1. Presenting your Research

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. What is common to both modes of presentation? Both will include: Introduction Method Results Discussion

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

6. Introduction: How does this study fit in to the larger context just addressed? Brief history of related studies What new question does this study address?

7. 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?

8. Method Who are the participants in your study? How were participants selected? What materials were used in the study?

9. 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?

10. Method: Procedure Did any pilot test change your method? What instructions were given to each subject? What was the procedure?

11. 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.

12. Results What inferential statistics were employed? Were the differences statistically significant?

13. 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?

14. 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)?

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

16. APA Style Talk: Overview Should be 10 minutes with another 5 minutes for questions Each group member should speak Same format as APA paper, but… Fewer details Keep it simple, provide repetition (listener can’t go back and reread passage)

17. 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.