Writing the Results Section

1
Writing the Results Section

• Communicating the findings of the study

2
Results

• There is no such thing as a pure results section
  without an accompanying narrative
• Use the Results section to answer the questions
  you raised in your introduction
• Stick to the facts

3
Results

• The Results section summarizes the data collected
  and the data analytical treatment used
• Mention all relevant results
• Include results that run counter to the
  hypothesis
• Dont discuss the implications of the results in
  this section

4
Results

• Begin the Results section on the same page on
  which the Method section ends
• Double space before and after the Results heading

5
Preliminary material

• Present evidence that your study successfully set
  up the conditions for testing your hypotheses or
  answering your questions
• For example, if you divided the participants into
  groups, assure the reader that these groups did
  not differ on some unintended variable

6
Preliminary material

• Describe procedures used to convert raw
  observations into analyzable data
• For example, how did you code responses?

7
Preliminary material

• Tell about the statistical analysis
• If it is standard, describe it briefly
• If it is unconventional, discuss the rationale
  for choosing it (perhaps a citation)
• If it is new or unfamiliar to the reader, provide
  a full explanation

8
Preliminary material

• If the results section is complicated or divided
  into several parts, provide an overview of the
  section

9
Begin with the Central Findings

• State the basic finding first, and then elaborate
  or qualify it as necessary
• Or
• Discuss an overall measure of aggression or
  whatever first, and then move to its individual
  components

10
Presenting the Findings

• Remind us of the hypothesis
• For example It will be recalled that the men are
  expected to be more emotionally expressive than
  the women.
• This is the conceptual statement of the hypothesis

11
Presenting the Findings

• Remind us of the operations performed and
  behaviors measured
• For example, In particular, the men should
  produce more tears during the showing of the film
  than the women.
• This is the operational statement of the
  hypothesis

12
Presenting the Findings

• Tell us the answer immediately
• For example, As Table 1 reveals, men do, in
  fact, cry more profusely than the women.

13
Presenting the Findings

• Now speak of the numbers
• For example, Thus the men in all four conditions
  produced an average of 1.4 cc more tears than the
  women, F (1,112) 5.79, p lt .025.

14
Presenting the Findings

• Elaborate or qualify the overall conclusion if
  necessary.
• For example, Only in the father-watching
  condition did the men fail to produce more tears
  than the women, but a specific test of this
  effect failed to reach significance, t 1.58,
  p lt .12.

15
Presenting the Findings

• End each section of the results with a summary of
  where things stand.
• For example, Thus, except for the
  father-watching condition, which will be
  discussed below, the hypothesis that men cry more
  than women in response to visually-depicted grief
  appears to receive strong support.

16
Presenting the Findings

• Lead into the next section of the results with a
  smooth transition sentence.
• For example, Men may thus be more expressive
  than women in the domain of negative emotion, but
  are they more expressive in the domain of
  positive emotion? Table 2 shows they are not . .
  .

17
Presenting the Findings

• Continue to summarize and update the readers
  store of information frequently.
• The reader should not have to keep looking back
  to retrieve the major points of your plot line.

18
Presenting the Findings

• Reminder
• Announce each result clearly in prose before
  wading into numbers and statistics.
• Summarize frequently.

19
Figures and Tables

• If a set of findings can be stated in one or two
  numbers, dont use a table.

20
Figures and Tables

• For more than two numbers, add a figure or table
  summarizing the relevant data

21
Figures and Tables

• Label figures and tables
• Create clear and complete labels, even if they
  are lengthy
• For example, Mean number of tears produced by
  two affective films as a function of affect
  valence, participant sex, parental observation,
  and self-esteem.

22
Figures and Tables

• Within the text itself, lead the reader by the
  hand through a table to point out the results of
  interest.
• For example, As shown in the first column of
  Table 2, men produce more tears (2.33 cc) than
  women (1.89 cc). . . . Of particular interest . .
  .

23
Figures and Tables

• When you use tables or figures, you must mention
  all of them in the text.
• Refer to all tables as tables and to all graphs,
  pictures, or drawings as figures (APA Manual, p.
  21)
• Always tell the reader what to look for in the
  tables and figures

24
Statistics

• Even though they are very important, statistics
  should be subordinated to the description of the
  results
• Whenever possible, state a result first, and then
  give its statistical significance

25
Statistics

• Never give a statistical test without
  interpreting it fully
• For example, Do not tell us that the three-way
  interaction with sex, parent condition, and
  self-esteem was significant at the .05 level
  unless you tell us immediately and in English
  that men are less expressive than women in the
  negative conditions if father watchesbut only
  for men with low self-esteem.

26
Statistics

• In an analysis of variance (ANOVA) design, the
  data analysis will automatically display the
  effects of several independent variables on a
  single dependent variable.

27
Statistics

• However Do NOT be a prisoner of ANOVA
• If the narrative flows more smoothly by
  discussing the effects of a single independent
  variable on several conceptually related
  dependent variables, tear your ANOVA results
  apart and reorganize them

28
Statistics

• Just as the methods section should give readers a
  feel for the procedures used, the results section
  should give them a feel for the behavior observed
• Choose statistics that convey the behavior of
  your participants as vividly as possible

29
Ending the Results Section

• After you have presented your quantitative
  results, it is often useful to become more
  informal and briefly describe the behavior of
  particular individuals in your study.

30
Ending the Results Section

• The point isnt to prove something here, but to
  share with readers the feel of the behavior.
• For example, Indeed, two of the men used an
  entire box of Kleenex during the showing of the
  heart operation but would not pet the baby kitten
  owned by the secretary.

31
Summary of the Results Section

• Communicates the findings of the study
• Describes each analysis, including variables, and
  the question it addresses
• Gives statistics
• Uses plain English

32
Summary of the Results Section

• Uses text, tables or graphs for descriptive
  statistics
• Focuses on the findings, not the statistics
• Concise

33
Format of a Typical Paragraph in the Results
Section

• State the purpose of the analysis
• Identify the descriptive statistic to be used to
  summarize results
• 3. Present a summary of this descriptive
  statistic across conditions in the text, a figure
  or table

34
Format of a Typical Paragraph in the Results
Section

• Point out major findings in the table or figure
  to help the reader focus
• Present the reasons for, and the results of,
  confidence intervals, effect sizes, and
  inferential statistics tests
• State the conclusion that follows from each test,
  but do NOT discuss implications