VIDBE-Q Volume 66, Issue 2
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relay their findings in a meaningful manner that can be used by practitioners,
researchers, and policy makers. Authors must also be careful to describe their
methods with a degree of detail that allows for replication by other researchers
(Dunfon, 2005).
The specifics provided in research articles include a thorough description of
participant recruitment, selection, and demographics (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity).
Descriptive statistics are typically reported, such as the mean age of participants
and standard deviation. For research with individuals with sensory impairments, a
description of the participants should include information such as visual acuity or
residual hearing, learning media, and the presence of any comorbid disabilities.
Providing this degree of detail is necessary to allow readers to reach their own
informed conclusions regarding whether the intervention in question can be
generalized and/or replicated in future studies or practice settings (Ravid, 2020).
After the participants are sufficiently described, an author uses the
procedures section of an article for an explicit description of the exact steps
involved in executing the study. In layperson's terms, an article will explain either
what the participants did, or what was done to them. The procedures section
describes the study location, the order of events, the persons conducting the
research (and any relevant training), steps taken to ensure procedural fidelity, and
whether or not any participants withdrew from the study (Ravid, 2020). This
