How to Write Your Dissertation Results Chapter (Chapter 4) in APA 7th Edition

The results chapter is where your committee decides whether your data actually answer your research questions, and it is the chapter students most often get sent back to revise. The reasons are consistent and fixable. Chapter 4 has one job: to report what you found, clearly and objectively. Candidates undermine it in predictable ways. They interpret when they should only report, they present statistics in formats APA 7 does not accept, and they leave out the effect sizes and confidence intervals that reviewers now require beside every result. None of these is about the quality of your analysis; they are about how the results are presented. This guide sets out exactly what Chapter 4 should contain, how to report every common statistic to the APA 7th edition, and the line between reporting and interpreting that examiners enforce. When you want the analysis run and the chapter written to this standard, our dissertation data analysis service delivers it.

Quick Answer:

The results chapter (Chapter 4) reports your findings objectively and in the past tense; it does not interpret them, which is the job of Chapter 5. A quantitative Chapter 4 typically contains a restatement of the research questions, a description of the sample and data screening, descriptive statistics, and inferential results organized question by question, with APA-formatted tables and figures and a brief summary. Under APA 7th edition and JARS-Quant, every inferential result is reported with its test statistic, degrees of freedom, an exact p-value (written as p < .001, never p = .000), an effect size, and a confidence interval. Statistical symbols are italicized, leading zeros are used only for values that can exceed one, tables have no vertical rules, and every table and figure is referred to explicitly in the text.

The One Rule That Governs the Whole Chapter: Report, Do Not Interpret

Before any formatting detail, there is a single principle that determines whether your chapter is structured correctly: Chapter 4 reports, Chapter 5 interprets. The results chapter presents what you found, objectively and factually, in the past tense. It states that a difference was significant, gives the numbers, and points to the relevant table. It does not say what the finding means, why it might have occurred, how it compares to the literature, or what its implications are. All of that belongs in the discussion chapter. Examiners enforce this separation strictly, and blurring it is one of the most common structural problems in a results chapter.

The practical test is simple. If a sentence reports a number, a statistic, or an observed pattern, it belongs in Chapter 4. If it explains, speculates, connects to theory, or draws an implication, it belongs in Chapter 5. A results chapter that starts explaining why a hypothesis was supported has crossed the line, and an examiner will mark it. This reporting-first discipline applies to any quantitative dissertation, the kind our guide on whether your dissertation should be qualitative or quantitative helps you commit to at the outset. Keeping the two chapters distinct is not a stylistic preference; it reflects the logic of the dissertation, where evidence is presented first and interpreted second, and it is one of the distinctions our overview of the ten most common dissertation mistakes returns to repeatedly.

What Chapter 4 Contains, in Order

A quantitative results chapter follows a recognizable structure, and committees expect its components in a logical sequence. Working through them in order gives you the skeleton of the chapter.

It opens with a brief introduction that restates the research questions or hypotheses and outlines how the chapter is organized, usually a paragraph or two, no more. It then describes the sample and the data screening: the final sample size and response rate, how missing data and outliers were handled, and the results of the assumption checks that justify the tests to come. This data-screening section is where you demonstrate that your analysis rests on sound foundations, and skipping it is a frequent cause of revision. Next come the descriptive statistics, the means, standard deviations, frequencies, and distributions that characterize your variables and set up the inferential tests.

The core of the chapter is the inferential results, organized question by question or hypothesis by hypothesis. This organization matters: structuring the results around your research questions, rather than around the tests you happened to run, keeps the chapter aligned with the study and makes it easy for an examiner to see that every question was answered. Each result is reported with its full statistical detail and pointed to a table or figure. The chapter closes with a short summary of the findings, again without interpretation, that sets up the discussion to follow.

Table 1: What a Quantitative Results Chapter Contains, in Order

The APA 7 Reporting Rules for Statistics

This is where precise mechanical knowledge separates a clean chapter from one covered in tracked changes. APA 7th edition specifies exactly how statistical results are written, and reviewers apply these rules closely. The following are the ones that matter most in a dissertation results chapter.

