Making presentations Psych 231: Research Methods in Psychology
Announcements • Remember to bring your group project materials (intro, methods, results, etc.) to lab • Additional Presentation resources on you syllabus page • syllabus page
Presentations • Presenting your research • Posters • Talks • Papers
Why do presentations? • To present your work/theory/research • Get feedback • It is an opportunity for peers to ask you questions about your work • For you to ask them questions • You want your audience to walk away remembering a few key points • So your goal is to be as clear as possible
Hourglass shape Rough sketch of a presentation Broad • Introduction of the issue • Background information • Specific hypotheses • Design • Results • Interpret the results • General Conclusions Specifics of your study Broad
Preparation • Consider your audience - who are they, what do they want, what do they already know • Start collecting the things that you think that you’ll need - graphs, tables, pictures, examples, data analyses, etc. • Determine the key points that you want them to remember • focus your presentation on these points • Camping trip analogy • Your initial pack usually has too much stuff • Need to figure out what to take out • Practice, rehearse, and then practice again
Poster content • Stick to the hourglass shape for content • Balance of text and figures • Use bullet points • Give example stimuli • Use large enough font to read from 6 feet away • End with 3 or 4 key “take home” points
FLOW Title Authors and affiliation • Introduction • Not a lot of detail • Just the main points • Hypotheses & • predictions • Results • Graphs/tables • Bullet points of • main results • Conclusions • 3 or 4 take home • points • Potential limitations • Methods • Not a lot of detail • just the main points • Participants • Design • IVs & DVs • Examples of stimuli • References • If you cite something • give the full reference
FLOW Title Authors and affiliation • Methods • Results Introduction • Conclusions • References
Brief checklist for the poster • Initial sketch/outline • Rough layout • Balance (text/pictures, data/conclusions) • Typography • Movement • Simplicity • Final layout
Percent recall • main effect of stimulus type • main effect of mnemonic • no interaction mnemonics No mnemonics pictures words Methods References Conclusions The pen is mightier than the brush. Leon DaVinci and Bill Shakespear Illinois State University Introduction • Remembering things is often a • challenge in everyday life. • “What was I supposed to • get at the grocery store?” • (Cutting, 2000) • We examined two factors • We predicted: • mnemonic devices will help • memory for both pictures and words • effect larger for words than pictures Results • Stimulus type matters: • participants remembered words • better than pictures • Use of mnemonic devices helps • memory performance • Potential limitations • stimulus type: pictures/words • use of mnemonics Cutting J. C. (2000). Finding things in your house. Journal of Memory and Stuff, 17, pg 1-230. • 900 native English speakers • 2 x 2 between groups design • Measured the percent correctly recalled • items from a free recall procedure • 24 pictures and words words pictures books frog
Presentation of the poster • Arrive early and set up • Author(s) stand next to poster • Have a short “walk through” presentation ready • Answer questions (also ask questions) • Handout copies of the poster available (sometimes), or a request sign-up
Your posters (our checklist) • Content • Introduction • Problem of interest • Very brief summary of past research • Basic purpose of experiment(s) • Hypotheses • Method • Brief but clear • Design • Materials • Procedure (brief)
Your posters (our checklist) • Content cont. • Results • Descriptive statistics • Inferential results • Discussion • Hypothesis rejected or supported • Implication of results • A few take home points • References • Tables and figures • Useful info to reader • Easy to understand
Your posters (our checklist) • Format • Overall clarity • Organization • Font size • Figure/text balance • Title • Authors
Different kinds of talks • Research Presentations • (typically 10 to 30 mins) • Paper with respondent • Panel Presentation • Workshop
Talk Content • Create a logical progression to the talk • Hourglass shape • Work on the transitions between slides • Be brief, but include enough details so that the audience can follow the arguments • Use slides to help simplify/clarify points • Include tables, graphs, pictures, etc. • Don’t just read the slides • but do “walk through” those that need it (e.g. graphs of results) • Be careful of jargon, explain terms (if in fact you really need them)
Presentation of the talk • Make it smooth (lots of practice will help) • Watch your speaking rate (again, practice) • Maintain eye contact with whole audience • Emphasize the key points, make sure that the audience can identify these • Point to the slides if it helps • Beware jokes, can be a double-edged sword • Don’t go over your time
Dealing with questions • Repeat the question in your own words • so that the rest of the audience can hear it • to make sure that you understood the question • to buy yourself some time to think about the answer • Try not to be nervous • you know your study better than anyone else • When preparing, try to think of likely questions and prepare answers
Checklist for the talk • Preparation • Analyze the audience • Choose your main points • etc. • Prepare the Final Outline • fix any problems/loose ends • Construct your “speaking” outline • e.g., the note cards that you’ll read • Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse
Next time • Summarizing the research process
Preparation • Consider your audience - who are they, what do they want, what do they already know • Start collecting the things that you think that you’ll need - graphs, tables, pictures, examples, data analyses, etc. • Determine the key points that you want them to remember • focus your presentation on these points • Camping trip analogy • Your initial pack usually has too much stuff • Need to figure out what to take out • Practice, rehearse, and then practice again
