JPA Query.getResultList() - use in a generic way

Since JPA 2.0 a TypedQuery can be used:

TypedQuery<SimpleEntity> q = 
        em.createQuery("select t from SimpleEntity t", SimpleEntity.class);

List<SimpleEntity> listOfSimpleEntities = q.getResultList();
for (SimpleEntity entity : listOfSimpleEntities) {
    // do something useful with entity;
}

General rule is the following:

• If select contains single expression and it's an entity, then result is that entity
• If select contains single expression and it's a primitive, then result is that primitive
• If select contains multiple expressions, then result is Object[] containing the corresponding primitives/entities

So, in your case list is a List<Object[]>.