what is analysis result

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How to Write the Results/Findings Section in Research

What is the research paper Results section and what does it do?

The Results section of a scientific research paper represents the core findings of a study derived from the methods applied to gather and analyze information. It presents these findings in a logical sequence without bias or interpretation from the author, setting up the reader for later interpretation and evaluation in the Discussion section. A major purpose of the Results section is to break down the data into sentences that show its significance to the research question(s).

The Results section appears third in the section sequence in most scientific papers. It follows the presentation of the Methods and Materials and is presented before the Discussion section —although the Results and Discussion are presented together in many journals. This section answers the basic question “What did you find in your research?”

What is included in the Results section?

The Results section should include the findings of your study and ONLY the findings of your study. The findings include:

• Data presented in tables, charts, graphs, and other figures (may be placed into the text or on separate pages at the end of the manuscript)
• A contextual analysis of this data explaining its meaning in sentence form
• All data that corresponds to the central research question(s)
• All secondary findings (secondary outcomes, subgroup analyses, etc.)

If the scope of the study is broad, or if you studied a variety of variables, or if the methodology used yields a wide range of different results, the author should present only those results that are most relevant to the research question stated in the Introduction section .

As a general rule, any information that does not present the direct findings or outcome of the study should be left out of this section. Unless the journal requests that authors combine the Results and Discussion sections, explanations and interpretations should be omitted from the Results.

How are the results organized?

The best way to organize your Results section is “logically.” One logical and clear method of organizing research results is to provide them alongside the research questions—within each research question, present the type of data that addresses that research question.

Let’s look at an example. Your research question is based on a survey among patients who were treated at a hospital and received postoperative care. Let’s say your first research question is:

“What do hospital patients over age 55 think about postoperative care?”

This can actually be represented as a heading within your Results section, though it might be presented as a statement rather than a question:

Attitudes towards postoperative care in patients over the age of 55

Now present the results that address this specific research question first. In this case, perhaps a table illustrating data from a survey. Likert items can be included in this example. Tables can also present standard deviations, probabilities, correlation matrices, etc.

Following this, present a content analysis, in words, of one end of the spectrum of the survey or data table. In our example case, start with the POSITIVE survey responses regarding postoperative care, using descriptive phrases. For example:

“Sixty-five percent of patients over 55 responded positively to the question “ Are you satisfied with your hospital’s postoperative care ?” (Fig. 2)

Include other results such as subcategory analyses. The amount of textual description used will depend on how much interpretation of tables and figures is necessary and how many examples the reader needs in order to understand the significance of your research findings.

Next, present a content analysis of another part of the spectrum of the same research question, perhaps the NEGATIVE or NEUTRAL responses to the survey. For instance:

  “As Figure 1 shows, 15 out of 60 patients in Group A responded negatively to Question 2.”

After you have assessed the data in one figure and explained it sufficiently, move on to your next research question. For example:

  “How does patient satisfaction correspond to in-hospital improvements made to postoperative care?”

This kind of data may be presented through a figure or set of figures (for instance, a paired T-test table).

Explain the data you present, here in a table, with a concise content analysis:

“The p-value for the comparison between the before and after groups of patients was .03% (Fig. 2), indicating that the greater the dissatisfaction among patients, the more frequent the improvements that were made to postoperative care.”

Let’s examine another example of a Results section from a study on plant tolerance to heavy metal stress . In the Introduction section, the aims of the study are presented as “determining the physiological and morphological responses of Allium cepa L. towards increased cadmium toxicity” and “evaluating its potential to accumulate the metal and its associated environmental consequences.” The Results section presents data showing how these aims are achieved in tables alongside a content analysis, beginning with an overview of the findings:

“Cadmium caused inhibition of root and leave elongation, with increasing effects at higher exposure doses (Fig. 1a-c).”

The figure containing this data is cited in parentheses. Note that this author has combined three graphs into one single figure. Separating the data into separate graphs focusing on specific aspects makes it easier for the reader to assess the findings, and consolidating this information into one figure saves space and makes it easy to locate the most relevant results.

