LATEST UPDATE 2025/2026
Sections of a Journal Article - Answers IMARD
Introduction - Answers •Include why the study is important (purpose/hypothesis)
•Provide a review of the relevant literature and highlight the "gaps"
•Some authors provide both an Introduction AND a Background section.
Methods - Answers •Include why the study is important
(purpose/hypothesis)
•Provide a review of the relevant literature and highlight the "gaps"
•Some authors provide both an Introduction AND a Background section.
Results - Answers •Statistical methods used but no discussion of what the findings mean
•Qualitative studies would organize the major themes and present them here but provide more
information and direct quotes in the discussion (where they make sense of them)
Discussion - Answers •Discuss what the findings mean. Provide implications for practice or
future research.
-Discuss study limitations.
Blinding - Answers •Blinding is a method used to decrease chances of bias in research studies.
-->•Keeping people unaware to prevent unwitting bias
•Researchers can be blind to which participants are in the intervention vs control.
•Participants/subjects can be blind to which group they are in or which intervention (treatment)
they are receiving.
, Peer reviewers for journal articles can be blinded:
-The author of the manuscript does not know who is reviewing their work.
-The reviewer does not know who the author of the manuscript it.
Statistically Significant (P= 0.05) - Answers When authors provide statistics that are "significant"
it shows that the chance of the finding (result) being due to chance alone is low.
Readers can assume that the findings is probably true and if they replicate the methods in their
own population, they will likely find the same result.
*****Clinically significant and statistically significant are not the same thing!
-Most statistics are said to be significant if they are at or below the 0.05 threshold.
---->This means that there is a 95% probability that the finding is reliable and not spurious
(erroneous or due to chance).
-Lower significance means that the statistical result is even less likely to be due to chance alone
(more likely that it is reliable).
--->Example:
P < 0.01 has a higher probability of reliability
Why are research articles hard to read? - Answers •Use of research jargon many readers are not
familiar with.
•Lack of familiarity with what statistical tests show/mean.
•Authors limited by page/word limitations that prevent thorough explanations.
Research Critique - Answers •Objective assessment of the strengths and limitations of a
research study.