By the end of this module, you should be able to understand:

What are the expectations for the Results section?

What are the subdivisions to use in the Discussion section?

What are the expectations for the Discussion section?

Writing the last major sections of the paper:

This final writing module will cover the second half of your paper with the Results and Discussion sections. For a true research study with actual data collection, these sections will be much more robust, especially if you have intentions of publishing your work. Be sure to read through this module carefully to see what the expectations will be for your final paper. Make sure to utilize the resources made available to you under the APA format module. These sections typically contrast each other in terms of being direct and technical (Results) versus informal and easily accessible (Discussion). You may have noticed the Discussion section was much easier to read in the research articles you were using for your literature review.

• Title Page
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Method

• Results

• Discussion

• References

The Results section:

If you made an attempt to read the Results sections of the research papers for your literature review, it may have seemed like reading Greek, and instead just glossed over it. For our course, I won’t be requiring APA-level scientific analysis reporting to the level you saw in the published articles. Instead I will be expecting students to provide proposed hypothetical results written in an APA formatted Results section. The intention is to get students practicing scientific writing and to demonstrate an understanding of their topic before actual data collection. We will not use the various statistical analyses in reporting that you learned about in your Elementary Statistics courses, or will actually employ in your upper division research methods courses. Instead, the emphasis will be on understanding your actual research topic content and using the correct structure for scientific writing using APA format.

Break down the results section into different subdivisions based on your different hypotheses. For each of your three hypotheses, make sure that you have your subdivision headers formatted properly with the hypothesis stated next to it, the questionnaire items and hypothetical results, and then an in-depth explanation of the conclusion you are drawing for your hypothesis based on the variables and the results of the questionnaire items representing them. Make sure you are able to clearly state and interpret the results for your hypotheses. Include reasonable hypothetical results for different groups being used for comparison in your hypotheses, such as average scores on different questionnaire items for the different groups being compared, percentages of responses, or expected trends for different variables (how much they are increasing/decreasing with another variable). You can see an example of this for one hypothesis in the example below:

Results

Hypothesis 1: Younger people will display more perfectionist qualities

To test our hypothesis of younger people displaying more perfectionist qualities than older people, we collected data from participants about their age and had them answer items on a scale pertaining to perfectionism. Based on their reported age, we separated our particiapnts into an “Old” group and a “Young” group based on if they were in the top 50% or bottom 50% for Age (“How old are you?”, questionnaire item #2).

Participants responded to 5 items assessing their level of Perfectionism to comprised an overall Perfectionism score. Overall scores showed that the Young group had an average total perfectionism score of 42.75, while the Old group had an average total perfectionism score of 41.12. The results from our analysis provides support for our hypothesis that younger people displayed more perfectionist qualities.

For most students, the Results section should be 2-3 pages, with sufficient explanation for the content of each of your 3 hypotheses structured under separate subdivisions. Provide plenty of detail to reflect an actual Results section as if data had actually been collected, describing the different questionnaire items used for the different variables of your hypotheses and the expected results.

Writing the Discussion section:

I like to think of the Discussion section as a general summary of the entire research paper. Not only is it much easier to read compared to the other sections, but it also much easier to write. There should be a more informal tone compared to the technical analysis presented in the Results section (for an actual study), and it has more flexibility in how you can write it. Still, I will present a way to write it that uses logical subdivisions to help provide organization and structure in your Discussion section.

The main intention of the Discussion section is to communicate the complex findings of your study simply. Infographics perform a similar function. The image above is succinctly stating information that is based off of many pages of statistical analyses and descriptions of research methodologies, but can be understood in a fraction of the time. Try to keep the same principle in mind when writing your Discussion section. If the literature review was a demonstration of your knowledge in a particular area of research, then the discussion should be a demonstration of your knowledge of your own research paper. When writing it, there are no “right or wrong” answers, just an explanation of your study and the previous sections.

Subdivisions to use for a Discussion section:

I recommend using this structure for your Discussions section, especially if you are writing one for the first time. Use the same subdivision header formatting used in the previous sections. Again, refer to the published research articles you read for your literature review to get an idea of the structure and tone they used. Use 1-2 paragraphs for each section, most students end up with around 2-3 pages double-spaced.