Following this overall summary, the relevant data in the tables is broken down into greater detail in text form in the Results section.

• “Results on the bio-accumulation of cadmium were found to be the highest (17.5 mg kgG1) in the bulb, when the concentration of cadmium in the solution was 1×10G2 M and lowest (0.11 mg kgG1) in the leaves when the concentration was 1×10G3 M.”

Captioning and Referencing Tables and Figures

Tables and figures are central components of your Results section and you need to carefully think about the most effective way to use graphs and tables to present your findings . Therefore, it is crucial to know how to write strong figure captions and to refer to them within the text of the Results section.

The most important advice one can give here as well as throughout the paper is to check the requirements and standards of the journal to which you are submitting your work. Every journal has its own design and layout standards, which you can find in the author instructions on the target journal’s website. Perusing a journal’s published articles will also give you an idea of the proper number, size, and complexity of your figures.

Regardless of which format you use, the figures should be placed in the order they are referenced in the Results section and be as clear and easy to understand as possible. If there are multiple variables being considered (within one or more research questions), it can be a good idea to split these up into separate figures. Subsequently, these can be referenced and analyzed under separate headings and paragraphs in the text.

To create a caption, consider the research question being asked and change it into a phrase. For instance, if one question is “Which color did participants choose?”, the caption might be “Color choice by participant group.” Or in our last research paper example, where the question was “What is the concentration of cadmium in different parts of the onion after 14 days?” the caption reads:

 “Fig. 1(a-c): Mean concentration of Cd determined in (a) bulbs, (b) leaves, and (c) roots of onions after a 14-day period.”

Steps for Composing the Results Section

Because each study is unique, there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to designing a strategy for structuring and writing the section of a research paper where findings are presented. The content and layout of this section will be determined by the specific area of research, the design of the study and its particular methodologies, and the guidelines of the target journal and its editors. However, the following steps can be used to compose the results of most scientific research studies and are essential for researchers who are new to preparing a manuscript for publication or who need a reminder of how to construct the Results section.

Step 1 : Consult the guidelines or instructions that the target journal or publisher provides authors and read research papers it has published, especially those with similar topics, methods, or results to your study.

• The guidelines will generally outline specific requirements for the results or findings section, and the published articles will provide sound examples of successful approaches.
• Note length limitations on restrictions on content. For instance, while many journals require the Results and Discussion sections to be separate, others do not—qualitative research papers often include results and interpretations in the same section (“Results and Discussion”).
• Reading the aims and scope in the journal’s “ guide for authors ” section and understanding the interests of its readers will be invaluable in preparing to write the Results section.

Step 2 : Consider your research results in relation to the journal’s requirements and catalogue your results.

• Focus on experimental results and other findings that are especially relevant to your research questions and objectives and include them even if they are unexpected or do not support your ideas and hypotheses.
• Catalogue your findings—use subheadings to streamline and clarify your report. This will help you avoid excessive and peripheral details as you write and also help your reader understand and remember your findings. Create appendices that might interest specialists but prove too long or distracting for other readers.
• Decide how you will structure of your results. You might match the order of the research questions and hypotheses to your results, or you could arrange them according to the order presented in the Methods section. A chronological order or even a hierarchy of importance or meaningful grouping of main themes or categories might prove effective. Consider your audience, evidence, and most importantly, the objectives of your research when choosing a structure for presenting your findings.

Step 3 : Design figures and tables to present and illustrate your data.

• Tables and figures should be numbered according to the order in which they are mentioned in the main text of the paper.
• Information in figures should be relatively self-explanatory (with the aid of captions), and their design should include all definitions and other information necessary for readers to understand the findings without reading all of the text.
• Use tables and figures as a focal point to tell a clear and informative story about your research and avoid repeating information. But remember that while figures clarify and enhance the text, they cannot replace it.

Step 4 : Draft your Results section using the findings and figures you have organized.

