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Writing the Empirical Social Science Research Paper: A Guide for the Perplexed

Abstract Students sometimes find the general process of writing an empirical research paper to be daunting. Yet, when the process is approached in a systematic way, students can become more comfortable with the writing and standard formatting used in an empirical article. Accordingly, the current paper serves as a template for the budding social scientist.

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Students sometimes find the general process of writing an empirical research paper to be daunting. Yet, when the process is approached in a systematic way, students can become more comfortable with the writing and standard formatting used in an empirical article. Accordingly, the current paper serves as a template for the budding social scientist. In it, I describe the various sections of a research paper in order to illustrate the structure of an introduction, methods section, results section, and discussion section in a format fitting for the 6th edition of the American Psychological Association. As in most empirical research papers, the first section is an abstract, a short outline of the paper that clarifies both what the paper will be examining, what is found, and in most cases a one line explanation of why the findings are important to the field. Accordingly, this paper should help to clarify the process of producing an empirical article.

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Weather you are doing a bachelor's or a higher level studies , it is important to do academic writing. This paper gives a summary of the different types of academic writing process and aspect related to academic writing. The paper is a review of works done on the subject matter.

Social Science Writing

Ricardo Stanton-Salazar

I’ve put together three documents composed of my own study notes on the process of writing in the social sciences. Notes include items taken from the internet and written by various scholars who address the “how tos” of writing social science papers, dissertations, and journal articles. Other notes are taken from various personal documents I’ve developed over my three decades of teaching sociology and education studies. I hope you find them helpful. RDSS

, I’ve put together three documents composed of my own study notes on the process of writing in the social sciences. Notes include items taken from the internet and written by various scholars who address the “how to-s” of writing social science papers, dissertations, and journal articles. Other notes are taken from various personal documents I’ve developed over my three decades of teaching sociology and education studies. I hope you find them helpful. RDSS

Professor Jason Miin-Hwa Lim

Novice writers and university students often encounter problems with regard to (i) the extent to which they should include research questions and hypotheses in their research reports, and (ii) how they can effectively present these information elements to enhance clarity. To resolve these problems, we used a genre-based analytical framework and inputs provided by specialist informants to ascertain the prevalence of these information elements and the range of linguistic resources employed by writers in the research article introductions (RAIs) in two social sciences, namely Ethnic Studies (ES) and Industrial Relations (IR). We have found that most RAIs in IR incorporate research questions and hypotheses, while less than half of those in ES include them. The difference is attributable to writers' greater tendency to employ epistemological methodologies in IR, and ontological methodologies in ES. Polar questions are rarely used in both disciplines, while factual, evaluative and circumstantial wh-questions are far more prevalent. Active anticipatory verbs and that-clauses are used to postulate hypotheses in both disciplines, whereas first-person pronouns are far more common in ES than in IR. Our findings can be flexibly adapted to design instructional materials aimed at guiding novice writers in the formulation of research questions and hypotheses.

Peter Smagorinsky

Guide to Publishing in Psychology Journals

Esdras Rangel

Ibadan University Press eBooks

Emeka Emmanuel OKAFOR

Empirical Research

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First Online: 22 May 2017
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Emeka Thaddues Njoku 2

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The term “empirical” entails gathered data based on experience, observations, or experimentation. In empirical research, knowledge is developed from factual experience as opposed to theoretical assumption and usually involved the use of data sources like datasets or fieldwork, but can also be based on observations within a laboratory setting. Testing hypothesis or answering definite questions is a primary feature of empirical research. Empirical research, in other words, involves the process of employing working hypothesis that are tested through experimentation or observation. Hence, empirical research is a method of uncovering empirical evidence.

Through the process of gathering valid empirical data, scientists from a variety of fields, ranging from the social to the natural sciences, have to carefully design their methods. This helps to ensure quality and accuracy of data collection and treatment. However, any error in empirical data collection process could inevitably render such...

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Bibliography

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Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo, 200284, Nigeria

Emeka Thaddues Njoku

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David A. Leeming

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Njoku, E.T. (2017). Empirical Research. In: Leeming, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_200051-1

