Table 11.3  Research methods section Table 11.4

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563

Dorion (2009) uses a table in his paper to collate his field studies and this

is another possible way of presenting this information in your thesis.

Figure 11.2 T

able from Dorion’s 2009 paper 

Your presentation of the findings

This findings section will set out a summary of all the findings broken down into topics

relating to the research questions. It is a good idea to support this in the form of tables,

matrices, diagrams and quotations from participants and informants, where appropriate,

and end the section with a concluding summary of key findings and emerging issues

which you have identified. 

Your discussion of the findings

The purpose of the discussion section is to explain the meaning of the results you have 

obtained. Although the discussion comes at the end of your thesis or essay, constantly 

keep in mind why your study is important and how your study relates to previous studies 

while you are doing the research. Your final discussion should include the following five 

points:

State the major findings of the study

The discussion should begin with a statement of the major findings of the study which 

will be the very first paragraph in the discussion in the form of a direct statement. Don’t 

include data or reference to the study design at this stage.

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Table 13.4 

Dorrian’s (2009) research design

Research Question:

What are the characteristics of the drama activities employed in some secondary science lessons?

Sub-questions 

Data Source 

Data Source  Data Source  Data Source 

1. What types of drama are used?

Teacher interviews 

2.  What objectives initiate the use of 

drama?

Teacher interviews

Students 

interviews

Lesson 

observation

3.  What characteristics of these activities 

are perceived to enable achievement of 

the teaching objectives

Teacher interviews 

Stimulated video recall 

Students 

interviews 

Video 

Lesson 

observation 

Dorion (2009) uses a table (Figure 13.2) in his paper to collate his field studies and this 

is another possible way of presenting this information in your thesis. 

Table 3. Fieldwork stages

 

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Method

Teacher 

pre-observation 

interview (45 min)

Lesson observation (1 

hr 20 min–1 hr 40 min)

Teacher 

post-observation 

interview (45 min)

Student 

post-observation 

interview (20 min)

Structure

Semi-structured

Open-ended and 

unstructured

Focused and 

semi-structured

Semi-structured

Rationale

Provides context 

for student 

learning and 

knowledge

Interpretive; highlights 

important moments 

during the intervention; 

triangulation with 

teacher and student 

perceptions

Utilises experiential 

knowledge of the 

teachers; narrow 

focus on case activity; 

triangulation

Triangulation with 

teacher 

interviews, and 

observations

Specific 

resources

Show cards

Video

Stimulated recall with 

video for teachers

Show cards

Figure 13.2  Table from Dorion’s 2009 paper

your presentation of the findings

This findings section will set out a summary of all the findings broken down into topics 

relating to the research questions. It is a good idea to support this in the form of tables, 

matrices, diagrams and quotations from participants and informants, where appropriate, 

and end the section with a concluding summary of key findings and emerging issues 

which you have identified.

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564

Explain the meaning of the findings and why the findings are important

By this stage in the research process, you will be so close to the design and data collection 

process that the meaning of the results and their importance will seem obvious to you. 

However, your reader might not be so familiar with all that is in your head, so you need to 

explain everything really clearly and not assume that the reader can interpret the tables 

and data for themselves.

Relate your findings to other similar studies

The discussion section should relate your study findings to those of other studies. You can 

tell the reader about the prompts and questions raised by previous studies which motivat-

ed you to do your study. These other studies may support your findings and this will serve 

to strengthen the importance of your work.

Consider alternative explanations for the findings

The purpose of research is to discover and not to prove. It is easy to fall into the trap 

of designing the study to prove your strongly held bias rather than to challenge and test 

this out by looking at the evidence. Consequently, when you write the discussion section, 

carefully consider all possible explanations for the study results, rather than just those that 

fit your biases.

Make suggestions for further research

Although a study may answer important questions, other questions related to the sub-

ject may remain unanswered. Moreover, some unanswered questions may become more 

focused because of your study. You should make suggestions for further study in the discus-

sion section too.

