Elements of Chapter 4

Topic 1: Chapter 4

What needs to be included in the chapter?

The topics below are typically included in this chapter, and often in this order (check with your Chair):

Introduction

Remind the reader what your research questions were

In a qualitative study you will restate the research questions

In a quantitative study you will present the hypotheses

Findings (qualitative), Results (quantitative, and Discussion (quantitative)

In a qualitative study the information to be reported is called findings. Findings are those themes that
have emerged from or have been found in the data you collected. They are the product of your analysis.

In a quantitative study the results of the quantitative analyses conducted may be presented on their
own, without any accompanying connections to the larger literature.

When quantitative data are presented without any accompanying explanation a discussion section is
presented separately in order to explain the meaning of the results.

How do you organize your chapter?

Your chapter needs to be organized in a way that answers your research questions. The information
must be organized in a way that is logical and easy to follow for your reader.

You may describe your sample here if this is something that emerged from your data collection and
analysis or if you believe it helps provide context for your findings. You may also describe your sample in
chapter 3 if it is not a part of your findings and it becomes a distraction from your actual findings.

You may organize your chapter in terms of themes or categories or cases or research questions.

Use of pseudonyms

When presenting qualitative data, all names are masked to provide confidentiality. You made this
commitment to your participants during the consent process and in your IRB application.

Use of tables, charts, figures

You may use tables, charts, or figures in both qualitative and quantitative capstones.
Never present a table, chart, or figure that you are not planning on explaining.

Tables, charts, and figures should be able to be interpreted without supporting text BUT

It is your responsibility to tell your reader what you think is the most important information in the table,
chart, or figure.

When do you use a table, chart, or figure?

In qualitative research, when providing quantitative data that compares different cases or different
populations, or different members of a given population. When you have information that is hard to
grasp only in text and the reader will have greater insight by seeing it displayed in more than one format.

Descriptive statistics

In quantitative research, when presenting important results.

Consult APA to ensure that you use the appropriate format for tables, charts, and figures.

You will want to consider what information goes in an appendix as opposed to in the body of the
chapter. For example, if you have extra tables representing results that you think are worth sharing with
your reader but are not the main substance of your dissertation, you should consider creating an
appendix. Similarly, if you have other relevant but not essential information, you should consider adding
an appendix. And finally, you may decide to locate the instruments you used for data collection in an
appendix.

You may be wondering about any of the following things as you are writing your Chapter 4. Some
students worry about the following things:

What if I don’t have any significant findings?

In qualitative research there is never a risk of finishing without something worth reporting. Qualitative
research is about understanding an experience and gaining insight. It is always the case that the data will
provide insight into an experience.

What if I find something for which I do not have a research question?

If the finding is substantial enough to warrant reporting, you develop a research question that aligns to
the finding.

Under what circumstances do I revise my research questions?

Qualitative research questions can and often should be revised up until the dissertation is completed.
The research questions match the findings, not the other way around.
How do you present your findings (qualitative)?

When crafting your findings, the first thing you want to think about is how you will organize your
findings. Your findings represent the story you are going to tell in response to the research questions
you have answered. Thus, you will want to organize that story in a way that makes sense to you and will
make sense to your reader. You want to think about how you will present the findings so that they are
compelling and responsive to the research question(s) you answered. These questions may not be the
questions you set out to answer but they will definitely be the questions you answered. You may
discover that the best way to organize the findings is first by research question and second by theme.
There may be other formats that are better for telling your story. Once you have decided how you want
to organize the findings, you will start the chapter by reminding your reader of the research questions.
You will need to differentiate between is presenting raw data and using data as evidence or examples to
support the findings you have identified. Here are some points to consider:

Your findings should provide sufficient evidence from your data to support the conclusions you have
made. Evidence takes the form of quotations from interviews and excerpts from observations and
documents.

Ethically you have to make sure you have confidence in your findings and account for counter-evidence
(evidence that contradicts your primary finding) and not report something that does not have sufficient
evidence to back it up.

Your findings should be related back to your conceptual framework.

Your findings should be in response to the problem presented (as defined by the research questions)
and should be the “solution” or “answer” to those questions.

You should focus on data that enables you to answer your research questions, not simply on offering
raw data.

Qualitative research presents “best examples” of raw data to demonstrate an analytic point, not simply
to display data.

Numbers (descriptive statistics) help your reader understand how prevalent or typical a finding is.
Numbers are helpful and should not be avoided simply because this is a qualitative dissertation.