What is Market Research?

Market research is a technique that is used to collect data on any aspect that you want to know to be
later able to interpret it and, in the end, make use of it for correct decision-making.
Another more specific definition could be the following:
Market research is the process by which companies seek to collect data systematically to make better
decisions. Still, its true value lies in the way in which all the data obtained is used to achieve a better
knowledge of the market consumer.
The process of market research can be done through deploying surveys, interacting with a group of
people, also known as a sample, conducting interviews, and other similar processes.
The primary purpose of conducting market research is to understand or examine the market associated
with a particular product or service to decide how the audience will react to a product or service. The
information obtained from conducting market research can be used to tailor marketing/ advertising
activities or determine consumers’ feature priorities/service requirement (if any).

Why is market research important?

Conducting research is one of the best ways of achieving customer satisfaction, reducing customer
churn and elevating business. Here are the reasons why market research is important and should be
considered in any business:
Valuable information: It provides information and opportunities about the value of existing and new
products, thus, helping businesses plan and strategize accordingly.
Customer-centric: It helps to determine what the customers need and want. Marketing is customer-
centric and understanding the customers and their needs will help businesses design products or
services that best suit them. Remember that tracing your customer journey is a great way to gain
valuable insights into your customers’ sentiments toward your brand.
Forecasts: By understanding the needs of customers, businesses can also forecast their production and
sales. Market research also helps in determining optimum inventory stock.
Competitive advantage: To stay ahead of competitors market research is a vital tool to carry out
comparative studies. Businesses can devise business strategies that can help them stay ahead of their
competitors.

Types of Market Research: Market Research Methods and Examples

Whether an organization or business wishes to know the purchase behavior of consumers or the
likelihood of consumers paying a certain cost for a product, market research helps in drawing
meaningful conclusions.
Depending on the methods and tools required, the following are the types:
1. Primary Market Research (A combination of both Qualitative and Quantitative Research):Primary
market research is a process where organizations or businesses get in touch with the end consumers or
employ a third party to carry out relevant studies to collect data. The data collected can be qualitative
data (non-numerical data) or quantitative data (numerical or statistical data).
While conducting primary market research, one can gather two types of information: Exploratory and
Specific. Exploratory research is open-ended, where a problem is explored by asking open ended
questions in a detailed interview format usually with a small group of people, also known as a sample.
Here the sample size is restricted to 6-10 members. Specific research, on the other hand, is more
pinpointed and is used to solve the problems that are identified by exploratory research.
As mentioned earlier, primary market research is a combination of qualitative market research and
quantitative market research. Qualitative market research study involves semi-structured or
unstructured data collected through some of the commonly used qualitative research methods like:

Focus groups:
Focus group is one of the commonly used qualitative research methods. Focus group is a small group
of people (6-10) who typically respond to online surveys sent to them. The best part about a focus
group is the information can be collected remotely, can be done without personally interacting with
the group members. However, this is a more expensive method as it is used to collect complex
information.
One-to-one interview:
As the name suggests, this method involves personal interaction in the form of an interview, where the
researcher asks a series of questions to collect information or data from the respondents. The questions
are mostly open-ended questions and are asked to facilitate responses. This method heavily depends
on the interviewer’s ability and experience to ask questions that evoke responses.
Ethnographic research:
This type of in-depth research is conducted in the natural settings of the respondents. This method
requires the interviewer to adapt himself/herself to the natural environment of the respondents which
could be a city or a remote village. Geographical constraints can be a hindering factor in conducting
this kind of research. Ethnographic research can last from a few days to a few years.
Organizations use qualitative research methods to conduct structured market research by using online
surveys, questionnaires, and polls to gain statistical insights to make informed decisions.
This method was once conducted using pen and paper. This has now evolved to sending structured
online surveys to the respondents to gain actionable insights. Researchers use modern and technology-
oriented survey platforms to structure and design their survey to evoke maximum responses from
respondents.
Through a well-structured mechanism, data is easily collected and reported, and necessary action can
be taken with all the information made available firsthand.