Report the complete result. Every inferential test is reported with its test statistic, its degrees of freedom in parentheses, an exact p-value, and an effect size. A t-test, for example, is reported as t(58) = 2.89, p = .005, d = 0.75, and best practice adds the confidence interval. The degrees of freedom, the direction, and the magnitude all have to be present; a bare p-value is not an adequate report.

Report p-values exactly, with one critical exception. Give the exact p-value to two or three decimals, such as p = .03 or p = .012. When a p-value is smaller than .001, do not report it as p = .000, which is both impossible and a hallmark of unedited software output; report it as p < .001. This single error is one of the fastest tells that a chapter was pasted from output without editing.

Italicize statistical symbols. Symbols that are not Greek letters are italicized: M, SD, N, n, t, F, p, r, and d all appear in italics. Greek-letter symbols are not italicized. This applies in the text, in tables, and in figure captions.

Use leading zeros selectively. Place a leading zero before the decimal for values that can exceed one, such as M, SD, t, and F. Omit the leading zero for values that cannot exceed one in absolute terms, such as p-values, correlation coefficients, and most effect-size correlations. So you write t = 2.89, but p = .005, and r = .42 without a leading zero.

Round consistently. Report most values to two decimal places. Report effect sizes and confidence intervals alongside point estimates rather than on their own.

Table 2: APA 7th Edition Statistical Reporting Rules

Format tables to APA 7. Tables carry no vertical rules, only horizontal ones, and they should be readable on their own. APA 7 discourages using asterisks to flag significance in tables and prefers exact p-values in a column. Every table and every figure must be referred to explicitly in the text by its number, as in "As shown in Table 3," never as "the table above" or "the table below," because final typesetting can move a table's position. Number tables and figures in the order they are first mentioned.

Effect Sizes and Confidence Intervals Are Not Optional

The most consequential reporting requirement, and the one most often neglected, is that a p-value alone is not enough. Under APA 7th edition and its Journal Article Reporting Standards for quantitative research, known as JARS-Quant, every inferential result should be accompanied by an effect size and, wherever possible, a confidence interval. Reporting significance without magnitude is one of the most frequently flagged omissions in both dissertation defenses and journal peer review, and studies of graduate theses find that effect sizes are reported for only a minority of tests.

The reasoning is simple. A p-value tells you whether an effect is likely to be real; it says nothing about how large or how practically meaningful that effect is. A tiny, trivial difference can be statistically significant in a large sample, and an important difference can miss significance in a small one. The effect size is what tells your reader and your committee whether the finding matters. Report Cohen's d for t-tests, eta-squared or partial eta-squared for ANOVA, the r value itself for correlation, R-squared for regression, and phi or Cramer's V for chi-square. Pair each with a confidence interval, which conveys the precision of the estimate. When you interpret an effect size, in Chapter 5 rather than here, judge it against the norms of your field. Do not treat the common small, medium, and large benchmarks as fixed rules, because those thresholds are conventions their own authors described as last-resort values. JARS-Quant is open-access, and the APA reporting standards for quantitative research are worth consulting directly as you write.

Reporting the Common Tests, Line by Line

It helps to see the exact form each common result takes, because the pattern is consistent once you have it. Each of these reports the statistic, the degrees of freedom, the exact p-value, and an effect size, with a confidence interval where applicable.

An independent-samples t-test is reported in the form t(degrees of freedom) = value, p = value, d = value, for example, t(58) = 2.89, p = .005, d = 0.75, 95% CI [0.22, 1.28]. A one-way ANOVA takes the form F(between-groups df, within-groups df) = value, p = value, with partial eta-squared, for example, F(2, 87) = 5.42, p = .006, partial eta-squared = .11, followed by the post-hoc comparisons that locate the differences. A Pearson correlation is reported as r(df) = value, p = value, for example, r(98) = .42, p < .001, with the r doubling as the effect size. A chi-square test of independence takes the form chi-square(df, N = value) = value, p = value, with an effect size such as Cramer's V. A regression reports the model fit, the R-squared, and then each predictor's coefficient with its confidence interval. Presenting each result in this complete, consistent form is what makes a results chapter read as competent, and it is the format our dissertation chapter support builds into every deliverable so the chapter integrates cleanly with the rest of the thesis.

