CHAPTER 26 Writing About Research

Writing about research Writing about research needs to be framed by three factors: Research findings Your understanding Others understanding Research findings Others’ understanding Your understanding

Research findings: Your report should accurately reflect the investigative process and the results. Others’ understanding: Your report should communicate in a comprehensible language and style. Your understanding: Your report should genuinely distinguish between facts and your interpretation of them.

You need to manage the writing process Manage your time Manage your attention Manage your mind set -

Producing your report Producing a coherent report requires coherent thought – it needs to be planned. Map out: the structure the story you want to tell the main themes the responses you want to get. Make sure you reference properly throughout.

Writing the introduction Brief and logical, the introduction should: frame the project report inform readers of the research question explain why this is of interest outline the research context.

Writing the literature review Literature informs the research. The literature review needs to: succinctly present major theories and concepts explore current debates and discussions identify tensions and contradictions identify omissions synthesise perspectives build arguments.

Building arguments Map out your story: –Where do you start? –Where do you finish? What claims (thesis statements) do you need to make to convince your readers? What evidence must you provide in support of these claims? Balance argument with counter- argument

Research approach Which research approach will you use, and why? How does this approach inform your choice of method? The methodology Research method Which research methods will you use, and why? How will these methods be used? Epistemology What philosophical position underpins your research? How does this impact on your research approach?

Explaining your research methods Data analysis How will you analyse quantitative data? How will you analyse qualitative data? If using both, how will you synthesise the results? Sampling strategy Who will you gather data from? How many people will you gather data from? How will you access these people? Data collection How will you gather your data? How structured is the data? How are the questions informed by the literature?

Results/research findings and discussion Present results in meaningful ways Use charts and graphs to display complex numbers Present results in a logical order Either integrate the discussions alongside each unit of analysis, or batch the discussions after the results – don’t do both Use evidence from the analysis to support claims in the discussion

Conclusions The Conclusions section focuses on answering the research question is based only on the analysis that has gone before presents only the key findings has logically sequenced arguments puts forward claims supported by referring back to evidence in the report leads on to recommendations where needed. Student Activity 1