CHAPTER III

RESULTS

• Remember to choose what is relevant• Data should be presented in a logical manner

and in the order research questions are presented.

• Data should answer the research questions but should not include its implications or explanations since theses are presented in the discussion portion (Chapter IV) of the thesis

• Write the results clear enough to be understood by anybody who is going to read it.

• Include the statistical treatment of the data• Individual scores or raw data should be

avoided unless the study involves a single-subject design.

• Append the raw data if necessary.• Present tables and figures in this section.

• Avoid unnecessary information and clutter by simplifying the presentation.

• The results section should be written in PAST TENSE except when referring to a table or figure within the text (for example, “Table 1 shows that …”). Remember to follow the conventions of the APA manual, 6th edition in presenting the data, in reporting statistics (pages 125-167 of APA Manual, 6th edition).

CHAPTER IV

DISCUSSION

• The discussion portion allows the researcher to interpret and explain findings in a critical manner.

• Look back at your research questions, hypotheses, related literature and your own thoughts about the results section.

• Use your researcher’s eye to examine and interpret the data you have gathered.

• Open the discussion with a clear statement of the support or nonsupport for your original hypotheses (APA, 2010).

• Similarities and differences between your results and works of others should be used to contextualize, confirm and clarify your conclusions.

• Compare and contrast significant with non-significant findings, look at factors such as your measures, procedures, sample size, extraneous variables and so on and compare this with past literature and see how whether they clarify or contradict your findings (Cone and Foster, 1999).

• Remember that your discussion should be based on your data (results).

• Do not discuss nearly significant or non-significant as if it were significant!

• Do not base your discussion on hunches, myths or sentido de common (common knowledge).

• Should be written in present tense.

Limitations

• Reveal the decisions made regarding inclusion criteria for subjects or participants, methods and procedure as well as the problems that you encountered during the conduct of your study such as statistical analyses and extraneous variables which could have affected reliability and validity (generalizing your findings to other populations).

• Show your readers that you understand that research methods has its limits and cannot possible answer all your questions (Cone and Foster, 1999).

• The limitations section should be written in PRESENT tense.

Implications • What can your study do? What questions should be

discussed? Are there any critical issues that need to be raised? What else can be done in the future?

• Explain how your research can improve other researches, its implication in practice and what can still be improved or done in the future.

• What is the theoretical, clinical or practical significance of the outcomes and what is the basis for these interpretations? (APA, 2010)

• This section should be written using PRESENT tense

CHAPTER V

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

• Briefly and succinctly summarize the most important findings of your study.

• Draw your conclusions from the summarized findings and tie them up with the appropriate theories or explanatory framework.

• Give practical recommendations for future research.

• Format: Use the present tense.

REFERENCES

• Follow APA Manual, 6thedition for citation and format guidelines strictly.

• All references used in the related literature, results, discussion, and so on should be cited here.

• The heading should be typed the way it is written

above: bold, ALL CAPS, and centered on top of the first page of this section. It follows a hanging indent format and the only section in the thesis or dissertation that is single-spaced.

APPENDIX (APPENDICES)

• This may include your instruments (especially instruments that are not common), letters, and other materials used. You may include statistical data and computations. Each appendix heading should be bold, all CAPS, and centered on top of the page.