47.375
Research III: Laboratory
Checklist
for Research Reports
Research
Report is due Thursday 12/21/06
General
1.
Are all
references in text also cited in reference section using complete APA style,
including as appropriate for electronic sources?
2.
Are all
sources appropriate for inclusion—empirical or theoretical papers from
scholarly journals or texts?
3.
Is text
arranged in APA style, including title page, running head, and use of headings?
Abstract
Introduction
1.
Do you
describe the literature in past tense since these are studies already done and
conclusions already reached?
2.
Do you use no more than one direct quote?
3.
Are assertions
backed up with research and citations rather than broad sweeping
generalizations or opinions?
4.
When you cite
previous studies, do you say enough about what they found and how so that your
reader can make a judgement about how it fits in with your work (not just their
conclusions, but what evidence—data, results—the conclusions were based)? Explain.
Provide operational
definitions.
5.
Do you have minimally 5-7 citations that provide a rationale for the methods
of your study?
6.
Do you tie
your introduction together with the results of research that you are citing,
rather than just listing study after study after study?
7.
Does the
previous research you cite lead to the research question posed by the current
study (that is, the study you are reporting)?
Note that here you begin to shift to your work (e.g., “The current study
was designed examine the effects of….”).
8.
Do you end
with a clear statement of the hypothesis or hypotheses for the current study?
Methods—Continue
writing in past tense
Participants
1.
Do you
describe who your participants were with respect to the demographic
characteristics that matter for your
study?
2.
Do you
identify the source for any data that you used in ascertaining who should
comprise your sample (e.g., data from the US Census or UMass Lowell Office for
Institutional Research)? Give complete
citations.
3.
Do you provide
the N and clearly identify your sampling units if they are other than
individuals (neighborhoods, for example)?
4.
Do you
describe and justify your sampling method?
Materials or Apparatus
1.
Do you give
complete citations for tests or questionnaires that you used from journal
articles or other published sources?
2.
Do you
describe what each test or questionnaire was designed to do and how it does it
(e.g., Likert scales, adjective checklists, etc.)?
3.
Do you report
psychometric data on tests or measures you used (test-retest reliability
coefficients, for example)?
4.
If you chose
items to create tests or assessments of, for example, word learning, do you indicate
what constraints you put on the words so that extraneous factors (e.g.,
frequency of usage or type of word) are held constant across conditions?
5.
How did you
test the psychometric properties (reliability and validity) of your own
homegrown survey or questionnaire?
6.
If you are
developing videotapes or other kinds of procedures (e.g., written scenarios)
for an experiment, do you say how you know they will present what you intended
(e.g., manipulation checks on the validity)
7.
How were extraneous
variables (a) held constant or (b) counterbalanced?
8.
What kind of
score did each measure provide for each participant?
Procedure
1.
Do you
indicate that informed consent was obtained prior to participation?
2.
Is it clear
whether this is a between or within subjects design? If there are two factors, one between and one
within, is it clear which is which?
3.
If you have a
two group experiment, is it clear what aspects of the procedures vary between
groups and which are the same for everyone (e.g., “All participants were asked
to …. Half of the participants were
then… and half were… Finally all
participants were asked to….”)?
4.
If you have
tasks such as memorizing words or reading news articles, have you specified how
long the exposure and retrieval period was, how many words participants were
exposed to at once, how many total trials (e.g., 10 trials of 10 words each for
a total of 100 words) how they responded (free recall as in “Write down as many
words as you remember” vs. recognition as in “Circle the words below that you
saw earlier.”)
5.
Do you specify
counterbalancing (e.g., for order of presentation, assignment of gender to main
character across stories, etc.) for experimental designs?
6.
Is the
relevance of all the procedures you describe clear from the introduction (i.e.,
are there no surprises)?
7.
Do you
describe debriefing if used?
8.
Could someone else take over for you in administering your
study based on what you have written (and will someone else be able to
replicate)?
1.
Have you
stated exactly what data you was analyzed and what tests were conducted.
2.
State your
results in both a statistical sentence and an interpretation in English.
3.
Is it clear
that your statistical tests are tied to your hypotheses/research questions?
1.
Do you
interpret what outcomes mean and what utility they have?
2.
Do you
indicate what limitations there are to the study?
3.
Do you suggest
what the next steps will be, i.e., follow up research?
1.
Begin on a
separate page?
2.
At margin for
first line and indented for subsequent lines?
3.
Double spaced?
4.
APA style exactly?
5.
Do you use
only those references you have cited in the body of your paper?
Once you have written a first draft, go through and check
each of these items off as you ensure you have done them.
Papers will be graded according to how consistently these
guidelines are used and how well the report summarizes the research.
GOOD LUCK!