Length: 2500-3000 words (Not including excerpt of coded data or bibliography) Present the findings of the research project undertaken throughout the semester. Building on the Research Proposal
assignment the assignment should outline the:
• Title: indicating the topic of the study
• Aims and Objectives: the study’s main aims and the key research questions.
• Literature Review: what we know about the topic and what we do not; and therefore how your study contributes to knowledge.
• Methodology: the actual research design and methods adopted, with justification for the methods used and reflections on the study’s limitations.
(Roughly 750 – 1000 words)

Presentation of findings: an analytical presentation of your qualitative data, outlining the key themes that you have identified. There should be some evidence of the use of qualitative data
analysis techniques, and possibly of ‘grounded theory’ techniques.
• Discussion and Conclusions: reflecting on your findings, how do they contribute to answering the research question?
• Evaluation of Practical Experience: provide a critical evaluation of your research experience, including reflecting on the methods that you have used over the semester. (500 words maximum)
• Excerpt of ‘coded data’: Include a brief excerpt of coded data, illustrating your application of qualitative data analysis techniques. This should be no longer than a couple of paragraphs
in length.
• References: List any books, articles, reports, web sites etc. you have cited in the report.

Paper Structure

• Introduction: scene setting and rationale.
• Contexts (literature; theoretical perspectives; academic debates; current policy).
• Research Design and Methods.
• Findings.
• Discussion: re-visits issues raised earlier in light of data.
• Optional short conclusion.

Title and Abstract
• Draft a title that sums up what the paper is about, using key words if possible:
• ‘Health, ethics and environment: a qualitative study of
• vegetarian motivations’.
• Draft an abstract: this will help you organize your paper as you write it.
• When you have drafted the paper, review and revise the title and abstract.

Contexts
• Relevant literature; this section may also explore:
• Current issues or events.
• Theoretical perspectives or debates.
• Policy issues

Design and Methods Explains and justifies:
• Epistemological commitments (interpretive, naturalistic, etc.).
• Research design/methodology (ethnography, three-stage interviews etc.).
• Methods (observation, and interviews.).
• Setting (who, where, when).
• Data analysis methods.

Findings
• Findings will usually be 30 – 40% of paper.
• Findings need to ‘tell a story’.
• Write down your sub-headings (max = 4), perhaps relating to themes in the analysis.
• The findings section should be ‘topped and tailed’: introducing the themes and summarising the findings

Use of quotations
• Quotations are used to increase the credibility of your findings.
• Never expect a quotation to speak for itself.
• Summarise the finding in your own words, and then illustrate it with a quotation.
• One quotation is usually enough to illustrate a finding; not all findings need a quotation.

Discussion and Conclusion
• Refer back to the contexts, re-interpreted in the light of the data.
• Practice, policy or theoretical implications.
• Shortcomings.
• Future research.
• Conclusion summarises the answer to the research question.
Findings or Discussion?

• Findings section is where you impose an analytical structure on your data.
• Discussion is where you make links between your analysis of the data and the literature, theory or relevant policy, and where you show the importance of your findings for scholarship,
practice or policy.

Using theory
• Some journals may not accept papers that do not engage with theory. 
• Grand theory: (e.g. post-structuralism). 
• Middle-order theory (e.g. stigma, medicalisation). 
• Hypotheses (e.g. patients use Internet to research illnesses)

Uses of theory
• Theory can be used to:
• Define your over-arching perspective (e.g. social model of illness).
• Give you a structure within which to analyse your data (e.g. explanatory models).
• Situate your findings (e.g. patriarchy).
• Add ‘value’ to your research, by showing how it enhances or develops broader theory.

Getting the balance For an 8000 word paper, rough balance is: (for my assignment 2000-2500 words.)
• Abstract 150
• Introduction 500
• Literature Review and Contexts 1300
• Research Design and Methods 800
• Findings 2500
• Discussion and Conclusion 1500
• References 1200

Some hints and tips
• Write your question and your audience on a postit note on your computer screen,.
• Choose your theoretical perspective before you start analysing data.
• Make sure you know your conclusions before you finalise the Introduction and Contexts.
• In a WORD document, create all the sub-headings for the paper, then fill in the content to length.

Improve the quality

• Use simple language and avoid jargon.
• Get a friend or colleague to read the draft and offer criticisms.
• Ask yourself: what is new about what I am saying here?
• Proof-read, and don’t rely on spell-check.

References:
Johnson-Russell JM. Coping, functioning, and satisfaction in families with a spina bifida child of school age, Dissertation Abstracts International, 1993,vol. 53 pg. 3444

A National Approach for Child Protection: Project Report. A report to …
https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/sites/default/files/publication-documents/cdsmac.pdfThe project was commissioned by the Community and Disability Services Ministers’ Advisory Council (CDSMAC). …
AustralianStatutory Child Protection Sample. … Care and child protection services in Australia: Key Challenges and strategic …. finding that a child is subsequently abused or harmed by a
parent/ carer).