Table 11.5 shows how Pedder (2006) has done all of this very succinctly in the discussion 

from his paper about class size.

Writing About Your  Research

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Activity 13.2

Use the checklist below to assess your own discussion section:

1  Have you included all the points set out in the discussion of findings section 

(see Table 13.5)?

2  Are you confident that your interpretation of the results does not go beyond 

what is supported by the data and that you are not being speculative?

3  Are there any tangential points included which run the risk of diluting and 

confounding your message?

Conclusion and recommendations

Finally, Table 13.6. illustrates what a good conclusion should look like. Pedder (2006) 

has included: recommendations for different audiences – in this case, policy makers; 

Table 13.5 

Structure of the discussion section

State the study’s 

major findings

The secondary school study developed no evidence of simple one-way relationships between class 

size and optimum conditions for all kinds of teaching and learning. This is a key finding.

Explain the 

meaning and 

importance of 

the findings 

Different teachers recognized increased opportunities for promoting and supporting learning in 

large as well as in small classes; they also recognized constraints in small as well as in large 

classes. Politicians therefore need to be receptive to the possibility that benefits to pupils’ learning 

arise in large as well as in small classes and thus need to promote frameworks within which 

schools can adopt more flexible approaches to allocating pupils to learning groups of different 

size for different teaching and learning purposes.

Relate the 

findings to those 

of similar studies

The American large-scale class size reduction experiments mentioned at the beginning of this 

article appear to be motivated by a concern with political and economic decision-making at 

government level more than with decision-making at school or classroom level. 

Consider 

alternative 

explanations of 

the findings

At a glance it might seem, therefore, that the focus on class size as an isolated variable is not only 

understandable but also justifiable. However, research approaches that combine, within the same 

design, observation of patterns of classroom behaviour with fine grained analysis of practitioners’ 

perspectives stand the best chance of developing evidence that is relevant to, and useful for, 

thinking and decision-making at the global policy level. The challenge is for politicians to face up 

to the complexities involved and to be open to more flexible approaches to the organization of 

teaching and learning in schools.

Make 

suggestions for 

further research

McIntyre argues for flexible reform that includes increased non-contact time for teachers and 

pupils and more flexible arrangements for conducting face-to-face contact between teachers and 

pupils individually as well as in classes and groups of different size on a fitness for purpose basis. 

Should politicians and policy makers begin to construe the development of class size policy within 

this kind of inclusive framework of change, then it may be possible to gain the potential benefits 

from small classes but also the benefits from large classes without a net increase in expenditure in 

the long run.

Source: Pedder (2006).

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Table 11.5 

Structure of the discussion section

Activity 11.2

Use the checklist below to assess your own discussion section:

1.  Have you included all the points set out in the discussion of findings section?

2.  Are you confident that your interpretation of the results does not go beyond 

what is supported by the data and that you are not being speculative?

3.  Are there any tangential points included which run the risk of diluting and 

confounding your message?

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566

Conclusion and recommendations

Finally, Table 11.6. illustrates what a good conclusion should look like. Pedder (2006)

has included: recommendations for different audiences – in this case, policy makers; sugges-

tions for further research; an evaluation of his research design, including flagging up his un-

certainty about answers to research questions; and a final clear take-away message. Wyse 

(2006) has provided guidance on the approximate length and word count for each section, 

and this is included in Table 11.7.

Table 11.6

 Conclusion

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221

suggestions for further research; an evaluation of his research design, including flag-

ging up his uncertainty about answers to research questions; and a final clear take-away 

message. Wyse (2006) has provided guidance on the approximate length and word 

count for each section, and this is included in Table 13.7.

Table 13.6 

Conclusion

Recommendations for 

different audiences – in 

this case, policy makers

Politicians can be helped in their decision-making by research that uses multiple methods 

of inquiry into effects of class size variation in both primary and secondary school 

contexts. 

