Research Report Handout

This handout is designed to help you with the structure and content of your research report. Fill it in as we work through labs this semester.

Introduction

Starting paragraph – introducing the topic

What is the general topic we are studying? Provide a brief definition, if needed.

Why is this topic important for experimental researchers?

Why is this topic important for applied behaviour analysts?

Body paragraphs – describing past research (aim for one paragraph per study)

What is already known about the topic?

Write a few (2-3) sentences introducing the key findings in the field. This will help you to lead into the descriptions of past research.

e.g., “Previous research suggests that reinforcers strengthen behaviour”.

Describe key research studies or theories within the field.

For each study, make sure you state:

What did they do? Summarise their procedure in 2-4 sentences.

What did they find? Summarise their results in 2-4 sentences.

What does it mean? Highlight the key conclusions from this study in 1-2 sentences. What does this study tell us about the topic?

Note that you may have more or less than three studies – that’s fine. Add or delete rows as necessary

Study 1

Study 2

Study 3

Body paragraphs – building a rationale (you can combine this into one paragraph, or split into two if you’ve got lots to say)

Look at the studies you described. What do they tell us about the topic?

Look at the studies you described. What don’t they tell us? That is, what unanswered questions are there?

Here is where you want to describe the gap in the literature. There will probably be lots of gaps – focus on those that are most relevant to your study.

Concluding paragraph for Introduction – describing your study

What is the aim or research question of your experiment?

How does the aim or research question help to address the gap in the literature that you described?

Briefly describe your procedure. Aim for 4-5 sentences maximum, focusing on the key details.

Optional: Making predictions

Make predictions about your data. What do you expect your subjects to do? Make sure you justify your predictions too!

e.g., “I predict that responses will increase because…”

Method

Procedure

Information about preliminary training

Was any preliminary training required?

If yes, describe it briefly.

If no, state this.

Information about the general procedure – what happened in a typical session?

What type of procedure was arranged?

Sometimes, procedures will have specific names, e.g. “delayed matching-to-sample”, “concurrent schedule”, “concurrent chains”. If you know the name of the procedure, state it here.

List what happened in a typical session. Make sure you:

State things in the order in which they occurred

Specify which keys, what stimuli, what types of schedules, durations of delays or inter-trial intervals, etc.

If your experiment arranges different types of trials, specify how the trials were ordered (e.g., random order, alternating, etc.)

e.g.,

1. The left and right keylights turned on, both lit yellow.

2. The left key arranged a VI 20-s schedule, and the right key arranged a VI 15-s schedule.

3. After a reinforcer, there was a 10-s ITI.

Was any counterbalancing (e.g., of key locations, stimuli, conditions, etc.) arranged? If so, specify this.

e.g., Pigeons 1 – 3 used the left key, and Pigeons 4 – 6 used the right key.

Information about different conditions or phases (if relevant)

How many conditions and/or phases were in your experiment? Briefly describe each condition or phase.

Avoid repetition – use sentences like, “Condition 2 was the same as Condition 1, except…”

How many sessions per condition or phase?

Specific information about how sessions ran

What time did sessions begin?

How long did sessions last? Was there a maximum time, or a maximum number of trials or reinforcers?

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