2. Secondary Market Research:

Secondary research uses information that is organized by outside sources like government agencies,
media, chambers of commerce etc. This information is published in newspapers, magazines, books,
company websites, free government and nongovernment agencies and so on. The secondary source
makes use of the following:

Public sources: Public sources like library are an awesome way of gathering free information.
Government libraries usually offer services free of cost and a researcher can document available
information.
Commercial sources: Commercial source although reliable are expensive. Local newspapers,
magazines, journal, television media are great commercial sources to collect information.
Educational Institutions: Although not a very popular source of collecting information, most
universities and educational institutions are a rich source of information as many research projects are
carried out there than any business sector.

Three key objectives of market research

A market research project may usually have 3 different types of objectives.
Administrative: Help a company or business development, through proper planning, organization, and
both human and material resources control, and thus satisfy all specific needs within the market, at the
right time.
Social: Satisfy customers’ specific needs through a required product or service. The product or service
should comply with a customer’s requirements and preferences when consumed.
Economical: Determine the economical degree of success or failure a company can have while being
new to the market, or otherwise introducing new products or services, thus providing certainty to all
actions to be implemented.

Steps for conducting Market Research

Knowing what to do in various situations that arise during the investigation will save the researcher
time and reduce research problems. Today’s successful enterprises use powerful market research
survey software that helps them conduct comprehensive research under a unified platform, providing
actionable insights much faster with fewer problems.
Following are the steps to conduct effective market research.
Step #1: Define the Problem
Having a well-defined subject of research will help researchers when they ask questions. These
questions should be directed to solve problems and must be adapted to the project. Make sure the
questions are written clearly and that the respondents understand them. Researchers can conduct a
marketing test with a small group to know if the questions are going to know whether the asked
questions are understandable and if they will be enough to gain insightful results.
Research objectives should be written in a precise way and should include a brief description of the
information that is needed and the way in which it will obtain it. They should have an answer to this
question “why are we doing the research?”
Step #2: Define the Sample
To carry out market research, researchers need a representative sample that can be collected using one
of the many sampling techniques. A representative sample is a small number of people that reflect, as
accurately as possible, a larger group.
An organization cannot waste their resources in collecting information from the wrong population. It
is important that the population represents characteristics that matter to the researchers and that they
need to investigate, are in the chosen sample.
Take into account that marketers will always be prone to fall into a bias in the sample because there
will always be people who do not answer the survey because they are busy, or answer it incompletely,
so researchers may not obtain the required data.
Regarding the size of the sample, the larger it is, the more likely it is to be representative of the
population. A larger representative sample gives the researcher greater certainty that the people
included are the ones they need, and they can possibly reduce bias. Therefore, if they want to avoid
inaccuracy in our surveys, they should have representative and balanced samples.
Practically all the surveys that are considered in a serious way, are based on a scientific sampling,
based on statistical and probability theories.
There are two ways to obtain a representative sample:
Probability sampling: In probability sampling, the choice of the sample will be made at random,
which guarantees that each member of the population will have the same probability of selection bias
and inclusion in the sample group. Researchers should ensure that they have updated information on
the population from which they will draw the sample and survey the majority to establish
representativeness.
Non-probability sampling: In a non-probability sampling, different types of people are seeking to
obtain a more balanced representative sample. Knowing the demographic characteristics of our group
will undoubtedly help to limit the profile of the desired sample and define the variables that interest
the researchers, such as gender, age, place of residence, etc. By knowing these criteria, before obtaining
the information, researchers can have the control to create a representative sample that is efficient for
us.
When a sample is not representative, there can be a margin of error. If researchers want to have a
representative sample of 100 employees, they should choose a similar number of men and women.
The sample size is very important, but it does not guarantee accuracy. More than size,
representativeness is related to the sampling frame, that is, to the list from which people are selected,
for example, part of a survey.

Step #3: Carry out data collection

First, a data collection instrument should be developed. The fact that they do not answer a survey, or
answer it incompletely will cause errors in research. The correct collection of data will prevent this.

