Dissertation Discussion Chapter

A dissertation discussion is a section by reading which the reader can develop an understanding of the relevance and significance of the study. Students studying master’s or undergraduate courses when writing the discussion section moves out of the tract. It means that they start writing the conclusion part in the discussion chapter of the dissertation. In this article, our professionals are explaining How to write an effective Discussion chapter for a Dissertation?

Dissertation Discussion Section

The discussion section is the most crucial part of the Dissertation. It is a chapter in a dissertation that consists of an explanation of meaning; demonstrates the importance and relevance of research results. The dissertation Discussion chapter mainly emphasizes providing an explanation and doing an evaluation of the findings. This section in the Dissertation demonstrates the way Research findings relate to Literature review and Research Questions. In the discussion chapter of the dissertation, you need to make an argument for supporting the overall Conclusion. There are several techniques that you can apply to write a discussion section for the research paper. But it is very much essential for you to concentrate on the discussion around four different elements such as:

• Interpretation of results
• Implications of research outcomes
• Limitation of study
• Recommendations

In some cases, the dissertation discussion and conclusion section are combined. But before making a decision related to combining the Dissertation conclusion and discussion section, you should review the University guidelines.

How to write a Discussion section in a Dissertation?

The 5 steps which you need to follow for writing a discussion chapter in the Dissertation are:

Step 1: Write a Summary of key findings

You should begin writing the discussion statement by re-writing the problem statement and by providing a summary of important findings. At the time of writing the dissertation discussion section, you should not provide results in detail. You should provide a clear statement of the overall result which directly answers the research questions. Avoid writing this section in more than one paragraph.

Example:

• The outcome of research represents that….
• Study shows that….

Step 2: Provide interpretations

At this step of writing the discussion section for the dissertation, you are required to demonstrate the importance of the research result. It is very much crucial for you to provide detail about the way the result helps in answering research questions. The type of interpretation you need to write is completely dependent on the type of research you are performing. Few approaches which you can utilize for interpreting the information include:

• Identification of patterns, correlations, and relationships between data.
• You are required to discuss whether the research result met your expectations.
• The researcher can contextualize their findings with existing theory and research
• Explain unexpected outcomes and evaluate their importance
• Consider a possible alternative explanation and write an argument for a position.

You can consider key themes for organizing the dissertation discussion chapter. You should start by highlighting the most important results.

Examples:

• In line with theory….
• The result prove the claim that…
• Contradict to hypothesized association….

Step 3: Do discuss implications

At this step, you need to provide your interpretation of the result. It is very much essential for you to relate your work with existing literature. At the time of writing the discussion section for the dissertation, you should clearly state the way your research findings relate to existing knowledge. You should also provide information about the contribution you have made in the academic or social field by performing research on a particular topic. Your aim of the study can help you in showing the reader exactly what contribution the study has made.

Examples:

• The study is built on previous evidence of…
• Results fits into a theory of….
• An experiment discovers new aspects of relationship between …
• The information gather through research helps in developing understanding about…

Step 4: Address the limitation of the study

Every type of study has a few limitations. It is very much important for you to acknowledge the limitations of your research. You should also clearly demonstrate your creditability. Limitation means clearly stating the clear picture of the thing which can be concluded from the study. Your research might have certain limitations due to inappropriate research design, the wrong choice of research methods, and unexpected hurdles during the research procedure. It is very much important for you to only mention that limitation that is directly relevant to your study. You should also analyze the influence limitation of the study have on the accomplishment of the aim.

For example, in case sample size is small that it might limit the generalizability of findings. If you have face any issue in collecting information then you can provide the detail in discussion Section. In such case, you also need to provide the description about how limitation of study has influence research results.

Step 5: Give recommendations

Based on the discussion about research results you need to provide suggestions that other researchers can apply practically at the time of conducting a similar type of research in the future. You can also include recommendations in the concluding chapter of the Dissertation. By considering the limitation of the study you can also provide suggestions. It is very much essential for you to provide concrete ideas that can be applied to research in the future. You can provide recommendations like this: “Further study needs to establish”

Conclusion

It has been concluded from the above study that the discussion section is an important element of the dissertation. Another fact that has been found from the above is that in the discussion section only the most important findings are summarised.