Presenting Your Findings

1. Presenting Your Findings Oral & Poster Presentations Frances L. Chumney, Summer 2005

2. Oral PresentationsThings That Matter • Contents (duh!) • Graphs, Figures Images • Visual Appeal • Graphics & Illustrations • You

3. Contents • Title Slide • Abstract • Introduction • Methods • Results • Discussion • References

4. Contents: Title Slide • Title of presentation, as reported in the program book or original submission • Name of authors & coauthors • Institutional Affiliations • Titles, such as Ph.D.

5. Contents: Abstract • If you include one….

6. Sample Abstract The present study extended the research of Zinser, et al. (2004) and Straub and Seaton (1993) in five tasks designed to compare the configurational knowledge of the U.S. states in men and women. For the site-name memory task, participants listed as many of the 50 states and 25 largest cities as they could remember. For the site-name-with-map-aid task, an outline map of the U.S. was provided. For the map-labeling task, participants were required to write the name of the states and major cities on the maps. For the fragmented U.S. state maps task, participants wrote the names of the states and cities on cut-outs of each state. For the fifth task, the U.S. was shown divided into regions: southeast, northeast, midwest, west, and southwest, and participants were asked to name and draw the outlines of each of the continental states within its appropriate region and to provide the names and locations of the 25 largest cities. A demographic questionnaire had the participants rate themselves on ability to visualize geographic locations, ability to recall state and city names with and without a map, and ability to give easy-to-follow directions, all before and after completing the map tasks. Men performed better on the cities of the site-name task, but no difference was found on the states measure; no gender differences were found for the site-name-with-map-aid or the map reproduction tasks; and men performed significantly better than did women on both the states and cities of the map labeling and the fragmented states labeling tasks. The gender difference from the fragmented states task suggested that men were superior in configurational knowledge of the outlines of the states. The ratings and experience data suggested that the gender differences in knowledge of the cities and states of the U. S. were a joint product of nature and nurture.

7. Contents: Abstracts • “Here’s my abstract for the project.” • You don’t read it. • You click past it. • What’s the point?

8. Contents: Introduction • Literature Review • Objectives • Hypothesis(es)

9. Introduction: Literature Review • Overview of primary articles • Do not summarize each article • Main points of each article, as they relate to your research project • Combine like ideas & integrate material from different articles • Excerpt from paper, if written

10. Sample Lit Review Slide • Configurational knowledge is about shape, pattern, distribution of items in space, and associations with other objects in space (Golledge, 1992) • When asked to indicate the locations of cities on an outline map with no state or regional indicators, women made more errors than men (Beatty & Bruellman, 1987; Montello, et al., 1999) • When required to label states or cities on an outline map of the U.S., a significant gender difference favoring men has been found for states (Straub and Seaton, 1993), and cities (Beatty and Bruellman, 1987; Beatty and Tröster, 1987)

11. Introduction: Objectives • Good idea, but regarded as optional • Objectives of the project, not of the presentation • Why did you do the research? • Potential impact of this line of research • Supported by lit review presented

12. Introduction: Hypothesis(es) • They deserve a slide • Short and simple • Elaborate orally • Logical ordering on slide • Usually, one per condition

13. Sample Hypotheses Slide Site-name Memory: No significant gender differences were expected Site-name with Map-aid: A significant gender difference was expected for the states, but not for the cities portion of this task Map Labeling: Men were expected to identify a significantly larger number of states and cities Fragmented U.S. States: Will illustrate the effect of state shape or configuration on geographic knowledge; A gender difference favoring men was expected Map Reproduction: Will show the knowledge of and ability to reproduce configurational information about the relative shapes, sizes, and locations of U.S. states and cities; men expected to perform better

14. Contents: Method • Participants • Materials • Procedure

15. Method: Participants • Sample size • Where sample came from • Distinguishing characteristics of the sample • Breakdown of important demographic characteristics

16. Method: Materials/Measures • List of materials/measures used • Mention by name • Present in order presented or in order consistent with rest of the presentation • List of equipment • Arrange by condition, if necessary

