professional practice research report example

• Research article
• Open access
• Published: 25 May 2016

How to report professional practice in nursing? A scoping review

• Marie-Eve Poitras 1 ,
• Maud-Christine Chouinard 2 ,
• Martin Fortin 1 , 3 &
• Frances Gallagher 1  

BMC Nursing volume  15 , Article number:  31 ( 2016 ) Cite this article

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Nursing professional practice in different contexts of care has been widely described in evidence-based literature. Currently, there is no consensus on a common structure for these descriptions. Understanding and comparing similar practices is made difficult by the varying nature of descriptions provided in scientific literature. Purpose of the study: 1) to report research methods found in the scientific literature that were used to describe the practice of different health professionals; 2) to report on the main concepts used to describe the practice of these health professionals; 3) to propose a structure for the description of the practice in nursing.

A scoping review following a five-stage approach: 1) identifying the research question; 2) identifying relevant studies; 3) selecting studies; 4) charting data; 5) reporting results. The Medline, CINAHL, psychARTICLES, psyCRITIQUES, psycEXTRA, Psychology and Behavioral Science Collection and psycINFO databases were searched. Each study was analyzed and extracted data were classified by categories and structures used to describe the health professional practices.

Forty-nine studies were included. In these studies, quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods were used to describe professional practice in different health disciplines. Three major concepts were reported most frequently in describing professional practice: roles, domains and activities. The concepts varied greatly among authors. We found that to define roles or to characterize a professional practice, activities must be described and organized on the basis of different domains.

Conclusions

A promising structure for describing nursing professional practice is proposed by the authors of this review. The structure facilitates the accurate description of all domains and activities performed by nurses in different contexts of practice, and will contribute to the development of knowledge about nursing practice in different contexts based on shared concepts.

Peer Review reports

Nursing professional practice defines the exercise of the profession [ 1 , 2 ]. It is an amalgam of practice standards, nursing skills and expected professional performance [ 3 ]. Professional practice sets the base for nursing exercise at the conceptual level and allows nurses to ensure quality of care among different contexts of care [ 4 , 5 ]. Nursing professional practice has been widely described at the conceptual level, both in the scientific literature and by the bodies that regulate the nursing profession [ 1 , 3 , 6 ]. Though essential, these descriptions use different concepts and a heterogeneous vocabulary, preventing a clear understanding of nursing professional practice. For example, to present the role of nurses in advanced practice, Gardner et al. use the professional literature and the legislative framework of the profession [ 7 ], while Reuter-Rice [ 8 ] explains the professional practice of nurse practitioners within a specific context: pediatric practice [ 8 ]. While summarily guiding nursing professional practice, the current literature fails to provide real clarification on what nurses actually do in clinical practice [ 9 ].

To date, several studies have focused on describing nursing professional practice in specific contexts [ 2 ]. For example, Halcomb et al. [ 10 ] used a national survey to describe the demographics, clinical roles and competencies of primary care nurses through results presented by clinical activities and domains of practice. A similar structure was also used by Lukewich et al., who used a cross-sectional survey [ 11 ] to describe the practice of primary care nurses in chronic disease management. Other authors, such as Phillips et al. [ 12 ], preferred a qualitative design to describe how nurses manage obesity. Results are presented by role. Very few of these authors base their description of practices, roles or activities on a frame of reference. They do not provide a definition of a “role.” It is up to readers to piece together their own idea of professional practice from the results they come across. Often misapprehended, the heterogeneous concepts and vocabulary used to describe nursing professional practice in various contexts make it hard to draw comparisons or identify similarities between them. There are no guidelines or consensus on how to provide a good description of nurses’ practice. Other healthcare disciplines, such as occupational therapy, physiotherapy and medicine, are also doing research to describe professional practices and improve knowledge. We also observed a certain degree of variability in the concepts used in these disciplines. The one exception is Bent et al. in their study on the practice of occupational therapists, which presents a framework offering a structure to map professional practice by fields and tasks [ 13 ]. Thanks to its structure and components, their framework offers a promising perspective for describing the practices of other health professionals.

At this stage of the development of nursing knowledge, it is essential to map out the existing literature to summarize how professional practice has been described. This knowledge could be enhanced by existing knowledge from other health disciplines that also care for patients. This common structure could then be used to describe professional practices, enabling a better representation of them and facilitating knowledge sharing in the nursing profession and nursing sciences.

The aim of this scoping review was: 1) to report on research methods found in the scientific literature that were used to describe health professional practices; 2) to report the main concepts used to describe professional practice in various health care disciplines; 3) to propose a structure for the description of professional practice in nursing. Hopefully, this finding will be used in another project to describe primary care nurses’ practice with patients with chronic diseases.

We used the scoping review approach to examine the scientific literature and to describe the main concepts used to describe professional practice in various health care disciplines. This method was chosen because it contributes to the mapping of key concepts underpinning a research area and the main sources and types of evidence available [ 14 ]. We preferred a scoping review to a systematic review for the following reasons: 1) a systematic review would typically focus on a well-defined question with a limited range of appropriate study designs, whereas a scoping review can address broader topics and a broader range of study designs; 2) a systematic review seeks the answers to questions addressed by a subset of studies whose quality is assessed, whereas a scoping review is unlikely to address specific research questions, and consequently, unlikely to assess the quality of the studies reviewed [ 15 ].

The review was inspired by Arksey and O’Malley’s [ 15 ] five-stage approach and the principles of knowledge synthesis established by Grimshaw [ 14 ] : 1) Identifying the research question; 2) Identifying relevant results; 3) Selecting studies; 4) Charting data; and 5) Reporting results.

Stage 1: Identifying the research question

What methodologies are used to describe professional practice in health care-related scientific literature?

What concepts are used to describe professional practice in health care-related scientific literature?

Stage 2: Identifying relevant studies

A review of the literature in specific health disciplines was conducted. For a comprehensive view of professional practice descriptions, health disciplines other than nursing were also searched. Our research strategy (keywords, MESH, databases) was developed by the authors of the scoping review, as they have significant and relevant experience in synthetic methodology and literature review. Occupational therapy, physical therapy and medicine were the three disciplines chosen, due to the similarity of practical contexts (providing direct care to patients) and populations in terms of professional practice. Within those disciplines, any context of practice was considered, to provide a better understanding and description of what is found in the health literature. The databases of Medline, CINAHL, psychARTICLES, psyCRITIQUES, psycEXTRA, Psychology and Behavioral Science Collection and psycINFO were searched. Keywords used were: practice analysis, role delineation, professional practice, role, nurse, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, medicine, physician, mixed methods, qualitative descriptive study and quantitative descriptive study. A search strategy using Medical Subject Headings (MESH) and text words was developed for each keyword and database. In view of the changing nature of professional practices, the 2003–2014 time span was chosen, highlighting contemporary descriptions anchored in the past ten years. We limited our search to studies published in English or French. See Additional file 1 for more detailed information on the database search strategy.

Only studies meeting the following criteria were included in the scoping review: 1) Quantitative, qualitative or mixed-method research used to describe the professional practice; 2) Health disciplines: nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy and medicine and 3) Any context of practice. Editorials, commentaries, case reviews, study replication or study which did not present content about how the authors describe the professional practice were excluded.

Stage 3: Selecting studies

The search query identified 231 articles. After reviewing the titles, abstracts and admissibility criteria, a total of 49 papers met all inclusion criteria and were kept for the review (see Fig.  1 ). A summary of the eligible studies is provided in Table  1 .

Flow diagram

Quality appraisal

As with all scoping exercises, the aim was to map the current literature with regard to the description of professional practice in the four selected health disciplines, rather than to assess the quality of the particular studies chosen [ 15 , 16 ]. As suggested by reference authors Arksey & O’Malley [ 15 ] and Grimshaw [ 14 ] , a quality appraisal of included literature is not required when performing a scoping review. To be included in our study, the only quality criterion a paper had to satisfy was to have been peer-reviewed.

Stage 4: Charting data

The 49 papers retained for the scoping review were read and summarized by MEP. The research team generated a template for data extraction. MEP analyzed each paper and did the data extraction according to Arksey & O’Malley’s [ 15 ] recommendations. Synthesis and interpretation of the extracted data were done to highlight the methodologies and structures used to describe professional practices [ 15 ]. Data were classified by author, year of publication, study location, study population, context of care, study aim, methodology, structure and concepts used to describe the professional practice. MEP examined which concepts related to professional practice were presented in the results and how they were organized. For each paper, the logic of the structure of the description was extracted based on the terms used by the authors and the description of practices provided (e.g., role, activity, domain, intervention, task). Structures used were analyzed, interpreted and summarized. Methodologies were also classified by category and sub-category. For each paper, the co-authors discussed the methodology and structure used for the description of the practice, until a consensus was reached. MF, FG, and MCC participated in validating the papers and analyzing the methods and structures extracted from them. They also played a mentoring/coaching role throughout the process.

