Chapter II

Lesson 3 Research Design

 What should be included in this chapter?

▫ Research methods
▫ Findings
▫ Data presentation, analysis and interpretation
Research Methods
 Give detailed information about data collection and analysis,
including,
 type of research, sources of data, population, sample size,
sampling techniques, data collection tools, data collection,
presentation and processing methods, ethical considerations.
 Justify why you have chosen the methods, samples, sampling techniques,
etc.
 Make sure that all components of the research methods are discussed well.
 Mind the tense you use.
 Remain consistent in using the appropriate tense throughout your work.
Sources of Data/ Information
 Sources can be categorized into:
1. Primary
 observation, experimentation, interviews , questionnaire,
and company records
2. Secondary
 books, magazines, journals, and other published documents
Cont.…
Provides evidence in the form of:
 theoretical ideas
 critical evaluations
 research findings , and
 scholarly opinions
Cont..
Academic sources of evidence differ from:
o your own opinions,
oConclusions or outcomes of discussions on the issue with
friends or relatives,
o a celebrity’s opinion,
o opinion columns in newspapers (as opposed to
newspaper articles)
Methods for Collecting Data
 Choose the ones relevant to your purpose.
 We may place them into:
 Category A. (mainly using words)
 Interviews
 Accounts
 Diaries
 Focus groups
 Document interrogation
Cont..
 Category B (words and/ or numbers)
 questionnaires
 observation
 Category C (mainly numbers)
 Tests
 Official statistics
 Other numerical data
 Chapter II
Lesson 4:
Data Presentation and
Analysis
Discussions
Interpretation
Data Presentation
 Classify your ideas into sections.
 Use headings and sub-headings appropriately.
 If you use tables and figures,
 present them near the relevant part.
 they should precede the discussion.
 they should have a title or a caption as the case may be.
 they should present different data. In other words, a particular
set of data cannot be presented by tables and figures
simultaneously.
Cont’d…
 Titles for Tables appear at the top and for Figures
at the bottom.
 Tables and Figures should be consecutively numbered.
 Titles should:

 Be written as phrases
 Not be in question or statement form
Data analysis

 Discussion
Interpretation
Discussion
 After presenting the results (backward order), you:
 Evaluate and interpret their implications, especially with respect

to your research/questions or hypotheses. Here you will examine,

interpret, and qualify the results and draw inferences and
conclusions from them.
 Emphasize any theoretical or practical consequences of the

results. (When the discussion is relatively brief and

straightforward, some authors prefer to combine it with the Results
section, creating a section called Results and Discussion.)
How to organize your discussion

• Open the Discussion section with a clear statement of the support for your
hypothesis/research questions.
• Similarities and differences between your results and the work of others should be
used to contextualize, confirm, and clarify your conclusions.
• Do not simply reformulate and repeat points already made; each new statement
should contribute to your interpretation and to the reader's understanding of the
problem.
 Interpretation
Very important part of the research report
Points to consider while writing interpretation
▫ Explain possible reasons for the results
▫ Compare results with the results of previous studies
▫ Generalize from the results (be careful of your words, remain tentative)
▫ Ask as many questions as possible to see what your data would mean
▫ Let the facts speak for themselves, do not force your data to prove your
points or hypothesis