Guiding Question:
What do my findings mean for educational research?

Learning Objectives

• distinguish interpretation from repetition of results;

• relate findings to previous research;

• develop theoretical or conceptual interpretations;

• articulate educational significance and contribution;

• discuss limitations appropriately.

Open-Access Resource

PLOS. How to Write an Effective Discussion and Conclusion. https://explore.plos.org/author-resources/how-to-write-effective-discussions-and-conclusions

Mentor Reading

Furberg & Silseth (2022): Discussion.

Core Movement

Finding ↔ Interpretation ↔ Previous scholarship/theory ↔ Contribution

Topics

• Interpreting findings

• Returning to research questions

• Connecting findings with literature

• Agreement and disagreement

• Unexpected findings

• Theoretical implications

• Educational implications

• Limitations

• Avoiding overclaiming

Workshop — The “So What?” Test

For each major finding:

1. What did you find?

2. What does it mean?

3. How does it relate to what we already know?

4. What can we understand differently because of it?

5. Why does that matter for education?

Writing Studio Task — Discussion Draft

Draft the Discussion section.