How to Write a Dissertation Findings / Results

Date published September 16 2020 by Hector Shaw

All of your work from the beginning has brought you here.

It is the time that you test all your theories, assumptions, and predictions with the data that you have found through your research. This chapter is basically the core of your dissertation and is the most highlighted part as well.

Before step-by-step learning how you can write a perfect dissertation finding structure, you have to understand everything about the chapter to the core!

How “Dissertation Proposal” Can Help You!

Our top dissertation writing experts are waiting 24/7 to assist you with your university project, from critical literature reviews to a complete masters dissertation.

What is a Dissertation Findings & Results Chapter?

It is the fourth chapter in your dissertation that comes after the methodology chapter.

Everything you mentioned in your dissertation before was “if I will do this…”, “I am doing this because…”, or “I will be applying this research method because…”

Now you have to input your own words. You get to gather all the data and now present it to the reader(s) in this chapter. The Findings and Results chapter has another name as well that is Data Collection & Analysis. The name is very self-explanatory and makes it very simple.

You have to gather all the data using the method(s) you proposed in the prior chapter(s) and then analyze the data for the results. Sounds simple right? Well, yeah it is simple but again nothing is easy when it comes to writing a dissertation. So if you are struggling with your dissertation Findings & Results chapter then get some cheap dissertation writing service and forget all your worries.

When You Should Start Writing the Findings / Results Chapter?

When you have enough data gathered and analyzed, it’s the time you start writing the findings section.

If your dissertation is based on primary data collection or experimental work then you will be required to report the findings of your research before you start the discussion chapter of your dissertation.

On the other hand, you are not required to have a whole independent chapter for findings if the nature of your dissertation is purely descriptive.

What to do in Your Dissertation Findings / Results Chapter?

This is the part where you will get the chance to report the most noticeable features and findings of your research. You have to relate the findings with your research questions or the research hypothesis that you proposed before in the introduction chapter.

Some Tips for You:

You have to report the findings of your research in the past tense.
You should not report any result(s) or information that is not relevant to your dissertation question or hypothesis.
You don’t have to worry if your findings chapter is too long or too short. The length of the chapter can be different depending on the nature and the amount of data you have collected and analyzed.

Consult Our Writers to Discuss Your Needs

Looking for Customize Dissertation Topics?

View different varieties of dissertation topics and samples on multiple subjects for every educational level

How to Report the Findings?

The method to report the findings can depend on the method of your research. If you have done qualitative research then you will have to report it in a specific manner. If you have done quantitative research you will need to report to in a different manner.

Both of the research methods have different kinds of outcomes & results and both of them have different ways for findings to be reported. First, we are going to discuss how to report the qualitative findings then we will move forward to the method of reporting quantitative findings.

The Best Way to Report Qualitative Findings

Reporting qualitative findings is not easy, but we know, nothing is easy in a dissertation.

To report qualitative findings in the best way, you can present the results of your research while stating the most important themes or areas that you discovered after analyzing your data.

You have to clearly mention any patterns, independent responses, relationships, and/or developments that are directly relevant and related to your research question/problem for the readers.

The only issue that’s very common that occurs while reporting qualitative findings is that all the obtained results might not be directly related or relevant to your research hypothesis or research question(s). You will have to skim through irrelevant results and data and focus on the related data only.

The information or findings that is not directly relevant to your research but you think it is related to the subject area can be included in the appendix part for future researches. If it’s all too much for you then you can just get some dissertation help and relax!

How to Report Quantitative Findings Easily:

If you have multiple research questions, you will have to report relevant findings for each of your hypotheses or research questions while focusing on how you analyzed the questions.

The best and simplest method of presenting your quantitative findings is to wrap (or structure) them around the research questions or the research hypotheses that you planned to address as a part of your dissertation.

You have to analyze the findings first before reporting them. It will also help you regulate how the findings are related to different dissertation questions. Furthermore, It will also help you determine if (and how) they support your presumed hypothesis or not.

Highlighting important relationships, tendencies, and variables is crucial but while doing so, you don’t have to discuss the implications and interpretations. It is because interpretations and implications are to be inserted in the discussion and conclusions chapter.