• The goal is to communicate this complex information as clearly and precisely as possible; precise and compact phrases and sentences are most effective.
• In the opening paragraph of this section, restate your research questions or aims to focus the reader’s attention to what the results are trying to show. It is also a good idea to summarize key findings at the end of this section to create a logical transition to the interpretation and discussion that follows.
• Try to write in the past tense and the active voice to relay the findings since the research has already been done and the agent is usually clear. This will ensure that your explanations are also clear and logical.
• Make sure that any specialized terminology or abbreviation you have used here has been defined and clarified in the  Introduction section .

Step 5 : Review your draft; edit and revise until it reports results exactly as you would like to have them reported to your readers.

• Double-check the accuracy and consistency of all the data, as well as all of the visual elements included.
• Read your draft aloud to catch language errors (grammar, spelling, and mechanics), awkward phrases, and missing transitions.
• Ensure that your results are presented in the best order to focus on objectives and prepare readers for interpretations, valuations, and recommendations in the Discussion section . Look back over the paper’s Introduction and background while anticipating the Discussion and Conclusion sections to ensure that the presentation of your results is consistent and effective.
• Consider seeking additional guidance on your paper. Find additional readers to look over your Results section and see if it can be improved in any way. Peers, professors, or qualified experts can provide valuable insights.

One excellent option is to use a professional English proofreading and editing service  such as Wordvice, including our paper editing service . With hundreds of qualified editors from dozens of scientific fields, Wordvice has helped thousands of authors revise their manuscripts and get accepted into their target journals. Read more about the  proofreading and editing process  before proceeding with getting academic editing services and manuscript editing services for your manuscript.

As the representation of your study’s data output, the Results section presents the core information in your research paper. By writing with clarity and conciseness and by highlighting and explaining the crucial findings of their study, authors increase the impact and effectiveness of their research manuscripts.

For more articles and videos on writing your research manuscript, visit Wordvice’s Resources page.

Wordvice Resources

• How to Write a Research Paper Introduction 
• Which Verb Tenses to Use in a Research Paper
• How to Write an Abstract for a Research Paper
• How to Write a Research Paper Title
• Useful Phrases for Academic Writing
• Common Transition Terms in Academic Papers
• Active and Passive Voice in Research Papers
• 100+ Verbs That Will Make Your Research Writing Amazing
• Tips for Paraphrasing in Research Papers

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Create Reports and BI dashboards in 5 minutes!

Analysis reports are constantly required documents in almost every company. In the digital age, analytical reporting seems to be more indispensable but challenging because of the data explosion.

If you want to follow the pace of the rapid changes, let’s discuss what an analysis report is and how to create an effective one by following some steps and templates.

Note: The report and dashboard examples in this article are all built-in templates made by  FineReport , the leading BI  reporting tool  in the Asian-Pacific region.

1. What is an Analysis Report

2. importance of the analysis report, step 1: consider the goal and audience of your analysis report, step 2: focus on kpis and collect relevant information, step 3: select a proper type of the analysis report, step 4: visualize your data and organize the components, step 5: utilize interactive effects and preview your analysis report, step 6: authorize the readers of your analysis report, step 7: adjust the layout for mobile users, step 8: automatically update your analysis report, marketing analysis report, sales analysis report, financial analysis report, 5. a conclusion of the analysis report.

An analysis report is an essential business report displaying analysis results and feasible suggestions, and providing valuable information for decision-makers so that they can evaluate current operation status and then make well-informed decisions. 

According to different analysis objects, purposes, and methods, analysis reports can be categorized into many types, such as comprehensive analysis reports, thematic analysis reports, routine work analysis reports, etc. 

Commonly, we often make analysis reports in Excel or display them in PowerPoint. However, sometimes we may find some inconveniences in the process of data collection and data visualization . 

For example, when making routine work analysis reports, we find it inconvenient to re-summarize the latest data and recreate a new report, especially when the data is in a large volume. Also, creating charts in Excel is time-consuming. So I prefer to get some help from professional reporting tools  to make modern analysis reports, especially FineReport which can help to easily establish complex analysis reports and dashboards . If you are interested in how to choose the right reporting tools, you can read this article for a more detailed introduction: Top 5 Report Maker Software & Reporting Software .

