How to explain “implications” of your findingsThe IA

The following has been adapted from Lesson 1.11 in Chapter 11 of  “IB Psychology: A Student’s Guide.” (Available here).

The IA is designed to help you understand the research process and how findings from psychological studies can help people in the real world. This is where the implications of your findings become relevant. Implications of a study are conclusions we can draw from the findings, even though they’re not directly stated. In this context, they also mean the potential applications of your findings. In other words, to explain the implications of your findings means to explain how they could be used in the real world in policy and/or practice and why this would be a good idea. Here are three ways you can explain implications:

• Future research
• Practice
• Policy

Implications of findings for policy/practice and research are the ways your potential findings could be used by other psychologists and people in the real world. They’re the “so what?” Personally, I find it easiest to think of them as the “potential applications.” An application of a research finding is how it has been used – an implication is how the findings could be used.

In Practice

“In practice” is best thought of as psychologists in different fields using the research findings to help their work. Therefore, you can explain how psychologists in different fields could also use your findings to inform their practice, such as therapies, interventions or prevention strategies for your chosen problem. Here are some ideas:

• Changes to current practice (e.g. improving therapy techniques)
• Development of new practices (e.g. designing or informing new interventions or therapies)
• Influencing recommendations for clients
• Promoting or demoting particular practices

Example: The following explanation is based on a study that shows ACEs are linked to adult depression if the patient also has low social support: “Results of our study have potential implications for clinicians seeking to prevent mental illness among survivors of childhood adversity. Interventions that aim to protect mental health among survivors of childhood adversity might benefit from strengthening social support or perhaps even just perception of social support… Hence, interventions may include social skills training where participants are equipped with skills to identify, invite and maintain healthy social connections with others…” (Von Cheong et al., 2017)

In Policy

Policy usually refers to how governments or organisations could use the findings to create laws or guidelines to help people. Here are some ideas:

• Government funding or subsidies.
• Law changes or revisions.
• Incentives.
• Funding for further research (e.g. government grants)
• Education
• Marketing

Example: This example comes from my own example IA about the effects of child abuse on working memory capacity: “If the experiment did reveal a significant, negative effect of abuse on working memory capacity this could have important implications for policy and practice. Firstly, it could be used to campaign for additional assistance in schools for students suffering from abuse. If their WMC is impaired, they’ll probably find school harder so they could be given more support. Secondly, the findings could be used to encourage preventative measures. For example, the results could be shared during informational sessions for expecting parents. Instead of just being told “don’t shake the baby,” these findings could also be explained to give them more reasons why they shouldn’t abuse their kids.” (Read more).

Future Research

Your findings might influence research practices, like inspiring new or further areas of investigation into your topic.

Example: This example comes from a real literature review of numerous studies that found smartphone addiction reduces the quality of life for adolescents. They conclude that “These results emphasize the need for interventions aimed at promoting healthier smartphone use among students. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies to establish causality and further explore the mechanisms underlying the relationship between smartphone addiction and quality of life.” (Source)

Tips from the IG Guide

The rubric states only “policy/practice,” but the IB Guide says students can discuss “…how these findings may have wider implications for future research, policies and/or practices.” (pg. 56) (emphasis added). My advice is to attempt to explain implications for policy and/or practice first and if that’s too difficult then explain implications for future research.

Also from the guide: “Students are asked to discuss how these findings may have wider implications for future research, policies and/or practices. Policies may be small scale (for example a student health and well-being policy) or larger scale (such as a national health campaign). Practices refers to practical applications of the findings to benefit the population of interest and or others.” (IB Guide pg. 56).

Lesson Idea: This post includes three examples from real peer-reviewed studies where the researchers explain the implications of their findings for policy and practice. Before explaining, students might benefit from reading these first and trying to figure out for themselves how to explain implications. (Go to post)