Chapter 3: Results and Discussion

This chapter reports the results of the study and presents the researcher’s interpretation and analysis of the findings. You must first write a one paragraph introduction to the chapter, and the proceed in answering in detail the research questions in your statement of the problem. Generally, the flow of the results and discussion section is as follows:

1.     Identifying the research problem/question being addressed. Each research question is a subheading.

2.     Presenting the results in tabular form (may not be applicable in certain qualitative designs).

3.     Presenting the result in graphical form (only applicable in very rare occasions; only use graphs only when it would provide more insights than tables). Label graphs as figures.

4.     Presenting the results in textual form.

5.     Sharing of researcher’s insights about the findings (if applicable).

6.     Analyzing and comparing results with published literature.

a.     You may indicate previous research whose findings are similar to a specific result in your study.

b.     You may indicate previous research whose findings are inconsistent to and negate your results.

c.     You may indicate previous research that attempt to explain your findings.

d.     The more literature you use to support your findings and insights, the better. Make sure that the presentation of multiple literature is summarized, so that the analysis does not overwhelm your actual results.

 (and then when all research questions have been answered)

7.     Integrating all findings and relating them with each other.

8.     Making a grand discussion of all the findings, compared and analyzed with published literature under the subheading “discussion.”

Remember, that for quantitative research, the presentation of findings varies in terms of nature of variable and statistical treatment used.

For qualitative research, the design influences how the findings will be presented.

For mixed methods, multiple-phase research studies and triangulated studies, integration of findings is a MUST.

The following sections of this manual will present recommended formats of how to answer common forms of research questions (note: the examples are hypothetical and were created for illustration purposes).

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