Same as the qualitative data, any findings that are not directly related to your research hypothesis or research questions should be added to the appendix section of your dissertation.

Using Charts and Tables to Report Quantitative Findings:

There are certain rules and aspects for everything and the same goes for the dissertation findings chapter.

You should keep in mind that you can never use subjective terms and phrases like “validates”, “reveals”, “confirms”, “suggests” or other similar words. These terms are best saved for the discussion chapter for your dissertation. The interpretations of the results are to be explained and provided in the discussion chapter with in-depth information and analysis.

On the other hand, you have to provide only concise explanations of your findings in relation to the hypotheses, research questions, and key themes. Writing a detailed subjective explanation to report the findings is not necessary at this stage of your dissertation.

Refrain from stating results from other research studies in your findings. The findings chapter is to state the data that you have found throughout the research.

Remember that the texts in the findings chapter should be used to explain and summarize the respective aspects of your results. Besides that, you have to use charts, tables, graphs, and other kinds of illustrations to report quantitative findings.

Although, it is mandatory to use different kinds of illustrations to report the findings. You have to be careful and not to repeat any findings. For instance, if you have reported something in a chart or any other type of illustration, you should avoid stating it in the text or another form of illustration unless it’s necessary or needed very much.

The graphs and other similar informative illustrations are vital while reporting quantitative findings. Always label your illustrations in a descriptive way, creating an understanding of your discussion through the chart or a table.

Here are a few tips for you before you get the step-by-step recipe for an outstanding dissertation findings chapter structure.

Never Do These Things While Reporting Findings:

There are certain rules and aspects for everything and the same goes for the dissertation findings chapter.

Refrain from stating results from other research studies in your findings. The findings chapter is to state the data that you have found throughout the research.

What You Must Make Sure of in the Dissertation Findings:

You have to make sure to include something in your dissertation findings chapter. Without these things a findings chapter is never complete:

Make sure to observe if your research questions are answered or the hypothesis is tested in the findings you have reported.
Always double-check the labels for your illustrations, it’s natural to make some errors and mistakes but you have to be 100% sure about the labels. Any mistake or typo in the label can make your whole chart and data invalid.
Never be afraid to take help from technology, it’s your friend! Manually generating data could take you ages. Use some popular software like STATA, SPSS, Excel, and others to generate data and save a lot of time.
Replicating any findings from an already published research is subjective. For instance, if you are using some already existing data in your dissertation then the findings will be the same as well. But again, you have to state your findings, the reference to an existing data is more likely to be stated in the literature review or other respective chapter(s).

Get Free Customize Topics Now

A Guide to Structure the Dissertation Findings:

Now you’re going to learn how to structure the dissertation findings chapter step-by-step easily.

The dissertation findings chapter can be very heavy in terms of information and length. So keeping it organized is very important and to do that, you should follow the structure below.

A dissertation findings chapter is comprised of the following parts:

Structure of a Dissertation Findings Chapter

Introduction
Data Organization
Data Presentation
Summary

1. Introduction to Your Findings

As you would start every other chapter, you have to first introduce your findings to the reader.

You can’t just start by stating the findings and then report them. You have to briefly introduce the findings so that the reader does not get confused. The findings chapter is where you have to state your own data which is likely to take the majority of your dissertation paper.

The length of the introduction part could vary depending on your research method and the nature of your research. Regardless of the length of your introduction, you can structure the introduction part of your dissertation chapter logically and organized so that the reader does not lose interest in your dissertation.

There are four main aspects that your findings chapter’s introduction should include to keep the reader engaged by giving them enough information.

You have to place the research in context for the ease of the reader.
Concisely describing you aim to write the results of your findings.
Stating the research question for the reader to remind them of the aim and objective of your dissertation.
State where the reader can find the research instruments you used.

Keep in mind that the reader(s) is/are not a fan of suspense, thrill, and action. You don’t have to dramatically build the hype to drop the final plot twist. You have to keep it relevant and straight up to the point so that the reader does not feel like that their time is being wasted by unnecessary information.

Begin directly with some information that the reader should know regarding your dissertation. If you do that, the reader will clearly understand and know what you are aiming for in your research and have an idea about what they’re about to read next.

