Chapter 5

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

Nature of the Chapter

This chapter is considered as the most

interesting and also important part of the
action research paper.

It is where the whole research study is

summarized, and appropriate generalizations
in the form of conclusions are presented and
the solutions to the problem are offered in
the form of recommendations addressed to
those concerned.

Nature of the Chapter

It

is where the researcher tells the

reader what the result mean and
what actions should be taken in the
result of the findings.

SUMMARY
The

Summary is an overview of
the study. It is sometimes
referred to as Summary of
Findings.

GUIDELINES IN WRITING
THE SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
1.

There should be a brief statement

about the:
main purpose of the study
population or respondents
period of the study

GUIDELINES IN WRITING
THE SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
method of research used
research instrument
sampling design

There
should
explanations made.

be

no

Example:
This study was conducted for the purpose of
determining the status of teaching English in the high
schools of the Division of Valencia City. The
descriptive method of research was utilized and the
normative survey technique was used for gathering
data. The questionnaire served as the instrument for
collecting data. All the teachers handling English and
a 20 percent representative sample of the students
were the respondents. The inquiry was conducted
during the School Year 2014-2015.

GUIDELINES IN WRITING
THE SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
2. The findings may be lumped up all
together
but
clarity
demands
that
each specific question under the statement
of the problem must be written first to
be followed by the findings that would
answer
it.
The
specific
questions
should follow the order they are given
under the statement of the problem.

Example:
How qualified are the teachers handling
highschools of the Division of Valencia City?

English

in

the

Of the 59 teachers, 31 or 53.54 percent were BSE

graduates and three or 5.08 percent were MA degree
holders. The rest, 25 or 42.37 percent, were non-BSE
baccalaureate degree holders with at least 18 education
units. Less than half of all the teachers, only 27 or
45.76 percent, were English majors and the majority,
32 or 54.24 percent, were non-English majors.

GUIDELINES IN WRITING
THE SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
3. The findings should be textual generalizations, that is,
a summary of the important data consisting of text and
numbers.
Every statement of fact should consist of words,
numbers, or statistical measures woven into a
meaningful statement.
No deductions, nor inference, nor interpretation
should be made otherwise it will only be duplicated in the
conclusion.

GUIDELINES IN WRITING
THE SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
Only the important findings, the
highlights of the data, should be included
in the summary, especially those upon
which the conclusions should be based.

GUIDELINES IN WRITING
THE SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
Findings are not explained nor
elaborated upon anymore. They should
be stated as concisely as possible.
No new data should be introduced in
the Summary of Findings for your action
research.

CONCLUSIONS
Conclusions are inferences, deductions,
abstractions, implications,
interpretations, general statements, and/or
generalizations based upon the findings.
Conclusions are the logical and valid
outgrowths upon the findings.

GUIDELINES IN WRITING THE CONCLUSIONS:

They should not contain any numeral

because numerals generally limit the forceful
effect or impact and scope of a generalization.
No conclusions should be made that are not
based upon the findings.

Example:
The conclusion that can be drawn from the findings in No. 2
under the summary of findings is this:

All the teachers were qualified to teach in

the high school but the majority of them were
not qualified to teach English.

GUIDELINES IN WRITING THE CONCLUSIONS:

2. Conclusions should appropriately answer

the
specific
questions
raised
at
the beginning of the investigation in the
order
they
are
given
under
the
statement of the problem.
The study becomes almost meaningless if
the questions raised are not properly
answered by the conclusions.

Example:
If the question raised at the beginning of the
research is: How adequate are the facilities for
the teaching of English? and the findings show
that the facilities are less than the needs of the
students, the answer and the conclusion should
be:

The facilities for the teaching

of English are inadequate.

GUIDELINES IN WRITING THE CONCLUSIONS:

3. Conclusions should point out what were

factually learned from the inquiry.
However, no conclusions should be drawn
from the implied or indirect effects of the
findings.

Example:
From the findings that the majority of
the teachers were non-English majors
and the facilities were less than the
needs of the students, what have
been factually learned are that the
majority of the teachers were not
qualified to teach English and the
English facilities were inadequate.

Example:
It cannot be concluded that English teaching in the high schools ofthe Division of
Valencia City was weak because there are no data telling that the
Englishinstruction was weak. The weakness of English teaching is an indirector
implied effect of the non-qualification of the teachers and the inadequacy of the
facilities. This is better placed under the Summary ofImplications.

GUIDELINES IN WRITING THE CONCLUSIONS:

4. Conclusions should be formulated

concisely, that is, brief and short,
yet theyconvey all the necessary
information resulting from the study
as
required
bythe
specific
questions.

