5.5 Results

The Results section presents the research findings, which is what you have observed in the research. It is the core of the research. Although most readers usually skip the Results when they searching information on run, they note the Results and read through the Introduction and the Discussion when they study the article. As the Materials and Methods section tells the reader what you did in the research, then in the Results section, you are expected to tell the reader what you find in the research. Nothing but results of your research should be in the Results section (Lindsay, 1995). 

5.5.1 Content of the Results

In a scientific research paper, the reasons for doing the experiment should be clearly stated in the properly constructed Introduction section. Then you are compelled to discuss how the results met your expectations. In this case, it is usually neater and simpler to describe your results first, and then to discuss them in a separate section- the Discussion. In descriptive papers, however, there is sometimes little or nothing to discuss after the results have been presented. In these cases, it may be sensible to add whatever discussion is necessary wherever it is appropriate in the Results and the section becomes Results and Discussion.

There are usually two ingredients of the Results section. First, you should give some kind of overall description of your experiment, or your field studies, or your interviews etc, without repeating the details of experiments or field studies previously provided in the Materials and Methods section. Second, you should selectively present representative data rather than endlessly repeating data. Remember that the fool collects facts while the wise man selects them (Day, 1998).

Scientists and researchers usually group their research results into main findings and subsidiary findings. In the Results section, the main findings should be stated first and followed by the subsidiary findings. Both the main findings and the subsidiary findings should be stated in order, relating them in turn to the hypotheses and methods that you described in the Introduction section and the Material and Methods section.

5.5.2 Structure of the Results

Again, you can use subsections to clearly present the data of findings. For example, a research report on “Rural innovation systems and networks: findings from a study of Ethiopian smallholders” (Spielman et al., 2010) presents the main findings in four subsections. It first presents the ‘Overview of findings”, then the data of the three cases — “Wemberma”, “Soro”, and “Ambo”— what they studied in this research are presented. The skeleton of this presentation is coherent with the “Geographic site” selected in the Methods section as shown in the Table 5-6.

Table 5-6. The skeleton of the Results: Example 1

Sometimes, the sequences of research findings are not parallel with the subsections of the Material and methods. Instead, they are organized in the order of research procedures, measurements, or the set of data. For example, a research report of “Endosulfan has no adverse effect on soil respiration” (Joseph et al., 2010) presents the main findings in five subsections of analyzed data. It first presents the general findings of “Effects of endosulfan on soil respiration”. Then summarize the results of statistical analysis of three seasons —“Summer 2007”, “Winter 2008”, and “Spring 2008”. The same subheadings “Soil temperature and moisture” and “Respiration” are used in each of the subsection to make it easier for reader to compare the data between data sets. Finally, they present the “Microbial numbers”, which is parallel with the subheading of “Soil microbial analysis” in the Materials and Methods. More details are illustrated in the Table 5-7.

Table 5-7: Skeleton of the Results- Example 2

For the papers that add the Discussion to the Results section, the skeleton of the Results and Discussion section is also clearly parallel with subheadings of the Material and Methods section. For example, Lu, ding, Ye and Liu (2010, p.1332-1335) divide their Results section into three parts that are separated by the subheadings. They provide a description of the results obtained, mainly in the order of the research methods described in Material and Methods section. The subheadings of the Results section are parallel with the headings of Material and Methods section. The comparison is showing in the Table 5-8 below.

Table 5-8: Skeleton of the Results- Example 3

5.4.3 How to present the Results

The selective data should be presented logically and concisely. Most data require some treatment, such as statistical analysis, tabulation of results, and the calculation of a few means, and some other alternative methods of treatment and presentation. At this stage you should be forming the arguments which will become the backbone of your discussion. It is a process of trial and error to find the best alternatives for final presentation. You might be referring back to certain highlights of your Results for the basis of the Discussion. So, it is essential that in the Results section the important points are highlighted. Whatever your final presentation – graphs, tables or text – you should arrange it so that the key information and key figures are in prominent positions (Lindsay, 1995).

Many scientists and researchers prefer to use tables to present the numbers, particularly when there are more than a few numbers. Graphs and figures are also preferable to display the results of statistical analysis. But these tables, graphs, and figures do not absolve your responsibility of making the text a coherent story. The text should be readable without the tables, and vice versa. The text gives you the opportunity to reinforce those aspects of the tables that will be particularly important when you come to the Discussion. It is highly unlikely that every figure in every row and column of a table is as important as every other one. In the text you guide the reader by drawing attention to important parts of the table. More rules of using tables and figures will be discussed in Chapter 7: Illustration of Scientific Paper.

（本文作者：中国农业大学王志芳）