Step #4: Analyze the results

Each of the points of the market research process is linked to one another. If all the above is executed
well, but there is no accurate analysis of the results, then the decisions made consequently will not be
appropriate. In-depth analysis conducted without leaving loose ends will be effective in gaining
solutions. Data analysis will be captured in a report, which should also be written clearly so that
effective decisions can be made on that basis.
Analyzing and interpreting the results is to look for a wider meaning to the obtained data. All the
previous phases have been developed to arrive at this moment.
How can researchers measure the obtained results? The only quantitative data that will be obtained is
age, sex, profession, and number of interviewees because the rest are emotions and experiences that
have been transmitted to us by the interlocutors. For this, there is a tool called empathy map that forces
us to put ourselves in the place of our clientele with the aim of being able to identify, really, the
characteristics that will allow us to make a better adjustment between our products or services and
their needs or interests.

When the research has been carefully planned, the hypotheses have been adequately defined and the
indicated collection method has been used, the interpretation is usually carried out easily and
successfully.
Step #5: Make the Research Report
When presenting the results, researchers should focus on: what do they want to achieve using this
research report and while answering this question they should not assume that the structure of the
survey is the best way to do the analysis. One of the big mistakes that many researchers make is that
they present the reports in the same order of their questions and do not see the potential of storytelling.

To make good reports, the best analysts give the following advice: follow the inverted pyramid style
to present the results, answering at the beginning the essential questions of the business that caused
the investigation. Start with the conclusions and give them fundamentals, instead of accumulating
evidence. After this researchers can provide details to the readers who have the time and interest.

Step #6: Make Decisions

An organization or a researcher should never ask “why do market research”, they should just do it!

Market research helps researchers to know a wide range of information, for example, consumer
purchase intentions, or gives feedback about the growth of the target market. They can also discover
valuable information that will help in estimating the prices of their product or service and find a point
of balance that will benefit them and the consumers.

Benefits of an Efficient Market Research

Make well-informed decisions: The growth of an organization is dependent on the way decisions are
made by the management. Using market research techniques, the management can make business
decisions based on obtained results that back their knowledge and experience. Market research helps
to know market trends, hence to carry it out frequently to get to know the customers thoroughly.
Gain accurate information: Market research provides real and accurate information that will prepare
the organization for any mishaps that may happen in the future. By properly investigating the market,
a business will undoubtedly be taking a step forward, and therefore it will be taking advantage of its
existing competitors.
Determine the market size: A researcher can evaluate the size of the market that must be covered in
case of selling a product or service in order to make profits.
Choose an appropriate sales system: Select a precise sales system according to what the market is
asking for, and according to this, the product/service can be positioned in the market.
Learn about customer preferences: It helps to know how the preferences (and tastes) of the clients
change so that the company can satisfy preferences, purchasing habits, and income levels. Researchers
can determine the type of product that must be manufactured or sold based on the specific needs of
consumers.
Gather details about customer perception of the brand: In addition to generating information, market
research helps a researcher in understanding how the customers perceive the organization or brand.
Analyze customer communication methods: Market research serves as a guide for communication with
current and potential clients.
Productive business investment: It is a great investment for any business because thanks to it they get
invaluable information, it shows researchers the way to follow to take the right path and achieve the
sales that are required.

Market Research Tips for Businesses

The following tips will help businesses with creating a better market research strategy.

Tip #1: Define the objective of your research.

Before starting your research quest, think about what you’re trying to achieve next with your business.
Are you looking to increase traffic to your location? Or increase sales? Or convert customers from
one-time purchasers to regulars? Figuring out your objective will help you tailor the rest of your
research and your future marketing materials. Having an objective for your research will flesh out what
kind of data you need to collect.

Tip #2: Learn About Your Target Customers.

