Acknowledgements

 

Acknowledgements are an optional section where researchers write a personal reflection to acknowledge and pay tribute to others who have supported them throughout their research journey.  This often includes family, friends, supervisors, mentors, and research participants.

Disclaimer:

Remember: Please note that this document is intended as a guide, not a definitive script on how your report should be presented. Each report is different and that’s how it should be. However, you do not have to reinvent the wheel. There are many people who have gone before you that have figured out what works best. Look to the guidance available to inform how you present your final report document. Discuss how to best structure and present your work with your supervisor. Check out these references on doing a report:

Writing tip: This Template Document uses 1.5-line spacing and Calibri: 12pt for text, 16pt for headings. Good presentation is very important. Theses take a long time to read and assess. A well-presented document that is easy to read and easy to navigate is much appreciated by readers. You can use this document template for your report by adjusting the headings and replacing the current instructions and guidelines content with your report content in the relevant chapters/sections.

Abstract

 

Your report must contain an abstract to give the examiner, or reader, a summary of the research presented. Abstracts are usually short (recommended 250-500 words). The abstract provides a summary of the principal elements of your research and will commonly follow the structure of the overall report itself (Hart, 2005). Hart (2005) recommends the following:

• State the purpose of the research (i.e. aims, purpose, research questions)
• Outline the methodology used (e.g. the research approach/tradition)
• State the methods (i.e. data collection and analysis)
• Summarise the important findings (avoid evaluating the findings here)

Alternatively, others recommend you clearly

• outline your ‘report’ or the central argument pursued; and depending on the kind of study,
• indicate your theoretical framework.

The guidance differs on when you should write your abstract. Some writers recommend writing the abstract last, when you have written your report and you then summarise its contents. Others recommend writing the abstract first so that you can use it to structure your main report document. Every writer is different, do what works best for you. It is a bit like the proposal in that once you have completed the research what you have done may look a bit different to what you stated in your proposal so it would need to be amended.

 

Insert a contents pagethat links to the different subsections of your report (there is a word program for managing documents). It should also include the page numbers for each new section/subsection. This is an example that is synced for this document. You can use this template and change headings as appropriate, just remember to update the contents page when you finish so the page numbers correspond to your chapters and sections.

1.0 Introduction and Literature Review

1.1 Introduction

 

First impressions count. The introduction is the first thing your examiner will read. It sets up the report, introducing the report topic, provides the background, context and motivation for your work. The purpose of the introduction is to make clear what the research is about and to motivate and engage the reader.

 

Outline the research topic and the research context and why this is an important topic to research.  Include details about the place/context of your research. Clearly state your research question of research statement and why it is important.

 

In summary, your introduction should do three things:

• Establish your research topic
• Establish a “niche”, that is, explain why your research is important and how it adds to the existing research in the field
• Introduce your specific research focus/question.

 

Remember generally you would write in past tense as your research is now complete even though you write all through the report project as you are doing the research.

 

Writing tip:You have written an introduction to your research before. Take a look back at the introduction section of your research proposal. How has your research changed from what you initially proposed to do? What new literature have you discovered and how has it shaped the research you present now? what has changed in how you have gone about the research from the initial proposal. Use the material you wrote earlier but make sure you update it to reflect your research now at the end of the project.

1.2 Literature Review

As part of your research, you have done a comprehensive literature review. Amend/update your original review to incorporate additional reading and to take into account the feedback you received. Keep your literature review concise and relevant, you will not necessarily include everything you wrote for the Literature review assignment and you may add to what you wrote but at the same time make it pertinent and specific to your research.It needs to present a critical argument that provides the evidential basis for, and the justification for, your research aims and/or objectives.  A literature review is an evidence-based critical argument for your research. It must demonstrate that you have a firm grasp on the research topic and the relevant literature. A strong literature review integrates relevant theoretical and methodological issues.

Remember: In this context, it is acceptable to include written work that you have previously submitted for assessment within this unit. However, in your final report your work must show progression and demonstrate that you have responded to and incorporated relevant changes and additions based on feedback.

1.3Research Aims and/or Objectives [amend as appropriate]

Outline the main aim and objectives of your work.  Make it clear why this work is important. You may prefer to call this section ‘Research Question’ or ‘Statement of research’.

2.0 Theoretical Framework

Not all theses have a chapter dedicated to the theoretical framework. For example, theory may have been sufficiently addressed and interwoven through the literature review section. Alternatively, you could discuss it in the methodology chapter, as a Theory and Methodology chapter (see next section). Discuss with your supervisor as to whether you need a dedicated chapter for theory.

