Bell, Bryman, and Harley: Research Project Guide

Table of Contents

1. Preparing yourself to do research
2. What do I want to research exactly?
3. The research process
4. Writing up your research report
   1. Preliminary planning
   2. The structure of a dissertation
   3. Title page, acknowledgements and contents page
   4. Abstracts
   5. Introduction
   6. The literature review
   7. Research methods
   8. Results
   9. Discussion & Conclusions
   10. References, appendices and obligations
   11. Writing up research checklist

Results

pages 144

• Whichever approach you take, try not to present and discuss all of your results, only include findings relating to your research questions
• Do not just summarize what a table shows. You should point to salient aspects of the tables, graphs, or other forms of analysis you present from the point of view of your research questions
• Avoid simply presenting graphs, tables or sections of the transcript of a semi-structured interview or focus group session without any comment whatsoever, because the reader is left wondering why you think the finding is important
• It is good idea to vary the method of presenting quantitative findings, e.g. provide a mixture of diagrams and tables
• A particular problem with qualitative research is that students find it difficult to leave out large parts of their data. Be selective and choose only those sections that relate directly to your research questions
• If writing a thesis, e.g. for an M.Phil. or Ph.D., you may have more than one chapter (possibly several) presenting your results. Cryer (1996) recommends showing the particular issues being examined at the beginning of each chapter
• See pages 148 & 156 on results in writing up quantitative and presenting themes in qualitative research