1. Writing An Effective DiscussionBY
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DR. FAIZUNIAH PANGIL
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA

2. Recap Your Research Process
Reading the Literature
Prepare the Proposal
Conduct the Research
Analyze the Data
Write the Report/ Thesis

3. Recap: your research process
Reading the Literature
Prepare the Proposal
Conduct the Research
Analyze the Data
Write the Report
Your area of research
Issue/problem that needs to be solved
Gaps/weakness in the currently available literature in the area of research
Research questions that is to be address
Research objective

4. Recap your research process
Reading the Literature
Prepare the Proposal
Conduct the Research
Analyze the Data
Write the Report
Research design
Scope of your study
Respondents
Research instruments
Data collection method
Data analysis procedure
Write & defend the proposal

5. Recap your research process
Reading the Literature
Prepare the Proposal
Conduct the Research
Analyze the Data
Write the Report/ Thesis
Prepare your questionnaire
Distribute your questionnaire
Collect your questionnaire

6. Recap your research process
Reading the Literature
Prepare the Proposal
Conduct the Research
Analyze the Data
Write the Report/ Thesis
Acquire the necessary software
Conduct the pre-analysis procedures
Conduct the analysis

7. Recap your research process
Reading the Literature
Prepare the Proposal
Conduct the Research
Analyze the Data
Write the Report/ Thesis

8. Your Report/Thesis General Structure
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Literature Review
Chapter 3 Methodology
Chapter 4 Research Findings
Chapter 5 Discussion
THESIS

9. Level of Discussion Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Wisdom Understanding Knowledge
Information
Data
Chapter 5
Chapter 4

10. Level of Discussion = Knowledge + experience + good judgement
Wisdom
Understanding
Knowledge
Information
Data
= Knowledge + experience + good judgement
Linking the new knowledge to existing knowledge
Interpretation of the statistical values
R-square, β, and other statistical values
Ratings given by the respondents
Numbers 1-5 or 1-7

11. WRITING the DISCUSSION CHAPTER

12. Discussion chapter So what? Discussion Research objectives Literature
Research method
Findings
Discussion chapter
So what?

13. Discuss everything, but be concise brief and specific
Discussion Chapter
Discuss everything, but be concise brief and specific
This is the chapter where you state your interpretations and opinions, explain the implication of your findings and make suggestions for future research.
The main function is to answer the question posed in the introduction chapter, explain how the results that were discussed in the findings chapter support the answers and how the answers fit in with existing knowledge on the topic.

14. Discussion Chapter General Structure
Introduction
Recapitulation of the Study
Discussion of Findings
Implications: Theoretical & Practical
Limitations and Recommendations
Conclusion
Chapter 5

15. Recapitulation of the Study
Introduction
The purpose of the chapter
The organization of the chapter
Recapitulation of the Study
The summary of the overall research
The research objectives, the method and the overall findings

16. Discussion of the Findings The Do’s and the Don’ts
Discussion need NOT be lengthy, but …
Should clearly and fully stating, supporting, explaining and defending your findings
Provide a commentary, but NOT reiteration of the results
DO NOT REPEAT YOUR RESULTS

17. Discussion of the Findings The Do’s and the Don’ts
Organize your discussion
Organize your thoughts in a logical form
According to your research objectives/ hypothesis, or any other logical structure
Discuss from the specific to the general
Your findings to the literature, to theory, to practice
Use the same key terms, the same verb tense (present tense), and the same point of view that you use in the research objectives

18. Discussion of the Findings The Do’s and the Don’ts
For each research question, discuss each hypothesis separately
Explain your findings and explain how your results relate to expectations (hypothesis) and to the literature.
What is your finding?
Does it support your expectations (hypothesis)?
How they are consistent or fit in with previously published knowledge on the topic?
Findings should be critically appraised in regard to other’s findings. Why your findings is as it is?
Defend your answers. If possible, explain why your answer is satisfactory and why others are not.

19. Discussion of the Findings The Do’s and the Don’ts
If your results supports your hypothesis, your explanation should be easy because you have thoroughly argued your hypothesis in your Literature Review Chapter.
If your results DOES NOT support you hypothesis, you have a lot of explaining to do.

20. Discussion of the Findings The Do’s and the Don’ts
When discussing unexpected finding,
begin the paragraph with the finding and then describe it.
Identify potential limitations and weakness and comment on the relative importance of these to your interpretation of the results.
How they may affect the validity of the findings?
AVOID using apologetic tone

21. Discussion of the Findings The Do’s and the Don’ts
How to identify potential limitations and weakness to explain unexpected findings?
The respondents
The context of the study
The sampling method
The demography
The data collection procedure/process
The analysis

22. Implications
implications
Theoretical
Practical
Future research
Summarize concisely the principal implications of the findings, regardless of statistical significance

23. Theoretical Implications
Advanced a new theory
Support a theory
Improve a theory
Provide new insights

24. Practical Implications
applications of new insights derived from the thesis

25. Implications for future-research (Recommendations )
Provide recommendations (no more than two) for further research
Types of recommendations
Based on study’s actual findings
Based on its limitations
DO NOT offer suggestions which could have been easily addressed within the study, as this shows there has been inadequate examination and interpretation of the data

26. Conclusions
Explain how the results and conclusion of this study are important.
How they influence our knowledge or understanding of the problem being examined (chapter 1)