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Independent Study – Skills Guide

Data Findings

Data Findings

This section is used to present the findings from all your collected data and may include tables, figures, text or all three if appropriate. This section provides, for the reader, a bridge between your raw data and the themes emerging from that data. You need to highlight the key aspects of your data that enable you to provide the reader with the most significant findings from the data-set you have collected.

When you are interpreting graphs and tables of quantitative data ensure that you do not simply duplicate the results, but also expand on the relevance of the results. Graphs and tables must have a figure number and a title and also be clearly labelled (axes/columns/rows). Make sure your data makes sense and communicates ratios and comparators e.g. use percentages and round up when talking about numbers of respondents. 

If your data is qualitative, you need to identify the key findings and write a short section on these findings. Report key findings under main themes or categories, using appropriate verbatim quotes to illustrate those findings. This is then accompanied by a linking, separate chapter (data analysis) in which the findings are discussed in relation to existing research.

NB In this section you do not begin to analyse your data but present your key findings and emerging themes for the following section.

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