Findings from questionnaires and interviews

The writing up of findings involves important decisions. Think

• 'What do I want to achieve?'
• 'Why am I saying this?'
• 'Who do I want to address and inform with my research?'

Approaches to writing up survey research will depend on decisions about purpose, audience and form. The type of analysis and emphasis of your discussion may also depend on the audience for your research. Some are more convinced by statistics, others by a narrative account, the 'story' of your research.

In educational research, there is always the issue of whether you take back the findings to your respondents, often students, colleagues or the institution.

Writing it up

You could use a typical research reporting format:

• Details of the sample of respondents are provided
• An explanation of the sample and the return is given.
• Each question is listed followed by the statistical or numerical findings of the questionnaire and a comment by the researcher.
• Bar graphs, percentages and mean responses can be given, although in small-scale studies they may not be appropriate.
• If open questions and interviews have been used, selected quotations from responses to these can support interpretation of results.

Very often discussion allows the researcher to add their own speculation and interpretation of the results and findings can be placed in a broader, more general context. Recommendations or general and specific suggestions can be made about the application and use of the findings, generally located within a particular context. Other recommendations might include a call for further research, and possible changes in the research design in order to obtain more evidence to respond to the original research question(s).