Conclusion Chapter
For most dissertations, the Conclusion chapter should:
- Show how the research gap has been filled.
- State to what extent the research has been successfully conducted.
In doing so, you
- Answer the “so what?” question.
- Justify the importance of your study and its contribution to the field/knowledge
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Moves of the Conclusion chapter
1. Restatement of the study’s purpose
- Recapitulate the main points by stating again
(1)the situation in the field before your study was carried out, i.e., the problems and the gaps;
(2)the study’s purpose; and
(3)your research questions (and hypotheses, if any)
2. Summary of the major findings
- Present succinctly your answers to each of your research questions.
- State your proven hypotheses, if any.
3. Significance and implications of your study
- Stress how your findings have improved the situation by addressing the gaps and dealing with the problems.
- Make it clear to what extent you have filled the gaps or alleviated the problems
- Refer to previous research for comparison or support.
- Explain any unexpected outcomes and results which contradict previous findings.
- Articulate the contributions of your findings (and/or methodology) to your field.
- Discuss the applicability of your methodology and findings to other contexts, and the generalizability of your results.
- Do not over exaggerate your achievements.
4. Limitations of your study
- Be critical of your study
- State the weakness of all aspects of your study, e.g., methodology and generalizability.
- Acknowledge any mistakes made, and the problems and weaknesses that remain.
- Show that you are a reflective researcher. It is better that your point out your limitations than have the examiners point them out for you.
5. Recommendations for future research
- State the need for future research
- Make concrete and constructive suggestions about future lines of investigation.
- Provide brief justifications.
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Language used in the five moves
(N.B. sometimes, overlap occurs between functions)
1. Restatement of the study’s purpose
- This study was an attempt to investigate …
- This study has investigated / analyzed / examined …
- This study has sought / attempted to …
- This study sent out to …
- This study examined … in the light of …
In light of / in the light of (按照,依据, according to????) in view of (考虑到=considering,由于) in terms of (以…观点/方式)
2. Summary of the major findings
- Both models perform similarly …
- It was found that ….
- There was a major improvement in levels of …
- The coefficients obtained were …
- Data were inconsistent with …
- There are no examples in the data …
- Government bonds were found to be the most popular method of saving …
* Grey areas / overlaps with significance: the study found that (X), which implies that (Y)
3. Significance and implications of your study
- The findings indicate that …
- The / these data provide evidence that …
- This study has shown that … This is unsurprising, since ….
- Several conclusions can be drawn from this study …
- This demonstrates / demonstrated that …
- There were significant improvements in …
- These findings have clinical significance for …
- These results offer several implications for theoretical development. First, the suggest that …
- It is hoped that the present research has made a contribution to …
- These findings will hopefully influence …
- The implications of the results are clear for (who, who and who).
- One of the significant results from this study is the…
- Another significant finding relates to the…
- This study presents one of the most comprehensive to date …
- The findings suggest that contrary to previous study … This implies that … may be more complex than previously expected.
4. Limitations of your study
- The present study has only explored …
- Unfortunately, it has not been possible to …
- This study has focused only on the …
- The most apparent limitation of the study lies in…
- I / the researcher was unable to …
- Despite much effort, it remains that some of the numerical data was incomplete and did not yield results as conclusive as might have otherwise occurred.
- Several limitations to this study restrict generalization of results.
- The sample size was …, and ideally, more participants should have been involved.
- Due to the limited number of …, caution is warranted in interpreting the results, especially those concerning … and …
5. Recommendations for future research
- A priority in future research will/would be to explore …
- Additional research is recommended to confirm the findings of this investigation.
- More studies are recommended to determine whether other elements/factors …
- Studies need to be extended to consider …
- It would be interesting to discover whether …
- Perhaps further studies can be conducted in…
- One major policy recommendation arising from this study is …
- Based on the findings of the current study, there seems to be a need for…
- Additional studies regarding … are warranted.
- Future research should focus on …
- Additional work could be done on … to see if …