Chapter 10.5 Results

The results section will likely require at least some basic understanding of statistics as this section is often the most technical. The main ideas that should be analyzed in a results section include the statistical procedures used, the reporting of the numerical findings, and the determination of significance. The procedures used should correspond with the data they are working with. For instance, if the data is nominal or ordinal and the procedure used was parametric (See Summary of Statistics), then the results will be skewed at best and completely invalid at worst.

The numerical results of the statistics should also be reported so if the study shows a significant t test, the actual t-test score, the degrees of freedom, and the probability of error (p) as compared with the acceptable error (a) should all be reported. Finally, the decision for how much error was acceptable for the researchers should be addressed. Typically .05 or .01 are used, representing an acceptable error level of 5% or 1%, respectively. If the level is set different from these two, the rationale should be addressed.