This document provides guidelines for analyzing data and presenting results in a research paper or thesis. It discusses organizing data for analysis, identifying procedures to analyze research questions, and designing tables, figures and a results section to present findings. The key points are that the presentation of results should logically reflect the research aims and methods, and connect results to answering questions rather than just describing data. Tables and figures should clearly summarize statistical information and augment the text. The results section should objectively report findings without interpretation.

1. WRITING THE DATA
ANALYSIS/RESULTS

2. By the end of this lesson,
you should be able to:
• Describe the process of preparing and organizing your
data for analysis
• Identify the procedures for analyzing your research
questions
• Recognize how to design and present results in tables,
figures, and a results section

3. Presenting the Analysis of Data
• In this part of research writing there is a great deal of
variation.
• Different types of research will have different ways of
presenting the data.
• For example, a thesis in oral history and one in marketing
may both use interview data that has been collected and
analysed in similar ways, but the way the results of this
analysis are presented will be very different because the
questions they are trying to answer are different. The
presentation of results from experimental studies will be
different again.

4. • In all cases, though, the presentation should have a
logical organisation that reflects:
• the aims or research question(s) of the project (including any
hypotheses that have been tested)
• the research methods and theoretical framework (outlined
earlier in the thesis)
• Remember :You are not simply describing the data. You
need to make connections with the aims/ research
question(s), and make apparent your reasons for saying
that data should be interpreted in one way rather than
another.

5. Function
• to objectively present your key results, without interpretation, in
an orderly and logical sequence using both text and illustrative
materials (Tables & Figures)
• to sum up responses from respondents
• to draw conclusions

6. Organisation of data
• Presented in the order of the research questions and
hypotheses
• For each RQ or H
• Statistical test used
• Results of the test
• Significance level of the test
• Description connecting statistical results to support for or rejection
of H or to answer RQ
6

7. Organisation of Data
Analysis/Findings/Results
• Type A
• Results
• Topic 1
• Topic 2
• Topic 3
• Discussion
• Topic 1
• Topic 2
• Topic 3
• Type B
• Results & Discussion
• Topic 1 Results
• Topic 1 Discussion
• Results & Discussion
• Topic 2 Results
• Topic 2 Discussion
• Results & Discussion
• Topic 3 Results
• Topic 3 Discussion

8. Reporting the Results
• Tables summarize statistical information
• Give title to each table/graph/chart
• Present one table for each statistical test
• Organize data into rows and columns with simple and clear
headings
• Report notes that qualify, explain, or provide additional information
in the tables, which can be helpful to readers. Notes include
information about the size of the sample reported in the study, the
probability values used in hypothesis testing, and the actual
significance levels of the statistical test
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and
Qualitative Research, third edition

9. Reporting the Results (cont’d)
• Figures (charts, pictures, drawings) portray variables and
their relationships
• Labeled with a clear title that includes the number of the figure
• Augment rather than duplicate the text
• Convey only essential facts
• Omit visually distracting detail
• Easy to read and understand
• Consistent with and are prepared in the same style as similar
figures in the same article
• Carefully planned and prepared
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and
Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research,
third edition
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third edition

10. Reporting the Results (cont’d)
• Detailed explanations about statistical results
• Report whether the hypothesis test was significant or not
• Provide important information about the statistical test, given the
statistics
• Include language typically used in reporting statistical results
John W. Creswell
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and
Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, third
edition
7.10

11. Simple rules to follow relating to Tables
and Figures:
• Tables and Figures are assigned numbers separately and
in sequence that you refer to them from the text.
• The first Table you refer to is Table 1, the next Table 2 and so forth.
• Similarly, the first Figure is Figure 1, the next Figure 2, etc.

12. Simple rules to follow relating to Tables
and Figures:
• Each Table or Figure must include a brief description of
the results being presented and other necessary
information in a legend.
• Table legends go above the Table; tables are read from top to
bottom.
• Figure legends go below the figure; figures are usually viewed
from bottom to top.
• When referring to a Figure from the text, "Figure" is
abbreviated as Fig.,e.g., Fig. 1. Table is never
abbreviated, e.g., Table 1.

13. Style
• Write the text of the Results section concisely and
objectively.
• The passive voice will likely dominate here, but use the
active voice as much as possible.
• Avoid repetitive paragraph structures.
• Do not interpret the data here.

14. example 1
• This example highlights the trend/difference that the
author wants the reader to focus:
The duration of exposure to running water had a
pronounced effect on cumulative seed germination
(Fig. 2). Seeds exposed to the 2-day treatment had
the highest cumulative germination (84%), 1.25
times that of the 12-h or 5- day groups and 4 times
that of controls.

15. example 2
• In contrast, this example strays subtly into interpretation
by referring to optimality (a conceptual model) and tying
the observed result to that idea:
The results of the germination experiment (Fig. 2)
suggest that the optimal time for running-water
treatment is 2 days. This group showed the highest
cumulative germination (84%), with longer (5 d) or
shorter (12 h) exposures producing smaller gains in
germination when compared to the control group.

16. example 3
Figure 1 shows the proportion of male and female students in their
choice of service provider according to the factors of better coverage,
customer service, lower rates 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 Permata
University. The biggest difference between the two genders were in the
selection of lower rate and popularity of the service provider. In the
selection of lower rate, male students made up 48 percent of the
respondents. On the contrary, the percentage of female students who
selected lower rate was just 10 percent. However the trend was the
reverse when it comes to the factor of popular brand name product.
Here, male students chose popularity of service provider with 10
percent, whereas female students put more value on popularity of
service provider with 35 percent. For the other feature, female students
regarded better coverage as more important, with a percentage of 30
percent. In contrast, only 17 percent of males selected this feature. The
only feature of the service provider that had similar percentage by both
genders was the customer service. Here, the percentage of male and
female students who selected customer service was 25 percent.

17. Summary
• There are generally accepted guidelines for how to
display data and summarize the results of statistical
analyses of data about populations or groups of people.
However, this display needs to be presented in an
informative way.
• Describe the sample.
• Remind the reader of the research question being addressed, or
the hypothesis being tested.
• Tell the reader what you want him/her to get from the data.
• State which differences are significant.
• Highlight the important trends and differences/comparisons

18. Time is short …
• Have a clear plan

19. Adapted from:
• http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~martins/sen_sem/thesis_o
rg.html
• http://online.physics.uiuc.edu/courses/phys499/
• msucohort16.wikispaces.com/file/view/3eChapter7+revis
ed_edit.ppt
• highered.mcgraw-hill.com/.../Chapter_17....
• http://abacus.bates.edu/~ganderso/biology/resources/writi
ng/HTWsections.html#results