Reporting findings from studies

There are two major reporting styles or approaches to reporting findings from studies: author-focused and information-focused. Here are the features of both styles:

Author-focused

Information-focused

places a focus on the author(s) of the studies, or their ownership of ideas
the authors’ names are mentioned as part of the sentence before a reporting verb
the year of publication is provided in brackets (page numbers are also indicated when direct quotes are used)
is often used when the author discusses the findings of individual studies (to place more emphasis on the contributions of these studies’ authors)

emphasizes the ideas being expressed or findings of a study
the information is provided in the form of a paraphrase or direct quote
the authors’ names can either be mentioned in in-text references in brackets or given in the footnote
tends to be used after a group of studies have been introduced (to summarize the overall findings from these studies)

Examples:

In their study, Broadbent and Poon (2015) reported that cognitive strategies such as rehearsal facilitate learners’ knowledge acquisition at a surface level (author-focused style).
Cognitive strategies such as rehearsal seem to help learners acquire knowledge at a surface level (Broadbent & Poon, 2015) (information-focused style).

In author-prominent citations, the author focus can be either:

strong—the authors’ names a) are the subject in the sentence; b) can be mentioned in passive structures with “by;” c) can be indicated after expressions such as “according to,” “in line with …”
weak—collective words such as “authors”, “researchers,” “the academic community” are used rather than specific names, while the actual names are placed in brackets either after “researchers…” or at the end of the sentence.

Examples of strong-author-focus citations:

Johnson (2013) discusses the pricing structure of a fairly typical trans-Atlantic flight.
Specific types of product incompatibility were explored by Choi (1994) and Farrell and Saloner (1985).
According to Myer (2007), although important, media context is a largely understudied aspect of advertising research.

Examples of weak-author-focus citations:

Other scholars (Jonason, Teicher, & Schmitt, 2011) have validated the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI).
Researchers have explored the didactic potential of text-based chat, categorizing non-verbal forms and functions by analyzing extracts from chat logs (Gajadhar & Green, 2003; Meskill & Anthony, 2007).
It has been suggested that collaborative efforts at knowledge construction is an important feature of online learning (Ding, 2005; Kessler & Bikowski, 2010).

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Distinguishing between reporting styles

Read the sentences below (1 to 8) and decide what reporting style they are. Choose one of the options under each sentence:

Farrington (2007) argues that the social value of accessibility needs to be emphasized in the face of powerful market forces that can isolate and marginalize certain social groups and individuals.

information focus

strong author focus

weak author focus

Historian Mary Suzanne Schriber maintains that Americans traveled for two basic and related reasons: for self-improvement and to discover the United States’ national identity (Schriber, 2010).

strong author focus

weak author focus

information focus

The pricing structure of a fairly typical trans-Atlantic flight is shown by Johnson (2004).

information focus

strong author focus

weak author focus

According to Dietz (2002), for all outcomes area effects declined with the increase in the number of people for which the local area was defined.

weak author focus

strong author focus

information focus

Researchers (Dickson, 2003; Solesberry, 2009) confirm that in standard economic methodology it is impossible to infer motivation of individual actors from intensive case studies.

strong author focus

information focus

weak author focus

It has been suggested that the disaster never threatened the authorities’ ability to maintain law and order (Dongping, 2015).

information focus

strong author focus

weak author focus

Firms do announce earnings on the planned-and-disclosed date (Bignoli, 2015).

information focus

strong author focus

weak author focus

Due to the limits of cognition and other behavioral issues, organizations adopt simplified models of strategy making (Cyert & Simon, 2001).

strong author focus

information focus

weak author focus

Identifying ways of referencing

Complete the sentences by dragging one of the given references (or their parts) into the gaps:

(Wilkinson, 1997)

In her study, Wilkinson (2012)

(p. 323)

(Tailor & Rubens, 2013)

According to Watson (2005)

in their recent study, Sheldon and Milton (2014)

is shown by Watson (2010)

(2015, p. 15)

1. According to their earlier study, African farmers have largely been able to meet the demands of feeding rapidly increasing urban populations, in spite of constraints of transport .
2. “Culturally excluded groups are at a disadvantage in the political process,” as suggested by Sorens .
3. Guyer's (2005) results indicate that increases in economic inequality will engender “[l]ow control, insecurity, and loss of self-esteem” .
4. The issue of the causal effect of the tobacco industry’s alleged misconduct, and how it relates to the comparisons being sought in this section, .
5. Furthermore, look at the predicted consequences of the spread of health insurance on expenditure from 1955 to 1985.
6. suggests that when investment opportunities are random, investors fear states that offer poor opportunities.
7. In line with previous findings, it has been suggested that a firm’s investment strategy is totally independent of its liquidity position .
8. , rigid separation between times at which the players renegotiate, send messages, and take trade actions should be taken into account.