17. Sample Materials Slide Fragmented U.S. States • Participants were provided with pages containing the outlines of the fifty individual U.S. states separated from each other and organized in random order. • The cities portion of this task consisted of the random arrangement of the states that included at least one of the twenty-five most highly populated cities, marked by large dots. Map Reproduction of U.S. States and Cities • Participants were provided an outline of the U. S. with regional boundaries defining 5 major regions of the United States: Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, West, and Midwest. Participants were asked to draw outlines and label the 48 contiguous states, and mark with a dot and label the 25 largest cities of the U.S.

18. Sample Materials Slide, cont.

19. Sample Materials Slide, cont.

20. Method: Procedure • Order in which sections of study were completed • Time or other limitations created by experimenter • Scoring, if logical

21. Contents: Results • Organize by hypothesis • Say it in numbers, say it in words • Relevant to the discussion you present • Statistics to show what you did • Tables or matrices, as needed

22. Sample Results Slide

23. Sample Results Slide, cont. • Fragmented U. S. States • Significant differences favoring men were found for both the states and cities tasks • Self-Ratings: Ratings for all four items decreased significantly for both men and women • Map Reproduction • Significant gender differences were not found on either the states or cities portion of this condition • Self-Ratings: Ratings for all four items decreased significantly for both men and women

24. Sample Results Slide, cont.

25. Contents: Discussion • Organize by hypothesis • Interpret the results • Elaborate on the possible implications of the results that you found • Draw conclusions • Future directions • Include limitations

26. Sample Discussion Slide • Businessperson is a subgroup of White, and a subtype of Black and Latino –Supported • Data supported the hypothesis that welfare recipient is a subtype of White, and a subgroup of Black and Latino –Supported • High levels of prejudice will accompany attitudes that support the subgroup/subtype relationships –Not Supported • Low levels of privilege awareness will accompany attitudes that support the subgroup/subtype relationships –Not Supported

27. Contents: References • “Here are citations for the key articles used for this project.” • Limit to introduction • Compact, compact, compact

28. Graphs, Figures, Images • Good for clarification • Keep simple • Use as needed • Neat and attractive • Be prepared to explain and elaborate • Use gridlines sparingly – they almost never enhance the figure

29. Sample Bad Graph/Chart

30. Sample Good Graph/Chart First Quarter Second Quarter Third Quarter Fourth Quarter

31. Visual Appeal • Really, Visual Appeal? • Text Size & Crowding • Slide Theme & Background • Using Color • Uniformity

32. Text Size & Crowding • At least 20-point font • Simple fonts better for everyone • Leave margins • “White Space” • Simple is GOOD

33. Sample Bad Font Slide If you have to lean forward and squint from only five feet away, the font is too small! Freehand fonts are not appreciated in a professional presentation. Artsy fonts are not appropriate either. Shouldn’t there be space between letters?

34. Sample Good Font Slide Times New Roman is the most common. Arial is also very common. Some people prefer Courier. Tahoma is clean but subtly different. Narkism isn’t too bad.

35. Slide Theme & Backgrounds • Simple is good • Too much pattern makes font hard to read • If like busy pattern, give textbox solid background • Contrast text color with background • Create your own color scheme

36. Sample Bad Background Slide

37. Sample Better Background Slide

38. Using Color • Too much color is distracting • Limit text colors to one or two • High-contrast colors into graphs & figures

39. Uniformity • Format all slides the same • Do not mix-n-match fonts and backgrounds • Presentations should not be eclectic.

40. Graphics & Illustrations • Relevant material only • Use conservatively • Nothing controversial unless related • Better to avoid

41. Sample Bad Graphics Slide

42. Hints & Shortcuts • Complete sentences not required • If you wrote the paper, use it • Do it rough, then fix it

43. You, the Presenter • Mannerisms • Language • Knowledge • Aware of Audience

44. Poster Presentations • Similar to oral presentations • Complete sentences often better • Completely self-explanatory • All other rules are the same!!!