Description
Chapter 3 reports the results/findings from the literature review conducted.
The exact structure/arrangement of Chapter 3 will vary between Projects, but the following main elements should be addressed in Chapter 3:
● Introduction
● You should present this section based on your objectives. Therefore each objective should form a heading in this chapter and within this section you may have several sub-headings.
● Present and Interpret the most important findings – they must be responding to your research objectives. It is important to stay focused on what you are trying to achieve here – and that is to answer the research questions.
To do this effectively, you are required to:
● compare and contrast findings from different studies identified by the literature review strategy outlined in Chapter 2
● Identify and critically analyse the consistencies and inconsistencies emerging from the literature findings. When critiquing the literature you may consider methodological limitations, ethical tensions and/or varying theoretical perspectives/limitations
● Present the literature in themes; grouping all the studies where the findings corroborate or discuss the same issue. For example, you may group together 3 or 4 studies which all discuss the impact of obesity on social relationships. You then may highlight any differences which the study
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presented or how they varied in their methodological approach.
● Identify the types of methods used in the studies your refer to
● Summary (Briefly summarize key issues discussed in this chapter & sign post to next chapter)
Tip: Try to be factual/objective and use neutral language when reporting/ presenting your results. In addition, ensure that all your objectives are addressed in this chapter via appropriate headings and subheadings. The policy/ strategy, legislation impact analysis objective should be addressed last.
You should be using peer-reviewed papers in this section of the report, you can not rely on grey literature for this entire chapter.