GUIDELINES IN WRITING THE CONCLUSIONS:

They should be worded as if they are 100

percent true andcorrect. They should not
give any hint that the researcher has
some doubtsabout their validity and
reliability. The use of qualifiers such as
probably,perhaps, may be, and the like
should be avoided as much as possible.

GUIDELINES IN WRITING THE CONCLUSIONS:

Conclusions should refer only to the
population, area, or subject of the study.Take
for instance, the hypothetical teaching of
English in the high schools ofthe Division of
Valencia City, all conclusions about the
faculty, facilities, methods, problems,etc.
refer only to the teaching of English in the
high schools of the Division.

GUIDELINES IN WRITING THE CONCLUSIONS:

Conclusions should not be repetitions of

any
statements
anywhere
in
theresearch.
They
may
be
recapitulations if necessary but they
should be wordeddifferently and they
should convey the same information as
the statementsrecapitulated.

Criteria in Judging
the Worthiness of the Conclusions:
1.Are the conclusions based upon the
findings?
2.Do they answer the specific questions
raised at the beginning of the
investigation?
3.Are they logical and valid outcomes of the
study?
4.Are they stated concisely and clearly and
limited only to the subject of the study?

RECOMMENDATIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations must be stated
explicitly. They should stem from the
findings. They should be addressed to
the persons, offices, agencies, or
authorities in the position to implement
such recommendations.
Avenues for further research should be
suggested.

RECOMMENDATIONS
For recommending similar researches to be conducted, the
recommendation should be:

It is recommended that similar researches

should be conducted in other divisions. Other
divisions should also make inquiries into the
status of the teaching of English in their own
high schools so that if similar problems and
deficiencies are found, concerted efforts may
be exerted to improve English teaching in all
high schools in the country.

Criteria in Judging the Worthiness of

the Recommendations :
1. Are the recommendations based upon the
findings and conclusions?
2. Are they feasible, practical, and attainable?
3. Are they action-oriented? (They recommend
action to remedy unfavorable condition discovered)

4. Are they limited only to the subject of the

study but recommend further research on
the same subject?

Congruency among
SQUARE PEGS IN A ROUND HOLE: LIVED
PEDAGOGICAL
EXPERIENCES OF TEACHERS IN
OUT-OF-FIELD TEACHING

Congruency among
PROBLEMS

FINDINGS

CONCLUSIO
N

1.What Out-of-field
Out-of-field
pedagogical
teachers
live teachers generally
experiences do out- through
live
unhappy
of-field teachers live experiences which professional
lives
through in out-of- are much more with
out-of-field
field teaching?
unpleasant
than teaching.
pleasant
and
undesirable
than
desirable.

Congruency among
PROBLEMS

FINDINGS

CONCLUSIO
N

2. What perceptions
do
out-of-field
teachers
have
regarding teaching
performance in outof-field
assignment?

Out-of-field
teachers
felt
teaching
performance
had
been below par.

Out-of-field
teaching
is
disadvantageous to
the quest for quality
education.

Congruency among
PROBLEMS

FINDINGS

CONCLUSIO
N

3. How do out-offield teachers see

themselves in the
non-major subject
they teach in terms
of
pedagogical
content knowledge?

Out-of-field
teachers believed
they fell short of the
minimum
pedagogical
content knowledge
in the non-major
subject they teach.

Out-of-field
teaching
gives
below-standard
quality of teaching

Congruency among
PROBLEMS

FINDINGS

CONCLUSIO
N

4. What ethical
issues do out-offield teachers face
in
out-of-field
teaching?

Out-of-field
teachers deal with
teaching practices
such as teaching
to the test and
narrowing
of
curriculum
to
survive life outside
their
field
of
specialization.

Out-of-field
teaching
has
negative impact on
out-of-field
teachers ethics.

Congruency among
PROBLEMS

FINDINGS

CONCLUSIO
N

5. What impact do
out-of-field teachers
see they have on
the
academic
achievement
of
students?

Out-of-field
teachers believed
they had negative
impact on student
achievement.

Out-of-field
teaching
is
detrimental
to
students academic
success
as
evidenced by their
poor performance
in
the
National
Achievement Test
and in home-andaway competitions.

