School of Engineering and Built Environment

Department of Construction and Surveying

Workbook Fourteen

Conclusions and Recommendations

Dissertation Module

MHK221198

Session 20/21

Trimester(s) A/B

Module Leader – Dr Nigel Craig

(Document updated 03/11/20)

Contents

1  Writing Conclusions ............................................................................................... 3 

1.1  The purpose of the chapter ............................................................................. 3 

1.2  Content and structure of the chapter .............................................................. 3 

1.3  Introduction section of the chapter.................................................................. 4 

1.4  Sample Introduction (extracted from an UG dissertation from 19-20) ............ 4 

1.5  Sample Objectives and referring to these from within the conclusions
chapter ...................................................................................................................... 4 

2  Writing Recommendations .................................................................................... 6 

2.1  Sample Recommendations ............................................................................. 7 

2.2  Limitations of the research .............................................................................. 7 

2|Page
1 Writing Conclusions

A crucial aspect in any UG research is the conclusions and recommendations chapter.

The conclusion reaffirms the research statement, discusses the issues eventually you
will reach a final judgement. It is important to note that the conclusion is not just a
summary (summaries tend to come at the end of each chapter and lead into the next
chapter). It is also important to know that this section is ‘not an opportunity for you to
have a rant’, you must draw out key aspects of the literature you have studied, along
with your recommendations. And say how they are justified or how they contradicted
your research.

1.1 The purpose of the chapter

The purpose of this chapter is to ‘tie’ everything together and to make comments on
the meaning of it all. The chapter will also include limitations and recommendations
and will also highlight the need for further research. The chapter will:

 Reflect on the original aim and set of objectives (Note that this is the most
common mistake that is made within conclusions chapters);

 Provide any answers to questions that may have been posed (some research
projects adopt questions instead of objectives which is perfectly acceptable);

 Will identify the impact of the research undertaken;

 Will highlight any limitations of the research, all research has some limitations
(refer to workbook nine for research limitations), also note that limitations may
also be included in the methodology chapter, it is up to you to ascertain and
determine the ‘best position’ of this section;

 Provide recommendations, this could be recommendations to your

organisation, your employer, academia or the wider industry for example.

1.2 Content and structure of the chapter

The conclusions section should be logical and highlight what has previously bene
discussed and the section should never contain any new information or new material
(Note this is a common mistake, the introduction of new material). The section will be
systematic and in the case of an UG dissertation will be around five pages in length
which equates to around 1500 words. The conclusions section should be able to stand
on its own and will provide a justification and defence of the dissertation. From my own
personal viewpoint when I am reading dissertations or Journal Papers I tend to read
the abstract first and then head straight to the conclusions. If both sections are written
correctly and are ‘strong overall’ then it bodes well for the rest of the submission in
between. The overall structure is very straight forward, it will contain a beginning, a
middle section and then end with future direction.

3|Page
1.3 Introduction section of the chapter

The chapter should be ‘introduced’ You will draw the attention of the reader to the
original aim and you will justify the ‘course’ undertaken. It is also necessary to the key
objectives of the research are outlined and information provided as to whether these
objectives have been achieved. The chapter may begin with some information on the
importance of the subject area and the restate the objectives and justify these and
indicate the achievement of these.

1.4 Sample Introduction (extracted from an UG dissertation from 19-20)

The two paragraphs below have been extracted from a dissertation submitted in 19-
20 on the subject of house building. Comments in red text at the end of the paragraph/s
are my comments as the ‘marker’ of this piece of work.
The topic for this dissertation arose from increasing media coverage, portraying the
construction industry in a negative light, as well as an awareness of online forums
started by dissatisfied customers, due to frustration with their housing contractor. This
research has demonstrated that these forums provide new build property owners with
a platform to share experiences while also receiving advice from other owners in
similar situations. The general public are not likely to be aware of these social forums,
this provided the aim for this study to evaluate the comments raised but to firstly
understand the public’s perception of the industry and its image. The chosen method
for analysing the data collected from social forums was qualitative. This approach
restricted the ability to quantify results and therefore does not provide information on
the frequency of the issues raised. The results were found to be very consistent,
however, social forums can be unreliable, as anyone is free to comment. To therefore
increase reliability, newspaper articles were analysed along with these comments.
This chapter will draw this study to a close, establishing if the objectives have been
achieved and identify potential areas for further research and industry
recommendations. This paragraph in a simple way outlines the subject area
highlighting the powerful nature of the problem. The paragraph also states that
the section will bring the research to a close and will identify if the aim and
objectives have been achieved.

1.5 Sample Objectives and referring to these from within the conclusions
chapter

The original objectives used within this example were:

 To critically evaluate current literature to gain an insight into how the public
perceive the construction industry;

 To evaluate the image of the industry, as portrayed by print media;

 To evaluate comments posted on Facebook forums, in order to identify the

customer consensus of opinion on some of the UK’s major private house
builders;

4|Page
  To record and critically analyse issues found in current UK private house builds
to understand the severity of snagging issues raised;

