Presenting your Research

What’s the point?

Communicating your findings is important step in the scientific method.You will likely learn more about your research.Forces you to think about your study from an outsider’s point of view.

What method of presentation?

Giving a research talk is a verbal explanation of your study to an audience who is there at the time, and allows for a larger group interaction.Presenting a poster provides written information and is more conducive to individual attention and smaller group conversations about the study.

What is common to both modes of presentation?

Both will include:IntroductionMethodResultsDiscussion

Introduction

What is the general topic?What are the real world connections?Any terms that need defining?

Introduction:How does this study fit in to the larger context just

addressed?Brief history of related studiesWhat new question does this study address?

Introduction: Summary of present study

What is the general technique you will use to answer the question?What is your theoretical hypothesis?What is your operational hypothesis?

Method

Who are the participants in your study?How were participants selected?

What materials were used in the study?

Method: Design

Correlational or Experimental? If Experimental, independent groups or repeated measures?How many PVs or IVs, what were they, levels?What was the DV?

Method: Procedure

Did any pilot test change your method?What instructions were given to each subject?What was the procedure?

Results

NO INTERPRETATION- i.e. stick to the facts!Were any data discarded? If so, why?Provide descriptive statistics in the form of a Figure or Table, with a caption above and with both axes labeled.

Results

What inferential statistics were employed?Were the differences statistically significant?

Discussion

Were your hypotheses supported?How do your results relate to your hypotheses?Why do you think you got the results you did?

especially important if results were unexpected

Can you explain your results in terms of other studies or theories?

Discussion

Can you generalize your results to other populations?Were there any substantial problems or flaws in your study’s design or procedure (e.g. Type II error)?

Discussion

Do the results suggest new studies?What is the next question that should be asked?

APA Style Talk: Overview

Should be 10 minuteswith another 5 minutes for questionsEach group member should speakSame format as APA paper, but…Fewer detailsKeep it simple, provide repetition (listener can’t go back and reread passage)

Presenting a Poster

Size required is 40” x 32”.Mount on a board for display on an easel.You’ll stand near the poster and answer questions anyone has about the study.Can provide quite a bit of information, but size, placement, and arrangement of information is very important.