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9 PROJECT REPORT WRITING

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION
Objectives
At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:
1. understand how the results section is organised and presented.
2. present the findings of the research using texts and illustrations.
3. discuss the findings and comment on the results.

9.1 Introduction

The results and discussion chapter is the most important section of a research report. This section
presents, discusses, explains, analyses, compares, evaluates, interprets and infers the results of the
research based on the research questions raised at the beginning of the study. The results section of the
report presents the findings of the study in the forms of figures and written text. Graphical illustrations,
tables and diagrams present the complete findings in numerical terms, while the accompanying text helps
the reader to focus on the most important aspects of the results and to interpret them.

9.2 What are Results?

Results are information based on facts, data or on responses from the respondents who participate in the
research. Results are not based on emotions, sentiments or unanalysed raw data but they can be in the
form of statistics or a detailed explanation of responses given by the respondents in an interview. The
results can be clearly and effectively reported by using illustrations such as tables, graphs, charts,
diagrams, photographs, etc.

9.3 Organising the Results and Discussion Section

Typically, there are two types of arrangements that can be used in organising the results and discussion
section of the research report that are as shown below:

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Type A Type B
Results Results – Result 1
Result 1 Discussion
Result 2
Result 3 Results – Result 2
Discussion
Discussion
Result 1 Results – Result 3
Result 2 Discussion
Result 3

9.4 Reporting the Results of a Study

This section consists of four information elements as listed below:

 Element 1: Introducing the Results
 Element 2: Presenting the Results
 Element 3: Commenting on the Results
 Element 4: Concluding the Results

Element 1: Introducing the results

Use a simple explanation to introduce the results section of the report by writing a topic sentence that
states the main idea of the section.
Examples:
This section discusses …
This part will present …
The…are discussed in this section.
A survey was carried out to …
The aim of this experiment is …

Element 2: Presenting the results

The most common way of presenting results of a study is through tables, graphs, charts, diagrams,
photographs, etc. However, the illustrations are not able to provide explanations so the writer needs to
integrate the illustrations with the written results. Initially, the results of the study are reported without any
interpretation or comment. Start by presenting the most important findings in the illustrations.
Examples:
Figure 2 shows the percentage of …
The pie chart reveals that ….
The results from the analysis are presented in Table 2.
The graph in Figure 5 shows that …
Table 1 above describes the ….

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TIPS
Use present tense when referring to figures or tables
and to explain current actions.

Use past tense to report the results in the illustration.

Element 3: Commenting on the results

The comments on results and discussion section may serve a variety of functions. Some of the most
common functions are listed below:
 to explain possible reasons for the results
 to compare the results of the research with the results from other studies within the same
field
 to evaluate the results by providing an assessment of the results (whether the results obtained
are expected or unsatisfactory)
 to develop viewpoints and ideas based on the facts and results obtained through survey,
interviews or observations
Examples:
A possible explanation for this might be that …
It seems possible that these results are due to …
This result may be explained by the fact that …
These variations can be explained in part by …
This inconsistency may be due to …

TIPS
Use modal auxiliaries such as may, might, can, could,
will and would to express opinions or evaluate the
results.

Element 4: Concluding the results

This element states the implications of the work which may include either positive or negative findings.
Examples:
In general, it seems that …
One weakness while conducting this research is …
Overall, the results of the study suggest that …
The results of the study indicate that …
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9.5 The Sample of a Results and Discussion Section

This section discusses the factors in choosing a service provider among Introducing the
Results
the students in Wawasan University.

Figure A shows the proportion of male and female students in their

choice of service provider according to the factors of better coverage,
customer service, lower cost and popularity of brand names. There are
differences and similarities in the selection of the features of service
provider by both male and female students of Wawasan University. The
biggest differences between the two genders were in the selection of the
lower cost and popularity of the service provider. In the selection of lower
cost, male students made up 48 percent of the respondents.

