Tips for writing (and reading) methodological articles.

Abstract

One reason many methodological articles are not very intelligible to their readers is because the content is often inherently difficult. However, a contributing factor in some cases is the tacit assumption that rules of good writing cease to apply when writing about statistics. The authors of this article argue that good writing becomes even more important as the content of the article becomes more complex. Furthermore, they believe that additional rules pertain to writing methodological articles and highlight various ways that methodological article authors can make their work more accessible (and less painful) to researchers who are not methodological specialists. The authors also suggest how nonspecialists can most effectively approach the task of reading a quantitative article. For some psychologists, writing a methodological article is a fine art of obfuscating needlessly tedious and complex trivia. For others, reading a methodological article ranks right up there with a visit to the dentist's office. Many methodological articles, however, are not accessible to their intended readers, not necessarily because the material is so sophisticated but because the presentation of the material is so obtuse. Our goal in this article is to provide a few suggestions for writing methodological articles. Excellent articles are available on the writing of general psychology articles (e.g., Bern, 1987; Sternberg, 1988, 1992). Hence, we try to avoid repeating these points, except to say that all the rules for good nontechnical writing are at least as important for good technical writing if only because the material is often more complex. Our specific focus is on writing methodological articles for nonspecialists, although some of our comments may also pertain to authors who target specialists. Quantitative methods articles in psychology take many different forms. Some articles are similar to substantive Psychological Bulletin articles insofar as they are literature reviews. The authors of these articles typically synthesize relevant methodological literature or present new statistical methods in a format that is appropriate to a nonstatistical audience. Other authors present the results of original research. The topics range from evaluations and comparisons of current statistical technologies to developments and introductions of qualitatively new research methodologies. Such articles may include highly technical mathematics or extensive computer simulation. Because of the diversity of these articles, we attempt to make points that are useful to as wide a range as possible of current and future methodological article authors. Preparation