The Guts of the Research Paper

Even if you never write a research paper, as a nurse you will be reading them. They are a crucial part of evidence-based practice in nursing and medicine and it’s important to know what you’re reading.

The most common types of professional articles are research articles, evidence-based articles, clinical articles, quantitative and qualitative articles, literature reviews, nursing narratives, and case studies.

Scientific writing is orderly and direct. Research papers in APA format that are reporting on experimental research will most likely contain a Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and References sections. Here we’ll focus on IMRAD: the guts of the research paper.

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IMRAD

Research articles report on original data, results, and findings. They summarize a study logically by following the typical format of IMRAD — introduction, methods, results, and discussion.

Here we’ll focus on these parts of a research article. Understanding the purpose of each section will help you know how to read and write a research article.

Introduction

This section introduces the problem or gaps in present knowledge and discusses the purpose of the paper with a statement called a hypotheses. It immediately follows the abstract and sometimes isn’t labeled as an introduction. But you should recognize it by its key features:

Central concepts. A statement about the concepts and variables being studied is the start of an introduction. A general description of the concepts of interest is all that’s needed here.

Hypotheses. This is based on the research questions posed and is intended to predict expected outcomes. The research questions identify the concepts and variables to be investigated and ask how the variables are related. What relationship does the author expect to find between the concepts? The hypotheses takes it one step further by predicting an answer to that question.

Theoretical or conceptual framework. This is typically an explicit statement of the theoretical concepts that will connect and direct the researcher to existing knowledge on the topic. It provides the basis for the research and informs the choice of research methods.

Review of the literature. The introduction sometimes includes a brief literature review in which existing research on the topic is presented. Sometimes the literature review is a separate section that follows the introduction.

Need. The intro should always discuss the significance of this study such as a need for more information on the topic.

Methods Section

The methods section discusses the methods of answering the research questions. It includes a description of the research design and plan, as well as the methods for measuring variables and collecting the data. It will include any procedures associated with the research such as procedures for protecting human rights.

Design. This section will specify the variables and the levels of those variables, which are identified as independent, dependent, control, or extraneous variable. It will describe if the research is within-groups or between-groups.

Participants and subjects. This part will describe who the participants were, how many, and how they were selected. It’s a good place to discuss the features that make these participants unique and separate from the general population. A detailed description of efforts to protect and enhance the integrity of the subjects and the study is an important part of qualitative research.

If humans are involved in research, the participants part of the methods sections should always include whether this study was reviewed and approved by the ethics committee or institutional review board and/or whether informed consent (either oral or written) from the patients or the guardians was obtained.

The following parts of the methods section should be presented chronologically.

Instruments and measures. This section will describe the research tools used in the study, why they were chosen, and if they are reliable, valid, and appropriate. It will also outline the unique measures appropriate to this specific research environment, thus it will include details about the study setting and context.

Procedure. This is where the researcher explains what they did and how they did it. In detail it describes the procedures used: what the participants did, how the data was collected including step-by-step details. This section is detailed but concise.

Data analysis methods. This section describes the statistical analysis completed. In a narrative summary format, it includes the statistical tests, levels of significance, and software used to complete the analysis. This part will include whether a statistician was used in the analysis and will justify the preferred statistical method used for the study. No results are discussed here.

HOT TIP: Statistical significance measures whether a result is likely due to chance or some other factor of interest. When a finding is significant, it means you can feel confident that it’s real, not that you just got lucky (or unlucky) in choosing the sample. The significance level is an expression of how rare the results are, under the assumption that the null hypothesis is true. It is expressed as a “p-value.” The lower the p-value, the less likely the results are due purely to chance.

Results Section

This is where the findings from the data analysis are presented. It addresses the purpose of the study and answers the research questions. The main findings are presented first, followed by secondary findings. The results sections includes only the results, not a discussion of the results. The implications of the the results are for the discussion section.

Discussion Section

The discussion section is where the conclusions and results are interpreted. In light of the original hypotheses, it discusses the meaning and implications of the results.

This section will include a statement interpreting the results along with specific clinical and research implications. What do the findings mean? How can they be used in practice? Are the results consistent with previous research?

This is where researchers will acknowledge limitations and deficiencies of the study and make recommendations for future research. This section will end with a clear statement regarding the importance of the findings.

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