The Results section represents Stage 5 of the scoping review approach, namely reporting results. The latter are presented in two parts.

Research methods used to describe professional practice quantitative methodologies ( n  = 31)

Quantitative descriptive studies were found useful in the literature. Such studies examine responses obtained through self-report questionnaires in population surveys and are defined as practice analysis or role delineation studies.

Practice analysis or role delineation ( n  = 31)

The terms “practice analysis” and “role delineation” appear in studies with similar goals in the literature [ 8 , 17 , 18 ]. They are used to signify that one does more than simply analyze a task [ 18 ]. We observed that papers using “role delineation” focused on differences in practice between two complementary professions [ 19 ] or between professionals with different levels of experience [ 20 ], while studies using “practice analysis” drew a portrait of practice in general [ 17 , 21 ]. In view of the objectives of this scoping review, the term “practice analysis” was preferred.

A common approach emerged in cross-sectional surveys conducted for studies using practice analysis. It can be summed up in eight steps: 1) develop a panel of experts; 2) determine the demographic variables of the population of interest; 3) identify which practice element to describe (e.g., roles, tasks, activities) with the help of a panel of experts and the literature; 4) classify tasks or activities according to the domains identified; 5) determine the measurement scale; 6) develop the questionnaire; 7) pre-test; and 8) conduct the survey. The steps used vary slightly from one study to another. The statistical methods used included descriptive or regression analysis [ 7 ], variance analysis [ 19 ] and factor analysis [ 22 , 23 ].

Qualitative methodologies ( n  = 16)

All the qualitative studies examined sought to describe or explore professional practice [ 24 – 39 ]. For example, Bottorff et al. [ 26 ] set out to depict the roles of nurses involved in genetic clinical services for adults; they used semi-structured interviews with 22 nurses across five Canadian provinces. Other authors used a phenomenological approach [ 34 , 36 ], grounded theory [ 32 ] or narrative [ 31 ].

Data collection methods varied from one study to another. Some used telephone interviews with open-ended questions [ 24 , 26 , 32 ], while others used face-to-face individual interviews [ 25 , 28 , 30 , 32 , 35 , 37 ], focus groups [ 29 , 33 , 36 , 37 ], narrative [ 31 ], observation [ 39 ] or self-administered questionnaires [ 38 ]. Sometimes multiple data sources were used [ 33 , 37 ].

Data analysis was similar in selected studies. Thematic analysis was either inductive [ 24 , 29 , 30 , 32 , 33 , 38 ] or relative to a framework [ 13 , 34 , 36 , 40 ]. Researcher triangulation was also done in certain studies [ 24 , 29 , 32 , 35 – 38 ], as was analysis validation with participants [ 32 , 33 , 37 ]. Finally, for all the studies examined, data were presented by theme or category, supported by verbatim [ 25 , 27 , 28 , 32 , 37 ], examples [ 31 , 36 ] or figures [ 34 , 36 ].

Mixed methods ( n  = 2)

Two studies were identified that used mixed methodologies [ 41 ]. Both were sequential, one exploratory [ 42 ] and one converging [ 43 ].

Hunter and Levett-Jones [ 43 ] used a combination of questionnaires, individual interviews and an examination of documents explaining roles. Van Soeren et al. [ 42 ] did the same, but began with a qualitative component (individual interviews and focus groups) describing and classifying the activities of nurse practitioners. As for data analysis, Hunter and Levett-Jones [ 43 ] integrated both types of data for the analysis and presentation of results. Van Soeren et al. [ 42 ] used quantitative data to support data collection in the qualitative phase. For qualitative data, content analysis was used based on a theoretical model. Quantitative analyses were descriptive and done so as to compare groups of activities [ 42 , 43 ].

Main concepts: conceptualizing and operationalizing professional practice

As seen in Table  1 , several key concepts were used to describe professional practice in health disciplines. Ten studies used a more conceptual definition of professional practice [ 7 , 31 , 44 – 50 ], while others were more operational [ 7 , 8 , 13 , 17 – 20 , 22 , 23 , 44 – 60 ]. As an example, Bevans et al. [ 20 ] define clinical research nurses’ professional practice in five specific domains of activities : 1) Study Management, Care Coordination and Continuity, Contributing to the Science and Human Subjects Protection. Those domains allow knowing the specific activities realized by nurses. In the same way, Clark et al. [ 17 ] give a list of more than 100 activities to describe what nurses in palliative care do. At the opposite, Hopkins and Irvine [ 29 ], describe professional practice of epilepsy specialist nurses with four core values: 1) holistic care; 2) Time for patient; 3) Continuity of care and 4) Proactive/responsive. After reading these core values, it is hard for the reader to clearly imagine what the nurses do exactly with patient.

The three most relevant concepts for nursing practice (and those most used by nursing organizations)—role, domain and activity—form the basis of a promising structure for the description of professional practice. Table  2 presents the concepts we retained, their definition as understood by the authors of this scoping review, and examples from a clinical primary care context.

Professional role

Thirty studies examined sought to describe professional practice in terms of the role of professionals in a given context [ 7 , 8 , 18 , 20 , 21 , 24 – 39 , 43 , 45 , 48 , 49 , 51 , 55 , 58 , 61 , 62 ]. However, very few studies elaborated on what a role is, conceptually [ 7 , 20 , 31 , 45 , 49 , 58 , 62 ]. They focused on describing a role in terms of how it is defined in professional literature and the legislative framework [ 7 , 58 , 62 ]. In quantitative and mixed-method studies, role is not measured per se. It emerges as a theme through the description of activities, tasks or interventions. It is a perceived role, rather than a role defined by a professional practice standard.

To describe the role of professionals, fifteen authors determined the domains in which they practise [ 7 , 13 , 22 , 23 , 26 , 29 , 38 , 42 , 47 , 48 , 50 , 55 , 56 , 61 , 63 ]. The activities that comprise a practice can be found by first establishing the domains in which a professional practises [ 13 ]. For example, Bent et al. [ 13 ] identified five domains in which occupational therapists practise their profession, then set out their multiple tasks in the different domains. In the literature review, we noticed that for the most part domains are not evaluated directly. They are used to explain scope of practice, but also to group the tasks, activities or interventions comprising a professional practice.

The concept of activity is central to the description of a professional practice. Nearly all authors, except for Ball et al. [ 24 ], Habib et al. [ 28 ], Hopkins & Irvine [ 29 ], Masley et al. [ 32 ] and Stewart et al. [ 36 ], describe professional roles or practices through a census of activities. Activities [ 20 , 44 , 47 , 49 , 56 , 59 , 62 ] also imply interventions [ 58 , 64 ] and tasks [ 23 , 30 , 33 , 34 , 37 – 39 , 47 ]. The authors mentioned do not seem to differentiate among the three concepts (activity, intervention, task), nor do any provide a conceptual definition of the term they use.

Structure of professional practice

From our analysis of the literature, a pattern emerges when describing professional practice. This pattern is presented in Fig.  2 . Most authors refer to the concepts of role, domain and activity. However, use of those concepts in describing professional practice varies greatly among authors but not necessarily among health discipline. Though activities are clearly identified, the concepts of roles and professional practice are poorly defined. There is confusion in the literature between the concepts of role, activity, intervention and task.

Structure for the description of professional practice in nursing (adapted from Bent et al.) [ 13 ]

Methodologies used

This scoping review examined different ways of capturing professional practice through research using quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. The results show consistency in how practice is described across various studies in specific health domains.

Practice analysis is an approach that uses cross-sectional surveys in a specific population of professionals. This implies the study of either roles, knowledge, behaviours, skills, activities and tasks, or the interventions of this group of professionals [ 51 , 52 , 61 ]. This methodology is commonly used by bodies that grant licences to practise [ 21 , 44 , 53 – 55 , 61 , 63 ]. The practice analysis perspective provides a way to describe current large-scale practices. The descriptive data so generated can contribute to the development of a theoretical practice framework [ 13 , 21 ]. However, sampling methods as well as low response rates may limit the generalization of results [ 18 ] and can lead to under- or over-reporting certain activities [ 65 ]. Finally, the greatest challenge of practice analysis is to find strategies to ensure an acceptable response rate [ 66 ].

In contrast, using qualitative methodology to describe professional practice allows an in-depth description of a practice, in a natural clinical setting, from the perspective of professionals. The use of various data sources enhances the description and improves the validity of the results presented. In some cases, the qualitative data generated enable the construction or validation of a model describing professional practice [ 29 , 31 , 32 , 34 – 37 ]. Qualitative methodology provides a more inductive description of professional practice. However, the results make it difficult to implement recommendations for practice as a whole, because the concepts used are specific to a unique context of practice.

Mixed-method design brings comprehensiveness, depth and richness to the description of professional practice [ 41 ]. The qualitative and quantitative data generated by the different phases are complementary. Quantitative descriptions provide an overall view of practice by describing professional activities in terms of proportion and frequency. Qualitative descriptions provide depth and highlight the various points of view of the actors concerned. However, conducting mixed-method research can be time-consuming, and tends to require multiple financial and professional resources [ 41 ].

