New York: Teachers College Press, 2011; Introduction to Nursing Research: Reporting Research Findings. Offers detailed guidance on how to develop, organize, and write a college-level research paper in the social and behavioral sciences. Just a small amount of writing to go from this point. Before concluding the discussion, identify potential. For most research papers in the social and behavioral sciences, there are two possible ways of organizing the results. Structured abstracts (See current abstracts in Anesth Analg or Anesthesiology)? Thesis Writing in the Sciences. Why Don't I Just Combine the Results Section with the Discussion Section? Here's how you should write this section: 1. By writing clearly and answering any questions you raised earlier in your paper, you can be sure that your results section will be easily comprehensible and will bring your paper to a strong conclusion. The results section is not the place for narrative discussion or emotion either. NOTE: Besides the literature review section, the preponderance of references to sources is usually found in the discussion section. Pretreatment with droperidol resulted in an overall 11.8% incidence of PONV, compared to 26.5% incidence in the ondansetron group (P=.07). Bates College; Kretchmer, Paul. Is ondansetron as effective as droperidol in prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting? The next stage of any research paper: writing the results section, announcing your findings to the world. It's not unusual to find articles in social science journals where the author(s) have combined a description of the findings with a discussion describing their implications. If applicable, begin this part of the section by repeating what you consider to be your most significant or unanticipated finding first, then systematically review each finding. However, keep in mind that in some cases, such as in the results section, you will need to use the passive voice. Table One shows that almost a quarter of….. Perhaps the best way to use the results section is to show the most relevant information in the graphs, figures and tables. Does it mean that your hypothesis was correct, or does it mean that you need to do further research or experiments before you can come to a definitive conclusion about this issue? Common practice is to treat nausea and vomiting only after it has occurred. As shown in Tables 3.2 and 3.3, Sample A was both the strongest and most flexible material. Course Syllabus. Once you have clearly defined what your experiment or research has yielded, you can move on to the discussion section. Evaluating the medical literature Part III: Results and discussion. Syringes of identical appearence containing either agent were prepared by the satellite pharmacist, who alone was aware of group assignment. Both approaches are appropriate in how you report your findings, but use only one format. Note any unanswered questions or issues your study did not address and describe the generalizability of your results to other situations. University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center: Use the Active Voice, A Research Guide For Students: How to Write a Research Paper, Research Rundowns: Writing a Research Report. Note that any significant or unanticipated finding is often because there was no prior research to indicate the finding could occur. The key to writing the results of the research is having a question to investigate in the first place. In the results section of your paper, you need to list what you have discovered. Journal of the Association of Physicians of India 63 (September 2015): 44-46; Brett, Paul. In a feasibility or case study, the results and discussion section would involve … This can be done under either format noted above [i.e., a thorough explanation of the key results or a sequential, thematic description and explanation of each finding]. Consider Alternative Explanations of the Findings. Elenbaas JK, Cuddy PG, Elenbaas RM. For example, the phrase "the city of Rome was attacked by invaders" shows that the subject of the sentence is Rome and that is the thing that is being acted on, even if it is in a passive sense. Were there limitations (sample size of course but what else)? The first method is to present the results and add a short discussion explaining them at the end, before leading into the discussion proper. The discussion section should remain focused on the findings of your study. Department of Biology. They consider the passive voice to be an example of poor writing. That can help you to set the paper up for a results section that will reveal what you have learned. Writing in Psychology course syllabus. Use the same key terms, narrative style, and verb tense [present] that you used when describing the research problem in your introduction. Cuddy PG, Elenbaas RM, Elenbaas JK. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2009. Sometimes your professor will encourage you to expand your discussion of the results in this way, while others don’t care what your opinion is beyond your effort to interpret the data in relation to the research problem. Twelve Steps to Writing an Effective Results Section. In the above example, the calculations used to determine strength and flexibility numbers may not play a significant role in the discussion; in that case, they can be placed in the appendix, with possibly one sample calculation placed in the body of the report. Relate the Findings to Similar Studies, No study in the social sciences is so novel or possesses such a restricted focus that it has absolutely no relation to previously published research. University of Florida. To show correlations (how well does one thing predict another? In a feasibility or case study, the results and discussion section would involve measuring the feasibility or evaluating the success of one or more solutions. When formulating the results section, it's important to remember that the results of a study do not prove anything. While the effect of testing both properties on one sample is unknown, it is likely that applying strength testing may have reduced the flexibility of the material or made breakage more likely. In the above example, the claim is that the results for Sample A are expected, given its composition. The other way is to present a section and then discuss it, before presenting the next section with a short discussion. The