Advice on
         Statistics Research Paper: Good Form in
         Writing
      
   
   

      

         

         Demonstrating a College Education
         
         
I believe that good
            ideas show off even better when they are presented in
            proper form. Future employers, admissions officers, and
            the Nobel Prize Committee will hold certain expectations
            about the applicants they choose. The easiest expectation
            to meet is that of "good form." If you don't know how to
            write a professional research paper, you should learn
            before graduation 
            
            
For those who need help
            in citing sources, see The
            American Psychological Association Citation
            Guide.
            
            
For those who need help
            in preparing tables to report data, consider these
            examples. This is a suitable format for reporting
            regression results:
            
             

               

                  

                     TABLE 1:
                     Regression Equation with [Crime] as
                     Dependent (Y)

                     
                     

                     
                     
                  
               
               

                  

                     

                  
                  

                     Coefficients
                  
                  

                     

                  
                  

                     

                  
                  

                     

                  
               
               

                  

                     Variables
                  
                  

                     b
                  
                  

                     beta
                  
                  

                     s.e. of
                     b
                  
                  

                     t-value
                  
                  

                     
significance
                  
               
               

                  

                     

                     
                     

                     
                     

                  
               
               

                  

                     (X1)
                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     -
                  
               
               

                  

                     (X2)
                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     -
                  
               
               

                  

                     .
                  
                  

                     .
                  
                  

                     .
                  
                  

                     .
                  
                  

                     .
                  
                  

                     .
                  
               
               

                  

                     (Xn)
                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     -
                  
               
               

                  

                     Constant
                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     

                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     -
                  
                  

                     -
                  
               
               

                  

                     R2
                     = --
                  
                  

                     Adjusted
                     R2 = --
                  
                  

                     N =
                     --
                  
               
            
            
            
            
 If you have several
            correlations to report, use a table like the
            following:
         
         

            

               

                  TABLE 2:
                  Correlations of Occupation with Party Preference in
                  Five Countries, 1990-1991a
                  
                  

                  
                  
               
            
            

               

                  Nation
               
               

                  Cramer's
                  Vb
               
               

                  Sample
                  Size
               
            
            

               

                  
United
                     Kingdom
               
               

                  .24
               
               

                  1,115
               
            
            

               

                  
France
               
               

                  .18
               
               

                  578
               
            
            

               

                  
United
                     States
               
               

                  .15
               
               

                  1,356
               
            
            

               

                  
West
                     Germany
               
               

                  .13
               
               

                  1,702
               
            
            

               

                  
East
                     Germany
               
               

                  .10
               
               

                  1,053
               
            
            

               

                  
aData
                     come from the International Study of Values in
                     Politics as reported in Russell J. Dalton,
                     Citizen Politics, 2nd ed. (Chatham, N.J.:
                     Chatham House, 1996). Occupation refers to
                     respondent's occupation. Party preference is in
                     answer to, "If there were a general election
                     tomorrow, which party would you vote for?"

                     bCramer's V is a measure of
                     association for nominal data that ranges between
                     0, meaning no relationship, and 1.0, meaning a
                     perfect relationship.
               
            
         
         
Notes for a table go at the bottom of the table, not at the bottom of the page.