Recommendations
In the light of the findings of this study, it is recommended that:
1. Out-of-field teachers must be provided with in-service training
opportunities that answer to their needs in the non-major subject they teach and
continually assessing them to see subsequent areas needing improvement;
2. Out-of-field teachers should be asked to design an individual plan for
professional development to enable them to chart their goals and plan learning
activities that enhance their competencies in order for them to work better for the
improvement of their school and learners performance;

Recommendations
3. School heads should implement learning communities,
faculty sharing events, mentoring and development grants
to help out-of-field teachers improve on their pedagogical
content knowledge and teaching performance;
4. School heads need to be knowledgeable and
competent in human resource management to successfully
effect improvement in teachers performance. There should
be a regular leadership enhancement training program for
school heads on this area to upgrade relevant skills;

Recommendations
5. Schools need to establish accurate
databases of teacher workforce to
provide policy makers with a clear picture
of the extent of out-of-field teaching;
6. Hiring officials need to seriously
take responsibility for choices they make
when recruiting and assigning teachers;

Recommendations
7. Future research need to be conducted
in additional schools across Region X
with a larger sample size to allow future
researchers to gather information that is
more detailed from a variety of
geographical areas leading to an indepth understanding of teachers
experiences in out-of-field teaching.

Thank You!

The Division
Action Research STYLEBOOK

Foreword
This stylebook is prepared to provide
action research writers of the Division set
of standards for writing and design of
action researches with the aim of
achieving uniformity in style and
formatting of outputs. More specifically,
this serves to:
ensure that research outputs conform to
school image and policy;

Foreword
improve consistency within and among
outputs, especially when more than one
research writer is involved;
remove the necessity to reinvent the wheel
for every new project; and
inform new writers of existing style and
presentation decisions.

Foreword
It should be noted that the specific
content in this document is not a matter of
correct or incorrect grammar or style,
but rather the decisions we have made
from among the many possibilities.

Foreword
Further, it should be understood that this
stylebook is an evolving document. We are
not including everything about action
research writing in this edition. We will be
adding items as questions arise and
decisions are made, or change items as we
make new decisions to accommodate
changes in conventions and usage.

Foreword
With this document, it is hoped that
fellow workers will find writing action
researches less taxing.
-The Division Research Committee-

General Guidelines in
Writing:
Your manuscript should be typewritten on a
letter-size bond paper (8.5 x 11) with the
following specifications:
Spacing : Double-space

Font Style : Times New Roman

Font Size : 12
Margin

: Left 1.5 inches

Other sides 1inch

General Guidelines in
Writing:
Text Alignment : Justified
Pagination: Bottom of Page

(Plain Number 3,
TNR 12, Arabic Numbers for the Body and Plain Number 2, lower
case Roman numerals for Preliminary Pages)

Font Color: Black

Indention: All paragraphs are indented

10 spaces (1 tab)

Parts of the Report:

I. Preliminary Pages
Title Page
Certification
Approval Sheet
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Appendices
Abstract

Parts of the Report:

II. Main Paper
The Problem
Introduction
Statement of the Problem
Significance of the Study
Delimitation of the Study
Definition of Terms

Parts of the Report:

Review of Related Literature
Methodology
Respondents of the Study
Locale of the Study
Data-Gathering Instruments
Baseline Data
Intervention
Data Analysis

Parts of the Report:

Results and Discussions
Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations
References
Appendices

The Title Page

The title page should contain the title
which summarizes the papers main idea
and
identifies the
variables under
discussion and the relationship between
them, the author's name, the institutional
affiliation, and the date of completion.

The Title Page

Type your title in upper and lowercase
letters centered in the upper half of the
page. It is recommended that your title be
no more than 15 words in length and that it
should not contain abbreviations or words
that serve no purpose. Your title may take
up three lines. All entries on the title page
should be single-spaced and centered.

The Title Page

Aligned middle is the author's name: first
name, middle initial(s), and last name. Do not use
titles (Dr.) or degrees (PhD).

At the bottom of the page, type the

institutional affiliation, which should indicate
the location where the author(s) conducted
the research. Part of this entry is the month
and year the paper is completed.

Sample Title Page

Certification
Unified Division Format of the Certification

Approval Sheet
Unified Division Format of the
Approval Sheet

Table of Contents
Unified Division Format of the
Table of Contents

List of Tables
Unified Division Format of the
List of Tables

List of Tables
Unified Division Format of the
List of Figures

List of Tables
Unified Division Format of the
List of Appendices

Abstract
An abstract is a summary of a paper and
its findings, and is used by researchers to
quickly and easily determine if the paper at
hand is relevant to a topic of research they
may be undertaking.

Abstract
Therefore, the abstract should touch on
the major points of the paper (research
topic, research questions, participants,
methods, results, data analysis, and
conclusions, and recommendations) while
remaining brief (between 150 to 250
words).

