Excerpts from the book about APA standard

Types of Articles and Papers

Many types of articles are published in scientific journals, including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods empirical articles and replications. These journal articles report primary, or original, research—that is, research that has not been previously formally published. Theoretical articles and methodological articles do not present research but describe advancements in theories or methods. Journal articles that review or synthesize findings from primary research include literature reviews and quantitative and qualitative meta-analyses. By understanding the characteristics of different types of articles and the types of information they most efficiently convey, you will be able to select an article type that fits your research and to follow the appropriate journal article reporting standards (discussed in Chapter 3). Students may write the same kinds of articles that are published in journals, as well as student papers (including course assignments, dissertations, and theses) not intended for publication in a journal (see Section 1.10). Sample papers are included at the end of Chapter 2 and on the APA Style website (https://apastyle.apa.org).

1.1 Quantitative Articles

In quantitative articles, authors report original, empirical, quantitative research. Quantitative research refers to a set of approaches commonly used in the behavioral and social sciences and related fields in which the observed outcomes are numerically represented. The results of these studies are typically analyzed using methods (statistics, data analyses, and modeling techniques) that rely on the numerical properties of the measurement system.

Quantitative research studies use a variety of experimental designs and a range of analytic techniques. Some quantitative articles present novel hypotheses and data analyses not considered or addressed in previous reports of related data. Within the article, authors should describe elements of their  study in the first person (see Section 4.16). Researchers who used a quantitative approach should follow the quantitative journal article reporting standards to report their findings (see Sections 3.5–3.12).

Quantitative articles typically include distinct sections that reflect the stages of the research process and appear in the following sequence:

Introduction: a statement of the purpose of the investigation, a review of the background literature, and an explicit statement of the hypotheses being explored (see Section 3.4)

Method: a full description of each step of the investigation, including details about the materials used and the procedures followed (which should be sufficient to enable replication), a full statement of the research design, statements on the protection of human participants or nonhuman animal subjects and informed consent, and a description (in words and/or a figure) of the flow of participants through the study (see Section 3.6)

Results: data analysis and a report of the findings (see Section 3.7)

Discussion: a summary of the study, including any interpretation, limitations, and implications of the results (see Section 3.8)

Reports of Multiple Studies. Authors of quantitative articles often report the findings of several conceptually linked studies in one manuscript. These authors should make the rationale, logic, order, and method of each study clear to readers. Headings should be used to label each study—for instance, “Experiment 1,” “Experiment 2,” and so forth. This format organizes the sections and makes them easier to discuss in the manuscript or in later research articles. Method and Results subsections can appear under each study heading. If appropriate, the authors can include a short subsection titled “Discussion” in which they explore the implications of the results of each study, or they can combine the discussion with the description of results under a heading such as “Results and Discussion.” Authors should always include a comprehensive general discussion of all the studies at the end of the article, which often has the heading “General Discussion.”

1.2 Qualitative Articles

In qualitative articles, authors report original, empirical, qualitative research. Qualitative research refers to scientific practices that are used to generate knowledge about human experience and/or action, including social processes. Qualitative approaches tend to share four sets of characteristics: Researchers analyze data consisting of natural language (i.e., words), researcher observations (e.g., social interactions), and/or participants’ expressions (e.g., artistic presentations) rather than collecting numerical data and conducting mathematical analyses. Reports tend to show the development of qualitative findings using natural language (although numbers may be used adjunctively in describing or exploring these findings).

Researchers often use an iterative process of analysis in which they reexamine developing findings in light of continued data analysis and refine the initial findings. In this way, the process of analysis is selfcorrecting and can produce original knowledge.

Researchers recursively combine inquiry with methods that require researchers’ reflexivity about how their own perspectives might support or impair the research process and thus how their methods should best be enacted.

Researchers tend to study experiences and actions whose meaning may shift and evolve; therefore, they tend to view their findings as being situated within place and time rather than seeking to develop laws that are expected to remain stable regardless of context.

Researchers who used a qualitative approach should follow the qualitative journal article reporting standards to report their findings (see Sections 3.13–3.17).

