Writing the Research Report

KNES 510
Research Methods in
Kinesiology
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Contents of the Proposal

Introduction (Chapter 1)
Introduction
Brief review of literature
Statement of problem
Hypothesis
Review of Literature (Chapter 2)

Contents of the Proposal, contd

Methods (Chapter 3)
Participants
Instruments and measurements
Procedures
Design and analysis
Figures and tables
References
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The Proposal Process

Order of events
Proposal and your advisor
Proposal to committee
Proposal 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.

Five Commandments
for Writing the Discussion
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Thou shalt not say more research is needed.

Thou shalt not resort to methodological cop-outs.
Thou shalt not try to solve humanitys problems.
Thou shalt not swallow a thesaurus.
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)

Useless Table 1

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.

13

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.

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Good Figure

15

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, contd
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, contd
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 journals 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 journals rules.
Conference abstracts: often longer. Read the
rules.
Contents of abstracts
Problem
Methods
Results
Whats 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, contd

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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