Writing up a Research Project
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Aims of the Session
• Appropriate writing of a quantitative project.
• Appropriate writing of a qualitative project.
• Guidelines for scientific writing.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Writing the Research
Project
• Start ASAP, e.g. literature review and
methods.
• Write down any ideas.
• Read the Project guidelines.
• You will have to rewrite each section (allow
time).
• BACK YOUR WORK UP!
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Title/Abstract
• Title: Should be as concise as possible.
• Don’t need ….”An investigation to see
whether…..” or to ask questions.
• Abstract: Also known as a summary.
• Main points of the project, ‘abstracted’
from it.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
General Page Format
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Double Spaced (except Abstract which is single spaced).
Font size 12.
Page numbers at centre of bottom of page.
Margins
• 1.5 inches from the left.
• 1.0 inches for all other margins.
• Please refer to Project guidelines for details for cover page
& title page.
• Acknowledgements.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Abstract
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1-2 sentences of Introduction.
1 sentence for Aim.
2-3 sentences for Methodology.
3-4 sentences for Results
3-4 sentences for discussion & conclusion.
Limit of 250-300 words.
Single –spaced.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Contents Page
• Ensure in line with sequence of chapters. Style of
page numbering, the BOLD & upper & lower case
text.
• Ensure have a list of Tables/Figures & Plates.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Title
• Should be concise, but fully informative.
• Example: Changes in glutamine & glutamate concentrations
for tracking training tolerance.
• Avoid superfluous words such as “An investigation of…..”
• Example: An investigation into the changes in glutamine &
glutamate concentrations for tracking training tolerance.
• Do not use questions for a title.
• Example: Do the changes in glutamine & glutamate
concentrations track training tolerance?
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter One: Introduction
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Think of this like a funnel.
Start with the general subject area. Discuss theory
and research work which is relevant to the
research topic. Move from the general
area to the particular hypotheses
to be tested via a coherent &
logical argument. State
the specific
hypothesis
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter One: Introduction
• 1.1 Introduction.
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Background to problem with key/major references.
Rationale of study.
Statement of problem.
Significance of study.
• 1.2 Aims
• The aims of the study are: • (i)
• (ii)
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter One: Introduction
• 1.3 Hypotheses/Research Questions.
• In order to fulfil the aims it was hypothesised
that:
• OR (mainly for qualitative projects)
• In order to fulfil the aims the following
research questions were addressed: -
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter One: Introduction
• Loosely/Incorrectly
stated:
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“More people of one
sex will avoid the
ladder because they
are superstitious”
“People will perform
worse on a sensorymotor task in front of
an audience”
• Correctly stated:
– “There will be no significant
difference between the
number of men and women
avoiding walking under the
ladder”
– “Participants will make
significantly more errors on
the sensory-motor task in
front of an audience than
when they are alone”
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter One: Introduction
• 1.4 Delimitations.
• A constraint imposed by the researcher.
• 1.5 Limitations.
• Something that the researcher has no control
over.
• Use Bullet Points for Limitations/Delimitation's.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter One: Introduction
• 1.6 Definition of Terms.
• Alphabetical order.
• Note: Dictionary Definitions are not accepted
unless it is from a sport science or medical
science publication.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter Two: Literature Review
• 2 Literature Review.
• Comprehensive coverage of the literature relevant to
the study (< 8 – 10 yrs old unless a specific ‘benchmark’
text/paper).
• A critical appraisal of the literature.
• How your study is related to/has emerged from this
literature.
• Commence with generality & finish with specificity.
• Use subheadings.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter Two: Literature Review
• Common errors:
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Poor referencing.
Written in wrong tense (use past tense)
Aim of review not written, or too broad.
Diagrams not explained.
Poor use of results from articles.
Use of questions (try to avoid)
Poor writing style.
Poor critical appraisal of literature.
No summary.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter Three: Method
• 3.1 Participants
• Number of subjects used & their classification.
• Age of subjects (mean  SD).
• Info on any relevant demographic &/or general statistic
about the subjects.
• 3.2 Equipment
• All equipment necessary for another researcher to
• successfully complete the same experiment.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter Three: Method
• 3.3 Protocol
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Step-by-step fashion.
Write as point form initially & then convert to
paragraphs.
Note: Bullet point is NOT an acceptable way to
present your method.
• 3.4 Data Analysis
• Statistics used (if any) & brief explanation why.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter Four: Results
• 4 Results
• Maintain confidentiality.
• Presentation of data must be clear (most raw data in an
appendix).
• Title of Tables at top (table top).