Suggestions for further 

research

Further research is needed to help us develop much better understanding of the kinds of 

strategies and knowledge teachers can adapt for effectively promoting high quality 

learning opportunities for all pupils in different contexts of class size variation. Such 

research should aim to generate useful insights into how, in large and small classes, 

learning for a range of different purposes can best be promoted. Class size research needs 

to attend to the contexts within which class size variation occurs by investigating the 

different ways class size interacts with other key variables. Teachers bring different 

strengths and expertise to the classroom. They teach different subjects and work in 

contexts of varying levels of resourcing and space. 

The pupils they teach come to class with different personalities, and behavioural and 

ability characteristics. Taking all these facets of classroom life into account, it is 

unsurprising if we find teachers maximizing opportunities for pupils to learn in classes 

of different size in different ways. We need further research to find out how teachers 

manage to do this in classes of different size in different primary and secondary school 

contexts.

Evaluation of research 

design and degree of 

certainty about answers 

to research questions

Blatchford and colleagues have made important headway through their CSPAR study in 

developing research that investigates the impact of class size as one among many 

important factors influencing classroom processes. Greater sophistication of qualitative 

design is still needed, though, if we are to adequately understand and represent the kinds 

of teacher and pupil expertise involved in promoting and maximizing opportunities for 

high quality learning in different large and small class contexts. Here, class size research 

can learn a great deal from a growing tradition of classroom-based research that is 

making exciting progress in gaining access to pupils’ perspectives and experiences of 

classroom learning as a means to improving what we know about effective classroom 

processes (e.g. Cooper & McIntyre, 1996; Pollard, 1996; Rudduck et al., 1996; Pollard & 

Triggs, 2000; Rudduck & Flutter, 2000, 2004). By contrast, class size research has 

neglected pupils’ voices as key sources of insight.

Final take-away 

message

Embracing their perspectives, as well as their teachers’, provides the best opportunity for 

improving our theoretical and practical understandings of class size effects on classroom 

teaching and learning processes and outcomes.

Source: Pedder (2006).

Now that you have got all your ideas down on paper, it is a good idea to leave the draft 

for a few days before you come back to revise it. Writing is a process of progressive refin-

ing so don’t underestimate the time it takes. Visit the library and look at examples of 

previous students’ work in readiness for the next reviewing stage.

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Now that you have got all your ideas down on paper, it is a good idea to leave the draft for 

a few days before you come back to revise it. Writing is a process of progressive refining 

so don’t underestimate the time it takes. Visit the library and look at examples of previous 

students’ work in readiness for the next reviewing stage.

Writing About Your  Research

567

Table 11.7

 Recommended lengths for different sections of a 6000-word research report 

and a 20,000 - word thesis

REVIEWING WHAT YOU HAVE DONE

Reviewing your work involves revising the essay at the ideas level. It is literally seeing the

argument of the paper through revising the organization to make the essay coherent

and clear.

Peter Lipton explained this reviewing stage very eloquently as:

Think[ing] of your essay as composed of a series of descriptive and argumentative moves.

Each major move deserves a paragraph. Generally speaking, a paragraph should start with 

a transition sentence or a topic sentence. A transition sentence indicates how the para-

graph follows from the previous one; a topic sentence says what the paragraph is about. 

Both types of sentences are really miniature maps. In the middle of a paragraph you may 

want to give another map, explaining how the move you are making here is connected to 

others you have made or will make. The order of your paragraphs is crucial. The reader 

should have a clear sense of development and progress as she reads. Later paragraphs 

should build on what has come before, and the readers should have a feeling of steady 

forward motion. To achieve this effect you must make sure your sentences hang together. 

Think about glue. You can get glue from maps, from transition sentences and words, and 

especially from the logic of your argument. (Lipton, 2007)

The structure of an argument

An academic essay is about persuasion, and the structure of your argument plays a vital

role in this. To persuade a reader, you must explain why you are undertaking your

research, provide a context, and then explain your evidence, so don’t just list findings

without a discernible logic.

Constructing an argument

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222

Reviewing what you have done

Reviewing your work involves revising the essay at the ideas level. It is literally seeing the 

argument of the paper through revising the organization to make the essay coherent 

and clear.