results section is not the place for analysis. The discussion section should relate your results to those found in other studies, particularly if questions raised from prior studies served as the motivation for your research. Use subsections and subheadings to improve readability and clarity. And make sure they are congruent with your research purpose, objectives, hypothesis, and methods. (February 2009); Results. It is far better for you to identify and acknowledge your study’s limitations than to have them pointed out by your professor! If the topic of your paper has something to do with science, and you really dislike science, this is an opportunity to get curious. Philadelphia: WB Saunders; 1993; Chapter 22 Interpreting research outcomes (p. 603-14), Chapter 23 Communicating research findings (p. 615-46). Otherwise, follow the general order you reported the findings in the results section. Explain how the results answer the question under study, Emphasize what is new, different, or important about your results, Consider alternative explanations for the results, Avoid biased language or biased citation of previous work, Don�t confuse non-significance (large P) with "no difference" especially with small sample sizes, Don�t confuse statistical significance with clinical importance, Never give incidental observations the weight you attach to conclusions based on hypotheses generated before the study began, Answer whether the results make sense in terms of. Text should highlight the importance or meaning of the figures and tables, not repeat the data contained within them. You don't need our permission to copy the article; just include a link/reference back to this page. Are baseline values for the groups similar? NOT "There was a significance between the beans-and-franks (B&F) group and the corn dog group. eval(ez_write_tag([[336,280],'explorable_com-banner-1','ezslot_10',361,'0','0']));Be sure to include negative results - writing a results section without them not only invalidate the paper, but it is extremely bad science. Writing a Results Section. "Biases in the Interpretation and Use of Research Results." Avoid providing data that is not critical to answering the research question. Explain why it interests you. Fourteen Steps to Writing to Writing an Effective Discussion Section. In a design report, the results and discussion may involve an evaluation of the design or method used. A better account of potential sources of error in this experiment might state the following: Errors in the measurement of material flexibility may have resulted from our testing method. When presenting the results for the main hypotheses, consider: Is enough detail presented to allow the reader to determine whether the effect of the experimental treatment (vs. chance alone, not bias or sloppy technique) produced the significant statistical value? She lives in Los Angeles. Just a small amount of writing to go from this point. University of Florida; Yellin, Linda L. A Sociology Writer's Guide. Unfortunately, we only had access to one sample of B-D. University of Toronto Engineering Bates College; Schafer, Mickey S. Writing the Results. You don’t want to force the reader to go through the paper multiple times to figure out what it all means. This can involve highlight key results and placing them in the context of other results, as in the below example. A few historical references may be helpful for perspective, but most of the references should be relatively recent and included to aid in the interpretation of your results or used to link to similar studies. These are great places to begin. This tells us in factual terms exactly what you discovered. You�re getting there. For example, if the result in table one shows 23.9%, you could write…. your expectation as expressed in the hypothesis? Introduce the results and visuals in the body of the report (Table 1.1 (below) presents the composition and strength of the samples as determined by the SEM). When making the decision to include results in the body of the paper or to place them in the appendix, you should ask yourself whether or not the information is pivotal to the discussion and understanding of the conclusions of the report. Be happy! It is used correctly when the intention of the sentence is to draw attention to the action and not the person performing the action. The role that they play in a lab report is obvious; in other types of reports, they can fulfill different purposes. University of Toronto; Sauaia, A. et al. The Writing Lab and The OWL. The discussion will always connect to the introduction by way of the research questions or hypotheses you posed and the literature you reviewed, but the discussion does not simply repeat or rearrange the first parts of your paper; the discussion clearly explain how your study advanced the reader's understanding of the research problem from where you left them at the end of your review of prior research. Offer a list of resources that you consulted. Scientific research reports are an important part of finishing up science projects and sharing your results. The groups did not differ significantly in age, weight, height, ASA status, or doses of intraoperative drugs. 3. Our measures of flexibility in samples B, C, and D may be lower than actual because of the stress applied to sample beforehand. A lot of people can write a lazy summary of something, but only you can bring your individuality to the proceedings and use it as a lens to guide your research. The other way is to present a section and then discuss it, before presenting the next section with a short discussion. If you have a table of results, refer to it in the text, but do not repeat the figures - duplicate information will be penalized. This approach can be used to highlight important findings. Driscoll, Dana Lynn and Aleksandra Kasztalska. State "Cardiac output was less in the beans-and-franks group (P = .03). Do you need to do an experiment demonstrating that sponges soak up water? Pay close attention to the subject in the sentence. Doing Case Study Research: A Practical Guide for Beginning Researchers. Briefly reiterate the research problem or problems you are investigating and the methods you used to investigate them, then move quickly to describe the major findings of the study. Present a synopsis of the results followed by an explanation of key findings. Both require attention to