Evidence-Based Recommendations of Reporting Results from Mediation Analysis: A Focus on Ease of Interpretation and Maximum Accuracy

Theoretical models of mediation are common in psychological research, but there is much variability in how results of mediation analyses are reported which could result in interpretational errors, misconceptions, and differences in reader perception and experience. The goal of this study is to develop evidence-based recommendations for reporting results of mediation to reduce objective interpretational errors and maximize readers subjective experience. These recommendations would be based on results from an experiment examining the effect of the four different forms of result reporting (text only, text and table, text and path diagram, and text, table, and path diagram) on interpretational errors and readers experience, where reader experience is composed of four constructs: perceived time, ease of understanding, satisfaction in understanding reported results, and confidence in understanding reported results. Results show that including a path diagram may benefit reducing comprehensive interpretational error and increasing positive reader experiences.