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_200051-1

Received : 01 April 2017

Accepted : 08 May 2017

Published : 22 May 2017

Publisher Name : Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

Print ISBN : 978-3-642-27771-9

Online ISBN : 978-3-642-27771-9

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PDF Empirical Research Papers
Empirical researchers observe, measure, record, and analyze data with the goal of generating knowledge. Empirical research may explore, describe, or explain behaviors or phenomena in humans, animals, or the natural world. It may use any number of quantitative or qualitative methods, ranging from laboratory experiments to surveys to artifact ...
PDF B.S. Research Paper Example (Empirical Research Paper)
B.S. Research Paper Example (Empirical Research Paper) This is an example of a research paper that was written in fulfillment of the B.S. research paper requirement. It uses APA style for all aspects except the cover sheet (this page; the cover sheet is required by the department). It describes research that the author was involved in while ...
PDF Writing an Empirical Paper in APA Style
Margins. APA specifies 1-inch margins all around (top, bottom, left, right). Pagination. Use your word processor's header function to put page numbers in the upper-right-hand corner one inch from the right-hand edge of the page. Start with the title page and go all the way through.
PDF Writing the Empirical Social Science Research Paper:
considerably easier to write an empirical research paper when utilizing the normal structure for empirical social science research papers. Note that here you must be very clear about what you mean when you use the terms empirical research paper and writing as well as what you mean by the term "easier." Each can be defined in many ways. Do
PDF Any empirical paper should roughly follow the format outlined below
Literature Review. This section should basically consist of two parts (both of which should be brief). The first section should discuss previous research that is directly relevant to your paper (not every single paper written on the topic). The review need not only be topical, but can include research that employs the same methods you are using ...
(PDF) Writing the literature review for empirical papers
Empirical paper s usually are structured in at. least five sections: (1) introduction, (2) literature review, (3) empirical methods, (4) data analysi s, discussion and. findings, and (5 ...
PDF Writing the Empirical Journal Article
of an empirical study, but the general writing suggestions apply as well to the theoretical articles, literature reviews, and methodological contributions that also appear in our journals. (Specific guidance for preparing a literature re-view article for Psychological Bulletin can be found in Bem, 1995.) Planning Your Article
PDF Writing an APA-Style Empirical Paper
Method - This section describes exactly how you conducted your research. APA style papers usually use labeled subsections to cover the following: the characteristics of your participants, your sampling procedures, your sample size and power, the measures and covariates used, the design of the study and detailed descriptions of any ...
Writing Empirical Research Papers
When it is part of an empirical research paper, the literature review should extend the rationale for the study offered in the introduction. The literature review should be thought of as an argument not only for the focus of the paper a justification and rationale but also one that provides readers with reasons for asking the research questions ...
PDF Writing Empirical Papers Beginners Guide
There is exposition at the beginning (the Introduction), rising action (the Method), a climax (the Results), and denouement (the Discussion). Many students believe an empirical paper requires a unique writing style that is new and foreign to their typical writing style. This is usually a mistake. Like any piece of analytic writing, your primary ...
(PDF) How to Write a Methodology and Results Section for Empirical Research
when developing a dataset, results, and conclusions in an empirical research study. Therefore, the methodology section should contain four key elements: 1) the data collection procedures, 2) study ...
(PDF) Writing the Empirical Social Science Research Paper: A Guide for
Students sometimes find the general process of writing an empirical research paper to be daunting. Yet, when the process is approached in a systematic way, students can become more comfortable with the writing and standard formatting used in an empirical article. Accordingly, the current paper serves as a template for the budding social scientist.
PDF Introduction to Empirical Research
PEP507: Research Methods Introduction to Empirical Research Science is a process, not an accumulation of knowledge and/or skill. "The scientist is a pervasive skeptic who is willing to tolerate uncertainty and who finds intellectual excitement in creating questions and seeking answers" Science has a history that pre-dates recorded fact!!!
PDF Planning and Writing an Analytical Empirical Paper in Political Science
Planning and Writing an Empirical Political Science Paper2. but with which you disagree. Locate at least one or two of these rival theories and specify them because, generally speaking, your paper will be stronger if you do both of the following two things: (1) show that your theory fits well with the facts, and (2) show that one or two rival ...
PDF Method Sections for Empirical Research Papers
An annotated Method section and other empirical research paper resources are available here. What is the purpose of the Method section in an empirical research paper? The Method section (also sometimes called Methods, Materials and Methods, or Research Design and Methods) describes the data collection and analysis procedures for a research project.
Empirical Research
Hence, empirical research is a method of uncovering empirical evidence. Through the process of gathering valid empirical data, scientists from a variety of fields, ranging from the social to the natural sciences, have to carefully design their methods. This helps to ensure quality and accuracy of data collection and treatment.
(PDF) Empirical and Non-Empirical Methods
This study included only empirical papers that use systematic collection of material and/or analysis of data as the way to generate knowledge (Dan, 2017). Non-empirical papers that are based on ...
PDF What Is Empirical Social Research?
a "research paper" does not fit our definition of empirical research because doing so typically involves summarizing the analyses of other authors, not forming a new ... research skills not only increases your value in the job market, it can help you do your job better. Say, for example, you are the assistant director of a homeless shelter.
[PDF] Writing the Empirical Social Science Research Paper: A Guide for
Students sometimes find the general process of writing an empirical research paper to be daunting. Yet, when the process is approached in a systematic way, students can become more comfortable with the writing and standard formatting used in an empirical article. Accordingly, the current paper serves as a template for the budding social scientist. In it, I describe the various sections of a ...
PDF A Guide to Developing and Writing Research Papers in Political Science
The Six Parts of a Research Paper. A research paper in political science typically has 6 parts: (1) Introduction, (2) Literature review, (3) Theory, (4) Research Design, (5) Analysis, and (6) Conclusion/ Discussion. While papers do vary in their construction, that variation usually finds a way to embrace these 6 parts.