Case Studies and Other Types of Qualitative Articles. A variety of methods are reported in qualitative articles, and the structure of qualitative articles varies depending on the nature of the study. For example, in case studies researchers report analyses or observations obtained while working closely with an individual, group, community, or organization. Case studies illustrate a problem in depth; indicate a means for solving a problem; and/or shed light on needed research, clinical applications, or theoretical matters.

Qualitative articles also describe studies with multiple participants, groups, communities, or organizations that identify commonalities and/or differences across these entities. Such research can have a systemic focus, examining the ways in which social processes, actions, or discourses are structured. Regardless of the qualitative research approaches they use, when writing reports, authors should carefully consider the balance between providing important illustrative material and using confidential participant data responsibly (see Sections 1.18–1.19 for more on confidentiality; see also Section 1.15). Qualitative reports may be organized thematically or chronologically and are typically presented in a reflexive, first-person style, detailing the ways in which the researchers arrived at questions, methods, findings, and considerations for the field.

1.3 Mixed Methods Articles

In mixed methods articles, authors report research combining qualitative and quantitative empirical approaches. Mixed methods research should not be confused with mixed models research, which is a quantitative procedure, or with multimethods research, which entails using multiple methods from the same approach. Mixed methods research involves the following: describing the philosophical assumptions or theoretical models used to inform the study design (Creswell, 2015); describing the distinct methodologies, research designs, and procedures in relation to the study goals; collecting and analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data in response to research aims, questions, or hypotheses; and integrating the findings from the two methodologies intentionally to generate new insights.

The basic assumption of a mixed methods approach is that the combined qualitative findings and quantitative results lead to additional insights not gleaned from the qualitative or quantitative findings alone (Creswell, 2015; Greene, 2007; Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2010). Because there are many ways to design a mixed methods study, the structure of mixed methods articles varies depending on the specific nature of the study and the balance between the two methodologies. Researchers who used a mixed methods approach should follow the mixed methods journal article reporting standards to report their findings (see Section 3.18).

1.4 Replication Articles

In replication articles, authors report the results of work intended to verify or reproduce findings from previous investigations. The aim of a replication study is to examine whether the conclusions from an earlier study remain the same or similar over variations in the conduct of the original study. There are internal and external forms of replication; only external replications are addressed in APA journal article reporting standards (see Section 3.10). An external replication occurs when researchers obtain a new sample and duplicate, insofar as is possible or desirable, the features of the original study being replicated. New design, measures, and/or data-analysis methods can also be used to test whether a finding has generality beyond the particular situation studied in the original work, but any such variations must be clearly specified in the report.

Researchers conducting an external replication should report sufficient information to allow readers to determine whether the study was a direct (exact, literal) replication, approximate replication, or conceptual (construct) replication. In a direct replication, researchers repeat a study collecting data from a new sample in a way that duplicates as far as possible the conditions of the earlier study. A direct replication is called an exact replication or a literal replication when researchers use procedures that are identical to the original experiment or duplicated as closely as possible (e.g., with variations only in the location of the study and the investigators conducting the study).

These forms of replication are useful for establishing that the findings of the original study are reliable. In an approximate replication (or a modified replication), researchers incorporate alternative procedures and additional conditions into the features of the original study; such replications usually contain the original study design along with some additional study features.

The purpose of an approximate or modified replication may be not only to replicate a study but also to determine whether some factors not included in the original formulation have an influence on the outcome. In a conceptual replication, researchers introduce different techniques and manipulations to gain theoretical information; it is possible that no features of the initial study are retained. Researchers may use other labels for or descriptions of replications (for further exploration of this issue, see National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019); the descriptions provided in this section were adapted from the APA Dictionary of Psychology (https://dictionary.apa.org).

1.5 Quantitative and Qualitative Meta-Analyses

Meta-analysis refers to a collection of techniques in which researchers use the findings from a group of related studies to draw a general conclusion (synthesis) based on the extant research on a topic. Individual participant or subject data are not used in meta-analyses because the data analyzed are at the study level. Just as the reporting standards for quantitative and qualitative studies vary by study design, those for meta-analyses vary by the particular questions asked in the study and the approaches used to answer those questions. Because the study is the input unit for a meta-analysis, the studies included are provided in the reference list and marked with an indicator that shows they were part of the meta-analysis. This indicator distinguishes studies included in a meta-analysis from other references. For example, in APA Style articles, references used in a meta-analysis are preceded by an asterisk (see Section 9.52).

