Lesson 40: Reporting and Sharing the Findings

Meaning of Reporting and Sharing the Findings

The findings of your research are meant to be reported to or shared with others because your primary aim in researching is to strengthen existing knowledge or discover new ones for the improvement of the world. Hence, you have to bring your findings out to the readers in a way that you must communicate things you procedurally performed and things you found out through your principled data collecting and analysis methods. Your report about the findings of your research study must adhere to a standard structure or format that has the following elements: (Corti 2014; Braun 2013; Remlen 2011)

Structure or Format of the Research Report

1. Title

The title gives information and description of the subject matter of the research. Being the short catchy part of your paper that has the power to instantly attract a reader, it must contain keywords to predict the content and tone of the research paper. An attention-getting kind of a title is short, informative, made up of only 15 to 20 words. Owing to this essential role of a research title, you must think of one that is meaningful, specific, and reflective of the standards of writing research titles like: the title is not a sentence; not all capitalized; and not negative in tone. In addition, jargons and acronyms are a big no-no to research title writing.

2. Abstract

The abstract concisely discusses the essential aspects of your paper such as the background of the problem, objectives, significance, research design, data collection technique, data analysis method, discussions of the findings, scope, conclusions, among others. Giving 100- to 150-word discussions of the salient parts of the research paper, your abstract suffices as the summary of your research report. Since an abstract explains in a nutshell all essential components of the research paper, it usually comes to its written form only after the final stage of the research work.

3. Introduction

This part explains the background of the research problem, states a set of specific research questions, and of optional hypotheses or assumptions. The purpose of this section is to let the readers see the connection of the purposes of your research questions not only with the current world condition, but also with theoretical principles that underlie your topic and other aspects of your research.

4. Method

This section explains the types and sources of data as well as the method you used in collecting and analyzing the data you have gathered. Doing this part accurately enables the readers to determine how objective and ethical you were in conducting the research and how possible it could be for them to replicate your research study for validation purposes.

5. Findings

Present as findings of your study those that you have analyzed and commented on. There are several ways of doing this: by means of graphical presentation, statistical method, or written discussion.

6. Discussion and Conclusion

Findings resulting from thematically or theoretically gathered and analyzed data with the capacity of leading you to a valid conclusion are explained in this section. Any conclusions stated in this part of the paper derive their validity or truthfulness from factual or logically determined data. Also, such conclusions become valuable as they are able to answer the specific research questions and render any research hypotheses or assumptions right or wrong.

7. Recommendations

To broaden the readers’ knowledge and understanding of the area covered by the research, recommend or let the readers positively consider some activities they can possibly do to extend, modify, replicate, or validate the findings of your research work.

8. References

Follow a standard documentary style. Alphabetize, identify, and list down in this section all sources of knowledge you used in carrying out your study.

9. Appendix

This contains copies of table, questionnaires, interview rates, observation checklist, and other materials that are indispensable or necessary in completing your research study.

Referencing Your Research

Referencing your research means directing your readers to the exact sources of data or information stated in your report, particularly those stated in the review of related literature. This is easy for you if the moment you collect data, you begin practicing a systematic, accurate, and complete recording of the identities of the sources of data. Unmindful of proper referencing of your research causes the readers to question the genuineness of the contents of your research paper. There are several styles of referencing your research, namely, Harvardian, Vancouver, Turibian, APA, and MLA. (Silverman 2013; Litchman 2013; Tracy 2013)