The most important thing to remember is that your business serves a specific kind of customer.
Defining your specific customer has many advantages like allowing you to understand what kind of
language to use when crafting your marketing materials, and how to approach building relationships
with your customer. When you take time to define your target customer you can also find the best
products and services to sell to them.
You want to know as much as you can about your target customer. You can gather this information
through observation and by researching the kind of customers who frequent your type of business. For
starters, helpful things to know are their age and income. What do they do for a living? What’s their
marital status and education level?
Tip #3: Recognize that knowing who you serve helps you define who you do not.
Let’s take a classic example from copywriting genius Dan Kennedy. He says that if you’re opening up
a fine dining steakhouse focused on decadent food, you know right off the bat that you’re not looking
to attract vegetarians or dieters. Armed with this information, you can create better marketing messages
that speak to your target customers.
It’s okay to decide who is not a part of your target customer base. In fact, for small businesses knowing
who you don’t cater to can be essential in helping you grow. Why? Simple, if you’re small your
advantage is that you can connect deeply with a specific segment of the market. You want to focus
your efforts on the right customer who already is compelled to spend money on your offer.
If you’re spreading yourself thin by trying to be all things to everyone, you will only dilute your core
message. Instead, keep your focus on your target customer. Define them, go deep, and you’ll be able
to figure out how you can best serve them with your products and services.

Tip #4: Learn from your competition.

This works for brick-and-mortar businesses as well as internet businesses because it allows you to step
into the shoes of your customer and open up to a new perspective of your business. Take a look around
the internet and around your town. If you can, visit your competitor’s shops. For example, if you own
a restaurant specializing in Italian cuisine, dine at the other Italian place in your neighborhood or in
the next township.
As you experience the business from the customer’s perspective, look for what’s being done right and
wrong.
Can you see areas that need attention or improvement? How are you running things in comparison?
What’s the quality of their product and customer service? Are the customers here pleased? Also, take
a close look at their market segment. Who else is patronizing their business? Are they the same kinds
of people who spend money with you? By asking these questions and doing in-person research, you
can dig up a lot of information to help you define your unique selling position and create even better
offers for your customers.

Tip #5: Get your target customers to open up and tell you everything.
A good customer survey is one of the most valuable market research tools because it gives you the
opportunity to get inside your customer’s head. However, remember that some feedback may be harsh,
so take criticism as a learning tool to point you in the right direction.
Creating a survey is simple. Ask questions about what your customer thinks you’re doing right and
what can be improved. You can also prompt them to tell you what kinds of products and services they’d
like to see you add, giving you fantastic insight into how to monetize your business more. Many
customers will be delighted to offer feedback. You can even give customers who fill out surveys a gift
like a special coupon for their next purchase.

Why Does Every Business Need Market Research?

Market research is one of the most effective ways to gain insight into your customer base, competitors,
and the overall market. The goal of conducting market research is to equip your company with the
information you need to make informed decisions.
It is especially important when small businesses are trying to determine whether a new business idea
is viable, looking to move into a new market, or are launching a new product or service. Read below
for a more in-depth look at how market research can help small businesses.
COMPETITION According to a study conducted by Business Insider, 72% of small businesses focus
on increasing revenue. Conducting research helps businesses gain insight into competitor behavior. By
learning about your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, you can learn how to position your product
or offering. In order to be successful, small businesses need to have an understanding of what products
and services competitors are offering, and their price point.

CUSTOMERS Many small businesses feel they need to understand their customers, only to conduct
market research and learn they had the wrong assumptions. By researching, you can create a profile of
your average customer and gain insight into their buying habits, how much they’re willing to spend,
and which features resonate with them. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, you can learn
what will make someone use your product or service over a competitor.
OPPORTUNITIES Potential opportunities, whether they are products or services, can be identified by
conducting market research. By learning more about your customers, you can gather insights into
complementary products and services. Consumer needs change over time, influenced by new
technology and different conditions, and you may find new needs that are not being met, which can
create new opportunities for your business.
FORECAST A small business is affected by the performance of the local and national economy, as are
its’ customers. If consumers are worried, then they will be more restrained when spending money,
which affects the business. By conducting research with consumers, businesses can get an idea of
whether they are optimistic or apprehensive about the direction of the economy, and make adjustments
as necessary. For example, a small business owner may decide to postpone a new product launch if it
appears the economic environment is turning negative.