Quantitative Meta-Analysis. Within quantitative approaches, meta-analyses generally stipulate a technique in which effect-size estimates from individual studies are the inputs to the analyses. Meta-analysis is also used to determine factors that may be related to the magnitude of the outcome in quantitative studies—for example, design factors (e.g., randomized vs. nonrandomized), demographic factors (e.g., percentage of the study sample below the poverty line), and so forth. Meta-analytic reports usually follow the same basic structure as quantitative studies (see Section 1.1) and contain an introduction and Method, Results, and Discussion sections. Researchers who use a quantitative meta-analytic approach should follow the reporting standards for quantitative meta-analysis (see Section 3.12).

Qualitative Meta-Analysis. Within qualitative research, there are a variety of approaches to meta-analysis, including qualitative metasynthesis, metaethnography, metamethod, and critical interpretive synthesis. These approaches often use strategies from primary qualitative analyses to synthesize findings across studies. Qualitative meta-analyses can be used to highlight methodological trends, identify common findings and gaps, develop new understandings, and propose future directions for an area of research.

Qualitative meta-analytic reports have a structure similar to that of qualitative primary reports, with the addition of a description of the perspectives and situatedness of the authors of the primary works included in the analysis.

Qualitative meta-analyses do not entail a singular procedure but rather an aggregating function common to meta-analytic approaches. Qualitative metaanalyses are not to be confused with quantitative reviews, in which authors generate a narrative description of a quantitative literature base. We recommend referring to those studies as literature reviews or narrative literature reviews to avoid confusion with qualitative meta-analyses (see Section 1.6). Researchers who used a qualitative meta-analytic approach should follow the reporting standards for qualitative meta-analysis (see Section 3.17).

1.6 Literature Review Articles

Literature review articles (or narrative literature review articles) provide narrative summaries and evaluations of the findings or theories within a literature base. The literature base may include qualitative, quantitative, and/or mixed methods research. Literature reviews capture trends in the literature; they do not engage in a systematic quantitative or qualitative metaanalysis of the findings from the initial studies.

In literature review articles, authors should define and clarify the problem; summarize previous investigations to inform readers of the state of the research; identify relations, contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies in the literature; and suggest next steps in solving the problem.

The components of literature review articles can be arranged in various ways —for example, by grouping research on the basis of similarity in the concepts or theories of interest, methodological similarities among the studies reviewed, or the historical development of the field.

1.7 Theoretical Articles

Theoretical articles draw from existing research literature to advance theory. Theoretical articles present empirical information only when it advances the theoretical issue being explicated. Authors of theoretical articles trace the development of a theory to expand and refine its constructs, present a new theory, or analyze an existing theory. Typically, they point out flaws or demonstrate the advantage(s) of one theory over another. Authors also may examine a theory’s internal consistency and external validity. The order of sections in a theoretical article can vary.

1.8 Methodological Articles

Methodological articles present new approaches to research or practice, modifications of existing methods, or discussions of quantitative and/or qualitative data analysis. These articles use empirical data (quantitative, qualitative, or both) only as a means to illustrate an approach to research. Some use simulated data to demonstrate how methods work under varying conditions (e.g., different sample sizes, number of variables, level of nonnormality, size of coefficients).

Methodological articles provide sufficient detail for researchers to assess the applicability of the methodology and its feasibility for the type of research problem it is designed to study. Further, these articles allow readers to compare proposed methods with those in current use. In methodological articles, highly technical materials (e.g., derivations, proofs, data generation, computer code, extensive details of simulations) should be presented in appendices or as supplemental materials to improve overall article readability. When having detailed information (e.g., parameters used in a simulation) is necessary for readers to understand the major points being made, those details should be presented in the text of the article.

1.9 Other Types of Articles

Additional types of published articles include brief reports, comments on and replies to previously published articles, book reviews, obituaries, and letters to the editor. Authors should consult the editors or author guidelines of individual journals for specific information regarding these kinds of articles.