By Dalat TESOL
A clear, example-rich guide for applied linguistics students and novice researchers
🧭 Why This Matters
Many students struggle to report results clearly and appropriately—especially when working with different types of data. Whether your study is quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods, the results section must do three things:
- Present the findings clearly and accurately.
- Stay objective—do not interpret (save that for the Discussion).
- Follow academic conventions in formatting, structure, and language.
This guide walks you through how to report both quantitative and qualitative results—separately and comparatively—with examples and phrases you can reuse.
📌 General Principles
No matter the method, good reporting:
- Organizes findings around your research questions.
- Uses subheadings to guide the reader.
- Reports findings before interpreting them.
- Refers to tables/figures but doesn’t repeat all their content.
Let’s now break it down by type.
🔢 Part 1: How to Report Quantitative Results
Quantitative data is numerical—collected via surveys, test scores, experiments, etc. It often involves descriptive statistics (means, percentages) and inferential statistics (t-tests, ANOVA, regressions).
✍️ Reporting Style
- Be concise and precise.
- Report key statistics in-text (e.g., M = 3.78, SD = 0.91).
- Use tables/figures for clarity—but interpret the main takeaways in words.
- Use past tense.
🧪 Example (Survey Study with Likert Scales)
Participants reported moderately high self-efficacy in AI-assisted writing (M = 3.84, SD = 0.66). A paired-samples t-test revealed a significant increase in confidence after using ChatGPT (pre-test: M = 3.41, post-test: M = 3.84), t(39) = 2.72, p < .01.
Table 1 summarizes mean scores across all subscales.
🧰 Useful Phrases
- “Descriptive statistics showed that…”
- “There was a statistically significant difference in…”
- “A correlation analysis revealed that…”
- “As shown in Table 2, the mean score for X was…”
📊 Reporting Tip
Always include:
- Test name: t-test, ANOVA, etc.
- Degrees of freedom: t(38), F(2, 76)
- p-values: Report as p < .05 or exact value, e.g., p = .023
- Effect sizes if appropriate (Cohen’s d, η²)
💬 Part 2: How to Report Qualitative Results
Qualitative data includes words—collected via interviews, focus groups, open-ended surveys, documents, or observations. It’s analyzed for patterns, themes, or narratives.
✍️ Reporting Style
- Present themes with clear labels.
- Support each theme with participant quotes (short, meaningful).
- Use narrative style to walk the reader through your findings.
- Avoid over-quoting—2–3 quotes per theme are enough.
🧪 Example (Interview Study)
Three key themes emerged from the interviews:
1. Increased confidence: Most participants reported feeling more confident when using ChatGPT for drafting. As one student noted, “I don’t feel stuck anymore. It gives me something to start with.”
2. Concerns about dependency: Several participants expressed worry about over-reliance. “Sometimes I think I’m not learning, just copying,” one student reflected.
3. Teacher guidance matters: Students emphasized the importance of how the tool was introduced. “My teacher showed us how to use it step-by-step, not just ‘use ChatGPT.’ That helped.”
🧰 Useful Phrases
- “Thematic analysis revealed three core themes…”
- “Participants described [X] as…”
- “This theme captures participants’ feelings about…”
- “As one student explained, ‘…’”
📌 Reporting Tip
Use theme names as subheadings, and provide:
- A summary of what the theme means
- Supporting quotes (anonymized)
- Occasional comparison across participants (e.g., “some”, “most”, “a few”)
🔀 Mixed Methods? Combine Logically
For mixed-methods, report each strand separately before integration:
- First: Quantitative results
- Then: Qualitative themes
- Integration appears in the Discussion, not Results
Example structure:
4.1 Survey Results
…
4.2 Interview Findings
…
🧠 Final Advice
| Do | Don’t |
|---|---|
| Organize results by RQs | Mix findings and interpretations |
| Use clear subheadings | Overwhelm with raw data |
| Report stats properly | Say “it was significant” without evidence |
| Select strong quotes | Quote everyone equally |
| Use APA format for tables | Paste screenshots from Excel |