Writing the Discussion Section
5- 5
Interpreting Your Findings
The Discussion section is where you interpret your findings — that is, explain what they mean. This can involve putting your findings into perspective, explaining interesting or unexpected findings, correcting possible misperceptions, increasing readers’ appreciation of your findings, showing the value of or compensating for disappointing or negative findings, or just giving readers a broader understanding of your findings and their significance. To decide what to include, you can ask yourself, “What further explanation should I give to help readers understand and appreciate the importance of my research?” The re could be 1 or several answers to this question. For example: ▪ In a study that shows that 2 or more agents have similar clinical benefits, you might compare the cost of the agents or their ease of administration. ▪ In a study that shows an increased incidence of a disorder, you might discuss how improvements in diagnostic techniques or varying definitions of the disorder over time may have contributed to the perceived increase. ▪ In a study with somewhat contradictory findings, you might analyze the potential reasons for the discrepant findings. ▪ In a study that shows that an agent has unexpected side effects, you might theorize how the properties or mechanisms of action of the agent might be responsible for the side effects. ▪ In a study of a gene’s function in t he development of an organism, you might relate your findings to those in evolutionarily related organisms. ▪ In a study that shows that an agent is ineffective, you might explain why continued research on this agent or related agents is still called for, why this agent might work better in a different group of patients, or why this agent might be effective in combination with other therapies. ▪ In a study of the mechanism of action of a molecule, you might relate the pathway you describe to pathways that together might affect activity.
Such descriptions can vary in length, from just a couple of sentences to several paragraphs.
Here are 2 examples from the literature:
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software