Either way, youmust theorise your research topic and research approach and wherever it goes, your theoretical framework must be incorporated into your report document. You may also want to include your epistemological and ontological positions here to give more substance to your theoretical position. Your theoretical framework is established by identifying your assumptions and the key theoretical concepts that are in play within your work.

3.0 Research Methodology

Methodology chapters vary greater depending on the type of research carried out and the issues and processes involvedin the research project.

3.1 Design/Methodology

Here you can state your research design (see Crotty (1998) as well as Bryman and relevant texts specific to your research design). Explain and outline the design of your research in terms such as: qualitative, quantitative, case study research, evaluation research; secondary research, etc.Justify the research decisions made. That is, do not just say “I am doing quantitative research”; or” I am doing case study research”. You need to explain the design and why you are doing it this way. Why does your research design suit your research question? Remember there are different ways to approach a research question so you need to explain and justify how you are designing your research in the way you are. This would include a discussion of the data you expect to use and the format for your findings.

3.2 Ethical considerations

In this section, you outline the ethical concerns associated with your research. (As student researchers you are not expected to apply for ethics clearance but you do need to be aware of any ethical issues and how you are addressing these issues. If you are doing any field research involving participants you will need to explain what steps you have taken in relation to information about the research; informed consent; anonymity and confidentiality, data protection; and so on. If you are doing secondary research only, using existing data, you need to demonstrate that the data you have used is fit for purpose, while this is not an ethical issue in terms of participants it is a general ethical consideration in relation to the integrity of your research. When your secondary research involves data gathered from previous field research with research participants can you demonstrate it is it appropriate/ethical to use for your research.

Writing tip: all research has ethical implications for someone, somewhere. Whilst you may not have engaged with research participants directly, think about how you have conducted this research and generated new knowledge in an ethical manner.

3.3Methods of research

Here you go into more detail about the research design and in particular the data. This would include a discussion of the relevance of collecting data for your research; the format for the data; and so on. You would also explain how the data collection method(s) and the data analysis method(s) have been chosen and why they work together. That is, in identifying the form of the data that has been collected it makes sense to use the methods of analysis you have chosen. In the following two sub-sections you explain in detail your methods for collecting the research data; and your methods for analysing the research data.

3.3.1 Methods for collecting research data

Here you set out clearly the methods you are using to collect the data. This applies regardless of whether you are doing primary (field) research or secondary research. You have explained your research design and now you explain the methods for collecting data. For field research this could have included interviews, surveys, observations, focus groups, and so on. For secondary research what are the criteria you have used to determine the documents/material that is your data. This could be by type of document, for example state and/or federal and/or local government documents relating to a particular decision or policy; date restriction on documents used;only existing research articles for a certain period of time; data only from certain countries or locations; or policy documents;and so on. There needs to be a clear explanation of how/why you used the documents you have used as your research data.

3.3.2 Methods for analysing the research data

In this sub-section you describe and justify your approach to data analysis. How do your methods for analysing the research data link with the research methods for collecting the data? That is, the data you have collected is in a particular form or different forms from different methods and your data analysis method(s) need to make sense for the forms of data. How does your analytical approach enable you to answer your research question? How does the analytical approach relate to your theoretical and methodological frameworks?

Writing tip: draw from methodological literature to support your discussion in these sections.

3.4Research procedure

A key function of this chapter is to explain what you have done in a step by step way so that as appropriate other researchers would be able to replicate what you did. Therefore, you should outline exactly what you did in your research here, step by step.

Being able to explain step by step also underlines the importance of research being planned and thought through and not just what you did by chance. In a research project it is important to be aware of and explain your assumptions. This does not mean that things do not change along the way but the more you are aware of your assumptions and predispositions the better able you are to be careful and thoughtful in your research rather than just acting without our reflection and things are more likely to turn out well than if you just jump in and start doing something without reflection.So you need to be able to answer questions throughout the report as to why have you done it like this what does it mean to do it like this, and so on. This means that throughout the report report you are explaining how each step is connected and works together in a coherent logical fashion.

 

Writing tip: You may want to refer readers to relevant documents in the appendices e.g. survey instruments, coding schemes.

3.5Reflexivity

Reflexivity is a key tool within research to acknowledge the role of the researcher in the collection and analysis of the research data. As you will understand this is particularly important when it is qualitative data being interpreted by the researcher. Researchers often struggle to find a suitable place to critically reflect upon their role in the research. Towards the end of the methods section seems to work well to set researchers up for the presentation of their data analysis. You could alternatively include discussion of reflexivity in the earlier part of the Methodology/design chapter when you discuss your research approach. It would fit there equally as well as at the end of this chapter.

