Paper writting - 7 - Conclusion

Conclusion Chapter

For most dissertations, the Conclusion chapter should:

• Show how the research gap has been filled.
• State to what extent the research has been successfully conducted.

In doing so, you

• Answer the “so what?” question.
• Justify the importance of your study and its contribution to the field/knowledge

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Moves of the Conclusion chapter

1. Restatement of the study’s purpose

• Recapitulate the main points by stating again

(1)the situation in the field before your study was carried out, i.e., the problems and the gaps;

(2)the study’s purpose; and

(3)your research questions (and hypotheses, if any)

2. Summary of the major findings

• Present succinctly your answers to each of your research questions.
• State your proven hypotheses, if any.

3. Significance and implications of your study

• Stress how your findings have improved the situation by addressing the gaps and dealing with the problems.
• Make it clear to what extent you have filled the gaps or alleviated the problems
• Refer to previous research for comparison or support.
• Explain any unexpected outcomes and results which contradict previous findings.
• Articulate the contributions of your findings (and/or methodology) to your field.
• Discuss the applicability of your methodology and findings to other contexts, and the generalizability of your results.
• Do not over exaggerate your achievements.

4. Limitations of your study

• Be critical of your study
• State the weakness of all aspects of your study, e.g., methodology and generalizability.
• Acknowledge any mistakes made, and the problems and weaknesses that remain.
• Show that you are a reflective researcher. It is better that your point out your limitations than have the examiners point them out for you.

5. Recommendations for future research

• State the need for future research
• Make concrete and constructive suggestions about future lines of investigation.
• Provide brief justifications.

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Language used in the five moves

(N.B. sometimes, overlap occurs between functions)

1. Restatement of the study’s purpose

• This study was an attempt to investigate …
• This study has investigated / analyzed / examined …
• This study has sought / attempted to …
• This study sent out to …
• This study examined … in the light of …

In light of / in the light of (按照，依据, according to????) in view of (考虑到=considering，由于) in terms of (以…观点/方式)

2. Summary of the major findings

• Both models perform similarly …
• It was found that ….
• There was a major improvement in levels of …
• The coefficients obtained were …
• Data were inconsistent with …
• There are no examples in the data …
• Government bonds were found to be the most popular method of saving …

* Grey areas / overlaps with significance: the study found that (X), which implies that (Y)

3. Significance and implications of your study

• The findings indicate that …
• The / these data provide evidence that …
• This study has shown that … This is unsurprising, since ….
• Several conclusions can be drawn from this study …
• This demonstrates / demonstrated that …
• There were significant improvements in …
• These findings have clinical significance for …
• These results offer several implications for theoretical development. First, the suggest that …
• It is hoped that the present research has made a contribution to …
• These findings will hopefully influence …
• The implications of the results are clear for (who, who and who).
• One of the significant results from this study is the…
• Another significant finding relates to the…
• This study presents one of the most comprehensive to date …
• The findings suggest that contrary to previous study … This implies that … may be more complex than previously expected.

4. Limitations of your study

• The present study has only explored …
• Unfortunately, it has not been possible to …
• This study has focused only on the …
• The most apparent limitation of the study lies in…
• I / the researcher was unable to …
• Despite much effort, it remains that some of the numerical data was incomplete and did not yield results as conclusive as might have otherwise occurred.
• Several limitations to this study restrict generalization of results.
• The sample size was …, and ideally, more participants should have been involved.
• Due to the limited number of …, caution is warranted in interpreting the results, especially those concerning … and …

5. Recommendations for future research

• A priority in future research will/would be to explore …
• Additional research is recommended to confirm the findings of this investigation.
• More studies are recommended to determine whether other elements/factors …
• Studies need to be extended to consider …
• It would be interesting to discover whether …
• Perhaps further studies can be conducted in…
• One major policy recommendation arising from this study is …
• Based on the findings of the current study, there seems to be a need for…
• Additional studies regarding … are warranted.
• Future research should focus on …
• Additional work could be done on … to see if …