If you’re writing the methods section of your research, you will need to describe your sample. (I’m dealing here with the sample description, rather than the sampling method.)
So, how should you describe your sample?
According to APA guidelines, you should refer to people as ‘participants’, not as ‘subjects’. The term ‘subjects’ is used in animal research.
You need to report the demographic characteristics of your participants, such as age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and any other characteristics important to your research, for example, their education level, etc.
I use a single, neat table to describe these characteristics. The table has a column for the key sample characteristics, and adjacent columns for the corresponding sample sizes and percentages. Try not to use any vertical lines in your table (APA doesn’t like vertical lines unless you really have to use them).
Next, I discuss the highlights of the information in the table. APA guidelines state that your discussion should supplement, not duplicate, the contents of the table.
And what should you not do?
You should not have lots of separate tables, pie charts and bar charts for each sample characteristic. Rather, summarise these in a single, elegant table.
You should also not have a screenshot of the raw data in your methods section.
Would you like me to help you describe your sample?
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