Hello everyone,

I’m writing a research report and need some advice on the Methods section structure according to APA 7 guidelines to make sure it flows in the most logical way.

For now, I included this info in the Sample section, stating that some participants were excluded due to random errors or not fitting the model, with a note in parentheses directing the reader to the Data Analysis section for details. Is this the right way to do it, or should I only mention the total number of people who initially participated in the experiment in the Sample section?

I’ve also seen some people put exclusion analysis and the resulting number of excluded participants in the Results section, but I thought it would make more sense to have the final sample info in the Methods section. However, I am not sure if this is the correct approach.

2. My second question is: I have two attention tasks and I'm not sure where to explain their structure and how the results are computed.

Here’s my current Methods layout to make my question clearer:

Methods

• 3.1. Attention Task 1 (details of trials, sequence of the test, and details of the properties of items, etc.)
• 3.2. Attention Task 2

4. Data Analysis

• 4.1. Attention Task 1 (how results are calculated, and how and why some participants based on that task are excluded)
• 4.2. Attention Task 2
• 4.3. Planned Statistical Analysis (planned statistical tests)

Does this structure fit APA 7 and seem logical, or should I move the result calculation details to the Materials section, perhaps adding it as a paragraph at the end of the structure of the experiments? Because repeating the task titles twice doesn’t feel quite right, but I’m not sure about that either.

So sorry for my long question and thank you so much in advance!