Qualitative Lab Report Write-up

Qualitative
Lab Report Write-up

Title:
Best written at the
end, once you have finished your report. What is this report about,
in one succinct sentence?

• What
  are the main words you want to use, so that if someone was looking
  for a paper in a related area, your one would come up in their
  search?
• Your
  research question is NOT the title.

Abstract:
150-200 words

• A
  summary of the research study. Key points. Aims, participants, data
  collection method, analytical approach. State key findings. Suggest
  the implications of these findings and how they are discussed in
  the report
  • Also
    best written at the end

Key
words: 3-5 words

• If
  someone were to search for your report on Google Scholar or
  PsychInfo or other databases, what words would make your report come
  up?

Introduction:
500-600 words

• This
  is the same as a quant lab report.
• Once
  you have decided on your research question, find and discuss
  relevant literature to your research question and build a
  rationale for your study.

• Build
  critical arguments that serve as a platform for why your own study
  is necessary.
• Don’t
  mention your own study in the Introduction
• Use
  both quant and qual studies here (you are not
  limited to only using qual studies)
• Do
  NOT
  include anything about your methodology here!
  • Easy
    way to lose marks!
• Final
  paragraph – can
  draw the key points/arguments you have created throughout, and then
  state the aim (you have to write this) and the research question
  (we have given you this).
  • This
    is the only
    place you should mention your own study in the Introduction.

Method
(composed of 4 sub-sections): 600-800
words

Participants:

• How
  many participants in total (participants, not interviews)
• How
  and where recruited from

• Approach
  to sample selection (e.g.: snowballing, purposive, etc),

• How
  may you selected and why these

• Homogenous
  if IPA and what
  makes them so.
  • Rationale
    for everything.
• Details
  of individual participants.
  • You
    could present participant details in a table – APA style
    (strongly recommended).
  • If
    present this in a table, don’t repeat the same information in
    the paragraph.

Procedure:

• Describes
  how
  the study was conducted.

• Rationale
  for method of data collection (e.g.: semi-structured interview).
  • Citation
    to support this.
  • Inclusion
    of semi-structured interview schedule as appendix.

  • Refer
    to the relevant appendix when you mention the interview, e.g.:
    (see Appendix A). APA
    style.
• Mention
  ethical considerations, and refer to as appendices (e.g.
  Information Sheet etc).

• Brief
  outline of equipment e.g. audio recorders.
  • Check/ask
    yourself/ask someone else: can someone repeat my Procedure from my
    description of it? Are there any details missing?

Analytical
approach:

• Rationale
  for adopting qualitative approach and the technique of analysis
  used.
  • Citation
    to support this.
• Mention
  what the epistemological and ontological stance for method applied.
  • Citation
    to support this.
  • Don’t
    describe
    what ontology and epistemology themself are!
• Sentence
  of why the method of analysis is most appropriate to the study in
  line with research question.
  • Citation
    to support this.
• Brief
  description of how the data was analysed
  • Citation
    to support this.
  • Can
    the reader repeat your analysis based on what you have written
    about the steps?.

We
expect to see relevant citations in this section.

Reflexivity:

• Situating
  oneself in the research context and acknowledging the implication
  of one’s subjectivity.
• Goes
  beyond
  your subjective demographics to consider positionality, your
  experiences and values, and how these shaped your analysis and
  interpretation.

• How
  you engaged in reflexive practice:
• Include
  example(s)
  of your awareness of your subjective influence,
  how it may
  have influenced, and what
  you did to limit
  this influence
  • Do
    not mention unbiased, objectivity etc.

  • If
    you feel you can be unbiased and objective with this research, you
    need to revisit this concept and what qualitative research is all
    about, as this shows you have not
    understood this, and it will
    affect the quality of your report.
  • See
    Week 20’s slides; see relevant chapters in your Kortext on
    Reflexivity

Findings:
800-1000 words

• Presentation
  of interpretation of analysis.
• Remember,
  you analyse your entire
  dataset, but you present a representation of that analysis in the
  Findings section.
• Introductory
  paragraph at start of Findings section reminding the reader of your
  research question. And state what the key findings were:
  • IF
    IPA, refer reader to the table and state each superordinate/master
    theme and their corresponding subordinate/sub themes will be
    discussed in turn.
  • IF
    NA, tell the reader the main ways in which participants have
    constructed their sense of selves.

• You
  will present the findings in different ways depending on the
  analytical method:
  • IPA
    = table of super-ordinate with corresponding sub-ordinate themes.
  • NA
    = coded stories in tables – present around 3 (no less than 3, no
    more than 4).
• Present
  a theme/narrative as relevant. Describe it. Present illustrative
  quote to support. A little more description (perhaps) and then your
  interpretation:
  • Sign-posted
    to the reader by key words such as ‘this suggests that…’,
    ‘this illustrates that…’
• Interpretation
  is where you will get your marks! We cannot give many marks for a
  descriptive Findings section – this is where many previous
  students have gotten low marks in their reports.
  • Remember
    that although your analysis is of your entire dataset, you will
    only be able to present some of it in the lab report – choose
    the most
    illustrative! Quotes do not
    count towards word count.
  • No
    lists of quotes! 1 (2 max) per point being made, and another to
    support the point.

Discussion:
500-600 words

• This
  is the same as a quant lab report. Show how the research question
  has been addressed, the theoretical frameworks within which the
  findings can be interpreted. Return
  to papers cited in introduction and further papers if relevant to
  findings. Summary
  of the key findings. 
• First
  paragraph is a summary of the key
  findings.
• Discuss
  your findings in relation to the results of the existing literature.
  It should be a critical discussion.
  Where your findings do not support the findings of other studies,
  you will need to discuss
  why you think this
  may be and support
  it with literature
  depending on the point being made.
  • Do
    NOT
    discuss individual participants here – refer to the findings as a
    whole.
  • No
    quotes here!
• Evaluation
  – strengths and limitations (donot
  state lack of generalisability or small sample size for qual
  research as a limitation!).
• Directions
  for future research. Although you may discuss these in conjunction
  with the limitations depending on how you write it up.
• Conclusion
  paragraph that draws your whole report together.
  • No
    new information here. A summary.

  • What
    is the take-home message you want to leave your reader with about
    your entire report?

References:

• We
  will check whether these match the citations in the report.
• Need
  to be in APA format.
  • Check
    the formatting of each different type of source
    • Each
      one will be different!
    • APA
      blog 
      helpful and show examples
• Needs
  to be quite extensive to reflect the reading you have done

Appendices:

• Needs
  to include all appendices:
  • e.g.
    semi-structured interview schedule, Information Sheet, Consent
    Form, Debriefing form.
• APA
  format – label each one in accordance and refer to them in the
  text, e.g. ‘a
  semi-structured interview was used to… (see Appendix A).’

When
you submit, it needs to be anonymous =

• Do
  not
  include your name anywhere on your report, just your student number.
• We
  will be marking your reports anonymously
  (but cannot do so
  if you include your name!)
• Save
  your file by the method of analysis and your student number when you
  upload it to Turnitin. Example:
  • NA
    M00112233
  • IPA
    M00445566

ONLY!
Nothing else.
Nada!

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