The best way to start your introduction is by stating where you have come from in your research journey and what the outcomes were.

2. Data Organization

After you are done with the introduction of your findings. It is time to organize the data in a legitimate way before presenting it.

A lot of data scattered throughout your dissertation would do nothing but just confuse the reader. So first you have to organize the data using respective methods before logically presenting them to the reader.

Organizing Quantitative Data:

For instance, if the nature of the research was quantitative, it is best for you to structure your findings by relating them to your hypotheses or research questions.

Organizing Qualitative Data:

If your research method was qualitative, then it is assumed that you have some key themes identified from your data by the programs/software you used for the data organization. These key themes can be very effective if you highlight them in your findings section.

Although you have to keep in mind, while you are stating the key themes, state each of them separately.

A lot of students make the common mistakes of directly stating everything. You have to understand that subheadings can be effective while explaining things. Whenever you think that you’re discussing a very specific point or aspect in a paragraph or two, make it a catchy subheading. This will increase the readability of your context and the reader will be interested in reading your dissertation.

The reason behind it that a lot of text with no headers could seem like a burden to read. If a reader is looking for a certain aspect and you have highlighted with a subheading, it will attract their attention immediately.

3. Data Presentation

After you are done with data organization, it is time to present it.

The data presentation method depends on your research method as well. It is because different kinds of research methods have different kinds of data and hence there are many ways to present it.

Presenting Quantitative Data

Presenting quantitative data can overwhelm the reader as well as yourself. That is because quantitative data is usually based on percentages, numbers, and statistics. Directly stating all the data could confuse anyone easily.

You have to consider your audience and your subject as well while presenting the data. For instance, if you are writing a dissertation findings section for a hard-core science subject such as physics or medical subjects, you will be expected to include a heavy amount of numbers and stats.

On the other hand, if you are writing a dissertation for any arts/humanities subject then you are more likely to

present the data in a simpler context. It is very uncommon for humanities/arts dissertations to have extremely detailed presentations.

Depending on the nature of your dissertation, Microsoft Excel could be enough for you. On the other hand, for detailed analysis, you might need some specific programs such as SPSS, R, STATA, and other relevant programs.

Although, you have to keep in mind that quantitative data presentation does not have to include only tables, statistics, and equations/numbers. It should also include the justification and explanation for the tests you’ve run. For instance, depending on your data organization and research method, you could either state the reasoning and explanations in either the findings section or the discussions section.

Presenting Qualitative Data

Remember, qualitative data circles around highly detailed statements and responses.

If your research method revolved around conducting observations or interviews then you might have the transcripts regarding them.

Presenting all of the qualitative data can be difficult to squeeze into one chapter because of multiple reasons. For instance, it could be hard for you to decide which data you are going to keep and what you are going to discard. On the other hand, you will have to focus on presenting all of your data through literature. You can’t present qualitative data with visual representations i.e. graphs and tables.

A pro tip to present the qualitative data like a boss. When you’re writing the presentation, make sure that each heading or the subsections are revolving around a key theme. It will keep the focus of your reader on a certain aspect that you intend to highlight.

4. Summary

Concluding anything is very important.

After you are done presenting your data, it’s time to move on to the next chapter. But before that, you will have to conclude your findings. The best way to do it shortly summarizes all of the data that you have presented. Also a concise glimpse of how you did it.

It is necessary because a lot of readers might skip through the whole section and read the conclusion to see what you have stated throughout the findings section. The conclusion doesn’t have to be a suspenseful piece. You just have to include the information regarding your data in a sense that it doesn’t seem repetitive as compared to the whole content above.

Wrapping it Up!

If you have read the whole thing, hopefully without skipping, then you are ready to write your dissertation findings section. Although it could be challenging even when you know everything about it. Any theory could be different and harder in practice, so don’t stress yourself over the findings section as well.

If you find yourself on a dead-end, don’t be hesitant and get some dissertation help online without wasting any time. But we hope that you’d cross through the whole thing and get your desired grades!

May the force be with you!

Good Luck!

Dissertation Services

Dissertation Subjects

Dissertation Levels