Depending on their specific objective, it is up to researchers to choose the method that is best suited to their research question. The mixed-method design seems an interesting approach that contributes richness and complementarity to the description.

Main concepts and structure used to describe professional practice

We found that how the concept of role is envisioned can be compared to the conclusions of Biddle [ 67 ], Biddle and Thomas [ 68 ], Meleis [ 69 ], Roch and Ouellet [ 70 ] and O’Rourke [ 5 ]. Biddle and Thomas [ 68 ] argued that, conceptually, a role is a function taken or assumed by a person, supported by an ensemble of norms that define what the behaviour of that person must be in that position [ 67 , 68 ]. This approach is also taken by Meleis [ 69 ], who adds that a role is created by knowledge linked to the profession and by interactions among actors in a social system. Both explanations are along the same lines as Roch and Ouellet [ 70 ] and O’Rourke [ 5 ], who explain that a role is a function modulated by the legislative framework of the profession, the practice area, training, specificities of the patients cared for, and organizational expectations in the practice setting [ 5 , 70 ]. Such a role can be defined by the activities assumed by one person, modulated by professional norms, a legislative framework, a scope of practice and a social system. That is the definition we have chosen to use.

We found that to define roles or to characterize a professional practice, activities must be described and organized on the basis of different domains [ 7 , 8 , 13 , 18 , 20 , 26 , 34 , 44 , 49 , 50 , 55 , 56 , 62 ]. A domain represents the scope of a professional’s role [ 26 ]. For nurses, the domain of practice generally consists of evaluating health condition, determining and ensuring nursing care and treatment plan, and providing nursing and medical care and treatment in order to maintain and restore the health of a human being [ 4 ].

Creating a domain allows us to group activities. However, it seems apparent that the concepts of activity and task coincide with the concept of intervention reported by Gordon [ 71 ], Sidani & Braden [ 72 ] and Burns & Grove [ 73 ]. Specifically, Gordon [ 71 ] explains that an intervention is an action undertaken by the nurse to help a patient go from a current state of health to the one desired [ 71 ]. Sidani & Braden [ 72 ] add that an intervention refers to a treatment, therapy, procedure or action carried out by a professional for a client in a specific situation. Finally, Burns & Grove [ 73 ] add that this can be an activity. In light of the literature reviewed and the theoretical currents cited, we conclude that the concepts of activity, intervention and task are synonymous. The concept of activity is used from here on.

This hierarchical representation of professional practice extracted from our analysis of the studies is similar to that presented by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy [ 74 ] and used by Bent et al. [ 13 ]. The latter propose a model on which to structure professional practice [ 13 ]. This model, adapted to the findings of the present review, is particularly appropriate for the nursing profession. It suggests a general structure for future descriptions of nursing practice, regardless of context of practice. This implies that professional practice should be defined by domains with which activities are associated. Bent et al. [ 13 ] also suggest that knowledge should also be part of this structure, since it is required for the completion of activities in each domain. Our study allowed us to improve on the model proposed by Bent et al. [ 13 ] by recognizing the conceptual nature of the notions of role and domain, while also showing that what gets measured in a clinical setting are activities. Bent et al. [ 13 ] recognized the crucial presence of specific knowledge for each activity. In addition to knowledge, it have been found in literature that skills, attitudes, responsibilities and context of practice all have an impact on the performance of activities and on the quality of that performance [ 18 , 21 , 44 , 51 – 55 , 58 , 61 , 63 , 64 , 75 ]. These elements enrich the description of practice and were added to the model proposed by Bent et al. [ 13 ] as seen in Fig.  2 .

The most important contribution of this review for the nursing profession is a comprehensive and innovative way to describe professional practice. Nursing practice covers a large number of roles, domains and activities. This vast range of possibilities poses a significant barrier to developing a comprehensive description of the reality of nursing practice. The evidence-based, hierarchical structure proposed will advance the description of professional practice and contribute knowledge based on similar concepts. This will help in comparing, evaluating and reporting domains and activities in different contexts of care in comparable countries. The ultimate outcome could be a uniform comprehension of nursing expertise and its emerging contribution to health care.

Strengths and limitations

This scoping review allowed us to report and better understand different ways of describing professional practice in the health-related literature through the concepts of roles, domains and activities. Despite rigorous analysis and the synthesis process used, certain limitations must be considered. First, the selection and analysis of articles were done by the primary author only; however, the selection criteria were respected rigorously and analysis was done systematically following Arksey & O’Malley’s five-stage approach [ 15 ]. Also, the process described in this paper is sufficiently transparent to allow the research to be replicated. Second, the quality of the articles examined was not evaluated, save for the “peer-reviewed” criterion. However, the main objective of this review was to report methodologies and concepts used to describe professional practice, not to conduct a synthesis of their results, as would be required in a systematic review [ 76 ]. Also, certain health disciplines were not included in the literature review. Nonetheless, given the number of papers included and the similarities in the descriptions of practice, a certain consistency in language is apparent. Most of the studies examined were from the field of nursing. This indicates a common structure in the nursing literature that points toward a certain consensus.

In nursing, as in other health professions, professional practice is a complex concept linking practice standards, performance standards and deontological values [ 3 , 5 , 70 ]. In all the disciplines, study authors claim to be describing a professional practice, but rarely do they do so thoroughly. Describing activities grouped into various domains does not equate to describing a professional practice, but only one or another of its components. Compared to other professions, the scope of practice in nursing is large and multifaceted [ 3 , 6 ]. The structure presented in this scoping review will enable the accurate description of all domains in which nurses practise along with the activities they perform. Future descriptions should consider the conceptual and operational definition of roles. To provide an accurate picture of the complexity and richness of nursing expertise, activities performed must be clearly identified and integrated into practice domains. To ensure understanding of the descriptions provided, it is essential to provide a faithful depiction of the context of nursing practice. Ideally, any description of practice must be supported by a clear schematic representation of the author’s perception of professional practice.

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Authors’ contributions

All authors meet the criteria for authorship and have approved the final article. MEP was responsible for the conception, design, data collection, data analysis and drafting of the manuscript. MCC, MF and FG contributed substantially to every step of the scoping review and the drafting of the manuscript.

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We are willing to share our raw data either on request or through a repository once the funding institutions have agreed to do so.

This research was done in the course of the first author’s doctoral studies. She received funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Services Research, Fond de recherche en Santé du Québec, Quebec Nursing Intervention Network, and the Transdisciplinary Understanding and Training on Research on Primary Health Care Program.

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Marie-Eve Poitras, Martin Fortin & Frances Gallagher

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Maud-Christine Chouinard

Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Hôpital de Chicoutimi, 305, Saint-Vallier, Chicoutimi, G7H 5H6, Québec, Canada

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Chapter 11: Presenting Your Research

Writing a Research Report in American Psychological Association (APA) Style

Learning Objectives

• Identify the major sections of an APA-style research report and the basic contents of each section.
• Plan and write an effective APA-style research report.

In this section, we look at how to write an APA-style empirical research report , an article that presents the results of one or more new studies. Recall that the standard sections of an empirical research report provide a kind of outline. Here we consider each of these sections in detail, including what information it contains, how that information is formatted and organized, and tips for writing each section. At the end of this section is a sample APA-style research report that illustrates many of these principles.

Sections of a Research Report

Title page and abstract.

An APA-style research report begins with a  title page . The title is centred in the upper half of the page, with each important word capitalized. The title should clearly and concisely (in about 12 words or fewer) communicate the primary variables and research questions. This sometimes requires a main title followed by a subtitle that elaborates on the main title, in which case the main title and subtitle are separated by a colon. Here are some titles from recent issues of professional journals published by the American Psychological Association.

• Sex Differences in Coping Styles and Implications for Depressed Mood
• Effects of Aging and Divided Attention on Memory for Items and Their Contexts
• Computer-Assisted Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Child Anxiety: Results of a Randomized Clinical Trial
• Virtual Driving and Risk Taking: Do Racing Games Increase Risk-Taking Cognitions, Affect, and Behaviour?

Below the title are the authors’ names and, on the next line, their institutional affiliation—the university or other institution where the authors worked when they conducted the research. As we have already seen, the authors are listed in an order that reflects their contribution to the research. When multiple authors have made equal contributions to the research, they often list their names alphabetically or in a randomly determined order.

In some areas of psychology, the titles of many empirical research reports are informal in a way that is perhaps best described as “cute.” They usually take the form of a play on words or a well-known expression that relates to the topic under study. Here are some examples from recent issues of the Journal Psychological Science .

