Are there any research questions criteria for your thesis? Well, your conclusion should clearly answer the research questions. It should provide a good background picture of your problem, what research questions were asked, and what findings lead to your conclusion. This chapter can be written once. In fact, I advise you to write it all once so you have a complete conclusion to your study. If you split it, you may start to repeat yourself, and start to bring outside topics into your conclusion.
Your written conclusion should be the culmination of your research journey. Some students are tempted to include conclusions not supported by the research findings. Therefore, the best way to do the conclusion is to follow the organization of your findings. Conclude every finding you have in Chapter 4. When writing your conclusion, keep in mind that professionals in your industry will only read your conclusion. Therefore, try to keep it simple, relative and to the point. You want to make sure your conclusions are supported by your data first and then supported by the literature. Make sure to be precise about your conclusions as they reflect your findings. You do not want misinterpretations of your conclusions that your findings do not support.
Stay away from definitive statements. Show modesty in your findings that articulate the study limitations. For example, if you say in your conclusion, “This research study proves that…,” then you are bragging about your study and asserting you have definitely proved your conclusions. This attitude may close doors for future research that may support your conclusions, and open doors to research showing your study had limitations, making it less than 100% accurate.
I remember Dr. Johnson who acted as a committee member for my doctorate degree. He reminded me that people believed the sun orbits the earth for a long time and insisted they had proof until Galileo came in and challenged this “fact.”
In short, use the terms: “the findings of the study seem to indicate …”, and those similar. This will give an indication that your findings also include limitations. You may have overwhelming support for your hypothesis, but your data is unlikely to prove it because future data set can always prove it wrong.
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