Discussion Section
• Start off this section in general terms, stating the major premise of your study and whether or not something turned out the way you expected it
• Then be more specific by briefly restating all hypotheses from the end of your Introduction section, and then discuss whether they were supported with your results
o Remember, be specific
• Report the most important finding first and introduce subsequent findings thereafter
• Describe what happened for each outcome
• Mention if you found anything unexpected, unusual, fascinating, interesting, unique or counterintuitive
• Revisit/re-cite some of the literature that you cited in your Introduction section by placing your study in the context of those previous studies
• Did your work fill any gaps that you identified in previous studies? If so, discuss how
• Did you answer one question, but raise other new questions? If so, mention these new questions
o Good papers often report new questions that should be examined by future research
• If your study contradicts previous reports, you need to speculate in your Discussion section about why there is a discrepancy
o Different subject population, different methodologies, etc.
• Follow up the information on the previous slides with generalizing about the results of your study (what are the "big picture" implications)
Look beyond to broader context than solely what you tested
• Speculate about the greater impact of your research (but be sure to indicate that you are speculating, however)
• Describe what the results of your study entail and how they are useful/influential
o How might the results be interpreted in a broader context beyond the sample that you studied?
• Present the limitations of your study o No study is perfect, so do not feel embarrassed to express your limitations
• Mention what went wrong
• Discuss what you wish you could have done differently
• State if you needed more participants to adequately test your hypotheses
°Explain why you speculate this a Use your statistics to help inform your rationale for your speculation, e.g., if you had low variability (as indicated by your SDs) but only a trending toward a significant difference, then it is likely due to a small sample size; if your variability was large, then this was likely not due to the small sample size but could be due to the limitations of the roorn...or perhaps your prediction was simply not likely afterell(which is okay)
Do not report statistics here; simply refer to the statistical findings in your Results section
Include suggestions for future research/follow-up studies
° What's next?
• Conclude your Discussion section with a brief paragraph that:
o Resnites your overall, take-home message
° Reiterates the importance of your study regarding filling in a previous gap in the pre-existing literature
° Emphasizes the general importance of your topic
• End with reasoned and justifiable commentary on the importance of your findings
• Briefly mention again why the problem is important (as stated in the Introduction section)
o What larger issues might hinge on your findings?
o What propositions are confirmed or disconfirmed by extrapolation of your findings to such overarching issues?
o What are theoretical, clinical or practical significances of your outcomes and what is the basis for these interpretations?
o What problems remain unresolved or arise due to your findings?
• Responses to these questions are the core of the contribution of your study and justify why readers should care
o Readers should receive clear, unambiguous and direct answers to these questions
Attachment:- Instructions Discussion.rar