• “Smells Like Clean Spirit: Nonconscious Effects of Scent on Cognition and Behavior”
• “Time Crawls: The Temporal Resolution of Infants’ Visual Attention”
• “Scent of a Woman: Men’s Testosterone Responses to Olfactory Ovulation Cues”
• “Apocalypse Soon?: Dire Messages Reduce Belief in Global Warming by Contradicting Just-World Beliefs”
• “Serial vs. Parallel Processing: Sometimes They Look Like Tweedledum and Tweedledee but They Can (and Should) Be Distinguished”
• “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Words: The Social Effects of Expressive Writing”

Individual researchers differ quite a bit in their preference for such titles. Some use them regularly, while others never use them. What might be some of the pros and cons of using cute article titles?

For articles that are being submitted for publication, the title page also includes an author note that lists the authors’ full institutional affiliations, any acknowledgments the authors wish to make to agencies that funded the research or to colleagues who commented on it, and contact information for the authors. For student papers that are not being submitted for publication—including theses—author notes are generally not necessary.

The  abstract  is a summary of the study. It is the second page of the manuscript and is headed with the word  Abstract . The first line is not indented. The abstract presents the research question, a summary of the method, the basic results, and the most important conclusions. Because the abstract is usually limited to about 200 words, it can be a challenge to write a good one.

Introduction

The  introduction  begins on the third page of the manuscript. The heading at the top of this page is the full title of the manuscript, with each important word capitalized as on the title page. The introduction includes three distinct subsections, although these are typically not identified by separate headings. The opening introduces the research question and explains why it is interesting, the literature review discusses relevant previous research, and the closing restates the research question and comments on the method used to answer it.

The Opening

The  opening , which is usually a paragraph or two in length, introduces the research question and explains why it is interesting. To capture the reader’s attention, researcher Daryl Bem recommends starting with general observations about the topic under study, expressed in ordinary language (not technical jargon)—observations that are about people and their behaviour (not about researchers or their research; Bem, 2003 [1] ). Concrete examples are often very useful here. According to Bem, this would be a poor way to begin a research report:

Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance received a great deal of attention during the latter part of the 20th century (p. 191)

The following would be much better:

The individual who holds two beliefs that are inconsistent with one another may feel uncomfortable. For example, the person who knows that he or she enjoys smoking but believes it to be unhealthy may experience discomfort arising from the inconsistency or disharmony between these two thoughts or cognitions. This feeling of discomfort was called cognitive dissonance by social psychologist Leon Festinger (1957), who suggested that individuals will be motivated to remove this dissonance in whatever way they can (p. 191).

After capturing the reader’s attention, the opening should go on to introduce the research question and explain why it is interesting. Will the answer fill a gap in the literature? Will it provide a test of an important theory? Does it have practical implications? Giving readers a clear sense of what the research is about and why they should care about it will motivate them to continue reading the literature review—and will help them make sense of it.

Breaking the Rules

Researcher Larry Jacoby reported several studies showing that a word that people see or hear repeatedly can seem more familiar even when they do not recall the repetitions—and that this tendency is especially pronounced among older adults. He opened his article with the following humourous anecdote:

A friend whose mother is suffering symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) tells the story of taking her mother to visit a nursing home, preliminary to her mother’s moving there. During an orientation meeting at the nursing home, the rules and regulations were explained, one of which regarded the dining room. The dining room was described as similar to a fine restaurant except that tipping was not required. The absence of tipping was a central theme in the orientation lecture, mentioned frequently to emphasize the quality of care along with the advantages of having paid in advance. At the end of the meeting, the friend’s mother was asked whether she had any questions. She replied that she only had one question: “Should I tip?” (Jacoby, 1999, p. 3)

Although both humour and personal anecdotes are generally discouraged in APA-style writing, this example is a highly effective way to start because it both engages the reader and provides an excellent real-world example of the topic under study.

The Literature Review

Immediately after the opening comes the  literature review , which describes relevant previous research on the topic and can be anywhere from several paragraphs to several pages in length. However, the literature review is not simply a list of past studies. Instead, it constitutes a kind of argument for why the research question is worth addressing. By the end of the literature review, readers should be convinced that the research question makes sense and that the present study is a logical next step in the ongoing research process.

Like any effective argument, the literature review must have some kind of structure. For example, it might begin by describing a phenomenon in a general way along with several studies that demonstrate it, then describing two or more competing theories of the phenomenon, and finally presenting a hypothesis to test one or more of the theories. Or it might describe one phenomenon, then describe another phenomenon that seems inconsistent with the first one, then propose a theory that resolves the inconsistency, and finally present a hypothesis to test that theory. In applied research, it might describe a phenomenon or theory, then describe how that phenomenon or theory applies to some important real-world situation, and finally suggest a way to test whether it does, in fact, apply to that situation.

Looking at the literature review in this way emphasizes a few things. First, it is extremely important to start with an outline of the main points that you want to make, organized in the order that you want to make them. The basic structure of your argument, then, should be apparent from the outline itself. Second, it is important to emphasize the structure of your argument in your writing. One way to do this is to begin the literature review by summarizing your argument even before you begin to make it. “In this article, I will describe two apparently contradictory phenomena, present a new theory that has the potential to resolve the apparent contradiction, and finally present a novel hypothesis to test the theory.” Another way is to open each paragraph with a sentence that summarizes the main point of the paragraph and links it to the preceding points. These opening sentences provide the “transitions” that many beginning researchers have difficulty with. Instead of beginning a paragraph by launching into a description of a previous study, such as “Williams (2004) found that…,” it is better to start by indicating something about why you are describing this particular study. Here are some simple examples:

Another example of this phenomenon comes from the work of Williams (2004).

Williams (2004) offers one explanation of this phenomenon.

An alternative perspective has been provided by Williams (2004).

We used a method based on the one used by Williams (2004).

Finally, remember that your goal is to construct an argument for why your research question is interesting and worth addressing—not necessarily why your favourite answer to it is correct. In other words, your literature review must be balanced. If you want to emphasize the generality of a phenomenon, then of course you should discuss various studies that have demonstrated it. However, if there are other studies that have failed to demonstrate it, you should discuss them too. Or if you are proposing a new theory, then of course you should discuss findings that are consistent with that theory. However, if there are other findings that are inconsistent with it, again, you should discuss them too. It is acceptable to argue that the  balance  of the research supports the existence of a phenomenon or is consistent with a theory (and that is usually the best that researchers in psychology can hope for), but it is not acceptable to  ignore contradictory evidence. Besides, a large part of what makes a research question interesting is uncertainty about its answer.

The Closing

The  closing  of the introduction—typically the final paragraph or two—usually includes two important elements. The first is a clear statement of the main research question or hypothesis. This statement tends to be more formal and precise than in the opening and is often expressed in terms of operational definitions of the key variables. The second is a brief overview of the method and some comment on its appropriateness. Here, for example, is how Darley and Latané (1968) [2] concluded the introduction to their classic article on the bystander effect:

These considerations lead to the hypothesis that the more bystanders to an emergency, the less likely, or the more slowly, any one bystander will intervene to provide aid. To test this proposition it would be necessary to create a situation in which a realistic “emergency” could plausibly occur. Each subject should also be blocked from communicating with others to prevent his getting information about their behaviour during the emergency. Finally, the experimental situation should allow for the assessment of the speed and frequency of the subjects’ reaction to the emergency. The experiment reported below attempted to fulfill these conditions. (p. 378)

Thus the introduction leads smoothly into the next major section of the article—the method section.

The  method section  is where you describe how you conducted your study. An important principle for writing a method section is that it should be clear and detailed enough that other researchers could replicate the study by following your “recipe.” This means that it must describe all the important elements of the study—basic demographic characteristics of the participants, how they were recruited, whether they were randomly assigned, how the variables were manipulated or measured, how counterbalancing was accomplished, and so on. At the same time, it should avoid irrelevant details such as the fact that the study was conducted in Classroom 37B of the Industrial Technology Building or that the questionnaire was double-sided and completed using pencils.

The method section begins immediately after the introduction ends with the heading “Method” (not “Methods”) centred on the page. Immediately after this is the subheading “Participants,” left justified and in italics. The participants subsection indicates how many participants there were, the number of women and men, some indication of their age, other demographics that may be relevant to the study, and how they were recruited, including any incentives given for participation.

After the participants section, the structure can vary a bit. Figure 11.1 shows three common approaches. In the first, the participants section is followed by a design and procedure subsection, which describes the rest of the method. This works well for methods that are relatively simple and can be described adequately in a few paragraphs. In the second approach, the participants section is followed by separate design and procedure subsections. This works well when both the design and the procedure are relatively complicated and each requires multiple paragraphs.

What is the difference between design and procedure? The design of a study is its overall structure. What were the independent and dependent variables? Was the independent variable manipulated, and if so, was it manipulated between or within subjects? How were the variables operationally defined? The procedure is how the study was carried out. It often works well to describe the procedure in terms of what the participants did rather than what the researchers did. For example, the participants gave their informed consent, read a set of instructions, completed a block of four practice trials, completed a block of 20 test trials, completed two questionnaires, and were debriefed and excused.

