Test your Knowledge--Reading & Reporting Research

1)  When writing an APA-formatted paper, begin the introduction section with this:
    a.  the heading introduction
    b.  the title.
    c.  a brief summary of new findings.
    d.  all of the above.

2)  A journal article title should be
    a.  long (15 to 25 words), describing the variables and the most significant result.
    b.  short (10 to 12 words), but giving some idea of the variables and content of the article.
    c.  composed of a title and several subtitles corresponding to the method, results, and discussion sections.
    d.  vague and uninformative.

3)  The careful writer of an article or report avoids language that is
    a.  sexist.
    b.  ambiguous.
    c.  suspenseful.
    d.  all of the above.

4)  Regarding the reference section, which of the following statements is/are true?
    a.  The reference section contains exact titles and authors for each article.
    b.  Only articles cited in the text appear in the references.
    c.  The contents of the reference section can be informative about the merit of an article.
    d.  all of the above.

5)  The method section should contain enough information for
    a.  another experimenter to replicate the study.
    b.  the reader to have a general understanding of the theories tested.
    c. the reader to have a vague idea of how the study was done.
    d.  someone to know exactly what statistical analyses were performed in the experiment.

6)  Which of the following would you be unlikely to find in the results section in a journal article?
    a.  graphs
    b.  summary tables
    c.  inferential statistics
    d.  raw data

7)  In the results section, inferential statistics are presented to
    a.  summarize the data.
    b. enable the reader to decide whether or not the data are reliable (they are not likely to occur by chance alone).
    c.  enable the reader to gain insight as to whether or not the data are important to the general field of study.
    d.  enable the author to demonstrate that his/her results actually tested the hypothesis.

 8)  One might describe the apparatus used in an experiment in the
    a.  introduction
    b.  method section.
    c.  results section.
    d.  discussion.

9)  Which section of a journal article evaluates how well the data fit the hypothesis(es)?
    a.  introduction
    b.  method
    c.  results
    d.  discussion.

10)  Most abstracts are written
    a.  first.
    b.  second.
    c.  last.
    d.  none of the above

11) What does the order in which the authors are listed tell you?

12)  What four main pieces of information should the abstract convey?

13) Which part of a research report provides the "foundation" for the study and the remainder of the article?

14) If there is a research hypothesis, should it be explicitly stated? If so, in which section of the paper?

15) Which part of a report describes the operationalizations and procedures employed in the study?

16) The Method section usually begins with a subsection that describes what?

17) Which section contains the outcomes of the descriptive and inferential statistical procedures used in the study? What is the tone of this section--factual or evaluative?

18) Which part of the report is usually the most "creative" in that the author examines, interprets, qualifies, and draws inferences from the results?

19)  What are the usual subsections of the Method?

ALSO SEE MCBRIDE P. 188-190