• Title of Figures at bottom (figure foot).
• Group data in separate tables & figures.
• Short paragraph to highlight the main/important data
on the table & explain what the data means in relation
to the table/figure.
• Discuss the data in the next chapter.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter Four: Results
• When reporting significance values in the text, the ‘p’
value must be reported in parentheses, immediately
following the statement, e.g.
• Significant differences (p<0.05) were found between the
age groups of the subjects used.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter Four: Results
• Figures:
• Do not put too much information on the figure.
• Title at bottom.
• Ensure that colours or shading is clear in terms of style
& format.
• Ensure that axis are clearly labelled & units given.
• SD Bars.
• Care with Pie Charts (not too many segments).
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Table 4: Mean and standard deviation for the
demographic data for trained & untrained subject
groups.
Trained
Untrained
Age (years)
21  6
26  5 *
Height (cms)
178  4
179  7
Weight (kg)
72  3
79  4 *
(Note: - * denotes significant difference, p< 0.05)
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter Five: Discussion
• 5 Discussion
• Explain the results. Why did you get these results?
• How does it relate to your hypotheses or research
questions?
• How do they compare to the literature you have used in
the review.
• How could the study be improved?
• Does the method & results help you fulfil your aims?
• Can you relate your findings to a wider pop?
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter Six: Conclusions &
Recommendations
• 6. Conclusions and Recommendations
• Should only be based on the results of your
study.
• Link to your aims.
• How would you develop this research to
further improve it and add to the database
currently available on the research topic?
• Implications of findings for future research.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Reference List & Appendices
• Reference List:
• HARVARD Style of referencing.
• Alphabetical Order.
• Original articles.
• Appendices:
• All raw data.
• Ordered in the sequence that such items occur
throughout the Project.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Qualitative Project
• Due to the nature of the techniques & data
collected it is not possible to give a definite
guide.
• Must seek guidance for appropriate writeup from tutor.
• Chapters 1 & 2 would be similar to a
quantitative project.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter Three: Method
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3 Method (based on interview research)
3.1 Introduction
• Reasons for the research, supported by literature
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3.2 Pilot Study
• Why was the format chosen?
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3.3 Interview Procedure
• How the sample was chosen, access to interviewees
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3.3.1 Interview Schedule
• Topic areas explored i.e. interview questions or broad
categories.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter Three: Method
• 3.3.2 Protocol
• 3.3.3.Analysis
• Method of coding e.g. grounded theory,
content analysis.
• Use of coding e.g. open or axial.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter Four: Discussion of
Results
• 4 Discussion of results
• 4.1 Introduction to Themes identified
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4.2 Theme One (insert title of theme)
4.3 Theme two
4.4 Theme Three
4.5 Theme Four
4.6 Summary
Within each section, what are the main aspects that
have contributed to his theme.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Chapter Four: Discussion of
Results
• 4.2 – 4.5 Discussion of results
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Definition of theme.
Illustrative examples of theme.
Comment on theme in relation to previous research.
How the present research takes the debate/topic
onward.
• Direct quotes from interview.
• Rest of Project is the same as quantitative project.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Guidelines on writing style
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Avoid…
Punctuation errors (especially in it’s and plural’s).
Spelling errors.
Abbreviations.
Awkward expressions.
Clichés, such as the results showed that…
Passive voice: e.g. It has been identified that….
wasted words.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Guidelines on writing style
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Avoid…
wrong words, especially affect and effect.
Repetitions.
non-sentences.
one-sentence paragraphs.
paragraphs with more than one main idea.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Guidelines on writing style
• Flow:
• Avoid unlinked ideas (non-sequiturs)
• Make a logical sequence of ideas within and
between paragraphs.
• List headings, subheadings and topics
within each section before you begin.
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners
Recommended Reading
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Banyard, P. & Greyson, A. (2000). Introducing psychological research. (2nd Ed.). Basingstoke,
UK: Palgrave.
Bell, J. (2001) Doing your research project. Open University Press: Buckingham.
Field, A. & Hole, G. (2003). How to design and report experiments. London: Sage
publications.
Field, A. (2000). Discovering Statistics using SPSS for window. London: Sage publications
Gratton, C. & Jones, I. (2004) Research methods for sport studies. London: Routledge.
Coolican, H. (1999). Research Methods & Statistics in Psychology, pp. 413-425. Hodder &
Stoughton: London.
Thomas, J.R. and Nelson, J.K. (1996). Research methods in physical activity (3rd edition)
Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics
Teaching Research Methods: Resources for
HE Social Sciences Practitioners