RESEARCH REPORT WRITING

1 DEFINITION OF RESEARCH REPORT

Research is the systematic investigations into study of a natural phenomena or materials
or sourcesor existing condition of the society in order to identify facts or to get additional
information and derive new conclusions. It is a production process, which needs a
number of inputs to produce new knowledge and application of new and existing
knowledge to generate technology that ultimately maygenerate economic prosperity of a
nation. Simply, a research paper/report is a systematic write up on the findings of the
study including methodologies, discussion, conclusions etc. following a definite style.
The research report writers in making the report good qualitative should remember the
saying ‘Try to express, not to impress’. More elaborately and precisely, a report or
systematic writeup on the findings of a research study including an abstract/executive
summary/summary, introduction (Background with literature review, justification,
objectives etc.) methodology/materials and methods (including statistical design, if any),
results and discussion, conclusions and recommendations, references etc. following a
definite style or format may be called a Research Report.

2 TYPES OF REPORT
General types of reports are -
1. Informational
 Inform or instruct – present information.
 Reader sees the details of events, activities or conditions.
 No analysis of the situation, no conclusion, no recommendations.
2. Analytical
 Written to solve problems.
 Information is analyzed.
 Conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made.
3. Persuasive
 An extension of analytical reports - main focus is to sell an idea, a service, or product.
 Proposals are the most common type.
Reports usually have a more diverse audience, more than one purpose and more
detailed information. Some other types of reports are –
Incident Report: A report describing how close you are to completing something you planned.
Accident Report: A report describing how many goods or services were sold, and
the reasons for any differences from the plan.
Sales Report: A report on what has happened in a place, and how close your
organization is to finishing construction.
Progress Report: An academic report on how and why something has changed over time.
Feasibility Study/Report: A report describing something that hashappened.
 Recommendation Report: A report on how practical a proposal is.
Site: A report on what your organization should do.
Case Study: A report describing how someone was hurt or something was damaged.
Periodic Operating Reports: To monitor and control production, sales, shipping, service, etc.
Situational Report: To describe one-time events, such as trips, conferences, and seminars.
Investigative/Informational: To examine problems and supply facts – with little analysis.
Compliance: To respond to government agencies and laws.
Justification/Recommendation: To make recommendations to management and
become tools tosolve problems and make decisions.
Yardstick: To establish criteria and evaluate alternatives by measuring against the
‘yardstick’criteria.
Research Studies: To study problems scientifically by analyzing a
problem, developing hypotheses, collecting data, analyzing data, and
drawing conclusions.

3 COMPONENTS OF A RESEARCH REPORT

Scientific research articles provide a method for scientists to communicate with other
scientists about the results of their research. A standard format is used for these
articles, in which theauthor presents the research in an orderly, logical manner. This
doesn't necessarily reflect theorder in which you did or thought about the work. The
following is a general outline for a researchreport.

Beginnin i.e. title page, abstract, key word list, table of contents, list of figures and tables,
g acknowledgements
Material
:
Chapter 1: Introduction – statement of the problem, hypotheses, why it is important,
objectivesof the work, scope of the work
Chapter 2: Background and Literature Review – discuss related work and indicate how it
relates toreport
Chapter 3: Procedure – describe the procedure used in project, data used, and how it
wasobtained
Chapter 4: Results – indicate what happened and interpret what it means

Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations – summarize conclusions and what they mean
(i.e., answer the question, “So what?”). What changes and further work do you
recommend?
TITLE
The title is centered at the top of the page and only important words are capitalized.
It includesa very brief statement of the main variables (independent and dependent)
in the study.
Make the title specific enough to describe the contents of the paper, but not so
technical thatonly specialists will understand. The title should be appropriate for
the intended audience.
The title usually describes the subject matter of the article. For example: Effect of
 Smoking onAcademic Performance.
Sometimes a title that summarizes the results is more effective. Example: Students
Who SmokeGet Lower Grades.
Titles with colons are currently in vogue but usually they are not as cute as you
think they arewhen you first think of them.
Notice that the title allows the reader the most succinct summary of the main
‘players’ in theexperiment and the character of their relationship to each other.