 To establish the quality of homes delivered, in order to understand if customer

expectations were met.
The actual objectives within the example are now referred ‘back to’ and the
student within this example has attempted to justify the objective and outline
how these objectives have been achieved. The section ends with a brief
summary.
Objective one - The first objective was to gain an insight into the public perception of
the construction industry as a whole. To achieve this, literature was gathered covering
the fundamental aspects of this subject area, allowing a general consensus to be
obtained; the construction industry is a poor industry to work in due to the high health
and safety risks, poor work conditions, lack of career opportunities and an
unprofessional work environment. As well as this, the industry is packed with
uneducated “cowboys” who produce substandard quality and are unproductive,
resulting in a large number of unsatisfied customers.
Objective two - Newspaper articles highlight the increasing severity of the issues
found in new UK homes, as well as a lack of care and reaction from house builders.
This research satisfied the objective to evaluate the image of the industry as portrayed
by print media. The print media has published articles, presenting house builders for
what they truly are. With some, not even meeting minimum housing standards, taking
no responsibility for their actions and are certainly not showing any sense of care for
suffering house buyers. In short, the UK house building sector should be ashamed of
itself.
Objective three - Another objective was to identify a customer consensus of opinion
on some of the UKs largest private house builders. A suitable methodology was
identified to categorise comments and present them within a table to be evaluated
qualitatively, with newspaper articles providing additional validation. The tables
highlight that customers are disgruntled with the inadequate service and attention
received. Customers are disgusted with the way they are being treated, and they
should be. House builders have an inexcusable attitude, they are rude, arrogant and
are even lying to their customers. While buyers are on the one hand, dealing with
ignorant employees, some fail to even get a response. This is outrageous considering
the trust and commitment buyers place in their builder, not to speak of the large sums
of money involved. With house builders failing to deliver on customer promises and
treating customers immorally, they should feel embarrassed and guilty, not only for the
property they have handed over, but what they continue to deliver in the way of
customer care.
Objective four - This data presented a number of issues with the homes, such as a
lack of quality, non-compliance with standards, poor workmanship and a lack of care
from the house builders as well as the NHBC. These findings satisfied the objective to
analyse the issues raised within the comments to gain an understanding of the severity
of these issues. While a substantial number of snagging issues are aesthetic, it has
been identified that some homes are in fact unsafe: From missing fire barriers and
gable straps to extreme defects resulting in partial collapses. These issues are

5|Page
intolerable and house builders need to be held accountable for their negligence and
the NHBC needs to fulfil their pledge to warrant these defects.
Objective five - The literature review identified customer satisfaction is critical to
improving the image of the industry, this was the motive for the final objective, to
evaluate social forums to understand whether customers’ expectations were met. As
identified within the research findings, customers’ expectations were certainly not met,
with some homeowners being distraught as a result of problems with their property.
The forums have identified one owner, who is now unable to live in her home, this
would simply be an unimaginable outcome for any new property owner. While this may
be an extreme case, a lot of homeowners have been made aware that their property
is unsafe. Structural security is a basic necessity and would not cross the mind of
buyers when categorising their expectations for their new home. However,
unfortunately the social forums have highlighted that people need to make this a top
priority when choosing a builder for their new home and not just the quality of finishing.
The results of this study at best mirror those found within the literature review, and in
some cases are worse. Customers are completely fed up and outraged with their
house builders, as a result of endless snagging issues and the lack of customer service
they are receiving. The poor industry image portrayed by the media, highlights
fundamental change is required and the comments posted on social forums reiterate
this. As the comments present real-life situations, while also exposing the industry as
being dangerous, unprofessional and one that fails to deliver on customer
expectations. Chapter two highlighted that the perceived image of the industry is that
it does not care for its customers, providing an unsatisfactory product often delivered
late. The comments analysed, in chapter four echo this, suggesting that the perceived
industry image is in fact the reality. With house builders promising their customers a
“dream” or “luxury” home, this study has provided evidence that this is most certainly
not being delivered. In order to improve the image and quality of the UK private house
building sector, and rectify the findings of this study, a number of recommendations
have been identified.

2 Writing Recommendations

A common mistake made by UIG students is to completely ‘miss’ this section.

Recommendations are a very important part of this section. This part of the
conclusions chapter will:

 Outline plans for future research and possibly identify areas of research that
have not been covered in the research or could be new areas of interest in
future research;

 Structure these in bullet point format (a common mistake is too simply ‘write’ a
paragraph which does not outline the recommendations, bullet points clearly
outline each recommendation);

 Keep the recommendations short and sweet, follow the advice set for the aim
and objectives.

6|Page
Pointing to further areas and providing recommendations shows that you are aware of
the subject area. The recommendations made may be applicable to future students,
industry, your employer or could even identify further research for academia. The
advice of the module team is to keep the recommendations short, usually around 6/7
bullet point recommendations is suitable. Note the example below has not split the
recommendations into certain sections, this is perfectly acceptable.

2.1 Sample Recommendations

 To expand the yield of data collected (which will allow for further examination
of other personal experiences while also increasing the accuracy of results);

 To identify the financial implications for a property owner, resulting from building
non-compliance and quality issues;

 Identify the motivation of customers to continue purchasing new properties,

despite the never-ending negative media, available at their figure tips;

 Retention funds should be implemented for all new homes built within the UK,
held by a third party for six months and released on buyer’s approval;

 House builders should not be removing or shutting down online forums, they
should participate to provide a company presence, demonstrating company
awareness and publicising remedial actions.

 That customer care should be the top priority for all businesses and overall
customer satisfaction statistics should be used as the benchmark;

 While throughout this report the house builders have been held accountable,
research is required into trades, as they are potentially as much to blame for
quality issues, as the house builders;

 To establish the quality of homes delivered, in order to understand if customer

expectations were met.
It is also a good idea to provide an end sentence or two which concludes the
conclusion’. In this example this has been done at the end of the section above after
Objective five’. This is entirely your choice but it may provide a graceful exit to the
work undertaken. If you decide to do this then keep it short, to the point and always
end the section on a positive note, don’t be negative. Be bold and imaginative
throughout the whole chapter and don’t be afraid to be controversial.

2.2 Limitations of the research

Please note: the subject area of limitations has been covered in workbook nine. Some
supervisors prefer that this section is included within the methodology section, there
are others who will ask you to include it within the conclusions chapter. Whichever it
is you must consult with your supervisor on the preferred option.

7|Page