Presenting the
On the contrary, the percentage of the female students who selected Results
lower cost was just 10 percent. However, the trend was reverse in
relation to popular brand as a factor. 10 percent of male students and 35
percent of female students opt for popularity as a factor for their choice of
service provider. Another factor that determines the selection of a
service provider among male and female is the coverage factor. It is
inherent that 30 percent of female students select a service provider
based on better coverage facilities in comparison to males who make up
only 17 percent. 25 percent of male students and another 25 percent of
female students regard customer service as their choice for service
provider.

Based on Figure A, the results clearly indicate that the main factor Commenting on
the Results
considered by the students is lower cost. Since the students hail from
different parts of the country, making long distance calls to family
members is deemed expensive to them. This replicates the fact that
financial limitation is a significant factor in the lives of students in higher
learning institutions.

Concluding the
On the overall, the results of the study suggest that lower cost is the
Results
reason for their choice of service provider.
Adapted from: Abdul Halim Raof, 2007

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TUTORIAL ACTIVITIES

Exercise 1
Each of the sentences below is taken from the Results and Discussion section on a variety of topics.
Indentify the four elements of the Results and Discussion section.

a. According to the statistics, the population of turtles in Terengganu had increased 30 percent from 2005
to 2007.
______________________________________

b. From the results of the experiments, elements which have heat-resistant property seem to be essential
in lowering the temperature of the composites.
______________________________________

c. This section discusses the impacts of Internet usage among the university students in Malaysia.
______________________________________

d. Table 5 shows the differences of facilities offered between Resort A and Resort B.
______________________________________

e. Based on the results obtained, the characteristics of polymer has been identified.
______________________________________

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Exercise 2
Read the following results section from a report in the field of child psychology. It describes the effects of
a drug on boys who are overactive. Then, answer the following questions.

DEXTROAMPHETAMINE: EFFECTS ON THE COGNITIVE AND BEHAVIORAL ASPECTS IN

NORMAL PREPUBERTAL BOYS

Results

This section discusses the effects of Dextroamphetamine on the cognitive and behavioural
aspects in normal prepubertal boys. Behavioral and cognitive effects during the drug sessions
are given in Figure 1 and Table 1.

Behavioural ratings showed both immediate and delayed effects which differed from each other.
Amphetamine administration in comparison with placebo was associated with decreased motor
activity combined with generally improved attentional performance (faster reaction time, superior
memory and improved attention) and decreased galvanic skin response. After drug
administration, the children appeared unusually inactive, not simply less restless. There was an
increase in task-related descriptive speech and a decrease in speech not task-related, such as
questions (Table 1). These results are entirely consistent with those reported for hyperactive
children on stimulant medication in previous studies.

Adapted from: Weissberg & Buker, 1990

a) What is the function of the first sentence in the results section?

b) Which sentence locates the figure where results can be found?
c) Which sentences present the most important results?
d) Which sentence comments on the results?

Exercise 3
Each comment given below is taken from various research reports. Determine the function of each
comment.

a. The results were anticipated as the respondents were all students, and the pre-paid plan seemed to
be the most suitable plan to cater to the needs of the students as they paid for what they used only.
Function: _____________________________________________________________________

b. Unlike earlier experimental moulds, these prototype moulds are compact, light and easy to handle.
Function: _____________________________________________________________________

c. It can be summarised that SMS was the most popular means of communication among the users. This
was similar to the findings of another study conducted by Choo and Lew (2010) at University of
Malaya which found that SMS was the primary reason why users owned handphones.

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Function: _____________________________________________________________________

d. The reasons for this erratic pattern could be the age distribution of the children or the relatively small
number of women in the sample with three or more children.
Function: _____________________________________________________________________

e. The pericardium could be trimmed easily and remained in position during trimming, suggesting that the
accuracy of the valve is excellent.
Function: _____________________________________________________________________

Exercise 4
Based on the pie chart below, write a complete Results and Discussion section that contains of the four
elements. You may provide relevant reasons for the results obtained.

Source: Teenage Research Unlimited Corporation

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____________________________________________________________________________________
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Exercise 5

Based on the data of your project report assignment, describe the results of your study. Then,
write the discussion section.

Describing the findings:

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

Interpreting your results:

_____________________________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

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