In the third basic way to organize a method section, the participants subsection is followed by a materials subsection before the design and procedure subsections. This works well when there are complicated materials to describe. This might mean multiple questionnaires, written vignettes that participants read and respond to, perceptual stimuli, and so on. The heading of this subsection can be modified to reflect its content. Instead of “Materials,” it can be “Questionnaires,” “Stimuli,” and so on.

The  results section  is where you present the main results of the study, including the results of the statistical analyses. Although it does not include the raw data—individual participants’ responses or scores—researchers should save their raw data and make them available to other researchers who request them. Several journals now encourage the open sharing of raw data online.

Although there are no standard subsections, it is still important for the results section to be logically organized. Typically it begins with certain preliminary issues. One is whether any participants or responses were excluded from the analyses and why. The rationale for excluding data should be described clearly so that other researchers can decide whether it is appropriate. A second preliminary issue is how multiple responses were combined to produce the primary variables in the analyses. For example, if participants rated the attractiveness of 20 stimulus people, you might have to explain that you began by computing the mean attractiveness rating for each participant. Or if they recalled as many items as they could from study list of 20 words, did you count the number correctly recalled, compute the percentage correctly recalled, or perhaps compute the number correct minus the number incorrect? A third preliminary issue is the reliability of the measures. This is where you would present test-retest correlations, Cronbach’s α, or other statistics to show that the measures are consistent across time and across items. A final preliminary issue is whether the manipulation was successful. This is where you would report the results of any manipulation checks.

The results section should then tackle the primary research questions, one at a time. Again, there should be a clear organization. One approach would be to answer the most general questions and then proceed to answer more specific ones. Another would be to answer the main question first and then to answer secondary ones. Regardless, Bem (2003) [3] suggests the following basic structure for discussing each new result:

• Remind the reader of the research question.
• Give the answer to the research question in words.
• Present the relevant statistics.
• Qualify the answer if necessary.
• Summarize the result.

Notice that only Step 3 necessarily involves numbers. The rest of the steps involve presenting the research question and the answer to it in words. In fact, the basic results should be clear even to a reader who skips over the numbers.

The  discussion  is the last major section of the research report. Discussions usually consist of some combination of the following elements:

• Summary of the research
• Theoretical implications
• Practical implications
• Limitations
• Suggestions for future research

The discussion typically begins with a summary of the study that provides a clear answer to the research question. In a short report with a single study, this might require no more than a sentence. In a longer report with multiple studies, it might require a paragraph or even two. The summary is often followed by a discussion of the theoretical implications of the research. Do the results provide support for any existing theories? If not, how  can  they be explained? Although you do not have to provide a definitive explanation or detailed theory for your results, you at least need to outline one or more possible explanations. In applied research—and often in basic research—there is also some discussion of the practical implications of the research. How can the results be used, and by whom, to accomplish some real-world goal?

The theoretical and practical implications are often followed by a discussion of the study’s limitations. Perhaps there are problems with its internal or external validity. Perhaps the manipulation was not very effective or the measures not very reliable. Perhaps there is some evidence that participants did not fully understand their task or that they were suspicious of the intent of the researchers. Now is the time to discuss these issues and how they might have affected the results. But do not overdo it. All studies have limitations, and most readers will understand that a different sample or different measures might have produced different results. Unless there is good reason to think they  would have, however, there is no reason to mention these routine issues. Instead, pick two or three limitations that seem like they could have influenced the results, explain how they could have influenced the results, and suggest ways to deal with them.

Most discussions end with some suggestions for future research. If the study did not satisfactorily answer the original research question, what will it take to do so? What  new  research questions has the study raised? This part of the discussion, however, is not just a list of new questions. It is a discussion of two or three of the most important unresolved issues. This means identifying and clarifying each question, suggesting some alternative answers, and even suggesting ways they could be studied.

Finally, some researchers are quite good at ending their articles with a sweeping or thought-provoking conclusion. Darley and Latané (1968) [4] , for example, ended their article on the bystander effect by discussing the idea that whether people help others may depend more on the situation than on their personalities. Their final sentence is, “If people understand the situational forces that can make them hesitate to intervene, they may better overcome them” (p. 383). However, this kind of ending can be difficult to pull off. It can sound overreaching or just banal and end up detracting from the overall impact of the article. It is often better simply to end when you have made your final point (although you should avoid ending on a limitation).

The references section begins on a new page with the heading “References” centred at the top of the page. All references cited in the text are then listed in the format presented earlier. They are listed alphabetically by the last name of the first author. If two sources have the same first author, they are listed alphabetically by the last name of the second author. If all the authors are the same, then they are listed chronologically by the year of publication. Everything in the reference list is double-spaced both within and between references.

Appendices, Tables, and Figures

Appendices, tables, and figures come after the references. An  appendix  is appropriate for supplemental material that would interrupt the flow of the research report if it were presented within any of the major sections. An appendix could be used to present lists of stimulus words, questionnaire items, detailed descriptions of special equipment or unusual statistical analyses, or references to the studies that are included in a meta-analysis. Each appendix begins on a new page. If there is only one, the heading is “Appendix,” centred at the top of the page. If there is more than one, the headings are “Appendix A,” “Appendix B,” and so on, and they appear in the order they were first mentioned in the text of the report.

After any appendices come tables and then figures. Tables and figures are both used to present results. Figures can also be used to illustrate theories (e.g., in the form of a flowchart), display stimuli, outline procedures, and present many other kinds of information. Each table and figure appears on its own page. Tables are numbered in the order that they are first mentioned in the text (“Table 1,” “Table 2,” and so on). Figures are numbered the same way (“Figure 1,” “Figure 2,” and so on). A brief explanatory title, with the important words capitalized, appears above each table. Each figure is given a brief explanatory caption, where (aside from proper nouns or names) only the first word of each sentence is capitalized. More details on preparing APA-style tables and figures are presented later in the book.

Sample APA-Style Research Report

Figures 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, and 11.5 show some sample pages from an APA-style empirical research report originally written by undergraduate student Tomoe Suyama at California State University, Fresno. The main purpose of these figures is to illustrate the basic organization and formatting of an APA-style empirical research report, although many high-level and low-level style conventions can be seen here too.

Key Takeaways

• An APA-style empirical research report consists of several standard sections. The main ones are the abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, and references.
• The introduction consists of an opening that presents the research question, a literature review that describes previous research on the topic, and a closing that restates the research question and comments on the method. The literature review constitutes an argument for why the current study is worth doing.
• The method section describes the method in enough detail that another researcher could replicate the study. At a minimum, it consists of a participants subsection and a design and procedure subsection.
• The results section describes the results in an organized fashion. Each primary result is presented in terms of statistical results but also explained in words.
• The discussion typically summarizes the study, discusses theoretical and practical implications and limitations of the study, and offers suggestions for further research.
• Practice: Look through an issue of a general interest professional journal (e.g.,  Psychological Science ). Read the opening of the first five articles and rate the effectiveness of each one from 1 ( very ineffective ) to 5 ( very effective ). Write a sentence or two explaining each rating.
• Practice: Find a recent article in a professional journal and identify where the opening, literature review, and closing of the introduction begin and end.
• Practice: Find a recent article in a professional journal and highlight in a different colour each of the following elements in the discussion: summary, theoretical implications, practical implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research.

Long Descriptions

Figure 11.1 long description: Table showing three ways of organizing an APA-style method section.

In the simple method, there are two subheadings: “Participants” (which might begin “The participants were…”) and “Design and procedure” (which might begin “There were three conditions…”).

In the typical method, there are three subheadings: “Participants” (“The participants were…”), “Design” (“There were three conditions…”), and “Procedure” (“Participants viewed each stimulus on the computer screen…”).

In the complex method, there are four subheadings: “Participants” (“The participants were…”), “Materials” (“The stimuli were…”), “Design” (“There were three conditions…”), and “Procedure” (“Participants viewed each stimulus on the computer screen…”). [Return to Figure 11.1]

• Bem, D. J. (2003). Writing the empirical journal article. In J. M. Darley, M. P. Zanna, & H. R. Roediger III (Eds.),  The compleat academic: A practical guide for the beginning social scientist  (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. ↵
• Darley, J. M., & Latané, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4 , 377–383. ↵

A type of research article which describes one or more new empirical studies conducted by the authors.

The page at the beginning of an APA-style research report containing the title of the article, the authors’ names, and their institutional affiliation.

A summary of a research study.

The third page of a manuscript containing the research question, the literature review, and comments about how to answer the research question.

An introduction to the research question and explanation for why this question is interesting.

A description of relevant previous research on the topic being discusses and an argument for why the research is worth addressing.

The end of the introduction, where the research question is reiterated and the method is commented upon.

The section of a research report where the method used to conduct the study is described.

The main results of the study, including the results from statistical analyses, are presented in a research article.

Section of a research report that summarizes the study's results and interprets them by referring back to the study's theoretical background.

Part of a research report which contains supplemental material.

