Reporting Excluded Data in APA Reports

In an APA results section, what information is typically addressed first before tackling the primary research questions?

Although an APA-style Results section typically lacks standard subheadings, it must follow a logical organizational progression. Arrange the following components in the order they should typically appear in a manuscript, from first to last.

A researcher is organizing the Results section for a study on the relationship between stress and social media use. Match each specific task from the researcher's reporting process to its appropriate role in the logical organization of an APA-style Results section.

In an APA-style Results section, the absence of standardized subheadings implies that researchers have the flexibility to present their primary research findings first to capture the reader's attention, provided they address participant exclusions and manipulation checks later in the section.

In an APA-style Results section, the primary research questions are typically organized starting with the most specific question and progressing to the most general ones.

Which of the following best summarizes the standard logical progression of an APA-style results section?

A researcher argues that because the APA Results section has no standard subheadings, they should present their most 'impactful' significant findings first to engage the reader. When evaluating this decision against standard APA organizational progression, a critic would point out that this approach is incorrect because the section must first address _____ issues—such as participant exclusions and how variables were computed—to establish the necessary foundation for interpreting the findings.

You have just finished analyzing the data for your psychology experiment and need to write your APA style Results section. Your analyses include the following elements: (1) an exploratory test of memory recall differences by age, (2) the main hypothesis test of mood effects on overall memory, (3) a manipulation check to see if the mood induction video worked, (4) the exclusion of two participants who fell asleep, and (5) the creation of a 'Total Memory Score' by summing recall across three different tasks. Write a brief outline of your Results section applying the standard logical progression, explaining where each of these five elements should be placed and why.

Analyze the student's draft. Diagnose the organizational errors in the Results section based on standard APA logical progression, and explain how the section should be restructured.

A researcher decides to skip reporting their manipulation check and participant exclusions at the beginning of the Results section, arguing that because APA style does not mandate standard subsections, they are free to organize the section however they want to highlight their most exciting primary findings first. Evaluate this researcher's decision based on the principles of APA Results section organization.

A psychology student is drafting the Results section for a study on the effects of a new memory-enhancement technique. Apply the standard organizational progression of an APA Results section to arrange the following drafted sentences in the correct order, from first to last.

A researcher drafts a paragraph showing that participants in a 'time-pressure' condition reported feeling significantly more rushed than those in the control condition. When analyzing the logical progression of the APA Results section, this paragraph reports the outcome of a _____, which is a preliminary issue that must be addressed before systematically tackling the primary research questions.

A peer reviewer is evaluating a student's drafted APA-style Results section. Evaluate the organizational decisions made in different parts of the draft, and match each drafted scenario to the correct critique based on the standard logical progression of an APA Results section.