Rma41 Gumallaoi Judelle v. RSW FN No.1
Rma41 Gumallaoi Judelle v. RSW FN No.1
Rma41 Gumallaoi Judelle v. RSW FN No.1
Introduction
o Remind the reader what your research questions were
In a qualitative study you will restate the research questions
In a quantitative study you will present the hypotheses
Findings (qualitative), Results (quantitative, and Discussion (quantitative)
o In a qualitative study the information to be reported is called findings. Findings are
those themes that have emerged from or have been found in the data you collected. They
are the product of your analysis.
o In a quantitative study the results of the quantitative analyses conducted may be
presented on their own, without any accompanying connections to the larger literature.
o When quantitative data are presented without any accompanying explanation
a discussion section is presented separately in order to explain the meaning of the
results.
Considerations
You will want to consider what information goes in an appendix as opposed to in the body of the
chapter. For example, if you have extra tables representing results that you think are worth sharing with
your reader but are not the main substance of your dissertation, you should consider creating an
appendix. Similarly, if you have other relevant but not essential information, you should consider
adding an appendix. And finally, you may decide to locate the instruments you used for data collection
in an appendix.
You may be wondering about any of the following things as you are writing your Chapter 4. Some
students worry about the following things:
In a quantitative dissertation or capstone you will be presenting your results. You may present your
results with or without a discussion explaining what those results mean. You will want to consult your
chair to make sure you are following the approach
preferred by your chair. Thus, your chapter 4 may include the following:
Introduction
Results
Discussion
First you should remind your reader what your research question(s) is/are. Your results should then be
presented in response to your research question(s). Your results are the “solution(s)” or “answer(s)” to
that/those questions.
Example: Nollner Dissertation, p. 58
Your results should focus only on data that enables you to answer your research questions, not simply
raw data.
If you are also providing a discussion of the results in this section, your discussion should be related
back to your conceptual framework.
How do you present your findings (qualitative)?
When crafting your findings, the first thing you want to think about is how you will organize your
findings. Your findings represent the story you are going to tell in response to the research questions
you have answered. Thus, you will want to organize that story in a way that makes sense to you and
will make sense to your reader. You want to think about how you will present the findings so that they
are compelling and responsive to the research question(s) you answered. These questions may not be
the questions you set out to answer but they will definitely be the questions you answered. You may
discover that the best way to organize the findings is first by research question and second by theme.
There may be other formats that are better for telling your story. Once you have decided how you want
to organize the findings, you will start the chapter by reminding your reader of the research questions.
You will need to differentiate between is presenting raw data and using data as evidence or examples to
support the findings you have identified. Here are some points to consider:
Your findings should provide sufficient evidence from your data to support the conclusions you
have made. Evidence takes the form of quotations from interviews and excerpts from
observations and documents.
Ethically you have to make sure you have confidence in your findings and account for counter-
evidence (evidence that contradicts your primary finding) and not report something that does
not have sufficient evidence to back it up.
Your findings should be related back to your conceptual framework.
Your findings should be in response to the problem presented (as defined by the research
questions) and should be the “solution” or “answer” to those questions.
You should focus on data that enables you to answer your research questions, not simply on
offering raw data.
Qualitative research presents “best examples” of raw data to demonstrate an analytic point, not
simply to display data.
Numbers (descriptive statistics) help your reader understand how prevalent or typical a finding
is. Numbers are helpful and should not be avoided simply because this is a qualitative
dissertation.
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