LITERATURE REVIEW AND THE MAJOR

SECTIONS OF RESEARCH
MODULE 9
DESCRIPTION OF THE LESSON

 This lesson will discuss the literature review and

the major sections of the experimental research.
This lesson will also provide activities and
exercises that will practice the students’
understanding to research structure and writing.
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students should be able to meet the following intended learning

outcomes:
 Be able to identify the important parts and contents of a
research
 Possess skills in criticizing and reviewing research articles.
TARGETS/ OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

 Learn the components of each section of the research
report and
 Create a good research report.
 Literature review refers to the systematic identification, location, and analysis of published and reliable documents
containing information related to the research problem (Gay, 1976). In research, the presentation of this part is
based on the chronological order of the year of citation, either from past to present or vice versa. The widely
used research periodicals are known as “Psychological journals.” These are collections of several research articles
about different topics that are up-to-date and are highly recognized by experts in the field of Psychology. Other
sources of research literature are books, published research reports, and the internet web. However, there are
instances where we may only find a few useful or invaluable references to a certain topic. As such, the most
recommendable source of related literature is the meta-analysis. Meta-analysis is found in either journals or
edited volumes of books. It is a statistical presentation of data from many similar studies to provide a summary of
research findings with regards to a specific topic. It also uses statistics to identify how strong the cause and effect
relationship between the antecedent condition or treatment and a sample of behavior being measured. The
advantage of relying on meta-analysis is the fact that it is more objective than review articles.
MAJOR SECTIONS OF RESEARCH
A.TITLE
 Research reports need a descriptive title that gives an idea to
the content of the entire investigation. The research title must
have both the independent and dependent variables of the
study, the relationship among these variables, and the
population of interest. It must be clear and precise with a length
of about 10 to 12 substantive words, function words are not
included in the counting.
A.TITLE
 Example:
1. “Negative Ions and Behavior: Impact of Mood, Memory, and
Aggression Among Type A and Type B Persons” by Baron, Russels,
and Arms (1985)
2. “Anxiety, Fear and Social Affiliation” by Sarnoff and Zimbardo (1961)
3. “An Attributional Explanation for the Effect of Audience Laughter on
Perceived Funniness” by Lawson, Downing, and Cetola (1998)
B. ABSTRACT
 Another major section of the research report is the abstract. The
abstract is a summary of the entire investigation. An abstract must be
written in at least 960 characters (including spaces) or 120 words for
empirical study. It must contain the relevant data obtained from the
study such as the statement of the problem, the method, the results, and
the conclusions. This section must also provide information with regards
to the research subjects, design, and, brief procedures, results, and
conclusions. This section of research needs to be interesting, informative,
and precise for it is the most frequently read portion of any article.
C. INTRODUCTION

 An introduction is consists of statements about the research problem

and hypothesis and how it will be tested.
 Usually, the introduction starts with the description of the research topic
(e.g. memory, suicide, aggression) and then gradually narrows down to
the specific topic or problem of the study. This technique is known as the
funnel analogy.
C. INTRODUCTION
 This section must also provide related works of literature that explain the
research hypothesis. The research report must only include those articles that
are directly related to the research hypothesis; hence, it must be selected
carefully. Proper citations must always be provided when borrowing or relying
on any idea that comes from any source. Use APA author-date format for
reference citation (presented to table 9.1. on the next page).
 After the description of the nature of the research study, an explicit statement
about the research hypothesis is usually provided. Identifying and providing
operational definitions of the independent and dependent variables as well as
explaining specific predictions about the outcome of the study are
appropriate.
D. METHOD

 The method section describes how the experiment is

conducted. It should be detailed enough to allow other
researchers to replicate the process of the experiment. It is
composed of three (3) standard subsections; namely,
participants, materials, and procedure. Other researchers adjust
this format according to the kind of study they are presenting.
1. Participants. This subsection highlights detail about the
relevant characteristics of the target research subject or
sample. The sample size, age, sex, educational level, family
structure, and other relevant profile in the given research shall
be specified. Statements about the selection or recruitment
process (sampling) and incentives or other credits must also
be mentioned. Instances of withdrawal from the study must
also be reported or explained.
2. Materials. This subsection of research may be labeled as materials or apparatus,
depending on what kind of tools are used in the experiment. Apparatus is the term
used when the experiment utilizes mechanical or electronic equipment; whereas,
materials are the term used when the experiment only involves paper and pencil. A
detailed description of the equipment or materials being used must be provided in
this part, except standard items like stopwatches, pencils, and tables.
 In cases where the equipment or tool is built by the experimenter, detailed
procedures and descriptions about it must be provided. Illustration or sample items
may be included. Moreover, when it is too complex, describe it completely in the
appendix at the end of the research report. Be mindful that measurements must be in
centimeters or meters.
3. Procedure. The step-by-step instructions to replicate the
experiment must be explained well in this subsection. This also
involves information on how the group assignment of each
participant is derived. Experimental manipulation and
procedures to control extraneous variables in the study must
also be explained.
E. RESULTS
 The content of this section involves objective data that are gathered in
the experiment. As such, statistical procedures are narrated in this part.
When stating the results of the study, researchers usually start with the
synopsis of the primary findings stated in words. This section must also
include the statistical tools and degrees of freedom being used, and the
level of significance obtained in the study. Tables and figures may also be
used in this section to provide a clear presentation of the data in the
study.
F. DISCUSSION
 The evaluation and interpretation of the given data presented in the
previous section (results) are explained in the discussion section. This
section starts with a clear summary of the conclusion in the study. Here,
the researcher needs to explain if the findings support the research
hypothesis of the study. For example:
 The results of the current experiment supported the hypothesis that exposure
to a hot-temperature room would increase aggressive behavior. Subjects who
were placed in a hot-temperature room expressed significantly more positive
attitudes toward aggression than did subjects who were placed in standard
room condition.
F. DISCUSSION
 Then, the researcher needs to compare the findings of the
study to the important findings of the past studies. He or she
must identify if these past studies are consistent or inconsistent
with the recent findings.
 These results are consistent with the results of several other
experiments reported in the literature. For example, [citation] also
showed that… Besides, [citation] found similar effects when
subjects…
F. DISCUSSION
 However, in cases where the recent results do not agree with the findings reported
by other researchers, the researcher has to explain the reasons why he or she came
up with different results:
 The present findings, however, are inconsistent with those reported by [citation].The present
study demonstrated that…; whereas [citation] found that… The most likely explanation for
the inconsistency is that [citation] used a different procedure for… Their procedure could
have resulted in…
 New theoretical assumptions and proposals for future researchers may also
be cited out of the research results.
G. REFERENCES
 All of the articles, books, and other sources used and
acquired in the research report must be listed in this
section. This may help other researchers to go back and
evaluate the works of literature that are mentioned in
the study. Make sure that the list of references are
accurate and written in APA format.