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COMM 2050 - Interpersonal Theory Research

This guide was designed to assist Interpersonal Communications (COMM 2050) students in finding research on interpersonal theories.

Parts of a Research Article

Most research articles follow a typical pattern with similar sections.  As you are reading you will find that some sections are more valuable to you than others.

Here is a breakdown of the typical sections you might encounter in a research article:

  1. Abstract/Summary – provides a brief overview of the purpose of the study, research questions, methods, results, and conclusions.  Helps you decide if it’s an article you want to read.  Some people use the abstract to discuss a study and never read further.  This is unwise because an abstract is just a preview of an article and may be misleading.

 

  1. Introduction – States purpose of the study, statement of the problem, rationale for the study, and the research questions.  When a hypothesis is being tested, it should be clearly stated and include the expected results.

 

  1. Literature Review – provides a context for the study by reviewing the historical foundation on which the paper is built.  Establishes what is and is not known already about the research problem. The in-text citations/parenthetical citations make it easy to spot in a paper.

 

  1. Methodology or Methods section – Describes the tools and processes used to collect the data or the information.  Provides enough information about how data was collected to allow the study to be replicated.

 

  1. Results – Data that was collected is organized and clearly summarized, usually in tables and figures.  Text in the Results section helps to augment what is presented in tables.  Presentation of the data in the results section typically avoids interpretation whish is reserved for the Discussion section.

 

  1. Discussion / Conclusion – In this section that author has an opportunity to explain the results in respect to the research questions that were posed at the beginning of the article.  They interpret the results and should explain the meaning and significance of the study, as well as any practical significance of the results.  Authors may also discuss problems they encountered in the study in this section, and will likely provide recommendations for future research.