Academic Writing 4. Reporting results
Reporting results
The standard approach to this section of a research article or dissertation is to present and describe the results in a systematic and detailed way. When reporting qualitative results, the researcher will highlight and comment on the themes that emerge from the analysis. These comments will often be illustrated with excerpts from the raw data. In text based studies, this may comprise quotations from primary sources. In quantitative studies, the results section is likely to consist of tables and figures, and writers comment on the significant data shown in these. This often takes the form of the location or summary statement, which identifies the table or figure and indicates its content, and a highlighting statement or statements, which point out and describe the relevant or significant data. All figures and tables should be numbered and given a title. More elaborate commentary on the results is normally restricted to the Discussion section. In research articles, however, authors may comment extensively on their results as they are presented, and it is not uncommon for the Results section to be combined with the Discussion section under the heading: Results and Discussion.
Referring back to the research aims or procedures
The first set of questions aimed to …
To compare the difference between …
The purpose of Experiment 3 was to …
Simple statistical analysis was used to …
The next question asked the informants …
To assess X, the Y questionnaire was used.
Changes in X and Y were compared using …
Regression analysis was used to predict the …
To distinguish between these two possibilities, …
The first set of analyses examined the impact of …
The correlation between X and Y was tested using …
T-tests were used to analyse the relationship between …
The average scores of X and Y were compared in order to …
In order to assess Z, repeated-measures ANOVAs were used.
Nine items on the questionnaire measured the extent to which …
Referring to data in a table or chart
| Table 1 Figure 1 | shows compares presents provides | an overview of … the experimental data on X. the summary statistics for … the breakdown of X according to … the intercorrelations among the nine measures of X. the results obtained from the preliminary analysis of X. |
| The table below illustrates The pie chart above shows The top half of the table shows The bottom half of the table shows | some of the main characteristics of the … the breakdown of … |
| As shown in Figure 1, As can be seen from the table (above), From the graph above we can see that It can be seen from the data in Table 1 that | the X group reported significantly more Y than the other two groups. |
| The results of the correlational analysis The themes identified in these responses The results obtained from the preliminary analysis of X | are shown are set out are presented can be compared are summarised | in Table 1. in Figure 1. |
Highlighting significant data in a table or chart
What stands out in the table is …
Closer inspection of the table shows …
It is apparent from this table that very few …
The most interesting aspect of this graph is …
In Fig.10 there is a clear trend of decreasing …
What is striking about the figures in this table is …
What is interesting about the data in this table is that …
The differences between X and Y are highlighted in Table 4.
From the chart, it can be seen that by far the greatest demand is for …
From this data, we can see that Study 2 resulted in the lowest value of …
This table is quite revealing in several ways. First, unlike the other tables …
From the data in Figure 9, it is apparent that the length of time left between …
Data from this table can be compared with the data in Table 4.6 which shows …
As Table III shows, there is a significant difference (t = -2.15, p = 0.03) between the two groups.
Stating a positive result
The mean score for X was …
Further analysis showed that …
Further statistical tests revealed …
A two-way ANOVA revealed that …
On average, Xs were shown to have …
Strong evidence of X was found when …
This result is significant at the p = 0.05 level.
The results, as shown in Table 1, indicate that …
A positive correlation was found between X and Y.
There was a significant positive correlation between …
The difference between the X and Y groups was significant.
There was a significant difference in X, t(11) = 2.906, p<0.01
There was a significant difference between the two conditions …
Respondents who reported low levels of X also reported significantly lower levels of Y.
Stating a negative result
No increase in X was detected.
No difference greater than X was observed.
No significant differences were found between …
None of these differences were statistically significant.
No significant difference between the two groups was evident.
No significant reduction in X was found compared with placebo.
No evidence was found for non-linear associations between X and Y.
No significant correlation was found between X scores and the Y scores (p = .274)
X appeared to be unaffected by Y.
Only trace amounts of X were detected in …
There was no evidence that X has an influence on …
The Chi-square test did not show any significant differences between …
Overall, X did not affect males and females differently in these measures.
A clear benefit of X in the prevention of Y could not be identified in this analysis.
T-tests found no significant differences in mean scores on the X and Y subscales.
Reporting positive and negative reactions
Stimulation of X cells with Y did not increase the …
With successive increases in intensity of the X, the Y moved further to …
Following the addition of X, a significant increase (P<0.05) in the Y was recorded.