the organization and division into topics and subtopics. This is the preferred approach if you have multiple results of equal significance. (London;: SAGE Publications, 2003) pp. IV. This is why when you write the results section of the research paper, you will want to employ the passive voice. If a study that you cited does not support your findings, don't ignore it--clearly explain why your research findings differ from theirs. Retrieved Sep 26, 2020 from Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/writing-a-results-section. (January 4, 2012); Kretchmer, Paul. Is the subject the one carrying out the activities described in the verb? Obviously, you must refer to your results when discussing them, but focus on the, Azar, Beth. Results that are "sidelights" should not receive equal weight. Offers detailed guidance on how to develop, organize, and write a college-level research paper in the social and behavioral sciences. Whatever you are researching, begin to think about it as an investigation. CRNA Forum 1993;9(2):3-18. 2nd ed. Make it clear why you chose to go about the research in the way that you did. In presenting results, you also need to be selective: some material may be more suited to an appendix than the body of the report itself. Suggestions for future research ("If I had to do it over I would..."). Together or Separate: In writing these components of your report, you are faced with one major decision with significant implications: i) combine the results and the discussion sections, or ii) keep them separate? Purdue University. If there is prior research to indicate this, you need to explain why it was significant or unanticipated. As such, you should always approach the selection and interpretation of your findings introspectively and to think critically about the possibility of judgmental biases unintentionally entering into discussions about the significance of your work. This is important because comparing and contrasting the findings of other studies helps to support the overall importance of your results and it highlights how and in what ways your study differs from other research about the topic. Exclusion criteria included weight exceeding body mass index of 30 kg/m2, nasogastric tube prior to induction, history of motion sickness or postoperative nausea and vomiting, antiemetic use within 24 hours of surgery, pregnancy, and subjects with contraindications to either study drug. Doing Your Education Research Project. As noted, the exception to discussing findings in the same order you described them in the results section would be to begin by highlighting the implications of a particularly unexpected or significant finding that emerged from the study, followed by a discussion of the remaining findings. 35 St. George Street Toronto, Ontario The data that supports that claim (from Figure 3.1) is that Sample A is the strongest and most flexible material, and that Sample A is made up of 75% poly para-phenyleneterephthalamide. ... How to Write a Research Report … A section describing results is particularly necessary if your paper includes data generated from your own research. If you make a table of your findings, you do not need to insert a graph highlighting the same data. If appropriate, refer the reader to a figure or table to help enhance the interpretation of the data [either within the text or as an appendix]. However, students often include a list of possible errors without a sense of a) their potential impact on the results b) the likelihood that they played a role in the results, and c) how to avoid them in future studies, as in the below example: Some potential sources of error are: human error, precision of measurements, testing the same sample for strength and flexibility, etc. The results section should aim to narrate the findings without trying to interpret or evaluate, and also provide a direction to the discussion section of the research paper. Both approaches are appropriate in how you report your findings, but use only one format. Patients in the droperidol group did not spend a longer time in PACU (87 � 62 min) as compared to the ondansetron group (102 � 62 min; P=.443). The results section is only for the results of the research. The headings for the discussion section, then, may look like this example: 4.1 Relationship between Composition, Strength and Flexibility in Sample A4.2 Relationship between Composition, Strength and Flexibility in Sample B . No study in the social sciences is so novel or possesses such a restricted focus that it has absolutely no relation to previously published research. You select those descriptive and inferential statistics you wish to use, and place them in the order that seems reasonable to you. Are tables and graphs clearly labeled and appropriately scaled? 188-207. If your experiment was wholly inconclusive, can you say why that was? Rice University; Hancock, Dawson R. and Bob Algozzine. All patients received a standardized induction with d-tubocurarine, succinylcholine, thiopental sodium, and fentanyl (2 to 20 mcg/kg). The Practice of Nursing Research: Conduct, Critique, and Utilization. I. © 2020 explorable.com. The discussion section should end with a concise summary of the principal implications of the findings regardless of their significance. A final report, however, might discuss whether or not the project lived up to the objectives, budget and timeline laid out in the proposal. The results are reported and reveals the analysis. American Psychological Association gradPSYCH Magazine (January 2006). All rights reserved. If you need to do a research paper on something having to do with Italy, get curious about Italy. Shows that demographic and prognostic variables were evenly balanced in the process of random allocation of subjects to experimental and control groups. Give a brief explanation about why you believe the findings and conclusions of your study are important and how they support broader knowledge or understanding of the research problem. Note that any significant or unanticipated finding is often because there was no prior research to indicate the finding could occur. Were there any problems with carrying out the method as originally planned? ... No statistics need to be repeated from the results, nor does the discussion need to refer to table numbers. The analysis section is where the writer describes what was done with the data found. University of Detroit Mercy Graduate Program in Nurse Anesthesiology, Shows informed consent, and that exclusions were not arbitrary. Think of your discussion as an inverted pyramid. "Discussing Your Findings." Regardless of where it's mentioned, a good discussion section includes analysis of any unexpected findings. All data was collected by the principal investigators in a blinded fashion, rating PONV using a visual analogue scale of 0 to 10. Results and discussions can either be combined into one section or organized as separate sections depending on the requirements of the journal to which you are submitting your research paper. In this case, you may want to hold off on discussing the results until you have presented all of them. Do not state any differences were present between groups unless a significant P value is attached. 