Research Papers /
Research paper: Which tense to use when describing well established tests? (APA) [6]
Hi Kevin,
first of all, many thanks for your advice! I'm sorry - of course I'm using present tense in the introduction when talking about literature - seemingly, I was somewhat scatterbrained when I started this thread (and I did not take a look at my introduction for too long :)
As you suggest, I use past tense (and passive voice) within the methods paragraph when describing what was done. I utilized some well known and frequently used test procedures, though, and it seems odd to me to also use past tense when describing e.g. which kind of value a specific test procedure or questionnaire yields, or which kind of actions are necessary to conduct the test, because these values or actions are the same each time the test is conducted.
For example: "Fagerstroem Test for Nicotine Dependence: Six items concerning nicotine consumption and craving for nicotine yield a score between 0 and 10 points to indicate the severity of nicotine dependence"
Regards,
PsychWriter