4.0 Results or Analysis

Generally speaking, the findings of your research are reported in a ‘Results’ chapter if it is a quantitative piece of research and an ‘Analysis’ chapter if it is a qualitative piece of research.If you are undertaking a qualitative piece of research, it often makes more sense to integrate your discussion within your analysis section. In this case, you wouldnot have a separate discussion section and would move from a chapter on Analysis and Discussion to the Conclusion chapter.

Writing Tip:Take a look at research articles published in relevant academic journals and research theses and reports in the library to get an idea about the differences in presentation of different types of research and results.

The Results or Analysis comprises the presentation of your research data that forms the basis of your investigation, shaped by the way you have thought about it. In other words, you tell your reader the story of your data – what does it tell us about your research topic? How does it answer your research question and address your research aims? While you do not have to include every single piece of data you should not pick and choose your data to support a particular outcome or result – THAT WOULD BE UNETHICAL.

Diagrams, tables and charts can add to your presentation.  If used, they should be clearly labelled and should be discussed in the text. That is, the tables do not explain themselves, you need to explain what a table or chart demonstrates. In quantitative work, statistical analyses should be presented using tables you have compiled yourself that reflect your interpretation of the data (that is, outputs should not be cut and pasted directly from software programs). In qualitative work, you would also include quotes from your data to support the interpretations you make. That is, the needs to be sufficient data made available to support your arguments and analysis of the findings.

In these last sections on results/analysis/discussion it is critically important to ensure that the all the parts of your report connect to one another. Find the threads from the earlier chapters setting up the research and weave them through to tie your work together into one coherent piece. Take note of what you said you would do in your methodology chapter. Is it clear that you have done that here? Take note of the issues and arguments and threads you identified in your literature review and bring into your discussion. How has this research added to our knowledge based on your literature review and understanding of the topic and available research? Can you speculate on where to from here? What is still unknown?

Writing tip:In selecting and prioritizing what to include in the discussion revisit your research question and your aims and objectives. Can they offer a logical structure for the presentation of your findings?

5.0 Discussion

It is likely you will only have a separate Discussion chapter if your research is quantitative and you have a preceding Results chapter. If that is the case, you follow the Results chapter with a Discussion chapter thatdiscusses the results from the previous chapter. Begin the chapter with a brief overview/summary of what you have presented in the Results chapter. This is followed by a discussion of these results that clearly relates the results to your research question and the aims and objectives/purpose of your research. This would include a discussion of your results in relation to the literature presented earlier in your report. Discuss and demonstrate how your research contributes to the existing research literature.

 

You might also want to identify where further research is needed and make suggestions as to how that further research should be carried out.  What else do your findings tell you, over and above what you initially set out to investigate? That is, do your results speak to matters beyond your initial research question or point to other issues to be investigated.

 

 

Writing tip:You want to give the reader/examiner a clear picture of how your results directly address your research question and purpose and the literature and existing research. Include anything you think is relevant. At the same time this is not the place to add results you have not already presented in the Results chapter or change your research question/purpose. It is important that this Discussion chapter demonstrates the coherence of your research throughout the report process and the report report.

 

6.0Conclusion

 

Final impressions count. Here you should provide a summary of your research and your findings.You can include implications (e.g. how and why your research matters) and recommendations(e.g. suggestions for further research).  Researchers often include study limitations here (i.e. study evaluation) but take care in critiquing your work – you don’t want to undermine or devalue the work that you have done.  Summarise how your work makes a worthwhile and valuable contribution to knowledge and the wider research field.

 

Where appropriate, link the implications of your work to policy and practice issues. Think about who might be interested in your work and how they might make use of it.

Writing Tip:DO NOT INCLUDE NEW RESULTS NOT DISCUSSED in earlier chapter. There is some overlap from the Results /Discussion Chapters or the Analysis Chapter but this chapter is a pithy and easily understood overview/summary of your research that can be used by others to explain your research. Your reader/examiner will want to know that you have brought it all together in a way that makes sense; is clear and honestly reflects what you have done and the results you have found.

 

 

 

7.0 References

Include a full accurate reference list of all sources used. Use Harvard as recommended by the University: https://library.westernsydney.edu.au/main/guides/referencing-citation

8.0 Appendices

You might include examples of research tools (e.g. survey/questionnaire, interview schedule), templates of ethics documents (e.g. information sheet), statistical analysis (e.g. outputs), and examples of coding schemes developed (e.g. for content analysis).

 

 

Writing tip:Evans and Gruba (2002) offer some good advice about how much to put in an appendix: ‘Include enough data in an appendix to show how you collected it, what form it took, and how you treated it in the process of condensing it for presentation in the results chapter.’ (p. 105)