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Research Report – Example, Writing Guide and Types

Table of Contents

A research report is a comprehensive document that presents the findings, analysis, and conclusions of a research study. It communicates the purpose, methods, results, and implications of research in a structured format, ensuring clarity and accessibility for the intended audience. Research reports are widely used in academia, business, government, and industry to document findings and provide actionable insights.

This article explores the types of research reports, a step-by-step writing guide, and practical examples to help researchers craft effective reports.

Research Report

A research report is a formal document that summarizes the key aspects of a research project. It allows the researcher to share their findings with others, contribute to the knowledge base, and provide recommendations based on evidence.

Key Features:

• Structured Format: Organized into clearly defined sections.
• Objective Presentation: Focuses on facts and data rather than personal opinions.
• Audience-Specific: Tailored to meet the needs of academic, corporate, or public readers.

Example Use Cases:

• Presenting the results of a scientific experiment in an academic setting.
• Analyzing market trends in a business report.
• Documenting the findings of a public policy evaluation.

Importance of Research Reports

• Documentation: Serves as a permanent record of the research process and findings.
• Communication: Conveys insights and evidence to stakeholders or decision-makers.
• Knowledge Sharing: Advances understanding by contributing to the academic or professional body of knowledge.
• Decision Support: Provides data-driven recommendations for action or policy changes.
• Transparency: Ensures accountability by detailing methods and results.

Types of Research Reports

1. academic research report.

• Purpose: To present original research findings in an academic context.
• Audience: Professors, researchers, and students.
• Example: A thesis or dissertation.

2. Business Research Report

• Purpose: To analyze market trends, customer preferences, or business performance.
• Audience: Executives, managers, and stakeholders.
• Example: A market analysis report on consumer behavior.

3. Technical Research Report

• Purpose: To document technical findings, methodologies, and recommendations.
• Audience: Engineers, IT professionals, and technical staff.
• Example: A software performance evaluation report.

4. Government Research Report

• Purpose: To evaluate public programs, policies, or societal issues.
• Audience: Policymakers, government officials, and the public.
• Example: A report on the effects of a new education policy.

5. Scientific Research Report

• Purpose: To communicate experimental results or scientific investigations.
• Audience: Scientists, medical professionals, and academic journals.
• Example: A report on the efficacy of a new drug.

Structure of a Research Report

• Title of the report.
• Author’s name(s).
• Date of submission.
• Institutional or organizational affiliation.
• A brief summary of the study, including objectives, methods, key findings, and conclusions.
• Lists headings and subheadings with corresponding page numbers.
• Background of the research topic.
• Problem statement or research question.
• Objectives and significance of the study.
• Overview of existing studies and theories related to the research.
• Identification of gaps in knowledge.
• Research design (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods).
• Data collection methods (e.g., surveys, experiments, interviews).
• Sampling techniques and data analysis procedures.
• Presentation of findings using tables, graphs, or charts.
• Descriptive and statistical summaries.
• Interpretation of results in relation to research objectives and hypotheses.
• Comparison with previous studies.
• Implications of the findings.
• Recap of the study’s main findings.
• Limitations of the research.
• Recommendations for future research or applications.
• A list of all sources cited in the report, formatted according to the required citation style (e.g., APA, MLA).
• Supplementary materials such as raw data, questionnaires, or detailed calculations.

Writing Guide for a Research Report

Step 1: understand the purpose.

• Identify the goals of your research and the target audience for the report.
• Define whether the report is academic, business-oriented, or technical.

Step 2: Plan the Structure

• Use the standard format (e.g., title page, abstract, introduction, etc.).
• Create an outline with key headings and subheadings.

Step 3: Collect and Analyze Data

• Gather reliable and relevant data using appropriate methods.
• Analyze the data systematically to address the research objectives.

Step 4: Write Each Section

• Introduction: Provide context and state the purpose clearly.
• Methodology: Describe how the research was conducted in detail.
• Results: Present findings without interpretation.
• Discussion: Interpret results and explain their significance.
• Conclusion: Summarize the key takeaways and suggest next steps.

Step 5: Revise and Edit

• Check for logical flow, clarity, and consistency.
• Ensure the language is precise and professional.
• Verify the accuracy of citations and data.

Step 6: Format the Report

• Follow the required style guide (e.g., APA, Chicago, or MLA).
• Include visuals (charts, tables) to enhance understanding.

Step 7: Proofread

• Review for grammatical errors, typos, and formatting issues.
• Seek feedback from peers or advisors.

Example of a Research Report

Title: Impact of Social Media on Student Academic Performance

Abstract: This study examines the relationship between social media usage and academic performance among college students. Using a survey of 300 participants, the findings indicate a negative correlation between excessive social media use and GPA. Recommendations include time management workshops and awareness campaigns.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Methodology

Introduction:

• Background: The rise of social media has revolutionized communication but also raised concerns about its impact on productivity and education.
• Objective: To analyze how social media usage influences the academic performance of students.

Methodology:

• Design: Quantitative study using a cross-sectional survey.
• Data Collection: A structured questionnaire distributed online.
• Sample Size: 300 undergraduate students.
• 70% of participants reported spending more than 3 hours daily on social media.
• A negative correlation (r=−0.45) was found between social media usage and GPA.

Discussion:

• Findings align with previous studies highlighting time mismanagement as a key factor.
• Implications suggest the need for awareness programs about balancing academic and social activities.

Conclusion: Social media significantly impacts student performance, warranting interventions like time management training.

References: Formatted in APA style.

Tips for Writing an Effective Research Report

• Be Clear and Concise: Avoid unnecessary jargon and ensure the report is accessible to its intended audience.
• Use Visual Aids: Enhance data presentation with graphs, tables, and charts.
• Provide Evidence: Support claims with data and citations.
• Stay Objective: Present findings and interpretations without personal bias.
• Tailor to the Audience: Adapt the tone, language, and depth of information based on the reader’s needs.

A research report is a vital tool for documenting and sharing findings in a structured, credible, and actionable manner. By following a clear structure, employing appropriate methods, and addressing the needs of the intended audience, researchers can effectively communicate their work. Whether in academia, business, or government, a well-written research report contributes to advancing knowledge and fostering informed decision-making.

• Creswell, J. W. (2018). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches . Sage Publications.
• Kumar, R. (2019). Research Methodology: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners . Sage Publications.
• Zikmund, W. G., Babin, B. J., Carr, J. C., & Griffin, M. (2016). Business Research Methods . Cengage Learning.
• Babbie, E. R. (2020). The Practice of Social Research . Cengage Learning.
• American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).

About the author

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Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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1. What is the Professional Practice Research Report (PPRR)?

The PPRR is a self-study module to be completed by students seeking the LPC LLM award. The PPRR gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your ability to carry out an in-depth investigation into a topic linked to one of the core practice areas or elective subjects and to present your findings in the PPRR assessment. The assessment will consist of a written report of no more than 3,000 words which should demonstrate a critical awareness of developments and current issues in the topic under discussion. The report should be written in clear and concise language and should aim to demonstrate critical evaluation, analysis and reflection rather than being merely descriptive of the topic covered. In particular, you will need to demonstrate your ability to carry out effective and relevant independent research as part of your assessment (for more on learning outcomes see Q15). You will also be required to submit a Reflective Statement of no more than 500 words (for more on this see Q13).

Your report will be supported by a 20 minute oral assessment. You will give a 10 minute oral presentation which will be followed by questions by the examiner on your presentation and/or the report (for more on this see Q17).

2. How do I select my PPRR title?

There are 14 different titles for you to choose from. The titles will be emailed to you with these instructions. You will also be able to access the titles via ELITE. The online portal inviting you to make your choice will open on 22 November 2021. You need to select your PPRR title and notify the University of your choice by no later than 4pm on 21 February 2022.

Although the titles mentioned above have been approved by the external examiner as being suitable to demonstrate the learning outcomes, there is also the option of drafting your own title (a “bespoke” title). Please be aware that this would have to be approved by your Campus LPC Programme and Student Lead (PSL), and we can make no commitment to accept such a title. Factors which the PSL will apply in the approval process of a bespoke title include

the subject area – it must relate to one of the Core Practice Areas or one of the elective subjects

resources within campus for the marking of the title

STUDENT ASSESSMENT INFORMATION

Full time september 21/22 students, professional practice research report: student instructions.

• whether your title would be capable of achieving the learning outcomes set out in Q15 below.

The deadline for submitting a bespoke title to your PSL for approval is by 4pm on Monday 31 January 2022.

3. How do I inform the University of my title choice?

You will be asked to complete a choice form via ELITE in September. You will receive an email with a link to the form as soon as it is available.

4. In what form will I be required to submit my PPRR?

You will be required to submit your PPRR electronically via Turnitin by the deadlines specified below.

5. What is the deadline for submission of the PPRR?

The submission deadlines are as follows:

TURNITIN SUBMISSION DATE

TIME SUBJECT

Monday 27 June 2022 1200 Professional Practice Research Report and slides

6. What is the submission procedure?

Detailed instructions on the exact procedure for electronic submission will be issued closer to the submission date.