AUTHORS
The author’s name is centered below the title along with the name of the university
or researchinstitution.
The person who did the work and wrote the paper is generally listed as the first
author of aresearch paper.
For published articles, other people who made substantial contributions to the
work are also listed as authors. Ask your mentor's permission before including
his/her name as co-author.
ABSTRACT
An abstract or summary is published together with a research article, giving the reader
a ‘preview’ of what’s to come. This is used by potential readers to determine whether
or not the paper is interesting enough to read, so it should be clear, concise and
complete.
Abstract should be one paragraph of 100-250 words, which summarizes the purpose,
methods, results and conclusions of the paper.
It includes a statement of the manipulations of the independent variables and a précis
of the results of the research. Do not include review of the literature or theoretical
background, but leave these for the ‘Introduction and Discussion’.
It is easiest to write the abstract after the paper itself is written. A rough rule of thumb
is to write an introductory sentence, then one sentence per chapter of your report and
a few sentences summarizing your most important conclusions/recommendations.
Don’t use abbreviations or citations in the abstract. It should be able to stand alone
without anyfootnotes.
Here is a summary of the content of the ABSTRACT and its order of presentation-
a. Identification the subject population,
b. Specification of the research design,
c. Apparatus and data gathering procedures,
d. Summary of the results including statistical significance levels,
e. Report on the inferences made or comparisons drawn from the results.
INTRODUCTION
Centre the word ‘INTRODUCTION’ on the page. It begins on a new page which is
numbered. Putdown the title once again as on the face page, but do not repeat
researcher’s name.
A reader of the introduction should be able to answer the following questions,
although not inany depth.
a) What is the research about?
b) Why is it relevant or important?
c) What are the issues or problems?
d) What is the proposed solution or approach?
e) What can one expect in the rest of the research?
Tell the reader what the problem is, what question you will try to answer, and why it
 is important. It might be important for practical reasons or for theoretical (or
methodological) reasons having to do with the development of a scholarly discipline.
Don’t neglect either type of reason.
If the problem is a very basic one, you may state the problem first and then review what has already been found out about it. If the problem is
one that grows out of past literature, review the history of how it arose. But do not forget to mention the basic issues behind the research tradition
in question, the practical or theoretical concerns that inspired it. (Sometime s there don’t seem to be any. In this case, you have probably chosen the
wrong topic.)

The introduction should lead up to, and conclude with, a statement of how you
intend to approach your question and why your approach is an improvement on
past efforts (or why it isworth undertaking even if it isn’t). This is essentially
what is new about your approach, yourparticular contribution.
You can think of the introduction as (i) a description of the psychological issues that
you are going to investigate; (ii) a discussion of the research question(s) or hypothesis
that you are examining; and (iii) a reference to other studies (in the same area) which
have results which bear on your research project - whether they are in the same
direction as your hypothesis or in the opposite direction. The final paragraph(s)
should include a more specific definition of your variables (independent and
dependent) and a clear statement of the predictions based on the background
information that you have presented.
The related work section (sometimes called literature review) is just that, a review of
work related to the problem you are attempting to solve. It should identify and
evaluate past approaches to the problem. It should also identify similar solutions to
yours that have been applied to other problems not necessarily directly related to the
one you’re solving. Reviewing the successes or limitations of your proposed solution
in other contexts provides important understanding that should result in avoiding past
mistakes, taking advantage of previous successes, and most importantly, potentially
improving your solution or the technique in general when applied in your context and
others.
In addition to the obvious purpose indicated, the related work section also can serve to –
 justify that the problem exists by example and argument,
 motivate interest in your work by demonstrating relevance and importance,
 identify the important issues, and
 provide background to your solution.

Any remaining doubts over the existence, justification, motivation, or relevance of your
research topic or problem at the end of the introduction should be gone by the end of
related work section.
Note that a literature review is just that, a review. It is not a list of papers and a description of their contents. A literature review should critique,
categorize, evaluate, and summarize work related to your research. Related work is also not a brain dump of everything you know in the field.
You are not writing a textbook; only include information directly related to your topic, problem, or solution. You should review only those points
that are relevant to the arguments you will make. Do not say that ‘X found Y’ or ‘demonstrated’ if X’s conclusions don’t follow from X’s results.
You can use words like ‘X claimed to show that Y’ or ‘suggested that’ when you are not sure. If you see a flaw, you can add, ‘However ...’. Try to
avoid expressions like ‘Unfortunately, Smith and Jones neglected to examine [precisely what you are examining]’. It might have been unfortunate
for them or for the field, but it is fortunate for you, and everyone knows it.

