Reporting Results (1 of 2)

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Results should be described as simply and as free of statistical jargon as possible. It is best to start by presenting a graph or table that portrays the descriptive statistics. Then, describe the relevant findings in simple plain English. Finally state which effects were statistically significant. A report of a the hypothetical study comparing the effect of background noise might read as follows:
Table 1
Means and Standard Deviations of the Number Correct by Noise Condition
Condition M s
No Noise
8.90
2.47
Moderate Noise
5.60
2.50
Loud Noise
2.60
2.22

As can be seen in Table 1, background noise had a substantial effect on performance: the louder the background noise, the lower the performance.

box plots of the three groups

Box plots further illustrating the differences are shown in Figure 1. An analysis of variance was conducted and the effect of noise was significant, F(2,27) = 5.94, p = 0.007. The Tukey HSD procedure revealed that all pairwise differences among means were significant, p <0 .05.

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