Identifying the correct way of referencing

Choose the correct way of referencing (following the APA style):

1. As argues, risk systems are deployed in particular contexts for risk management.
2. An example of the former behavior is illustrated by .
3. A large firm, a project could be pushed aside to make way for service large or sudden-priority projects .
4. As Lennard J. Davis believes, "the attempt to explain the form will in fact succeed far less than the attempt to keep the form united" .
5. Economists should not pay attention to the intentions of decision makers, which would include their views as to how they and others should behave .
6. As Katz observes, the standard neighbourhood model assumes there is no interaction among neighbourhoods.
7. 29 per cent of Greater London's population was born outside the United Kingdom, according to .
8. Our findings are consistent with those of Deaton and Paxson .

Language for reviewing studies using the author- and information-prominent reporting styles

Below are examples of reporting language that is employed to provide a review of studies following the author- and information-prominent styles of reporting. Note that both active and passive verb forms are common, and tense choice tends to be flexible depending on the pattern.

The author-focused style: Emphasizing what particular author(s) did or accomplished in a single study. Note the variety of reporting verbs that reflect the author’s “actions” in experiments, opinions, statements, judgment, suggestions, and disagreement. The Past Simple tense is used predominantly to refer to specific studies, the authors’ activity at a specific moment in the past, and particular findings from these studies.

Author(s) + Year

Reporting verb + object

Smith (2010)

Sokolov and Adams (2014)

affirmed

challenged

considered

demonstrated

described

determined

developed

designed/ devised

disagreed

disputed

emphasized

examined/ studied

explored/ investigated

established

estimated

evaluated/ assessed

explained

focused/ concentrated/ centered on

found

gauged/ measured

indicated

inquired into

introduced

observed

pointed out

predicted/ forecasted

presented

proposed/ suggested

revealed

reviewed/ surveyed

reported

questioned

Collocations with reporting verbs

Here are some common collocations with some of the reporting verbs from the table:

consider	the characteristics of, effect(s) of, a/the strategy for, the ground for, the possibility of
demonstrate	the importance of, a/ the relationship(s) between, the quality of
describe	a method, a model, a process, a scheme
determine	facts, functions, parameters of
develop	a hypothesis, performance measures, a strategy, a technique
design/ devise	a method for, a statistical test, a system
estimate	a model, a scenario of, the parameters of
evaluate/ assess	performance, the impact of, a change in
examine/ explore/ investigate/ study	measures of, effects of/ on, models
focus/ concentrate/ center on	the effects of/ on, the policies, the issue of, the problem of
gauge/ measure	changes in, the rate (level) of, the value of
inquire into	implications of/ for, the definition of, possibilities of/ for
introduce	an algorithm, the concept of, a method
observe	a change, an increase/ a decrease in, a difference, patterns in
propose	an approach to, a solution to, a method for
review/ survey	characteristics, evidence, themes

The information-focused style: Emphasizing what has been found or done in the research area without placing an emphasis on the author(s):

Extensive/ ample research has been done on … (references to the studies).

This contrasts with the approach that gauges the reactions of people to a limited set of questions (references to the studies).
A consensus has emerged that a motivation to learn foreign languages lies in … (references to the studies).
X was first addressed/ described/ examined/ introduced/ observed/ proposed … in a study by (references to the study).
X appears/ tends to be caused by … (references to the studies).

Tense Use

When the author reports findings from a group of studies and individual studies, the Present Simple and Past Simple tenses are most frequently used. The Present Simple tense is used to talk about what authors in individual studies believe, indicate, report on, or write about:

In their study, Byron and Lynch (2004) argue/ report/ indicate that …

It can also be used to report particular findings from individual studies and to interpret what the findings mean (through the author’s ‘meta-commentaries’ on what he/she is reporting).

The Past Simple tense is employed to describe some activity at a specific moment or period in the past and to report particular findings from individual studies. Note that it is not common for writers to shift between Present Simple and Past Simple as they discuss findings from studies, as this makes their style of reporting less consistent. This means it would be advisable to use either the Present Simple or Past Simple to discuss the findings but not a combination of the two for the same purpose.

The Present Perfect tense is commonly used to highlight recent developments in exploring the topic or findings obtained by specific authors:

More recently, Deaton (2003) has suggested/ indicated/ found that …

This tense is also often employed to introduce several studies and their focus (through the opening statement) and to report particular findings from individual studies.

