Themes from Data,

Drawing Conclusions,
and Making
Recommendations
 Learning Objectives
 To identify and describe the steps in
inferring and explaining pattern and
themes from data
 To draw conclusions from said
patterns and themes
 To know how to make
recommendations based on
conclusions
Key Understanding
• Knowledge on the steps on how to draw
conclusions from patterns and themes is
vital in formulating credible conclusions
and making good recommendations.

Key Question
 How can you draw conclusions from data
and how can you make recommendations
based on conclusions?
Data analysis
 is a process of understanding data or known
facts or assumptions serving as the basis of
any claims or conclusions you have about
something.
 You collect these data in many ways:
observation, interview, documentary analysis,
and research instruments like questionnaires,
tests, etc.
 Your primary aim in analyzing recorded data
is to find out if they exist or operate to give
answers to the research questions you raised
prior to your acts of collecting them.
Data analysis
 Coding is your act of using symbols like
letters or words to represent arbitrary or
subjective data (emotions, opinions, attitudes)
to ensure secrecy or privacy of the data.

 Collating is your way of bringing together the

coded data. Giving the data an orderly
appearance is putting them in a graph,
specifically a table of responses.
Data Matrix
 The term “data matrix” is also used to name
this table of responses that consists of table of
cases and their associated variables.

 Two types of data matrix: the profile matrix

that shows measurements of variables or
factors for a set of cases or respondents and
the proximity matrix that indicates
measurements of similarities and differences
between items.
Data Matrix
 Under proximity matrix, if the
measurements show how alike things are,
it is called similarity matrix. If they show
how different they are, it is called
dissimilarity matrix. (Denzin 2013)
 Qualitative Data Analysis
 You analyze or study data that reflect the
respondents’ thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or
views about something.
 These are subjective data that are expressed
in words, and these words serve as the unit of
analysis in a qualitative type of research.
 You collect qualitative data through interviews,
observations, or content analysis and then
subject them to data analysis
 Drawing Conclusions
 This makes you form conclusions that arise
from the factual data you encountered and
analyzed.

 Any conclusions drawn or deduced by you

from facts or statements resulting from logical
thinking rather than from another assumption,
prediction, or generalization are the only ones
included in the conclusion section of your
research paper. (Decilo 2014)
 Drawing Conclusions
 Any conclusion that you give about what you
found out through your analysis of the data you
collected is a “warranted conclusion,” which
explains how the evidence or findings resulting
from your data analysis stands to prove or
disprove your conclusion.

 The best kind of proof to back up your

conclusion is one that is factual and logical or
given by correct reasoning.
 Drawing Conclusions
 You have to write the conclusion section of
your paper with conviction. Convinced of the
validity of your findings to prove your
conclusions, you must confidently state how
your conclusions work to debunk or contradict
existing theories, correlative assumptions, and
published works.
 Your conclusions must obviously provide
sufficient evidence to justify their alignment
with or its support for recent theories and
research findings.
 Drawing Conclusions
 Your conclusions must present your judgment
of the truthfulness of your findings and your
assessment of their capacity to answer either
positively or negatively your research
hypotheses or research questions. (Silverman
2013; Morgan 2014)
 Pointers in Writing Conclusions

1. Explain your point in simple and

clear sentences

2. Use expressions that center on

the topic rather than on yourself,
the researcher.
3. Include only necessary items; exclude any piece
of information or picture not closely related to
your report.
 Pointers in Writing Conclusions

4. Have your conclusion contain only

validly supported findings instead
of falsified results.

5. Practice utmost honesty and

objectivity in stating the results of
your critical evaluation of outcomes
that you expect to support your
conclusions.
 Recommendations
Recommendations should be:

 Logical – should flow logically from the

conclusions

 Relevant – must meet the purpose and the

scope as stated in the Introduction section

 Feasible – must be practical and workable

 Recommendations

 Recommendation should seek to solve or

help to solve problems discovered in the
investigation.

 It should be attainable, practical, flexible,

and feasible.

 It should be addressed to person,

entities or agencies, or offices who or
which are ready to implement them.
 Recommendations

 It can be also a recommendation for the

continuance of a system or
recommendation for improvement.

 It can have recommendation for further

research on the same topic but different
places to verify the findings of the study.
 Recommendations

 There should be no recommendation for

the problem or the things not yet
discovered or discussed.

 They should be based on the findings

and conclusion of the study.

 It should be valid and rational.

 Recommendations

 Recommendations may be specific or

general or both. They may include
suggestions for further studies.

 They should be in non-technical

language.
 Steps in Writing Recommendations

• It should have the aim and effort

to solve problems in the study.

• Writing recommendations should

ensure a continuous benefit being
accorded to the universe-mankind
involved.

• Remember that in writing your

recommendations, you must show
how your results support them.
 Steps in Writing Recommendations

• Specifically stating what should be

done, the steps required to implement
the policy, and the resources needed;
discussion of the benefits to the
organization and what problems would
be corrected or avoided;

• There should be a discussion of the

feasibility of the proposed policy;
 Steps in Writing Recommendations

• Ideally you should be able to write a

formal recommendation regarding the
alternative that is best supported by
the study.

• Present and discuss the kinds of

additional research suggested by
your Project. If the preferred
alternative is implemented, what
further research might be needed?
 Steps in Writing Recommendations

• Write a general statement about the

nature and timing of an evaluation
plan that would be used to
determine the effectiveness of the
proposed policy
 Example of Conclusion

The research concludes that project

participants are considered to have high levels of
active citizenship. They have a strong sense of
civic commitment and civic action, but are
moderately active when it comes to social
cohesion and civic skills. Background
characteristics, specifically age, are significantly
related to community participation. The older the
person is, the more likely he/she will be involved in
a project.