Week 14 (Apr.26,06)

1
Week 14 (Apr.26,06)

• Discussion Section of A Research Proposal

2
Sharing life

• Life could be hard to understand sometimes - an
  idea, a feeling, an incident that you feel is
  hard to understand
• Share with the class one moment of your classroom

3
Variations of the Discussion Section

• Discussion
• Discussion and Conclusions
• Conclusions and Implications
• Summary and Implications

4
Components of the Discussion Section

• Overview/Summary of the study
• Limitations of the study
• Contributions of the study
• Suggestions for future study

5
Overview/Summary of the study

• Restate the general purposes and/or questions of
  the study.
• Review how the purposes were realized and
  questions were answered.

6
Introduction Discussion

• Comment on larger, more significant issues.
• Whereas in the introduction your task was to move
  from general (your field) to specific (your
  research),
• In the Discussion section your task is to move
  from specific (your research) back to general
  (your field, how your research will affect the
  world). In other words, in the conclusion you
  should put your research in context

7
Limitations of the study

• Two most common types of limitations
• Weakness in measurement (i.e. observation or
  instrumentation)
• Weakness in sampling
• Describe the limitations or applicability of the
  findings.
• For example, your recommendations might be
  applied only to a certain segment of the
  population. Also, were you able to look at all
  facets of the problem?

8
Contributions of the study

• How might the study contribute to your personal
  learning?
• How might your study contribute to a larger
  community, a school, a district, or a group?
• How might the study contribute to the field or to
  theory?

9
Suggestions/Recommendations for Future Study

• Point to specific areas that might be fruitful in
  future research
• Point to specific research procedures that might
  be fruitful in future research
• It is not uninformative for researchers to
  conclude with a simple phrase such as more
  research is needed