II. Theoretical Background. III. Method

II. Theoretical Background

Give background on the subject and discuss previous research on the topic. There is a huge amount of literature out there, but as a scientist you should be able to pick out the things that are most relevant to your work and explain why. This shows an editor/reviewer/reader that you really understand your area of research and that you can get straight to the most important issues.

Best Practice:

1. Introduce the reader to the pertinent literature. Do not give a full history of the topic. Only quote previous work having direct bearing on the present problem;

2. Provide a concise discussion of the results and findings of other studies so the reader understands the big picture;

3. Describe some of the major findings presented in your manuscript and explain how they contribute to the larger field of research;

4. State the principal conclusions derived from your results,

5. Identify any questions left unanswered and any new questions generated by your study.

III. Method

In the Method section, you explain clearly how you conducted your study in order to: (1) enable readers to evaluate the work performed and (2) permit others to replicate your study. You must describe exactly what you did: what and how experiments were run, what, how much, how often, where, when, and why equipment and materials were used. The main consideration is to ensure that enough detail is provided to verify your findings and to enable the replication of the study. You should maintain a balance between brevity (you cannot describe every technical issue) and completeness (you need to give adequate detail so that readers know what happened).

Best Practice:

1. Define the population and the method of sampling;

2. Describe the instrumentation;

3. Describe the procedures and if relevant, the time frame;

4. Describe the analysis plan;

5. Describe any approaches to ensure validity and reliability;

6. State any assumptions;

7. Describe statistical tests and the comparisons made; ordinary statistical methods should be used without comment; advanced or unusual methods may require a literature citation, and;

8. Describe the scope and/or limitations of the methodology you used.

In the social and behavioral sciences, it is important to always provide sufficient information to allow other researchers to adopt or replicate your methodology. This information is particularly important when a new method has been developed or an innovative use of an existing method is utilized. Last, please avoid to make a sub section in Method.

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