Research question: Is there a difference in daily(high and low) smartphone user’s visual attention control
Title
Every report must have a title. This should be a fairly short but informative phrase describing the study. It should be no longer than a sentence, although it may include colons or semi- colons. The experiment‟s dependent and independent variables are commonly referred to here.
For example:
A developmental study of the effects of instructions on visual shape judgements
Tobacco smoking, personality and sex factors in auditory vigilance performance
The generation effect with common and uncommon words
Body of Report
‘Abstract’
The abstract should summarise the whole of your experiment in a paragraph of 100 words (plus or minus 10%). It should contain a brief account of the experimental problem, method and results. It should end with the main conclusions of the study.
The abstracts from published studies are often published separately, particularly on the internet, so that researchers can decide whether the study is worth looking at in full. The abstract should therefore give a very concise summary of the study. Do not give details of number of participants, ages, sexes, etc. (unless that was the focus of the study). Outline why you did the study, how you did it, and what was found. Make sure that the abstract is a true representation of the report.
‘Introduction’
The introduction should provide the rationale for your study. It should begin by introducing the general area and providing necessary background information (such as previous studies and findings and the outline of any relevant theories). It should then focus on the particular area you are addressing and explain why it was important to perform your study. This part of the introduction may be a critique of previous work (if that is necessary to motivate your study). When you introduce your own study, make it a continuation of the first part of the introduction, rather than a separate section (though it may be in a separate paragraph).
You will need to state your specific aim(s) and your prediction(s) (i.e. experimental hypothesis/hypotheses) at the end of your introduction. This should be incorporated into your text as a sentence (rather than being just a statement at the end of the introduction). The null hypothesis is essentially the same for all experiments, that no effect or difference will be found. It is not normally given in a published paper but could be requested in a college report so that the marker can see that the student understands the difference between the experimental and null hypothesis.
The introduction should only contain information that is directly related to your study. Avoid presenting irrelevant details or presenting details of previous work as lists of facts. Back up all of the arguments you develop with pointers to previous work, and work the facts/arguments into the justifications for your study.
There is normally no fixed length for the introduction section of a published paper (though there will be a word count for student reports of 400 words plus or minus 10%), but it usually
consists of between five and ten paragraphs. The first paragraph should introduce the area (possibly by defining any terms used in the title). Subsequent paragraphs should present the main findings of previous research, with the presentation aimed at justifying your experiment. The final paragraph will then focus in on your experimental hypothesis (or hypotheses), ending with a clear statement of the hypothesis/hypotheses.
‘Method’
The method section describes how the study was carried out. It should contain enough information to enable the reader to replicate the study exactly. All relevant details should therefore be presented. The method section is subdivided into four sub-sections:
‘Design’
Identify the design of your experiment – between-subjects (independent-samples) or within- subjects (repeated-measures) or mixed-design (both between and within) – and specify the independent and dependent variables. This section is usually fairly brief.
‘Participants’
Present details about the people participating in the study here. These usually include descriptive statistics of their age or approximate age (i.e. mean and range or standard deviation), the number of males and females, their occupations (if relevant) and any other critical features. Also report how the participants were recruited. This information allows the reader to assess the generalisability of your study. If, for example, you were looking at varying instructions of flight instrument control to a group of pilots who happened to all have extensive pilot experience, then the findings from this study may not generalise to pilots with less extensive experience.
‘Materials and Apparatus’
Describe the materials (e.g., pens, paper, word lists) and apparatus (e.g., computer and monitor) used in your study here. If special procedures were used to select your stimulus materials, then also describe those procedures. Thus, for a study of memory for words lists, you would be required to describe how the word lists were constructed. Do not include the actual stimulus materials here. If necessary they can be included in an appendix at the end of the report.
‘Procedure’
Describe how you actually collected the data. This should be a step-by-step account of what happened to the participants. Any instructions given to participants should be reported verbatim, either in this section (if they were fairly short) or in an appendix (if they were lengthy).
„Results’
The results section should contain a summary of your findings. Reiterate what data were collected from your participants, and then present summary statistics of your dependent variables, e.g. descriptive statistics such as measures of central tendency and dispersion. The summary statistics may take the form of tables and/or figures. (Graphs are referred to as
„figures‟.) Each figure and table should be allocated a number so that it can be referred to from the text. Figure and table should also have an informative title (if you are using Word to produce your report, note that you can cut and paste graphs generated in SPSS into Word by using the „paste special‟ command).
When you perform inferential statistics say which inferential statistical tests have been used, on which aspects of the data they were used, and what was found. You will need to say
something like “A related t-test showed that solution times for specified anagrams were faster
than solution times for unspecified anagrams, t(18) = 2.89, p < 0.05”.
NB: Do not present raw data or calculations in the results section. Instead, raw data and calculations can be placed in an appendix (this is often not necessary with published papers). Do not present any interpretation of the data in the results section either (just report the findings un interpreted). The interpretation of your data should be reserved for the discussion section.
‘Discussion’
The discussion section should interpret your results and attempt to draw general conclusions. It should be of similar length to the introduction (roughly five to ten paragraphs and the same word count of 400 words plus or minus 10%).
Begin with a summary, in words, of the findings of the study.
Interpret these findings in light of the experiment‟s theoretical background, relating back to ideas presented in the introduction. Describe what your findings actually mean and whether they support the previous studies that you outlined in the introduction. You should avoid presenting new studies in the discussion section unless they are relevant to an unexpected finding from your study.
Discuss the generalisability and/or implications of your findings. For example, if you used only male participants, then your findings may be relevant only to males. If you think your findings do generalise, you should discuss their wider implications.
Consider any limitations of your study. Ideas for improvement on the experimental design and for future research should also be outlined.
End the section with a conclusion that summarises your findings. Avoid presenting over- generalisations and personal opinions. Restrict your conclusions to those that may be clearly drawn from the data.