7. Can I submit my assessment early?

Within reason, yes. Turnitin will open seven days before the deadline, and you can submit at any time during that seven day period.

Please do not leave submission until the very last minute in case something goes wrong, e. IT problems etc.

8. When should I write my PPRR?

Access to all the titles is now available and you must confirm your title choice by 21 February 2022. It is up to you to use your time appropriately for the writing of your PPRR, but we would anticipate that most students would make their choice and start working on their PPRR as soon as possible. Please also note our advice below.

Statement: Ethical Research, is available via the home page of the Library Services Portal.

Given the time scales involved in the PPRR Assessment, it is generally not practicable to obtain consent from the Ethics Sub-committee and therefore research involving human participants should be avoided.

10. Legal research guidance and resources

You will have already come across provisions relating to Legal Research on your course and will have access to both paper and electronic based research tools throughout the period of your work on the PPRR.

It is suggested that you look back over your study notes on how to conduct legal research and make full use of the hard copy and online assistance provided at that time. There is also guidance on the Library Services Portal, in the Skills section of the library. The professional legal databases provide online help and guidance on the use of their resources.

If you have a technical question about how to use a particular electronic or paper-based research tool which is not already answered by the guides referred to above you are permitted to ask library staff for guidance.

For the avoidance of doubt the library staff will not answer any questions which relate directly to your assessment, the appropriateness of your research strategy or the accuracy of your research. The library staff will be the judge of how much guidance they can give you.

11. How should I present my PPRR assessment?

Please see Appendix 1 which contains guidelines on how to format and present your work.

12. Am I required to use standard academic referencing or explain what precedents or other sources I have used?

As this is a research based task, you should use footnotes to enable the marker to check the authority for your propositions. Each reference should be given a number which will appear in the body of the text, either in parenthesis on the line (1) or as a superscript 1.

Most modern word-processing packages allow footnotes to be inserted automatically, with an option to place them at the end of the document, or at the bottom of the relevant page.

Use OSCOLA (the Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities) for

citing/referencing all material used in your report. Full details and online tutorials

on referencing using OSCOLA can be found at: law.ox.ac/oscola. Please

note that your references must be expressed sufficiently clearly that any reader of the work could check them easily.

Footnotes should not be included in the word count.

13. How should I write my Reflective Statement?

The purpose of a reflective statement is to give you an opportunity to constructively evaluate the piece of work you have undertaken. This is for your own benefit but also assists with employability. Law firms are increasingly placing importance on self-reflection owing to its important role in the self-certification of continuing professional development. Your statement should not be limited to describing the work, but should also provide an honest analysis and evaluation of how you felt about the process and, with the benefit of hindsight, highlight what you would do differently and why.

In order to assist you with your Reflective Statement, you may want to keep a rolling reflective journal as a form of regular reflection so you can monitor your thought processes.

For example, an entry could include your thoughts in relation to an article you have read. What did you learn? What did the article address positively? What could have been dealt with better in the article and how? How does the article link with practice?

It is recommended you watch: youtube/watch?v=QoI67VeE3ds in order to give yourself an insight into how to approach your Reflective Statement. youtu/5WfnHGq6ztg - provides an insight to Gibb’s reflective model. youtu/X1xkFgHAWD0 - reflective writing - a brief guide.

14. Is there a Word Limit?

The word limit for the PPRR is 3,000 words and the word limit for the Reflective Statement is 500 words (in addition). The penalty for exceeding the word limit is that the excess words will not be marked. There is no minimum word limit, but it is unlikely that an assessment which had significantly fewer than 3,000 words would demonstrate the learning outcomes.

NOTE: The following rules for counting words will be applied:

o All words count in the total EXCEPT o Headers and footers do not count o A bibliography and footnotes do not count but please note below * o Words used in setting out the title at the start of your PPRR do not count o Words and numerical figures in tables, graphs, diagrams or diagrammatical figures do not count but please note below * o The declaration at the end of your work does not count

• Demonstrate the ability to self-manage a research-type project from design to delivery.

Since your PPRR is something you write in your own time (as opposed to under the pressure of an examination) we expect a high level of performance in the written communication and presentation skills. You should make sure that you use language proficiently and present knowledge, opinion or advice in a way that is succinct, accurate, grammatically correct, comprehensible and appropriate for the context.

You should also make sure that your work is ‘office quality’, i. well presented, with no spelling mistakes or formatting errors.

16. How will my PPRR Assessment be marked?

Your report will be marked out of 70. It will be marked and graded using the LPC Assessment Criteria (see Appendix 3) and looking at your level of proficiency in the module Learning Outcomes of Knowledge and Understanding, Intellectual Skills and Transferable Skills (see Q15). Note that your Reflective Statement will not carry any of those 70 marks. However, there will be an automatic deduction of 10 marks if you do not include a Reflective Statement. Further, you may well be asked about it in your oral assessment. The remaining 30 marks are for the oral assessment.

17. Tell me about the oral assessment. What is the deadline for preparing my slides?

Your slides need to be submitted to Turnitin by the same deadline as your PPRR, i. by 1200 on 27 June 2022. Please ensure that any colour scheme or illustrations you use enable the content to be viewed in that format, for example that there is sufficient contrast between the background and text for the text to be readable.

18. How should I structure my presentation?

The overall structure is up to you, but remember that one of the assessment criteria is having a logical structure, with a beginning a middle and an end. We would therefore recommend that the first slide should be the title (or a summary of the title) of the Report and the last slide should be a summary of the conclusion.

19. Are there any formatting requirements for my slides?

Remember that 10 is the maximum number of slides you are permitted to use, but you may use fewer. Whilst there are no formatting requirements for your slides you should not put too much information on each slide . Because of this we, recommend that you limit yourself to 50 words per slide, including titles. Please note that you will do your presentation using a hard copy of your slides, not by presenting your slides on screen. Therefore, do not include any animations or sound effects in your slides as these will not be taken into account by your assessor. Likewise, notes pages are not required and will not be taken into account by your assessor.

20. How do I know when and where my Oral Assessment will be?

Your oral assessment will take place online using Collaborate between Tuesday 28 June and Friday 22 July 2022.

Your oral assessment will take place online using Collaborate. You will be emailed by your Assessment Office once the date, time and venue have been timetabled. Remember to look out for this email .

Please note that no appointments for the oral assessment can be timetabled until all students from all cohorts have submitted their title choices.

21. What are the permitted materials for the oral assessment?

The permitted materials for the oral assessment are a paper copy of each of your Report and your slides. These can be annotated or tagged in whatever way you choose. You will not hand them in at the end of the assessment. There is no need to provide an additional copy of either for the assessor.

Although you can annotate your Professional Practice Research Report and the hard copy of the slides however you choose, do bear in mind that too many notes may hinder the delivery of your presentation.

22. What is the format of the oral?

The oral will last for 20 minutes, comprising your 10 minute presentation and a 10 minute question and answer session where you will be asked and answer questions put to you by the assessor.

You will attend the Collaborate session at the scheduled time. If you arrive up to 5 minutes late for the assessment you will be allowed to sit the assessment, but the time missed cannot be allowed at the end. If you arrive more than 5 minutes late,

of any Assessment Related Offence to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The Student Discipline Regulations are available on the University website via the home page of ELITE.

Cheating by collusion

You must be particularly careful not to cheat by colluding with others when you are working on a submitted assessment like the PPRR Assessment. You may well have been collaborating with other students in preparation for, and during, lectures and workshops on the LPC. That is entirely acceptable and part of what we expect you to do when studying on the course. Once you start work on the PPRR Assessment however you must work alone – what you submit must be your own unaided work and you must not collude with any other student, or you will be guilty of cheating. Put simply, your work must be “unaided” and this includes not asking a friend or relative to, for example, proof read your work.

Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as your own. Plagiarism is an Assessment Related Offence. You are WARNED that the University uses plagiarism detection software.

Conducting Research using Human Participants

As noted at 10 above, conducting research using human participants gives rise to ethical issues, and therefore conducting such research without complying with the University’s Practice Statement: Ethical Research and obtaining approval of the Ethics Sub-committee constitutes academic misconduct.

26. What happens if I do not submit my assessment or do not submit it on time?

The PPRR Assessment is part of the formal assessment system on the LPC programme. Under Assessment Regulation 14 if you fail to submit your assessment, or if you submit it late, you will be deemed to have failed. This applies even if you are late by a few minutes only.

Under Regulation 15 it is possible to make a Concession Application (supported by appropriate evidence) within 7 days of the submission date. If the Board of Examiners is satisfied that your non-submission or late submission was due to illness or other valid cause they may allow an additional 1st attempt at the coursework or accept a late submission. If you wish to make a Concession Application you should contact your Assessment Office.

27. What happens if I submit the PPRR but am absent from the oral

assessment?