When X cells were stimulated with Y, no significant difference in the number of Z was detected.
Highlighting interesting or surprising results
Interestingly, the X was observed to …
This result is somewhat counterintuitive.
Interestingly, this correlation is related to …
The more surprising correlation is with the …
Surprisingly, only a minority of respondents …
The most surprising aspect of the data is in the …
The correlation between X and Y is interesting because …
The most striking result to emerge from the data is that …
Interestingly, there were also differences in the ratios of …
The single most striking observation to emerge from the data comparison was …
| This is a/an (rather) | surprising significant interesting remarkable unexpected disappointing | result. outcome. |
Surveys and interviews: Reporting response rates
The overall response to the survey was poor.
Thirty-two individuals returned the questionnaires.
The response rate was 60% at six months and 56% at 12 months.
Of the study population, 90 subjects completed and returned the questionnaire.
Of 150 patients who were sent invitations, 81 returned the reply slip, of whom 60 agreed to …
By the end of the survey period, data had been collected from 64 individuals, 23 of whom were …
There were 53 responses to the question: ‘…?’
Respondents were asked to indicate whether …
The total number of responses for this question was …
The overall response to this question was very positive.
Respondents were asked to suggest other reasons for …
In response to the question: ‘…?’, a range of responses was elicited.
This section of the questionnaire required respondents to give information on …
Surveys and interviews: Reporting proportions
Over half of those surveyed reported that …
A minority of participants (17%) indicated that …
70% of those who were interviewed indicated that ….
Almost two-thirds of the participants (64%) said that ….
The majority of those who responded to this item felt that …
When asked whether …, 90% of the respondents reported that …
Just over half of those who answered this question reported that …
In response to Question 1, most of those surveyed indicated that …
When the participants were asked ……, the majority commented that …
Of the 148 patients who completed the questionnaire, just over half indicated that …
Surveys and interviews: Reporting themes
Another reported problem was …
Opinions differed as to whether …
Concerns were expressed about …
A number of issues were identified …
A variety of perspectives were expressed …
These views surfaced mainly in relation to …
Concerns regarding X were more widespread.
There was a sense of X amongst interviewees.
Five broad themes emerged from the analysis.
A common view amongst interviewees was that …
One concern expressed regarding X was whether …
This theme came up for example in discussions of …
The themes of X and Y recurred throughout the dataset.
Two divergent and often conflicting discourses emerged …
Two discrete reasons emerged from this. First … Second …
Issues related to X were not particularly prominent in the interview data.
A recurrent theme in the interviews was a sense amongst interviewees that …
Surveys and interviews: Reporting participants’ views
It was suggested that …
One interviewee argued that …
There were some suggestions that …
In all cases, the informants reported that …
In their accounts of the events surrounding …
There were some negative comments about …
The participants on the whole demonstrated …
Some felt that … , while others considered that …
Some interviewees argued that … , while others …
This view was echoed by another informant who ..
Whilst a minority mentioned that…, all agreed that…
Only a small number of respondents indicated that …
A small number of those interviewed suggested that ….
For a small number of participants X was the reason for …
The majority of participants agreed with the statement that …
When asked about X, the participants were unanimous in the view that …
Surveys and interviews: Introducing excerpts
As one interviewee said: ‘…’
As one interviewee put it: ‘…’
One informant reported that …
The comment below illustrates …
One participant commented: ‘ …’
For example, one interviewee said: ‘…’
In one case, the participant thought that …
Another interviewee, when asked …, said: ‘…’
Other responses to this question included: ‘…’
Another interviewee alluded to the notion of …
Talking about this issue an interviewee said: ‘…’
Commenting on X, one of the interviewees said …
One individual stated that ‘…’ And another commented ‘…’
Transition: moving to the next result
If we now turn to …
A comparison of the two results reveals …
Turning now to the experimental evidence on …
Comparing the two results, it can be seen that …
The next section of the survey was concerned with …
In the final part of the survey, respondents were asked …
Summarising the results section
These results suggest that …
Overall, these results indicate that …
In summary, these results show that …
In summary, for the informants in this study, …
Together these results provide important insights into …
Taken together, these results suggest that there is an association between …
The results in this chapter indicate that … The next chapter, therefore, moves on to discuss the …