Abstract
Because an abstract encapsulates the
scope of the paper as a whole, it should be
written after the paper is complete.

Abstract
Begin a new page. On the first line of the
abstract page and in uppercase letters,
center the word Abstract (no bold,
formatting, underlining, or quotation marks).

Sample Abstract
ABSTRACT

Point of View
When writing your action research, you
use the third person point of view (The study
showed, The research requested...) because,
generally, you should foreground the
research and not the researcher(s).

Voice
It is encouraged that you use the active
voice ("We conducted an experiment ..."). The
active voice is particularly important in
experimental reports, where the subject
performing the action should be clearly
identified (e.g. The researcher interviewed the
participants..." vs. "The participants were
interviewed by the researcher).

Headings
Regardless of the number of levels, always
use the headings in order, beginning with level 1.
The format of each level is illustrated below:
Level

Format

Centered, regular, uppercase headings

Centered, regular, underlined, sentence case heading

Centered, regular, sentence case heading

Aligned left, regular, sentence case heading

Indented, regular, underlined, sentence case heading

Clarity and Conciseness

Clarity and conciseness in writing are
important when conveying research. You
don't want to misrepresent the details of a
study or confuse your readers with
wordiness
or
unnecessarily
complex
sentences.

Clarity and Conciseness

To be more concise, particularly in
introductory material or abstracts, you
should pare out unnecessary words.

Word Choice
You should even be careful in selecting
certain words or terms. Words take on
different meanings and can have a
significant effect on how your readers
interpret your reported findings or claims. To
increase clarity, avoid bias, and control how
your readers will receive your information,
you should make certain substitutions:

Word Choice

Use terms like "participants" or "respondents" (rather

than "subjects") to indicate how individuals were
involved in your research;

Use terms like "children" or "community members"

to provide more detail about who was participating in
the study.

Use phrases like "The evidence suggests ..." or "Our

study indicates ..." rather than referring to "proof" or
"proves" because no single study can prove a theory
or hypothesis.

Avoiding Poetic
Language
minimize

the amount of figurative language

used such as metaphors and analogies
unless they are helpful in conveying a
complex idea;
avoid rhyming schemes, alliteration, or other
poetic devices typically found in verse;
use simple, descriptive adjectives and plain
language that does not risk confusing your
meaning.

Avoiding Bias in
Labeling
Making adjustments in how you use
identifiers and other linguistic categories can
improve the clarity of your writing and
minimize the likelihood of offending your
readers.

Avoiding Bias in
Labeling
In general, you should call people what
they prefer to be called, especially when
dealing with race and ethnicity. But
sometimes the common conventions of
language inadvertently contain biases
towards certain populations - e.g. using
"normal" in contrast to someone identified as
"disabled."

Avoiding Bias in
Labeling
Therefore, you should be aware of how
your choice of terminology may come across
to your reader, particularly if they identify
with the population in question.

Avoiding Gendered
Pronouns
While you should always be clear about
the sex identity of your participants (if you
conducted an experiment), so that gender
differences are obvious, you should not use
gender terms when they aren't necessary. In
other words, you should not use "he," "his"
or "men" as generic terms applying to both
sexes.

Avoiding Gendered
Pronouns
It is not recommended replacing "he" with
"he or she," "she or he," "he/she," "(s)he,"
"s/he," or alternating between "he" and "she"
because these substitutions are awkward and
can distract the reader from the point you are
trying to make. The pronouns "he" or "she"
inevitably cause the reader to think of only that
gender, which may not be what you intend.

To avoid the bias of using gendered

pronouns:

Rephrase the sentence

Use plural nouns or plural pronouns - this way you

can use "they" or "their

Replace the pronoun with an article - instead of "his,"

use "the

Drop the pronoun - many sentences sound fine if you

just omit the troublesome "his" from the sentence

Replace the pronoun with a noun such as "person,"

"individual," "child," "researcher," etc.

Citations
When citing reference, follow the authordate method of in-text citation. This means
that the author's last name and the year of
publication for the source should appear in
the text, e.g., (Jones, 1998) or According to
Jones (1998), and a complete reference
should appear in the reference list at the
end of the paper.

Packaging

The final product should be soft bound in

blue folder-thick paper with black left edging.

The cover contains the title of the action

research written in uppercase letters,
centered on top of the page and in 12 pointTNR with 1.15 line spacing.

Packaging

Aligned middle is the Division logo and in

the bottom of the page are the name of
the researcher (1st line) and month and
year of completion (2nd line) both centered
and in uppercase.

Sample Cover
Unified Division Format of
Cover

Thank You!