2. Because research is scientific, you want to be as meticulous as possible so that all the necessary information is conveyed. To compare proportions and relative amounts (How big? After institutional review board approval and with written informed consent, a controlled, double-blinded study was conducted with 105 male and female patients, ASA status I to III, randomly assigned into 2 groups with the aid of a computer-generated table of random numbers. "The Anatomy of an Article: The Discussion Section: "How Does the Article I Read Today Change What I Will Recommend to my Patients Tomorrow?” The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery 74 (June 2013): 1599-1602; Research Limitations & Future Research. For most research papers in the social and behavioral sciences, there are two possible ways of organizing the results. Don't have time for it all now? Writing the Experimental Report: Methods, Results, and Discussion. The incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) remains 20 to 30% despite the availability of newer antiemetics such as ondansetron and other 5-HT3 antagonists. Ann Emerg Med 1983;12:679-86. If your experiment confirmed your hypothesis, save the discussion about that for the discussion section. If you do include appendices in your report, be sure to refer to them in the body of the report: for example, “(See Appendix 3.1.1 for derivation of strength numbers for samples B-D.)”. Pamela J. Mencken RN BSN, Debra J. Blalock RN BSN, Wayne R. Miller PharmD, Michael P. Davis CRNA MS, Peter D. Hamm CRNA MS. The results section provides the facts about what you discovered in the course of your research or experiment. Highlight any unexpected and/or exciting results and link them to the research question . San Francisco Edit, 2003-2008; The Lab Report. Order simple to complex (building to conclusion); or may state conclusion first, Conclusion should be consistent with study objectives/research question. Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper, Twelve Steps to Writing an Effective Results Section, Nursing Research: Open Access Nursing Research and Review Articles, Writing the Experimental Report: Methods, Results, and Discussion. Lab reports are an essential part of all laboratory courses and usually a significant part of your grade. Learn how to construct, style and format an Academic paper and take your skills to the next level. Said another way, the results section is not about you. ", Bavdekar, Sandeep B. and Sneha Chandak. She has written for Pearson Education, The University of Miami, The New York City Teaching Fellows, New Visions for Public Schools, and a number of independent secondary schools. The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a Journal-Style Scientific Paper. Both tests involved applying stress to the samples. If a limitation is applicable to the method chosen to gather information, then describe in detail the problems you encountered and why. The Writing Center. Probability determined using Chi square (or Fisher�s Exact test for 2 x 2 tables). Eger EI. In the results section of your paper, you need to list what you have discovered. Doing Your Education Research Project. The discussion section is where you can get analytical or reflective about exactly what you have discovered. 3. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference between ondansetron and droperidol in preventing PONV. "Results: Unraveling the Findings." "David mailed the package" is an example of a sentence in the active voice. If your experiment confirmed your hypothesis, save the discussion about that for the discussion section. Writing for publication. In doing either, be sure to clearly link your claims to specific sets of data, and logically explain how the data supports your claim. For example, if you are writing about whether or not the Loch Ness monster is real, you can share quotes or statistics about the number of times that people have said they've seen it. ), use a column chart or line graph. Speculating why this correlation is happening, and postulating about what may be happening, belongs in the discussion section. “Perceptions of the Difficulties of Postgraduate L2 Thesis Students Writing the Discussion Section.” Journal of English for Academic Purposes 5 (January 2006): 4-18; Kretchmer, Paul. Reiterate the Research Problem/State the Major Findings, Explain the Meaning of the Findings and Why They are Important. It is not about the way that you performed the research or the way that you set up the experiment. Conducting Educational Research Step 19: Write Discussion and Conclusion. In all but one case, we tested strength and flexibility on the same sample of the materials. Be concise, using non-textual elements appropriately, such as figures and tables, to present findings more effectively. Many people who read research papers, including teachers, editors and professors, hate the passive voice. Not all reports, however, will include these components – proposals, for example, will likely not have any results to discuss, since it looks forward to action to be done in the future. It is far better for you to identify and acknowledge your study’s limitations than to have them pointed out by your professor! How to Write a Project Report: Step-By-Step Guide Part 1; Project Report Templates: ... Give a brief discussion of what the team learned when carrying out the project. The few studies which have examined prophylaxis of PONV have had small sample sizes (Grond et al.
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