Avoid editorialization, personal opinion and judgmental statements. Stay close to

the data, theory, design and hypotheses. Your hypotheses should never appear to
come out of nowhere orto be derived from personal opinion and preference.
Hypotheses are usually stated formally in the closing paragraph of the introduction.
If you have more than one hypothesis, state them in a logical order using
numbers. Although yourexperiment may contain more than one independent
variable and dependent variable, each hypothesis can contain only one of each
type of variable. You state them in conceptual termsrather than in terms of the

To help formulate your hypotheses, ask yourself the following questions -

 specific procedures (operational definitions) used in yourexperiment.
- What variables am I as the experimenter manipulating? (Independent variable)
- What results do I expect? (Dependent variable)
- Why do I expect these results? The rationale for these expectations should be made explicit in the light of your reviewof the research and
statement of theory.

Concepts and terms are to be defined clearly as soon as they are introduced and
then usedconsistently thereafter. Make sure you do not include the term you are
defining in the body of the definition (tautology).
METHOD
This section can be thought of as the ‘cookbook’ section of the paper, by reading this
section, could duplicate (or in research terms, replicate) your study. Therefore, it
should be complete, detailed and clear enough to allow another investigator to
understand how you ran your experiment.
Centre the word ‘METHOD’ on the page. This section is written in past tense.
The methods section is generally easy to write - you simply describe what you did,
how you did it, and when you did it.
For example: Describe your participants how many? of what sex? mean (average) age? where did they come from? Response rate should be
reported here. Reproduce the exact questions that you asked and don’t forget to tell the reader the scale you used for participants’ answers. For
any scale that you construct, include the mean, standard deviation and Cronbach’s alpha. If you ‘threw out’ that participant’s data (e.g., you didn’t
include it in your study, then you mention this fact ‘one participant was discarded from the sample because...’) in the Participant section.

