Lecture: Presenting Your Research

PRESENTING YOUR RESEARCH Presentations and Proposal

Slide 1 Transcript

As we wind toward the completion of the course, it is time to bring together some of the concepts and applications covered. First, you will need to present the essential parts of your research manuscript. In your presentation you will be reporting how results are displayed, using graphs or tables. The research manuscript will be submitted for grading and is a major component of the course, so give it proper attention. Finally, there is a comprehensive examination to complete.

Oral Presentation

Summary briefing, not a defense of research

Use technology to facilitate, not to read from

Useful at poster sessions and conference presentations

Focus on problem and how methodology fits

Keep brief and focused with emphasis on key message

For ASCI 670, about 10 slides with narration and notes

Slide 3 Transcript

For the course requirement, the oral presentation is more of a summary briefing than a defense of the work. At professional conferences, you might be making a poster to contain the elements of a presentation. Or, you may be part of a conference tract presenting along with several others with similar topics as yours. Since a presentation often is a condensed version of a written work, you must be judicious in how much information to present and what the message is you wish to leave with the audience. Guidelines for the oral presentation of your research manuscript for this course are in Activity 3. As you prepare the presentation of your manuscript, here a few things to keep in mind. Use the technology to facilitate your presentation and don’t read from it. Keep a focus on what the problem is and how you are applying a methodology that fits and will generate useful data or understanding. You will be using a presentation tool like PowerPoint, Slide Rocket, or Prezi. Just be sure they are able to be downloaded or read by everyone without needing special access or programs. Usually, a PowerPoint presentation with no more than 10 slides is fine accompanied by narration, plus notes below each slide.

Written Presentation of Manuscript

Publication Manual of American Psychological Association

Avoid claims about something not directly observed

Four writing guidelines are to be: Accurate: reflects credibility of author; proofread Comprehensive: enough to critically evaluate literature Concise: disclose in a few words as possible Conservative: don’t generalize beyond data

Be appropriate and unbiased – try not to offend

Slide 5 Transcript

The document you will prepare is called an APA-style manuscript. Creation of documents using the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association typically are meant for consideration in published peer-reviewed journals. There are four general writing guidelines emphasized by APA – be accurate, be comprehensive, yet concise, be conservative, and be appropriate. Accuracy is important because it reflects the credibility of the author. To avoid mistakes, proofreading is essential so put it down for a day or so then proofread again. Being comprehensive means including enough information in the report, so the reader can critically evaluate its contribution to the scientific literature. Being concise means disclosing the study fully in as few words as possible. It may help to abbreviate when appropriate, display data in a figure or table, keep the writing focused, and don’t repeat information. When it comes to being conservative don’t generalize beyond the data or overstate your conclusions. Also, don’t make claims about anything you did not measure or observe directly because your observations are the focus of interpretations, not your speculations. And the last one is a reminder to assure you not offend those who read your work, so be appropriate and unbiased.

Elements of an APA-Style Manuscript

APA Publication Manual for editorial and writing style

Manuscript has four main sections Title page: running head Abstract: hypothesis and importance Main body: introduction, method, results References and Appendices

Slide 7 Transcript

Again, the APA style is intended for editorial purposes as much as general writing style. The elements of an APA manuscript are structured, so it can be readily typeset and converted to a published document. The manuscript is organized into major sections that include a title page, abstract, main body including an introduction with background and relevant literature, methods, results, and discussion, and finally the references and appendices, if any. The title page is the first and has a running head in all capital letters. Note, though, that subsequent pages omit the words “running head.” The abstract is a brief written summary with an opening sentence of the hypothesis or research question and importance of the subject. The main body will have the introduction and methodology and should be provided with description of participants and procedures used. Next are the findings and one or two sentences about conclusions and implications of the outcomes.

The Introduction

No heading for Introduction (with APA format)

Communicates what is new or interesting (3 pages)

Structure of sections Introduce problem Importance of addressing problem Relevant research and that directly influences your research All sources cited State hypothesis or research question Provide methodology used and justification

Slide 9 Transcript First, note that no heading is provided for the introduction, instead just the title is used. The introduction must communicate clearly what makes your ideas novel and interesting in about two or three pages. The introduction should be structured to introduce the problem and explain why it is important to conduct new research to address the problem. This is the point where you integrate previous research that is relevant to what you are addressing in your research. It is worth noting that you should not do a complete review of the history of your topic, instead, review only those articles and studies that directly influence your claims and research. All sources should be appropriately cited, and the manuscript written so it can be clearly understood by the audience. Last, you should state the hypothesis being tested and the research design being used.

