Week8 writing the results
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This document provides guidelines for analyzing data and presenting results in a research paper or thesis. It discusses organizing data for analysis, identifying procedures to analyze research questions, and designing tables, figures and a results section to present findings. The key points are that the presentation of results should logically reflect the research aims and methods, and connect results to answering questions rather than just describing data. Tables and figures should clearly summarize statistical information and augment the text. The results section should objectively report findings without interpretation.
Week8 writing the results
- 2. By the end of this lesson, you should be able to: • Describe the process of preparing and organizing your data for analysis • Identify the procedures for analyzing your research questions • Recognize how to design and present results in tables, figures, and a results section
- 3. Presenting the Analysis of Data • In this part of research writing there is a great deal of variation. • Different types of research will have different ways of presenting the data. • For example, a thesis in oral history and one in marketing may both use interview data that has been collected and analysed in similar ways, but the way the results of this analysis are presented will be very different because the questions they are trying to answer are different. The presentation of results from experimental studies will be different again.
- 4. • In all cases, though, the presentation should have a logical organisation that reflects: • the aims or research question(s) of the project (including any hypotheses that have been tested) • the research methods and theoretical framework (outlined earlier in the thesis) • Remember :You are not simply describing the data. You need to make connections with the aims/ research question(s), and make apparent your reasons for saying that data should be interpreted in one way rather than another.
- 5. Function • to objectively present your key results, without interpretation, in an orderly and logical sequence using both text and illustrative materials (Tables & Figures) • to sum up responses from respondents • to draw conclusions
- 6. Organisation of data • Presented in the order of the research questions and hypotheses • For each RQ or H • Statistical test used • Results of the test • Significance level of the test • Description connecting statistical results to support for or rejection of H or to answer RQ 6
- 7. Organisation of Data Analysis/Findings/Results • Type A • Results • Topic 1 • Topic 2 • Topic 3 • Discussion • Topic 1 • Topic 2 • Topic 3 • Type B • Results & Discussion • Topic 1 Results • Topic 1 Discussion • Results & Discussion • Topic 2 Results • Topic 2 Discussion • Results & Discussion • Topic 3 Results • Topic 3 Discussion
- 8. Reporting the Results • Tables summarize statistical information • Give title to each table/graph/chart • Present one table for each statistical test • Organize data into rows and columns with simple and clear headings • Report notes that qualify, explain, or provide additional information in the tables, which can be helpful to readers. Notes include information about the size of the sample reported in the study, the probability values used in hypothesis testing, and the actual significance levels of the statistical test John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
- 9. Reporting the Results (cont’d) • Figures (charts, pictures, drawings) portray variables and their relationships • Labeled with a clear title that includes the number of the figure • Augment rather than duplicate the text • Convey only essential facts • Omit visually distracting detail • Easy to read and understand • Consistent with and are prepared in the same style as similar figures in the same article • Carefully planned and prepared John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition
- 10. Reporting the Results (cont’d) • Detailed explanations about statistical results • Report whether the hypothesis test was significant or not • Provide important information about the statistical test, given the statistics • Include language typically used in reporting statistical results John W. Creswell Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition 7.10
- 11. Simple rules to follow relating to Tables and Figures: • Tables and Figures are assigned numbers separately and in sequence that you refer to them from the text. • The first Table you refer to is Table 1, the next Table 2 and so forth. • Similarly, the first Figure is Figure 1, the next Figure 2, etc.
- 12. Simple rules to follow relating to Tables and Figures: • Each Table or Figure must include a brief description of the results being presented and other necessary information in a legend. • Table legends go above the Table; tables are read from top to bottom. • Figure legends go below the figure; figures are usually viewed from bottom to top. • When referring to a Figure from the text, "Figure" is abbreviated as Fig.,e.g., Fig. 1. Table is never abbreviated, e.g., Table 1.
- 13. Style • Write the text of the Results section concisely and objectively. • The passive voice will likely dominate here, but use the active voice as much as possible. • Avoid repetitive paragraph structures. • Do not interpret the data here.
- 14. example 1 • This example highlights the trend/difference that the author wants the reader to focus: The duration of exposure to running water had a pronounced effect on cumulative seed germination (Fig. 2). Seeds exposed to the 2-day treatment had the highest cumulative germination (84%), 1.25 times that of the 12-h or 5- day groups and 4 times that of controls.
- 15. example 2 • In contrast, this example strays subtly into interpretation by referring to optimality (a conceptual model) and tying the observed result to that idea: The results of the germination experiment (Fig. 2) suggest that the optimal time for running-water treatment is 2 days. This group showed the highest cumulative germination (84%), with longer (5 d) or shorter (12 h) exposures producing smaller gains in germination when compared to the control group.
- 16. example 3 Figure 1 shows the proportion of male and female students in their choice of service provider according to the factors of better coverage, customer service, lower rates and popularity of brand names. There are differences and similarities in the selection of the features of service provider by both male and female students of Permata University. The biggest difference between the two genders were in the selection of lower rate and popularity of the service provider. In the selection of lower rate, male students made up 48 percent of the respondents. On the contrary, the percentage of female students who selected lower rate was just 10 percent. However the trend was the reverse when it comes to the factor of popular brand name product. Here, male students chose popularity of service provider with 10 percent, whereas female students put more value on popularity of service provider with 35 percent. For the other feature, female students regarded better coverage as more important, with a percentage of 30 percent. In contrast, only 17 percent of males selected this feature. The only feature of the service provider that had similar percentage by both genders was the customer service. Here, the percentage of male and female students who selected customer service was 25 percent.
- 17. Summary • There are generally accepted guidelines for how to display data and summarize the results of statistical analyses of data about populations or groups of people. However, this display needs to be presented in an informative way. • Describe the sample. • Remind the reader of the research question being addressed, or the hypothesis being tested. • Tell the reader what you want him/her to get from the data. • State which differences are significant. • Highlight the important trends and differences/comparisons
- 18. Time is short … • Have a clear plan
- 19. Adapted from: • http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~martins/sen_sem/thesis_o rg.html • http://online.physics.uiuc.edu/courses/phys499/ • msucohort16.wikispaces.com/file/view/3eChapter7+revis ed_edit.ppt • highered.mcgraw-hill.com/.../Chapter_17.... • http://abacus.bates.edu/~ganderso/biology/resources/writi ng/HTWsections.html#results