Discussion of Findings and Linking to Literature Review

How to Write a Discussion Section | Checklist and Examples

Published on March 21, 2019 by Shona McCombes. Revised on October 13, 2020.

The give-and-take chapter is where you delve into the meaning, importance and relevance of your results. Information technology should focus on explaining and evaluating what you lot constitute, showing how it relates to your literature review and research questions, and making an argument in support of your overall conclusion. There are many unlike ways to write this department, but you tin focus your word around four primal elements:

• Interpretations: what do the results mean?
• Implications: why do the results matter?
• Limitations: what can't the results tell us?
• Recommendations: what practical actions or scientific studies should follow?

There is often overlap between the give-and-take and determination, and in some dissertations these two sections are included in a single chapter. Occasionally, the results and discussion will be combined into one affiliate. If you're unsure of the best structure for your research, look at sample dissertations in your field or consult your supervisor.

Summarize your key findings

Start this affiliate past reiterating your research problem and concisely summarizing your major findings. Don't just repeat all the data y'all have already reported – aim for a clear statement of the overall result that directly answers your primary research question. This should be no more than ane paragraph.

Examples

• The results indicate that…
• The study demonstrates a correlation between…
• This assay supports the theory that…
• The information suggests that…

Requite your interpretations

The meaning of the results might seem obvious to you lot, just it'due south important to spell out their significance for the reader and show exactly how they reply your research questions.

The grade of your interpretations will depend on the type of research, simply some typical approaches to interpreting the data include:

• Identifying correlations, patterns and relationships amongst the information
• Discussing whether the results met your expectations or supported your hypotheses
• Contextualizing your findings within previous enquiry and theory
• Explaining unexpected results and evaluating their significance
• Considering possible culling explanations and making an statement for your position

You tin can organize your discussion effectually key themes, hypotheses or research questions, following the same structure as your results department. You can likewise begin past highlighting the most pregnant or unexpected results.

Examples

• In line with the hypothesis…
• Contrary to the hypothesized association…
• The results contradict the claims of Smith (2007) that…
• The results might suggest that X. Still, based on the findings of similar studies, a more plausible explanation is Y.

Receive feedback on language, structure and formatting

Professional person editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

• Bookish manner
• Vague sentences
• Grammar
• Style consistency

See an example

Discuss the implications

As well as giving your own interpretations, make sure to relate your results dorsum to the scholarly work that you surveyed in the literature review. The word should bear witness how your findings fit with existing cognition, what new insights they contribute, and what consequences they accept for theory or exercise. Ask yourself these questions:

• Do your results agree with previous research? If so, what do they add to it?
• Are your findings very different from other studies? If then, why might this be?
• Do the results support or challenge existing theories?
• Are there whatsoever applied implications?

Your overall aim is to show the reader exactly what your inquiry has contributed and why they should care.

Examples

• These results build on existing evidence of…
• The results do not fit with the theory that…
• The experiment provides a new insight into the relationship between…
• These results should exist taken into account when considering how to…
• The data contributes a clearer understanding of…
• While previous research has focused onX, these results demonstrate that Y.

Acknowledge the limitations

Even the all-time research has some limitations, and acknowledging these is important to demonstrate your credibility. Limitations aren't about list your errors, merely about providing an accurate picture of what can and cannot exist concluded from your report.

Limitations might be due to your overall research blueprint, specific methodological choices, or unanticipated obstacles that emerged during the research process. Yous should only mention limitations that are direct relevant to your research objectives, and evaluate how much impact they had on achieving the aims of the inquiry.

For example, if your sample size was small or limited to a specific grouping of people, note that this limits its generalizability. If yous encountered problems when gathering or analyzing information, explicate how these influenced the results. If at that place are potential confounding variables that you were unable to control, acknowledge the result these may have had.

After noting the limitations, you can reiterate why the results are however valid for the purpose of answering your enquiry questions.

Examples

• The generalizability of the results is limited past…
• The reliability of this data is impacted by…
• Due to the lack of data on X, the results cannot confirm…
• The methodological choices were constrained past…
• Information technology is beyond the scope of this report to…

State your recommendations

Based on the discussion of your results, y'all can make recommendations for practical implementation or further enquiry. Sometimes the recommendations are saved for the conclusion.

Suggestions for farther enquiry can atomic number 82 straight from the limitations. Don't just state that more studies should be washed – give physical ideas for how future work can build on areas that your own research was unable to accost.

• Further research is needed to establish…
• Future studies should accept into account…

What to leave out of the word

There are a few mutual mistakes to avert when writing the discussion section of your dissertation.

• Don't introduce new results– you should merely hash out the data that you take already reported in the results chapter.
• Don't make inflated claims– avoid overinterpretation and speculation that isn't supported by your data.
• Don't undermine your inquiry – the discussion of limitations should aim to strengthen your credibility, non emphasize weaknesses or failures.

Checklist

• I have concisely summarized the most important findings.

• I have discussed and interpreted the results in relation to my inquiry questions.

• I take cited relevant literature to bear witness how my results fit in.

• I have conspicuously explained the significance of my results.

• If relevant, I have considered alternative explanations of the results.

• I accept stated the practical and/or theoretical implications of my results.

• I have best-selling and evaluated the limitations of my research.

• I have made relevant recommendations for further research or action.

Often asked questions about the word

Is this article helpful?

You have already voted. Thanks :-) Your vote is saved :-) Processing your vote...

doverourts1987.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/discussion/