Literature Reviews

Review of literature versus literature review

Review of literature Included in Introduction Limited to problem and method used in a study

Literature Review Comprehensive review of problem or issue Special editions of journals

Valuable resource Synthesizes previous articles

Organizes, integrates, evaluates sources to clarify problem

Slide 11 Transcript

Let’s clear up something there is a review of the literature and a literature review. The review of the literature for your study is included in the introduction. Generally, this is limited to the problem your investigating the method your applying to design your research, though it is not extensive by any means. Some published articles however are themselves comprehensive reviews of literature about a particular problem or issue and cover a wide slot. These are often published in special editions of a journal and provide a virtual goldmine of research for other researchers. A good literature review can save you countless hours of searching and all you need to do is verify the sources, rea the original sources for validation of information or data and update to find the most current references. A good literature review synthesizes previous articles as a meta- analysis and focuses on a specific theme. The goal of a literature review is to organize, integrate, evaluate published works or problem to consider progress made toward clarifying that problem.

The Methodology and Results

Use only subheadings that apply

Structure for Methodology section Participants

description of characteristics (table or text)

Sampling method how participants were selected how number needed was determined

Measures outcome measures data collection methods and procedures instruments and equipment used research design (including data analysis and criterion)

Results Report all statistical outcomes Tests of the hypothesis (means, SD, sig., effect size, CI)

Slide 13 Transcript

There are many subheadings that could be included in the Methodology section, but you should include only those that apply to your research. First, if there are participants, you include all the details as appropriate. These can be in a table or in the text. You would describe the sampling method and how the participants were identified, including how you determined the number needed. Next are the measures for outcomes and the procedures which describe how participants were administered the independent variable for which you would include sufficient information to allow a reader to fully replicate the procedures. A section on data analysis is nearly always included and indicates the statistical tests and criterion used for each analysis that will be reported in the results section. For results, all statistical outcomes should be reported, especially those that specifically address the research hypotheses being tested like the group means, standard deviations, significance, effect size and confidence intervals.

Discussion and References

Evaluate and interpret outcomes

Structure for Discussion Hypothesis supported or not Basis for conclusions in data developed Context of findings with prior research Limitations of method New directions and implications

Build on understanding the problem

References as separate section on new page

List each source cited in main body Journals, books, studies, government documents

Slide 15 Transcript

In the discussion you evaluate and interpret outcomes in your study. You can use the discussion to build upon a stronger interpretation and understanding of the problem. Structure for the discussion is to begin with whether your findings lend support or nonsupport for the hypothesis tested and briefly explain where in the data those conclusions are based. Then, provide a context for how your findings fit with previously published studies and identify potential limitations of your research and methods. You would provide a brief commentary on the importance of your findings and suggest new directions and implications. The references begin on a separate page after the discussion section. Here, for each source cited in the manuscript, you list the sources in alphabetical order. More common sources include journal articles, books, studies, and government documents or legal interpretations.

Qualitative Research Reports

Offers interpretation for new perspective

Differences from quantitative method

Introduction and Method leave open many alternatives Narrative describes what was observed

Analysis written as narrative (not statistics)

Discussion evaluates possible explanations

Avoids generalizing

Requires evaluation of participant responses

Slide 17 Transcript

The analysis provided in a quantitative study offers a series of interpretations and contributes to a new perspective to add to others to explain observations made. For a qualitative study, the analysis section is written as a narrative, not as a report of statistical outcomes. To analyze observations that are descriptive and guided by questions that participants ask, qualitative researchers evaluate the trustworthiness of their observations. There are two key differences in writing manuscripts for qualitative versus quantitative research. First, the introduction and method sections in a qualitative report argue ways of examining a problem in a way that may leave open many alternatives, whether anticipated or not by the researchers. Second, in a qualitative report, a narrative is constructed in the analysis section to describe what was observed. A discussion section evaluates possible explanations for those observations with little effort to generalize beyond the specific observations made.

Final Examination

Brief essay format

Guides to use Course learning outcomes Lectures (slides and narrative) Textbook

Ten (10) items

Open book

90 minutes in one sitting

Slide 19 Transcript

The final examination for the course is in brief essay format with 10 items. The time limit is 90 minutes and you need to be ready to complete the entire examination in one sitting. As a guide, you should review the course learning outcomes and be prepared to address many of the main points included in them. The main resources to consult are the PowerPoint lectures and the textbook. The examination is open book, so a wise student might have drafted some material already to cut and paste, and to have tabbed the textbook for easy location. That brings us to the close of this module and soon you will have completed the course. Hopefully, what you have gained will be of practical application in remaining courses or later in your professional capacities. Here’s wishing you all the best going forward and thank you for listening these last nine weeks.