Chapter 5

You have completed your data analysis and are ready to try to make sense of it all. Let's return to the checklist and see what we need to include: Introduction, Interpretation of Findings, Limitations, Recommendations, Implications, and Conclusion. Chapter 5 is dealing with the big picture, what do your results mean in light of previous research? What is new, what have you clarified? What still needs more research?

For the interpretation section, you will want to go back to your research questions and see what your results add to our knowledge. Relate your study to previous literature and back to your theories; what findings are unexpected based on previous work? Why do you think they came out this way? Which findings are consistent with previous studies? This point is important; because it validates that your study is consistent with previous research. How does your study fit the theoretical models you discussed earlier in your paper? If it is not consistent, it is important that you discuss why this may be.

The limitations section asks you to consider your sample and its similarities and differences from the population. Unless you carefully sampled thousands of people, your sample will not be representative of the population, which is fine- you just need to understand how it is differs. Consider racial and cultural differences between your sample and the general population. Other things to consider are that people who volunteer to be in a research study are probably different from those who do not volunteer, so that is a limitation to mention. Think carefully about your recruitment and research methods, how did you recruit? Who would not have been included? Did you use a computer survey? Then people without one would have been excluded. Again, all of this fine, it is just part of research, but it is important to understand the study's limitations.

In the recommendations section you propose future research ideas based on your study. What needs to be examined further? What new areas have you discovered that need to be addressed?

The implications section asks you to think about social change and your work. How could future researchers, practitioners, or the public use your results? The biggest problem students have in this area is that they overstate the implications. Be realistic, your study is not going to change the world as we know it. You are just adding one little piece to the puzzle. In the conclusion section, you need to wrap up the study by summarizing the key issues.

One difficult issue is when you have non-significant results; your study does not come out as hypothesized. This requires you to carefully rethink all of the assumptions and the thought process that led you to make the hypotheses that you did. Could there have been other factors involved that you missed earlier? Consider your sample; were they a good representation of your population? Perhaps, the results might have been different if you had a larger sample. Take a look again at your data, were any of the findings going in the right direction, but did not reach significance? This is evidence that a larger sample may have been needed. 

Next time, we will take a field trip to graduation.