If a company can take full advantage of effective analysis reports, it will reap many benefits.

Modern analysis reports improve the efficiency of communication within a company and between the company and other companies. Utilizing analysis reports can ensure the objectivity, consistency, and accuracy of the data on a single platform. Therefore, no matter who needs the information, they can access the report at any time without repetitively asking others to send documents. As a result, the communication process becomes more efficient.

More importantly, using an analysis report not only eases the decision-making process but also allows managers to make decisions based on sufficient analysis instead of instinct or experience. Modern analysis reports are often full of visualized data so that the managers can find the problem more intuitively and then analyze the causes of it by using the function of data drilling in the reporting tool. 

Also, an analysis report created in reporting software can provide timely updating data for a company to monitor key information indicators and make preparations for potential challenges. And they can also predict the future trend based on the historical trend shown by the report.

3. Steps to Make an Analysis Report

After reading the above part, you may have a basic understanding of what an analysis report is and why a company needs analytic reports. Maybe now, you want to know how to create it. Therefore, I would like to introduce the steps to make an effective analysis report with the help of some reporting tools like FineReport . You can download FineReport for free to have a try!

It is common sense that we’d better identify the goal before starting something. Likewise, before making an analysis report, remember to be clear about its purpose. Otherwise, you may make a lot of effort but in vain at last. Therefore, it is essential to make a goal-oriented analysis report.

Besides the goal, your audience is also a factor that you need to consider first. The ultimate users may influence the focus of your analysis report. People in different positions will analyze a problem from different levels. So try to think about your audience and their expectations before the creation of an analysis report.

An analysis report is used to help the decision-makers get the most critical information. Therefore, what you should do is focus on key information indicators and then filter and analyze a large amount of data instead of simply recording all the information for readers to analyze by themselves. In essence, finding the KPIs useful for the users is not very difficult because there are many analytic report samples involving common KPIs for your reference.

For example, the following financial report sample contains some commonly used metrics for financial analysis .  

Data and KPIs are ready. The next question you may think about is how to choose a proper type of report to transform the data into value. Traditionally, the data is displayed page by page, which directly increases the length of your report. Therefore, why not try some modern types of reports to contain a large volume of data on just one screen?

Here I would like to offer you three types of modern reports   developed by FineReport: general reports, aggregation reports, and dashboard reports. You can select the most appropriate one depending on your requirements.

The general report is a kind of Excel-like report which you are very familiar with. The most distinct difference is that this type of report supports fetching data from multiple databases and making reports for different purposes, such as sales analysis reports , HR analysis reports , financial analysis reports, etc.

If you have a large amount of data that can not be displayed with several modules, you can choose aggregation reports to make complex large analysis reports containing multiple fragmented areas and involving many indicators. The modules are independent of each other while supporting customized combinations.

If you attempt to maximize the visualization of your data and enjoy the highest degree of freedom, a dashboard is the best choice for you. A dashboard in FineReport can be regarded as a canvas that allows you to choose wonderful charts and design the layout according to your own will . 

Until now, you have made sufficient preparation for your analysis report. It is time to display them in your report logically and effectively. 

In the last step, we finish collecting data. Although the data is carefully filtered, it is still in a large volume for the reason that the analysis results based on quantitative data are more convincing and efficient. However, it is not recommended to display too much statistical data for the readers because it will result in inefficiency.

Therefore, data visualization is the next step. You need to transmit your data into visual charts by using some data visualization tools such as FineReport. FineReport supports more than 50 chart styles, covering all basic and high-level charts on the market, and also has excellent dynamic effects and a powerful interactive experience. Various features can be set according to the needs during use, and can also be self-adjusted and displayed on the mobile terminal and large LED screen . Proper charts will have a positive effect on your analysis report. So remember to select suitable charts according to your purpose. For instance, when you need to show the developing trend in the last financial year, a line chart is more ideal than a pie chart. 

