ABSTRACT
There is no unique format that is used by all journals in disseminating research information. Each discipline has some peculiarity that is common to that discipline. This section provides an overview of what is usually found in each part of an empirical (i.e., databased) quantitative journal article.1 The format may differ when other types of research are reported. For example, the format for qualitative research studies such as ethnographies or case studies is often quite different from that described here for experimental, quasiexperimental, and nonexperimental (i.e., comparative, associational, or descriptive) quantitative research. The American Educational Research Association (AERA) (2006) article “Standards for Reporting on Empirical Social Science Research in AERA Publications” describes two overarching principles that they call “warranted” and “transparency”; the former means that “adequate evidence should be provided to justify the results and conclusions” (p. 33). Transparency means that the report should make explicit and clear the logic of the inquiry and also all the key decisions and actions from the problem development through data analysis and interpretation.
