How to Write the Results Section of Research Paper

Posted on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022. Last updated on Thursday, June 27th, 2024

Introduction

Writing a high-quality research paper involves more than just collecting data. It requires a clear presentation of findings to demonstrate the study’s significance. The results section is a critical component of any academic article, as it links the hypothesis, methodology, and data to address research questions effectively. This section provides a concise summary of the research outcomes, which ensures the findings are presented in an unbiased and coherent manner. In this article, we will explore the best practices for writing the results section, common mistakes to avoid, and the importance of seeking professional assistance to ensure your research paper meets academic standards.

Professional Assistance for Writing the Results Section

With the criticality of the results section of a research paper, you may need to hire a statistician with the best data analysis skills. This way, you will not fall into the trap of failure or multiple revisions from your supervisor. If you’re in need of dissertation data analysis services, our professional data analysis experts will help you analyze and write the results section of your research paper.

Best Practices for Writing the Results Section

Thus, when writing the results section, you should be clear, impartial, and objective. This will help you present your results and findings in an unbiased manner to increase the credibility of your research. In summary, the results section will allow you to:

• Summarize the collected data using suitable statistical techniques
• Apply appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics to address the research questions
• Demonstrate your research significance and identify the gaps

It is also worth noting that the results section of a research paper should be presented using subsections. These subsections could be the research questions and/or statistical tests used.

Tips for Writing the Results Section of Research Papers

When writing the results section of a research paper, you should start by restating the proposed research questions of your research paper. This allows the reader to refocus on the main aim of the article and understand how each statistical test responds to the research objectives.

Recall, that the results section comes after the introduction, literature review, and research methodology section. With this in mind, it is necessary to bring the reader’s attention back to the aim of the study. Therefore, always restate the research questions and hypotheses in a paragraph when writing the results section of your research paper.

Importance of Proficiency in Statistical Data Analysis

In the main section of the dissertation results section, you will need to be proficient in statistical data analysis. Otherwise, your results section will be confusing and might not meet the purpose of the study. This way, you can receive multiple revisions from the supervisor or even fail the entire thesis paper.

Therefore, the results section of a research paper is very critical as it shows the reader your ability to apply the proposed methodology to answer the research questions.

What to Include in the Results Section of a Research Paper

The results section of a research paper should include only the findings of the study. Specifically, it should ONLY include:

• A contextual analysis of the data, explaining the meaning of the results obtained in a sentence form.
• A summary of the results and findings.
• Correct analysis of the data to respond to all the proposed research questions.
• Summarized data using tables, graphs, charts, and other data analysis figures.

Quick Tips for Writing the Results Section of Research Papers

The following are the main and quick tips you should focus on when writing the results section of a research paper:

• Direct the reader to the research data and explain the meaning of the data.
• Avoid using a repetitive sentence structure to explain a new set of data.
• Write and outline your important findings in your results.
• Use research questions to organize the chapter with sub-sections.
• Match the results with the research questions from the introduction. Your results should accurately address your proposed research questions.
• Structure your tables and figures according to the chosen referencing style and number them appropriately.
• Make sure there is no mismatch of the table number or the figure number in the text and in the figure/tables.
• Only present data that supports the significance of your study. You can provide additional data in tables and figures as supplementary material.

Common Errors to Avoid

When writing the results section of a research paper, you’re prone to making various common mistakes. Below are some of the common mistakes you should avoid when writing the results section:

• Including raw results and/or repetitive data. The results section is only a summary of the data. Thus, it should not present every single number and calculation. If you strongly feel that some of the raw data are relevant, you should include them as supplementary materials.
• Including redundant information. If data are summarized using tables or figures, you need not repeat each and every detail in the tables or figures. Instead, you should just present the main ideas and reference the others using the appropriate table or figure number.
• Repeating some background information and research methods. You should always avoid introducing several sentences of introduction or any other information contained in the methods section. However, you can restate the research questions/hypotheses in the results section.
• The results Section and Methods do not match. Your results section should demonstrate your ability to link the research methodology section with the results section. In particular, you should apply all the proposed statistical tests and procedures as highlighted in the methodology section of your research paper.
• Ignoring negative results. You should not be biased when writing the results section. Thus, you need to present all the findings regardless of whether or not they support your proposed research questions. This implies you should always mention all relevant findings, even if they fail to support your predictions or hypotheses. Some negative findings are potential gaps for further studies.
• Discussing or interpreting the results. You should differentiate the results section from the discussion section. You should NOT discuss the results in the results section unless your publisher advises you to do so.
• Errors in figures/tables are varied and common. Avoid using too many figures and tables. If possible, you can combine several tables, especially if they use the same statistics for different variables. For instance, you can combine several frequency tables measuring the demographic characteristics of the sample. In addition, you should not include tables and figures that are not mentioned in the body text of your results section.

Conclusion

In summary, the results section is a core part of a research paper that justifies your proposed hypotheses. As such, you need to take time to adequately organize it and prepare understandable figures and tables to convey your message to the reader.