Putting the information you need to convey logically is also a significant point. Just like a report full of numbers and words, a report full of charts is not readable as well. So don’t overuse charts and components in your analytic report. 

The components in your report should be organized in a logical and readable way. The picture below shows one of the popular layout samples created by FineReport for your reference.

The interactive effects not only make your analysis more attractive but also have some practical advantages.

On the one hand, the interactive effects, such as chart drill-down, chart linkage, and parameter query, allow you to put more necessary information on a single screen without influencing the neatness of your analytic report.

On the other hand, the readers can also benefit from the interactive analysis. For example, if a sales manager wants to know the causes of the decrease in sales, he can drill down to view the detailed sales performance of a certain kind of product. The interactive analysis experience enables the users to better understand the data displayed in the report.

Constant preview will help you to make sure that all interactive or dynamic effects and charts in your analytic report work well. If you find any error in your report, remember to make it correct immediately so that all things are in their best position when you publish the report.

Now that you have successfully designed an analysis report for the computer terminal. However, we are still a few steps away from the completion of the analysis report.

As we mentioned above, all the users can access the analysis report in one platform with the help of some modern reporting tools . However, maybe you only want to share the analysis report with a certain group of people. The function of authorization in FineReport can realize your goal. The assignment of permissions can be based on department positions, roles, or usernames. With this function, you can determine who can access the report to guarantee the security of the data.

The analysis report designed above is only accessible on the computer terminal. Sometimes, the manager wants to view the report while there is no computer at hand. At this time, providing an analytic report adaptable for the mobile terminal is very necessary. You can easily adjust the layout to adapt to the mobile side in FineReport which provides the integration of reports into the mobile apps .

With an analysis report supporting mobile access , users can get rid of the limitation of office space and take full advantage of the fragmented time.      

We successfully come to the last step of creating an efficient analysis report. You’d better update your analysis report frequently, both its style and the data. 

As we all know, some analysis reports are frequently required, such as monthly sales performance reports , quarterly financial analysis reports, and so on. Some repetitive work will be generated in the process of recreating them. And even though the data was collected yesterday, it may not be the latest one because we live in an era full of rapid changes. 

Fortunately, you can utilize some analysis reporting tools to automatically update your report to adapt to the changes. The function of data monitoring in FineReport is very practical. When there is a change in the database, the data in your analytic report is also updated in time. Therefore, the readers are enabled to view the latest data, which is better for their decision-making process.

4. Analysis Report Samples and Templates

Following some analysis report samples will improve your working efficiency. Here are some templates I found in FineReport for your reference. Maybe you will get some inspiration from these reports.

If your executives want to know how well a product performs in different areas, a marketing performance analysis report is an essential tool for them to analyze. 

This marketing analysis report offers some bar charts showing the data by state, and a column chart displaying the completion of sales plans by city. In this way, your managers are enabled to find the best area at a glance. 

A manager will also pay much attention to the overall sales performance of your company. This sales analysis report also allows your manager to view the detailed sales performance in different cities by the linkage among the components. Besides, this report also supports deeply analyzing each salesperson’s performance and progress by data drilling.

A company’s financial position has a significant impact on its business operation. Here is a financial analysis report sample for the CFO to evaluate the financial status of the company with the financial and non-financial indicators. The financial metrics such as revenue, gross profit, and asset to debt intuitively reflect the operation position, while the non-financial indicators, including client satisfaction and No. of certified employees, indirectly show the company’s overall operating conditions.

Analysis reports are essential materials supporting and accelerating the company’s decision-making process. They provide the managers with actionable insights into their business operation and then make informed strategies to ensure the healthy development of their company.

After finishing reading this post, you will find it not demanding to create an excellent analysis report with the help of some reporting tools , among which I prefer FineReport . Even though you are not a professional analyst, you can take full advantage of this software to design your analytic report like an expert. It has a free personal version including all the functions.

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