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Task 4

Tense use I

Choose ONE tense that best fits all the sentences in groups 1-3 below:

Group 1

1. Henke and Zhang (2010) and Lincoln et al. (1998) (argue) that the success of Japanese firms such as Toyota and Honda in global competition came from their unique supply chain assessment and management practices.
2. As Storch (2005) (note), “To truly prepare students for collaborative writing may require a re-conceptualization of classroom teaching” (p. 169).
3. Indeed, the vast majority of European citizens (receive) most of their information about the EU and EP elections from traditional news media such as television news and newspapers.
4. Indeed, in the final sentence of the chapter, the exercise (describe) as a ‘sociocognitive process’ (Swales & Lindemann, 2002, p. 119).
5. Research on the antecedents of turnout in EP elections (suggest) that the overall decline in turnout for EP elections may not necessarily indicate a general decrease in citizen interest and engagement.

Past Simple

Present Simple

Present Perfect

Group 2

1. In a study by Liao (2009) the first group (receive) instruction on contrastive stress in the classroom and (use) MyET, the second group (use) MyET only.
2. Chen (2006) (investigate) the impact of MyET on college EFL students.
3. Between 2000 and 2008, Indian companies (announce) over 1000 international mergers or acquisitions, worth over $72 billion.
4. Berzosa and Rokowski (2000) (find) the motivation of the learners to be the most outstanding characteristic of computer assisted language learning.
5. Greene (2000) (observe) a decade ago that theories for using technology in the writing class were as of yet underdeveloped.

Present Perfect

Present Simple

Past Simple

Group 3

1. Recent studies (call) for more investigations into the role of elite cues during elections campaigns.
2. Recent research (focus) on supply chain assessment, an important domain of supply chain management.
3. Since 1991, technology greatly (contribute) to incorporating situational practice into LSP teaching.
4. Family-owned companies in India (dominate) business for centuries and (lead) to the creation of monumental wealth.
5. Collaborative and/or pair writing in both L1 and L2 settings (recognize) as contributing to a higher quality of writing (Storch, 2005).

Past Simple

Present Perfect

Present Simple

Tense use II

Choose the correct verb forms in the extract below:

Text 1

Poverty reduction in the last 15 years overwhelmingly successful. This success was highlighted by the first target of Millennium Development Goal 1 (MDG1) – reducing global $1.25-a-day poverty by half between 1990 and 2015 – being met five years early in 2010 (Chen and Ravallion, 2012). Since then, attention to the next round of global development goals calling for the eradication of extreme poverty globally by 2030. For most of the developing world, poverty eradication, or something close to it, possible. However, with a few notable exceptions, there relatively little conversation about the prospects for poverty reduction and eradication in fragile and conflict-affected countries (FCS) ...

This paper the International Futures (IFs) forecasting system, and a scenario modeling approach, to contribute practical forecasts of likely trends in poverty for fragile and conflict-affected states. This approach to examine the degree of leverage that aggressive policies might have in accelerating poverty reduction in these environments. The results of the current research a timely contribution to inform prioritization and strategic planning to meet the new global goals.

Source: Milante, G., Hughes, B., & Burt, A. (2016). Poverty eradication in fragile places: Prospects for harvesting the highest hanging fruit by 2030. International Journal of Security and Development, 5(1), p.7.

Text 2

In line with this thinking, a study by Valente et al. (2009) that overweight adolescents were more likely to have overweight friends than their normal weight peers… Durkin (1995) that peers share many traits, such as social status and cognitive ability. In consumer socialization theory, it that peers’ impact on the children socialization process with age as the parental effect (Moschis & Churchill, 1978; Thomson & Laing, 2003; Ward, 1974). Rozendaal et al. (2013) that children who are open to peer influence or appreciate the opinions of their peers often a desire for the brand suggested by their peers… In a similar vein, Cullen et al. (2000) that peer influence has a positive effect on the snacking habits of children.

Source: Thaichon, P., & Quach, T.-N. (2016). Online marketing communications and childhood’s intention to consume unhealthy food. Australasian Marketing Journal, 24, 79–86.

Text 3

Student retention is a critical issue in higher education and institutions are under an increasingly heavy weight of expectations to take measures that will help facilitate their students’ success. A student’s likelihood to persist is influenced by a complex set of interpersonal, social, academic, financial, and institutional factors and thus, colleges and universities are often left trying to address challenges over which they seemingly have little control (Simpson, 2004). Yet much opportunity does exist for colleges and universities to raise the bar on delivering an exceptional student experience, and it is their obligation to create processes and policies that support the long-term success of the students they enroll. But it was not until the last half century that this institutional responsibility was embraced or even acknowledged.