Under Assessment Regulation 14(d) you will be deemed absent from the whole assessment if you are absent from part of it. Should you be absent from the oral

due to illness or other good reason, you should submit a concession application within 7 days of the timetabled date of your oral assessment. If this is accepted by the Board of Examiners, you will be able to sit later as an additional first attempt, so would be able to update your PPRR (if necessary) and resubmit it at a later submission date when you would also have your oral assessment.

28. What happens if I fail the assessment?

If you fail at 1st attempt you are entitled to two further attempts. For your 2nd attempt you will be required to re-submit the same piece of work that you have not passed as long as you resubmit within 12 months of your 1st attempt. For a 2nd attempt more than 12 months after your 1st attempt and all 3rd attempts, students will be required to attempt a new title. In both cases you will also attend an oral assessment.

29. If I fail, or was absent, do I have to resit?

If you wish to be awarded an LL, then you must sit and pass the PPRR. However, you can choose not to resit it. If you have passed all your Stage 1 and Stage 2 assessments, you will be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice as an exit award.

If you are absent and decide you do not intend to ever submit your PPRR and wish instead to be awarded an exit award of Postgraduate Diploma, you should email Student Services at your campus between 04 July and 12 July 2022 to confirm the following: a. That you no longer intend to submit your PPRR at any stage; and b. That you wish to be given a postgraduate diploma as an exit award. Please note that requests received before 04 July 2022 will not be processed . As long as your request is received between the dates referred to above, you will be able to be awarded a PgDip when results are published in early August 202 2 (assuming you have passed all other relevant assessments). If you make the request later, your PgDip will be awarded at a subsequent awards board. Please remember that, provided you have passed all elements of Stages 1 and 2, you will receive your Stage 1 and 2 transcripts in any event, and it is these that show you have satisfied the SRA’s requirements.

As students are entitled to resit at any point over a 5 year period starting with their first assessment, if you took no further action you would not get your award until the 5 years expired.

only be used to deal with last minute changes to the law. It cannot be used to avoid discussion of a material development of relevance to the chosen practice area six weeks before hand in, for example.

34. I am a sponsored Student Route international student. What is the position if I wish to change my award?

The University of Law does not ordinarily allow Visa Sponsored Students to change their award. This is because the Home Office has issued the student’s visa to follow a particular course and be awarded a specific qualification. During the process by which they receive a CAS, we advise each student that they cannot change their award after their CAS is issued.

If you think there are exceptional circumstances as to why you should be permitted to change your award, please write to the Visa Compliance Team at [email protected] . Please note that the Visa Compliance Team may ask you to submit evidence to support your request and all decisions made by the Visa Compliance Team are final.

Amanda Desforges National Programme and Student Affairs Director LPC

Guidelines on presentation of the PPRR Assessment

1. General requirements

You must ensure that your assessment is logically structured, well-written and neatly presented.

1. General word-processing and presentation

Please abide by the following rules when preparing your assessment:

• produce it in word-processed format using Microsoft Word
• use a minimum font size of 12 characters per inch; e. Arial 12
• number the pages at the bottom of the page in the centre
• enter your name (NOT your candidate number) in the top right-hand corner of each page [these assessments are not anonymous due to the oral element]
• all typing should use one-and-a-half line spacing, except for footnotes and indented quotations, which should use single-line spacing
• retain a copy of your assessment before you submit it.

1. Contents of the assessment

Your assessment must include the following:

• the body of your report
• a bibliography
• reflective statement
• a declaration

1.2. The report

1.2.1. Report structure

Your assessment should be written as a professional report and so should follow the generally applied format and style of a professional report (see Appendix 2 for a summary).

You should set out the question in full at the beginning. This is not included in the word count.

Words used in headings and sub-headings must be included in the word count.

1.2.1. Footnotes, references and citations

See Q 12 above

1.2.1. Quotations

Where a quotation will occupy more than four lines, it should be indented and typed using single-line spacing. Quotations must be included in the word count.

1.2.1. Tables, graphs and figures

Please note that tables, graphs and figures used as illustrations are not part of the word count. You should place any relevant tables, graphs and figures which are essential to your answer within the body of your report and not in an Appendix. However, please note the asterisked statement in Q14 above.

1.2. Bibliography

All works to which you refer within the text and in the footnotes must be included in the bibliography, as well as any other sources you have used in the course of the research. Please note that you may consult any research source you want, but it must be available to read in English.

OSCOLA requires bibliographies to be laid out in three parts:

• Table of cases
• Table of legislation
• Bibliography - all other secondary resources (e. books, journal articles, newspaper articles and so on)

Further information and online tutorials on referencing using OSCOLA can be found at: law.ox.ac/oscola.

1.2 Reflective Statement

Your Reflective Statement (of no more than 500 words) should be inserted after the Bibliography. It should be clearly headed “Reflective Statement” and be written in the first person.

1.2 Declaration

Your assessment must conclude with a Declaration in the following terms. This does not form part of the word limit.

“DECLARATION

I declare that: - The work in this assessment was carried out in accordance with the Regulations of The University of Law.

• The work is original except where indicated by acknowledgement or special reference in the text, and no part of this assessment has been presented by me or anyone else to any University or body for examination either in the United Kingdom or overseas.
• I have not conducted research involving human participants for the purposes of this work.* OR I have obtained consent from the Ethics sub-committee for my research involving human participants and the consent reference is [ ].*

[*Delete as appropriate]”

Please note that in common with many other academic institutions, the University uses plagiarism detection software (Turnitin).

The LLM and MSc are covered by the University’s Student Discipline Regulations which cover plagiarism, cheating and other academic misconduct, and by the Assessment Regulations in force from time to time. The Student Discipline Regulations can be found on the University’s website under “University of Law Policies”. The Assessment Regulations can be found in your Student Handbook on ELITE. Please take the time

to read both sets of regulations.

Assessment criteria.

The University’s LPC MSc and LPC LLM are designed in accordance with the national Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (the FHEQ). This framework is overseen by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (the QAA). As the course is a Master’s level postgraduate course, all elements of the course with the exception of the Introduction to Professional Practice (IPP) are assessed at Level 7. IPP is assessed at Level 6.

When your tutors mark your assessments they will look to see how well you have met the module outcomes and will apply the LPC Assessment Criteria set out below:

• Demonstration of knowledge and understanding of the relevant area;
• Analysis of complex legal, factual, business and/or management issues, as appropriate;
• Application of knowledge and understanding to the task;
• Ability to select and use appropriate information in support of the argument;
• Ability critically to evaluate information as appropriate;
• Ability to reach a clear and reasoned solution to the problem(s) raised in the task, addressing any ethical and commercial issues, as appropriate;
• Ability to communicate using a clear and logical structure and language appropriate to the task.

These Criteria are based on the FHEQ Levels referred to above, and also reflect the course and module Learning Outcomes.

When tutors mark, they have reference to Grade Descriptors, as set out below. You will see that the Grade Descriptors show you each grade level and, against that grade level, a description of the quality or type of performance that would fall within such a grade level for each of the Assessment Criteria.

When you look at the Grade Descriptors you will see that the pass mark is 50% but a good performance will aim for marks considerably higher than that. Further guidance on grades is set out on the following pages.

Grade Descriptors:

High Distinction (80 – 100%) Exceptional work for this level of study which demonstrates most or all of the following: - Exemplary display of knowledge and understanding illustrated by exceptional breadth of relevant reading and independent research appropriate to the task. - Exceptional ability to analyse complex legal, factual, business and/or management issues systematically and creatively. - Exceptional depth of insight into the interrelationship of different legal concepts, commercial and ethical considerations, integration of practitioner skills where appropriate, tactics and case-analysis. Outstanding ability to apply such understanding to the resolution of the client’s problems, demonstrating originality of thought. - Material wholly relevant to the task. - Exceptional use of citation and referencing, where appropriate. - May wish to consider applied research in this area. - Exceptionally insightful critical analysis of source materials. - Exemplary presentation in terms of structure and use of English and legal English. Highly cogent arguments supported by relevant evidence.

Distinction (70 – 79%) Excellent work for this level of study which demonstrates most or all of the following: - Excellent display of knowledge and understanding illustrated by excellent breadth of background reading and independent research appropriate to the task. - Excellent ability to analyse complex legal, factual, business and/or management issues systematically and creatively. - Excellent understanding of the inter-relationship of different legal concepts, commercial and ethical considerations, integration of practitioner skills where appropriate, tactics and case-analysis. Excellent ability to apply such understanding to the resolution of the client’s problems, demonstrating a degree of originality of thought. - Material wholly relevant to the task. - Excellent use of citation and referencing, where appropriate. - Excellent critical and analytical evaluation of material using a wide variety of sources. - Excellently presented in terms of structure and use of English and legal English. Arguments are persuasive and logical and supported throughout by relevant evidence.

Commendation (60-69%) Good or very good work for this level of study which demonstrates most or all of the following:

• Multiple Choice

Module : Professional Practice Research Report (PPRR1)

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