Writing the Research Writing the Research ReportReport

KNES 510KNES 510Research Methods in Research Methods in

KinesiologyKinesiology1

Contents of the ProposalIntroduction (Chapter 1)• Introduction• Brief review of literature• Statement of problem• HypothesisReview of Literature (Chapter 2)

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Contents of the Proposal, cont’d

Methods (Chapter 3)• Participants• Instruments and measurements• Procedures• Design and analysisFigures and tablesReferences

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The Proposal ProcessOrder of events• Proposal and your advisor• Proposal to committeeProposal 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

Discussion1. 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.14

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 figures

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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

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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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Next Class• Turn in full proposal.

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