Methodology & Results

(Preliminary Analysis)
AEB-09
Remember!

Proposal/Synopsis Thesis Article (s)

Synopsis
• A synopsis is a short, systematic outline of your proposed thesis,
made in preparation for your first meeting with your supervisor
• Your synopsis will work as a kind of protocol for the further steps
you need to take to ensure that your thesis reaches the required
academic level
• It is composed of introduction, literature review, methodology,
plan of analysis, budget and gantt chart
• Methodology and plan of analysis is written in future tense
• It helps to gain IRB (institutional review board) approval
Thesis
• It should meet academic requirements and follows academic
(institute) guidelines
• It is usually a big document with chapters i.e. Introduction,
literature review, methodology, results & discussion
• Results are presented in detail with a lot of tables & graphs
• Few preliminary analysis (reliability, normality, linearity etc.) are
attached in appendices
Article
• It is written according to the guidelines of journal
• It is mostly of 2000 to 6000 words
• Introduction and literature review is written in merged form
• Results are presented both in words and tables & graphs. Limit of
tables & graphs has to be followed
• If it is written from thesis then one should avoid “salami slices”
Methodology & Result Writing-
Basic Concepts
Components of Methodology
• Study setting and duration
• Study design, study population, target population
• Eligibility criteria (inclusion/exclusion)
• Sample size and sampling strategy
• Data collection tool (sections of questionnaire)
• Validity & reliability
• Explanation of variables (Number of questions, recoding, nature
etc.)
• Assessment of normality
• Ethical considerations
Article Discussion
Result Writing
• After methodology second most important chapter/section is
results
• Try to show your quantitative skills BUT RELEVANT!!
• Use tables and figures to emphasize on vital aspects of research
• How to caption table and figures??
• It will have further two sections:
Descriptive
Inferential (if required)
Descriptive results (Independent Variables)

• Identify type of variables from your questionnaire (categorical or

continuous)
• Run percentages with frequencies for categorical
• Mean, median, mode, SD, quartiles for continuous
• Continuous variables are reported with mean ± SD or median (IQR)
as relevant
Sample (Descriptive Results)
A total of 385 participants were included in this study. Of the 384
participants, 267 (58.6%) were working in public sector. The sample
consisted of 205 (53.2%) males. About half of the participants
(n=233; 56.3%) had completed their surgical training program.
Most of the surgeons were married (n=284; 73.8 %) (Table 1). The
mean age of the sample was 36.71±9.12 years. Majority of the
surgeons (n= 388; 78.3%) agreed that professional psychological
services were necessary for their occupation.
Table-1 Demographic Characteristics
S.no. Variables N (%)
1. Gender
Male 205 (53%)
Female 187(47%)
2. Education Status
At least primary
Matric
Higher
Descriptive Results (Outcome)
• Items from likert scale (you used for outcome) should be
represented individually in percentages and frequency
• Result for computed scale (outcome) should also b reported as
relevant
If outcome is quantitative?
If it is qualitative?
Descriptive Results (Outcome Variable)
• If categorical then mention percentages with graph
• For continuous outcome use mean ± Standard deviation or median
with IQR as relevant
• Also mention range (min-max) and total range of used
scale..reason??
• Use same decimal place for mean and SD
Sample (Outcome Results)
• There were a total of 23 items (Table 2) in the job content part of
the questionnaire, measured on a binary categorical scale with
options yes or no (0-23). The total Job demand scores had a range
of 5-21 and a mean of 13.11±3.32.

• There were a total of 23 items (Table 2) in the job content part of

the questionnaire that were later categorized after computation on
the basis of median/standard cut off. Results showed 75% (n=122)
respondents with difficult job content (Figure 1)
Norms for Writing Descriptive Results
• Follow pattern of questions in questionnaire
• Avoid initiation of a sentence with digit/number
• Never mention all options of categorical variable in text
• Use same decimal place for all percentages
• Make a compiled table for all qualitative variables
• Qualitative variable explained with figure should not be mention in
table
• Caption of table is always on top of table and of figure is always
below of figure
Descriptive Results
Graphical Presentation of Data
Choosing right graph
Categorical variable Continuous Variable
• Bar charts (types??) • Histogram
• Pie chart • Box-plot
• Line chart • Scatter plot
INFERENTIAL RESULTS
• Review your objectives and hypothesis
• Carefully examine nature of independent and dependent variables to
select statistical test
• Never over burden analysis with different types of tests
• Try to make compiled tables inferential findings
Never Use Output Tables from SPSS
Let’s Practice from Survey.4ED