Findings/Implications

Start the Discussion section by stating the major takeaways from the result of your research. Summarize each of your hypotheses once again and then tie them together as part of the main implications of your study overall (what does it all mean?). Expand on the implications of your study in terms of what it could mean for people, society, or other constructs. Try to relate it back to the real world and its practical effects, if possible.

“We were interested in the second research question of does reading books daily cause an increase in one’s ability to focus. A positive relationship appeared to exist as the more often one reads books, the greater their ability to focus becomes.”

” For society at large, this could mean that people should make more attempts to connect with other people outside of social media and take actions to negate some of its harmful effects of perceiving other people.”

“There was support for the hypothesis of a correlation between exercise and self-esteem.”

Limitations

This section will be more challenging to write without actually going through the data collection process, however, think about potential forms of bias and what could contribute to getting less-than-credible results. Think about any shortcomings that could have arisen from a narrow perspective before the research process, the phrasings of items on your questionnaire, other sources of error, potential bias, confounds, other issues related to measurement, weaknesses, etc. Maybe you have started to realize that certain items on your questionnaire really weren’t suitable for your variables of interest for testing your hypotheses. Maybe some of your hypotheses simply weren’t able to be sufficiently addressed through a survey approach. Don’t think of it as explaining “why your study sucks,” but being honest about the factors that went into affecting the data you ended up with and how you have gained some insight. It also is a way to demonstrate how much you have gained from the process, as well as contributing new information that could be learned for future studies to improve on from the current study.

Future Directions

This is the most fun aspect of the paper to write (don’t laugh) since it’s an opportunity to be creative and unfettered from the limitations in the current study. It’s also a chance to demonstrate an understanding of what you learned in terms of knowing what to build upon for next time. Some considerations to make when writing this section are other research designs, other targeted sample groups, changes to protocol, item selection and construction, follow-up studies, and anything else you can think of that will help you address your research topic. Think about how your current research could act as a bridge into other areas and how it can be beneficial. Questionnaires are usually a beginning point with research and seldom definitive. Explain other types of research designs that would be used and your ideas to further our understanding of the research topic.

Conclusions

The last section of the paper should convey the take-home message of the research study. What does it mean? Discuss the larger ramifications of your findings (either way) in how it could impact future research and/or understanding of our world. A good way to close a paper is to tie it back to the beginning. If you are stuck, read over your Introduction and literature review again to see how you started the paper. Did the current study fill the gap in the research introduced in your paper? Try not to bring up additional questions in the conclusion subdivision and provide a strong close to your paper. See the example below for the content and subject matter of the Discussion section (however, be sure to add subdivision headers for the components mentioned in this section).

Assignments expectations:

For both sections, continue to use APA format and scientific writing (detached, analytical tone without first-person “should” language).

Most of the content for the Results section of your paper will be based on the hypotheses that you wish to test based on your Literature Review, the content you learned about your research topic from completing the Literature Review, and the items you used on your group questionnaire to test the variables of your hypotheses. Be sure to provide explanation of your rationale of your proposed findings for all three of your hypotheses as separate subdivisions, follow the guidelines mentioned here, make sure it adheres to APA format, and refer to the full example provided in the APA format module. You will not receive detailed feedback for this submission, it is mostly a checkpoint to keep you on track before the final paper submission due later. I will point out major weaknesses of the section that would require significant revisions before the final paper, when it will be worth more points. You can earn up to 5/5 points for meeting the criteria laid out here and submitting it before the deadline.

For the Discussion section submission, make sure you include sufficient detail to address all four of the major subdivisions outlined above. Be sure to follow APA format and use the guides and examples provided under the APA format section. You will not receive detailed feedback for this submission, it is mostly a checkpoint to keep you on track before the final paper submission due later. This is individual work, duplicate sections with other students will result in 0 and further inquiry. You can earn up to 5/5 points for meeting the criteria laid out here and submitting it before the deadline.

Reach out to other students for editing and feedback before submission to make sure you get a good score and aren’t missing anything, let me know if you have any questions!

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