Purpose of research
The purpose of a research report is to disseminate information. The goal is clear communication and understanding.
Note: All of the information below applies not only to research reports, but any academic communications (reports to principals, letters home to parents, handbooks, etc.)
Pages 67-70 in the APA Style Manual discusses Economy of Expression, Redundancy, and Precision.
* Be concise & professional. Extra words often obscure meaning and reader doesn't want to sift through words to get information
* Be exact & complete – avoid words such as “most”, “frequently” without defining meaning
Example - General statement to more specific statement
1. The Majority of subjects felt music made them smarter.
2. Fifty percent of subjects reported music increased intelligence.
3. The majority of subjects (51%) reported music increased intelligence.
Voice, Verbs, Pronouns & Tense
· Use 3rd person voice in all professional communications and research – Avoid “I” (first person)
· Use active verbs when possible and keep focused on students or research participants (what they did)
· Use pronouns sparingly – Very sparingly (avoid most pronouns) - Pronouns can be confusing if reference is not clear. Pronouns are also gender-specific and thus bias is an issue.
See pp. 79-80 in the APA Style Manual for an overview of pronouns.
Example - Multiple ways to rewrite a sentence for additional clarity and action
She interviewed 40 musicians about their memorization (non-specific pronoun).
Forty musicians were interviewed about memorization. (passive focus on participant)
Memorization interviews were conducted with 40 musicians (passive focus on researcher)
The researcher conducted interviews with 40 musicians (active focus on researcher)
During an interview, 40 musicians discussed memorization (active focus on participant)*
* Personal preference.
Verbs
Active v. Passive
Sometimes in research it is better to use a passive voice, but readers are more interested in ACTION! See pp. 77-79 in the APA Style Manual for an overview of verbs.
Hint: Passive voice often requires a linking verb such as "was" or "were".
Active verbs emphasize action. If you need more practice or examples to understand the difference between active and passive verbs, Purdue has great writing tutorials.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/1
Noun/verb agreement
People act, results, tables, studies do not. Check to make sure your nouns agree with your verbs.
A researcher can do something.
Research cannot.
Plurals
The following plurals/singulars are often confused:
Data
* Singular = datum
* Plural = data
Correct
Data were analyzed....
Incorrect
Data was analyzed...
Appendix
* Singular = appendix
* Plural = appendices
Correct
Raw data are reported in Appendices A and B.
Incorrect
Raw data are reported in Appendix A and B.
Really Incorrect
Raw data is reported in Appendix A and B.
Additional Note: Past tense
Research studies are always written in past tense (the research has already been completed - it's in the past).
Complete the Active v. Passive Questions on "Test"
For this portion of the test, you are asked to rewrite passive sentences as active sentences.Remember to focus on participants first (if possible) or on researchers.
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