APA Style JARS for high school students

APA Style Journal Article Reporting Standards (APA Style JARS) are guidelines for reporting results of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research. Although APA Style JARS are most often used by researchers developing articles for scholarly journals and for students at the university level, the guidelines are a great resource for high school students hoping to learn more about journal article structure; quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research; different research designs and analytic methods; and the importance of transparency in research.

In this post, we provide an overview of APA Style JARS and resources that can be shared with high school students who want to learn more about effective communication in scholarly research.

The APA Style JARS tables were created to flow like a typical research article and can provide students with a guide to the basic structure of an article. The tables outline what should be included in the title and title page, author note, abstract, introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion sections to communicate enough information to the reader to allow them to evaluate the quality and thoroughness of research reported. Using the APA Style JARS tables will provide students with the blueprint for a scholarly research article.

Students can find APA Style JARS tables for three different kinds of scientific research: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. The tables show what type of data is collected in each type of research and how differently each research approach is presented. Specifically, the tables provide details for research findings that are reported numerically (quantitative research), those that primarily use nonnumerical descriptive data such as observations or narratives (qualitative research), and research that includes a mix of both quantitative and qualitative research (mixed methods research).

APA Style JARS are a great resource for learning about different research designs. We provide details on how best to communicate research findings in quantitative research for:

• experimental designs (PDF, 109KB)opens in new window
• random assignment (PDF, 101KB)opens in new window
• nonrandom assignment (PDF, 92KB)opens in new window
• clinical trials (PDF, 106KB)opens in new window
• nonexperimental designs (PDF, 103KB)opens in new window
• longitudinal studies (PDF, 103KB)opens in new window
• N-of-1 studies (PDF, 102KB)opens in new window
• replication studies (PDF, 95KB)opens in new window

We also provide details on reporting quantitative (PDF, 116KB)opens in new window and qualitative (PDF, 119KB)opens in new window meta-analyses.

For quantitative research, APA Style JARS also provide guidance on reporting analytic methods such as structural equation modeling (PDF, 111KB)opens in new window and Bayesian statistics (PDF, 104KB)opens in new window.

As noted in the supplemental resource on the ethic of transparency in JARS, transparency is a central issue across APA Style JARS. For example, transparency in reporting helps readers better understand the way methods were carried out and enables them to replicate methods in various contexts and locate findings within the published article. Transparency in research reporting helps the authors build trust with their readers.

For example, APA Style JARS recommend that researchers register a clinical trial before a quantitative study begins to ensure that the registered hypotheses can be compared to planned and unplanned analyses conducted during the study. Qualitative researchers are asked to report how their personal identities, positions, and values might impact the research being conducted. In mixed methods research, the reader should be able to see clearly quantitative and qualitative methods were applied to meet study goals.

High school students and teachers seeking more information about APA Style JARS and the resources we offer can visit the APA Style JARS site where we link to the APA Style JARS articles, a list of frequently asked questions, an infographic (PDF, 453KB)opens in new window, a glossary, and a videoopens in new window summarizing what APA Style JARS are.

More detailed information on APA Style JARS can be found in Chapter 3 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) and in the open access JARS—Quantopens in new window and JARS—Qual/JARS—Mixedopens in new window articles.