The aim and research questions have been explored through analysis and now, all that’s left is the results and discussion sections. This is easier said than done but hopefully these guidelines can give you a structure to work within when writing your own results section for your thesis or other research project.
| Note It is important to remember there is no one right answer when it comes to what to include in the results and how exactly to present them. This is just one example of how it can be done. |
Things to consider when writing the results section:
- Summarize the findings in relation to the original research question(s)
- When summarizing the findings, focus simply on presenting them instead of making any interpretations or explanations in this section (this comes later on in the discussion)
- Your text should complement and highlight important information in the tables and figures included, make sure not to just copy and paste what the tables already say
- Seeking inspiration from published articles with similar topics and/or methods can help you decide what to include in your results (your supervisor is also a great source of support for this!)
Descriptive statistics (Table 1)
Below are two examples of tables used to present the descriptive statistics for this practical example. Again, consulting your supervisor on what to include as well as looking at other articles can be helpful to decide what descriptive statistics to include in the results.
Example 1
Example 2
Logistic regression analysis (Table 2)
A clear and concise structure when presenting the main findings will be easier to write as the author as well as easier to follow for the readers. Often this can be done by following along with the order of your research questions.
Interaction analysis (Figure 1)
Finally, below is an example of a figure to help present the interaction analysis used in this practical example. A combination of tables, figures, and text can be decided upon in this section to help present your results in the best way.