Seidman (2005) a thorough historical perspective of American education over the last 400 years, identifying the emergence of retention as a major institutional focus in the 1960s. During this time, studies tracking reasons for dropout largely on the individual, with little consideration for the broader complexity of the student experience (Seidman, 2005). Spady’s (1971) work was the first to directly bridge the gap, asserting that variables such as educational background, academic performance, and interpersonal relationships a student’s decision to persist or drop out. Tinto (1975) Spady’s work, emphasizing that a student’s likelihood to retain was directly correlated with his or her level of integration, both socially and academically. This research the door for researchers to begin looking more holistically at the issue of attrition and beyond the view of isolated studies of student characteristics related to drop out.

Adapted from: Jobe, R. L., Spencer, M., Hinkle, J. P., & Kaplan, J. A. (2016). The first year: A cultural shift towards improving student progress. Higher Learning Research Communications, 6(1), 10-20.

Tense use III

Type the correct form of the verbs in brackets (active or passive) into the gaps:

Text 1

It is generally acknowledged now how much economic and technological innovations (change) our life and will continue to do so. After their impact on the economy (recognize) fully, over the past decades, innovations (become) one of the most intensely researched topics in economics (see, e.g., Cohen, 2010) and management science (Damanpour & Aravind, 2012). The research that (conduct) in the field addresses three main themes.

Source: Witt, U. (2016). What kind of innovations do we need to secure our future? Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 2, 17.

Text 2

Cabagnols and Le Bas (2002) (explain) the determinant of the choice between three types of innovation decisions: to innovate only on product, to innovate only on process and to innovate on both product and process. Specifically, these authors clarify the way by which French firms orient their decisions to innovate. However, one of the issues addressed by this recent literature is whether it is a one-stage or a two-stage process. Du et al. (2007) (test) the performance of two models of decision making: the simultaneous and the sequential model. They (show) that the sequential model (two-stage innovation decision) is more efficient than the simultaneous model (one-stage innovation decisions). Bourke and Jordan (2015) (examine) how the Irish high-technology companies make their decisions to innovate. These authors (suggest) that the adoption of the two-stage innovation decision-making model explains better the influence of the available sources on different types of innovation. In fact, the works that (investigate) service firms’ innovation decision-making procedures (remain) relatively rare. Our paper (contribute) to this literature by focusing on the service companies in Tunisia regarded as an emerging country.

Source: Sdiri, H., & Ayadi, M. (2016). Innovation decision of Tunisian service firms: An empirical analysis. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 2, 18.

Text 3

Several studies suggest that matching an individual’s learning style with the information processing requirements of particular tasks (increase) performance (Hayes & Allinson, 1993, 1998; Sims, 1983). For example, in a study by Eurich (1990), Kolb’s theory (be) the underpinning of a computer-based tutoring system in which the trainee’s learning style (assess) and the computer modified its presentation accordingly. In a similar study, Hayes and Allinson (1998) (find) that a mismatch between learning style and information processing requirements of a particular situation can lead to less effective performance. Mainemelis, Boyatzis, and Kolb (2002) (examine) whether 198 MBA students who were “balanced,” as defined by their LSI [Learning Styles Inventory] scores, also showed greater adaptive flexibility. They (find) that individuals with balanced profiles on the AC/CE [Abstract Conceptualizations/Concrete Experience] continuum (score) higher on adaptive flexibility. Balance on the AE/RO [Active Experimentation/Reflective Observation] continuum, however, (be) not related to adaptive flexibility scores (Mainemelis et al., 2002). This study does provide some support for the idea that learning styles may relate to behavioral flexibility.

Adapted from: Robinson, J. (2016). Connecting leadership and learning: Do versatile learners make connective
leaders? Higher Learning Research Communications, 6(1).

Revision of tenses

Type the correct form of the verbs in brackets into the gaps in these sentences from various studies:

1. Research on online communication within LSP [Language for Specific Purposes] (be) still scarce but (receive) increased attention in the past few years (Arno-Macia, 2012).
2. Worry and rumination (differ) in terms of the temporal focus of thoughts (Olatunjia, 2010).
3. Over the recent years, technology (provide) new insights into the language and genres of different disciplines, thanks to the development of corpora and tools for their analysis (Arno-Macia, 2012).
4. Companies from emerging economies such as India (use) mergers and acquisitions as their main globalization strategy today (Park et al., 2012).
5. In recent years, the European Union (EU) (face) (this is an ongoing process) widespread public skepticism (Schuck et al., 2016).
6. Recent research (show) that country characteristics affect the degree to which EP election news is framed in terms of conflict (Schuck et al., 2016).
7. Watanabe (1997) also (find) that attention to vocabulary during reading activities promoted learning. In his study, subjects who (read) a text that (include) glosses of difficult words (outperform) subjects who (read) the text without glosses (File & Adams, 2010).
8. These findings (suggest) that the process of collaborative writing will likely be affected by technology (Kessler et al., 2012).