The method is divided into several subsection headings which you should use in the
organization ofyour paper.
Subjects
(a) Who are the subjects? The ‘Subjects’ subsection specifies who participated in the
study. The subjects are described according to age, gender and other relevant social or
demographic considerations.
(b) How many subjects are there? State the total number of participants and the number
assignedto each experimental condition. If any subjects did not complete the study, give
the number and reason.
(c) How the subjects are selected? Report how the subjects were selected for the
experiment andhow the chosen subjects were assigned to groups. For example, was some
sort of randomization technique used or was some other method necessary? Report such
things as payments or promises made to subjects.
Apparatus
This subsection (if one is required) gives a brief description of the equipment or materials
used in the study. Standard hardware such as stop watches need not be described in detail.
Remember the description must be detailed enough so that the reader can replicate the
study.
Procedure
Being a kind of recipe of each step in the execution of the experiment, these instructions
to the subjects must be recorded verbatim. The formation of groups and the specific
experimentalmanipulations performed on each group are included. Procedures such as
randomization, counterbalancing and other control procedures are also detailed. To assist
yourself in the clear execution of this section, keep in mind that one of the purposes of it
is to allow another experimenter to replicate exactly what you have done. Do not put
results in this section. You may, however, include preliminary results that were used to
design the main experiment that you are
reporting on. Mention relevant ethical considerations. If you used human subjects, did
they consent to participate? If you used animals, what measures did you take to
minimize pain?
RESULTS
Centre the word ‘RESULTS’ on the page. Do not begin on a new page unless space
considerations require it. This is (obviously) where you present the results of your
experiment to the reader. The results section is also written in the past tense.
The result section summarizes the data and the statistical treatment of them. If the
data are relatively simple, they may be reported entirely in text without the use of
TABLES or FIGURES.
Summarize the main idea of your findings and report them whether or not your
hypothesis(es) have been confirmed. Present the results in the same order as you have
made your predictions (hypotheses) in the introduction and do so in simple sentences.
Do not discuss the implications, interpretations, or theoretical significance of your
results in theRESULTS section.
Most professors (except nitpickers) prefer the tables and figures close to
where they are needed.
Tables
 Tables placed in the results section of the paper are reserved for the most important
data directly related to the experiment. Tables are economical in that they compress
data and allow the reader to see relationships not otherwise discernible at a glance.
 A good table should not duplicate the text of the RESULTS but the text should
highlight the data by referring to the table.
 The table should be self explanatory as well as related to the text.
 Always number the tables and refer to those numbers in the text - If tables are
included in an APPENDIX, these are identified with capital letters (e.g., Table A).
 Tables always appear in the order in which they are mentioned in the text.
 Every table is given a brief explanatory title written in telegraphic style. It is placed
below the table number and above the table.
 Enough space is used to render the table easily readable. Notes of sub-headings are
employed to explain abbreviations, parentheses or units of measurement.
Figures
 What has been said of Tables applies generally to the figures of the results section as well.
 Figures are graphs, charts, and illustrations.
 The caption is placed below the figure instead of above. The word ‘Figure 1’
appears first followed by the caption. Only the first word of the caption is
capitalized.
 If there is enough space, you may place it on the same page as text, but a separate
page shouldotherwise be used, especially for publishing purposes.
 Remember to place the dependent variable on the vertical axis and to follow
the rules for correct calibration of the data.
 Both axes should be clearly labeled, and the graph lines too when appropriate.
DISCUSSION
The word ‘DISCUSSION’ is centered. Do not use a new page unless it is necessary.
It is a good idea to begin the discussion with a summary of the results, for the benefit
of the reader who wants to skip the results section (and to remind the reader who
didn’t skip it but got interrupted by a phone call and forgot it).
The discussion section states the major results (what you have discovered), and tells
the reader what you think they mean. There is no need in this section to restate the
data - that is all in theresults section.
Your discussion section should refer back to those studies you mentioned in your
 introduction. Discuss how your results are similar to the findings (results) of these
studies, or, if they are different, (don’t panic), how they differ (and your ideas as to
why they differ). Attempt to resolve and deal with these differences by suggesting
reasons for why they might have occurred.
Another good tactic is to suggest ideas for future research experiments in this area,
ones that follow the study you have done, improve upon it, etc. For example, you
could suggest how to further explore a finding you discovered, suggest how to
discover why you got different results form other researchers, etc.
If your discussion section is fairly long, it’s nice to put a short summary paragraph
(of the conclusion, interpretations, etc.) at the very end to help the reader remember
your general conclusions.
This is also a good preparation for writing the abstract. Remember, the discussion
section will make or break your paper - put a lot of thought into it and try to draw
sophisticated (and accurate) conclusions from your data.
The discussion section will show your grasp of the inductive and deductive thinking
routines involved in experimental work.
Here is the summary of what is expected in the DISCUSSION section.

a. Discuss the results in the context of the research and theory you already brought forward in the introduction.
Thiswill unify your work. Avoid personal opinion and irrelevant or undisciplined speculation.
b. Show awareness of the shortcomings and uncontrolled variables in your work and qualify your results
accordingly, showing your ability to identify any other explanations for your data that may suggest
themselves.
c. Specify what variables you would control or change in future research to correct for the problems in your
present study.
d. Taking your results at face value, suggest other research avenues for the future. An experiment may answer
questions, but it generally raises other questions that may not have been considered before.
e. Briefly draw out any practical implications of the study, if any.
REFERENCES
This is the last section and it should conform to APA style.
Centre the word ‘REFERENCES’ at the top of the page, but do NOT underline
it or place it inquotation marks.
A reference list cites works that are publicly available.
This section is always placed on a separate page, and the page number is omitted.
Works cited in the text of your experiment must appear in the reference list and
converselyeach entry in the reference list must be cited in your text.
Since reference lists are intended for the use of the reader, they must be
accurate andcomplete.
A reference consists of the following broad subsections - AUTHOR, DATE
OF PUBLICATION, TITLE and PUBLICATION DATA.