Peter Lipton explained this reviewing stage very eloquently as:

Think[ing] of your essay as composed of a series of descriptive and argumentative moves. 

Each major move deserves a paragraph. Generally speaking, a paragraph should start with a 

transition sentence or a topic sentence. A transition sentence indicates how the paragraph fol-

lows from the previous one; a topic sentence says what the paragraph is about. Both types of 

sentences are really miniature maps. In the middle of a paragraph you may want to give another 

map, explaining how the move you are making here is connected to others you have made or 

will make. The order of your paragraphs is crucial. The reader should have a clear sense of de-

velopment and progress as she reads. Later paragraphs should build on what has come before, 

and the readers should have a feeling of steady forward motion. To achieve this effect you must 

make sure your sentences hang together. Think about glue. You can get glue from maps, from 

transition sentences and words, and especially from the logic of your argument. (Lipton, 2007)

the structure of an argument

An academic essay is about persuasion, and the structure of your argument plays a vital 

role in this. To persuade a reader, you must explain why you are undertaking your 

research, provide a context, and then explain your evidence, so don’t just list findings 

without a discernible logic.

Constructing an argument

Don’t assume that the reader is as familiar as you are with the subject. Are your points 

really clear? Try them out on a non-expert – in other words, you need to make the familiar 

Table 13.7   Recommended lengths for different sections of a 6000-word research report and a 20,000-

word thesis

Number of words

Percentage of the overall report

6000-word essay

20,000-word thesis

Abstract 

  2.5

  150

   500

Literature review

30

1800

6,000

Methodology

17.5

1050

3,500

Results 

30

1800

6,000

Discussion/Conclusion 

20

1200

4,000

Source: Adapted from wyse (2006).

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568

Don’t assume that the reader is as familiar as you are with the subject. Are your points

really clear? Try them out on a non-expert – in other words, you need to make the familiar 

unfamiliar. Put yourself in the reader’s position so that you can convince them that your 

argument is sound.

Have a clear point to argue

Start by making some sort of claim. By that I mean you will need to agree or disagree with 

the statement in the title you have chosen, then use evidence to support your argument. In 

other words, you need to stake out a position and use evidence to argue your case.

Begin by asking yourself, ‘What is my point?’ If your essay does not have a main point, then 

you cannot argue for anything. Having a point will help you to avoid your essay being sim-

ply a list of findings.

It is likely that the person who is assessing your essay knows a lot more than you do about 

the subject matter. So don’t simply provide them with material they already know; instead 

demonstrate to them that you understand the issues fully. In your essay, you can do this 

by engaging critically with the material you have read and applying it to your own school 

situation.

Back up your point with evidence

You must back up your point with evidence by demonstrating that you can collect reliable 

and valid data to test out your ideas, and that your claims are warranted by the evidence 

you are presenting. The strength of your evidence, and how you use it, can make or break 

your argument. Be consistent with your evidence but make sure that within each section 

you are providing the reader with evidence appropriate to each claim. Getting the struc-

ture of your essay tidy and ordered will be important because you can’t convince a con-

fused reader.

Include a counter argument

Be up front about the limitations of your research design and the possible threats to the 

validity of your claims, and point out what you have done to minimize these threats. You 

can test out counter arguments by asking your tutor or peers to challenge your claims.

Revising your work

Revising the organization

Start by revising the organization and check for clarity and coherence. If your writing is 

ungrammatical or difficult to follow, it will be awkward to read. This may be because you 

are not using your own words and are relying on too many phrases and quotations. Even if 

you are using somebody else’s ideas, try to use your own words to paraphrase them. And 

acknowledge this by adding a reference. Try reading your work aloud to see if it flows.

Writing About Your  Research

569

Proofreading your work

Leave enough time to sort out the mechanics of writing, that is, checking spelling, punctua-

tion, sentence structure and referencing. You have spent a long time on the organization, so 

don’t skimp on the time spent on this stage, as a poorly presented study will detract from 

the overall work. Finally, use the checklist in Activity 13.3 before you submit your work.

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