How To Write Chapter Five Of Your Final Year Project (Summary, Conclusion, and Recommendation).
This chapter summarises the research findings, discusses the limitations, and reflect the recommendations of the study.
The easier way of getting your research project work done is to understand how to SAY what you are going to say, SAY IT, and SAY what you have already said
In writing chapter five of your final year research project. You are meant to say what you’ve already said. Here, you are reminding the reader where he or she is coming from.
It is always ideal to start your research project chapter five by reminding your readers of the purpose of the study (Say what you’ve said already), this will refresh their memory of what the research study is all about.
In my previous writing on How To Write Chapter Four Of Your Final Year Project (Data Analysis and Presentation), I took my time to thoroughly explain how to report your research project analysis. And at this very point of your research project documentation, it is assumed that you have already done with your study and now into reporting
First of all, you will have to tell your readers what you are able to understand your analysis of the variables used. Then relate that to what other researchers had found out from their research (as related to your own studies). Then you make your recommendations based on your own findings and finally your conclusions.
In writing chapter five (5) of your research project, it is recommended that you check with your institution on their preferred title for research project chapter five(5). Chapter five has been titled in different ways. Here in this writing, it is suggested that the chapter is titled as Summary, Conclusion, and Recommendations since institutions vary in their chapter five (5) of the final year research project.
Also, Read - How To Write Your Final Year Project Chapter One (Introduction)
The following are sub-sections or headings for final year project chapter five (5)
- Introduction or Preamble
Research Project Chapter Five – Introduction:
This is where you have to introduce the chapter, stating what the readers should expect and how you are going to arrive at it.
Research Project Chapter Five - Summary
The objective of this section is to refresh the reader’s understanding of the ‘findings’ or ‘results’. Highlight the main or major findings that you had stated in your data analysis and presentation (Chapter four). There is no need to explain in detail the findings or results, some researchers or students make this mistake of copying chapter four and pasting it in this chapter five, please try as much as you can to avoid this temptation.
Try and make your summary very simple and brief so that anyone who is not in your field can easily understand it. Remember to write in the past tense. For example, “Job satisfaction as expressed by staff did not vary according to their personality types”. The reason for this is because you are reporting what you have already done.
For quantitative research and to ensure the flow, it is suggested that you use the research questions or hypotheses as a guide. For qualitative research, you could use the research questions, themes, or categories. Study your findings and tell your reader how they have answered the research questions.
Summarizing your findings which you have stated earlier is not enough here, you just need to do more than that, you need to share your belief on what you got and did not get
The keyword is ‘summary and discussion’. At this very point, you should be able to sell your research (Let people see reason with your decision).
Here you can use the present tense because you are making statements that are derived from the study.
State the possible reasons, causes, and factors for the findings or results stated in the ‘Summary’ section. For example, a significant finding from your study was that drug abuse actually influences academic performance’. What do you think produced such a finding?
You need to know that even if you did not get the exact results you expected, you should explain why – For example, the experiment to test the reliability and usefulness of given psychotherapy did not show significant differences – try to explain why the method did not produce the results you were expecting.
You also show how the findings of your study have/will contributed/contribute to the existing understanding of concepts identified in the works of other people – important to acknowledge the views of others who share similar positions as those identified by your research. Compare and contrast your findings or results with those of other researchers: How are your findings/results similar or different from other studies? What do the results mean for them?
Also, Read - How To Develop Your Research Project Chapter Two Effectively (Literature Review)
If you want to show how your study contributed to your theoretical framework then show how your work could influence the theoretical debate.
If someone only reads the ‘Discussion’ section, they should get a good understanding of what you found and why it matters. You should explain to the reader clearly, in a narrative, without restarting your results.
Research Project Chapter Five - Recommendations
Here, you must be logical, specific, attainable, and relevant. Your recommendations should be addressed to persons, organizations, or agencies directly concerned with the issues or to those who can immediately implement the recommended solutions. You should be able to present another topic that is very relevant to the present study that can be further investigated by future researchers. But never recommend anything that is not part of your study or not being mentioned in your findings.
After organizing your thoughts as to what would be the contents of your recommendations, you should write it in the simple present tense.
In the Recommendation section, tell your readers what should have been done which you did not do because of factors you weren’t able to control, tell your readers the area of interest you would have liked to explore but which was outside the scope of your study, the follow-up studies that should be done given your result and finally, how the study could be extended.
Also, Read - How To Write Chapter Three Of Your Research Project (Research Methodology)
Do not forget that there are professionals in your field. Tell your readers how these professionals in your field can be impacted by the findings of this study. Tell your readers what you recommend for these professionals, policymakers, stakeholders, government leaders, etc.
Research Project Chapter Five - Conclusions
For the first time in the project (outside the interpretation of analysis), you can state your personal opinion with the collected data supporting it. The conclusions of your project report relate directly to the research questions or objectives. They represent the contribution to knowledge. They also relate directly to the significance of the study, which is always, in some way, to improve the human condition. These are the major generalizations, the answer to the problem(s) revealed in Chapters one and two.
Also, Read - How To Write Chapter Four Of Your Final Year Project (Data Analysis And Presentation)
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