extent of father involvement in child-rearing, the number and spacing of siblings, the child's temperament, the child's math and verbal skills during the preschool years, and the quality of the day-care setting.

At 8 years of age, children who had been in center day-care when they were younger, did better on tests of math and verbal abilities than did the other children. The math and verbal scores were not just influenced by day-care history. They were also related to the children's math and verbal scores during the preschool years and to the amount of father-involvement in child rearing.
Grant MacEwan College
…………

|Introduction |
|The Introduction sets the research in a context (it provides the "big picture"), provides a review of related research, and develops the |
|hypotheses for the research |

The purpose of the Introduction is to describe the problem, develop the theoretical and empirical background for the research questions, and elaborate a rationale for all parts of the study. In order to understand why the research was conducted, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
|What are the research questions? |
|Where did these research questions come from? |
|Is the research important? Why or why not? |

These questions set up the context and rationale for the study.
Reviewing Literature
|Analyze published studies relevant to the issue under study. |
|Synthesize to avoid simply listing studies and findings. |
|Cite studies with author(s) and date, APA style for Psychology, ASA for Sociology. |
|Avoid plagiarism by constructing a comprehensive outline. |

State Your Objective: Purpose of the Study
State Your Research Questions Example

State Your Hypothesis: What you thought you'd find
Example:

| |Effects of Day Care on the Development of Cognitive Abilities in |
| |8-Year-Olds: A Longitudinal Study by A. G. Broberg, H. Wessels, M. E. |
| |Lamb, & C. P. Hwang |
|What are the research questions? |Does day-care have long-term effects on children's math and verbal |
| |skills that are still apparent when the children are eight-years-old? |
| |What other factors, besides day-care, might influence eight-year-old |
|Where did these research questions come |children's math and verbal skills? How can researchers design studies |
|from? |to isolate the effects of day-care from other factors? |
| |The research questions follow from ones that have already been |
| |addressed in other studies. Broberg et al. attempted to fill in gaps ,|
| |to resolve contradictions found in the results of previous studies, |
|Is this research important? |and to improve the research design. Check pages 62-63 of the article |
| |for details. The Broberg et al. study, like most studies, was designed|
| |to provide a piece in a larger puzzle. |
| |Yes, this research is important because it looks for lasting effects |
| |of day-care. The findings may have implications for the development of|
| |social policies that affect the day-to-day experiences of children. As|
| |well, this research may affect adult attitudes toward child care, |
| |either confirming or disconfirming widely-held beliefs. |

…..

|Methods |[pic] |
| | |
|method: (n) systematic procedure | |
|~Webster's College Dictionary, ed. | |
|Richard Marius. NY: McGraw Hill, | |
|1991~ | |

The Methods section is a description of how the research was conducted, including who the participants were, the design of the study, what the participants did, and what measures were used.
Narrate the steps of your research so any scientist could replicate your procedure:
|Describe what or who you measured |Were you studying people, bugs, stars, cells, or aliens? |
|Describe how you measured subject(s)|Did you give them a questionnaire, count their legs, take pictures of them, or|
| |weigh them before and after eating a quarter pounder? |
| |Did you measure them with Likert scales, stopwatches, or your eyes? |
|Equipment |Did you count how many quarter pounders the aliens ate, or did you perform |
| |multivariate analysis to compare green and blue aliens? |
|Statistical Techniques | |

• Detail in the Methods section is important so the reader can determine the appropriateness of the method for answering the scientific questions. • It is also important for another researcher to be able to replicate the study. • This section reads a lot like a recipe. • The following questions will help you evaluate the method:
|Who are the participants in the study? |
|Are the participants appropriate for the study? |
|What is the research design? |
|Is the design appropriate for the research question(s)? |
|What are the measures? |
|Are the measures appropriate for addressing the research question(s)? |
|What ethical considerations are important to address? Are they all addressed in the article? |

• These questions are a mix of fact-finding questions and critical thinking questions. • The Method section contains scientific terms in order to clearly explain procedures to other scientists. • It is essential to understand exactly what was done in order to evaluate whether it was done "right."
Consider these questions as you write the Methods section:

|Have you explained the samples used in the study? |
|Are the samples appropriate for the study? |
|What is the research design? |
| |
|Is the design appropriate for the research question(s)? |
|What are the measures? |
|Are the measures appropriate for addressing the research question(s)? |
|What ethical considerations are important to address? |

Sample Methods Section
………..

|Results |
|Result: To arise or proceed as a consequence from |
|actions or premises. |
|~Webster's College Dictionary, ed. |
|Richard Marius. NY: McGraw Hill, |
|1991~ |

Summarize data:
|State results of measurements. |
|Summarize rather than present raw data. |
|Provide tables and figures. |
|Summarize the results of statistical analyses. |
|Save discussion for next section of paper. |

• The Results section contains the summaries and analyses of the measures obtained in the study. • This is where the "answers" to the research questions will be found. The following questions will help you evaluate the results:
|What are the main results of the study? |
|Can the results be used to answer the research question(s)? |
|Can the results be generalized beyond the context of the study? |

• You need to understand what the results are before you can think critically about them. This can be a tough task if you don't know how to interpret the results.
A good way to start to understand the results is to study the figures and tables. Then read the text for the researchers' interpretations.
Computer Composition: Figures & Tables

Consider these questions as you describe the results:
|What are the main results of the study? |
|Can the results be used to answer the research question(s)? |
|Can the results be generalized beyond the context of the study? |

Sample Table & Figures

Discipline-Specific Examples: Math Sociology
|Sample Table & Figure |[pic] |

Graph independent variable along x axis and dependent variable along y axis
Table 1: Comparison of Number of Quarter Pounders,
McNuggets, and Fries Eaten by Hungry Green and Blue Aliens
| |Green Aliens |Blue Aliens |P-Value |
| | | | |
|Quarter Pounder |20 |90 |p

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