Tables and Figures: Letting the Data Carry the Load

A well-built results chapter uses tables and figures to carry the detailed numbers, keeping the text free to report the key findings in prose. This is both an APA expectation and a readability principle: a reader should be able to follow your findings from the narrative, then turn to a table for the full detail. Put descriptive statistics, correlation matrices, and regression coefficient tables into APA-formatted tables rather than crowding them into sentences. Use figures, such as bar charts with error bars or scatterplots, where a visual conveys a pattern more clearly than numbers. Do not, however, present the same data in both a table and a figure; choose the format that communicates it best. And remember that tables and figures count toward, or are sometimes excluded from, your word limit depending on your institution's rules, which our guide on what counts toward your word count clarifies. Every table and figure must earn its place by being referred to and used in the text, not left to stand alone.

Handling Non-Significant Results

A results chapter frequently has to report findings that were not statistically significant, and how you handle them signals your competence. A non-significant result is a valid finding, not a failure, and it must be reported as fully and openly as a significant one, with its statistic, p-value, and effect size. What you must not do is misinterpret it. A non-significant result means you did not detect an effect; it does not prove that no effect exists, and writing that it does is a serious inferential error that examiners catch immediately. Report the result plainly here in Chapter 4, and save any discussion of why the effect may not have appeared, including whether the study was adequately powered to detect it, for Chapter 5. Reporting null findings transparently is a mark of integrity, and committees do not penalize them when they are presented and later discussed thoughtfully.

Aligning Chapter 4 With the Rest of the Dissertation

The results chapter does not stand alone; it has to connect backward and forward. It must align with your methodology chapter, reporting exactly the analyses you said you would run there, because a results chapter that deploys tests never mentioned in Chapter 3 raises immediate questions about whether the analysis plan was followed. It must answer every research question posed in the introduction, with nothing left unaddressed. And it must set up the discussion without doing the discussion's work. This alignment across chapters is part of what makes a dissertation cohere, and it starts well before the results, with a literature review and proposal that establish the expected effects, which our literature review support and broader dissertation support are built to strengthen. The clearer the through-line, the more defensible the results chapter becomes in the viva, which our dissertation defense preparation guide helps candidates rehearse.

Frequently Asked Questions

What goes in the results chapter (Chapter 4) of a dissertation?

A quantitative Chapter 4 contains, in order: a brief introduction restating the research questions; a description of the sample and data screening (missing data, outliers, and assumption checks); descriptive statistics; the inferential results organized question by question with full statistical detail; APA-formatted tables and figures; and a short summary of findings. It reports everything objectively and in the past tense, without interpretation, which is reserved for Chapter 5.

What is the difference between Chapter 4 and Chapter 5?

Chapter 4 reports the results; Chapter 5 interprets them. The results chapter presents what you found, factually and without explanation. The discussion chapter explains what the findings mean, why they may have occurred, how they relate to the existing literature, and what their implications are. Examiners enforce this separation strictly, and a results chapter that begins interpreting findings, or a discussion chapter that introduces new results, is a common structural error.

How do I report a t-test in APA 7th edition?

Report the test statistic, the degrees of freedom in parentheses, an exact p-value, and an effect size, in the form t(58) = 2.89, p = .005, d = 0.75, ideally with a confidence interval such as 95% CI [0.22, 1.28]. Italicize the symbols t, p, and d. Use a leading zero for t (which can exceed one) but not for p or d in this context. Never report p = .000; write p < .001 instead.

Why can't I report p = .000?

Because a p-value can never actually be zero, software rounds a very small value to .000 in its display. Reporting it as p = .000 states something impossible and signals that the result was pasted from output without editing. When your software shows .000, report the value as p < .001, which correctly conveys that the probability is smaller than one in a thousand. This is one of the most common and most easily avoided APA errors.

Do I need to report effect sizes and confidence intervals?

Yes. Under APA 7th edition and JARS-Quant, every inferential result should be accompanied by an effect size and, where possible, a confidence interval. A p-value shows whether an effect exists; the effect size shows how large and meaningful it is, and the confidence interval shows the precision of the estimate. Reporting significance alone is one of the most frequently flagged omissions in dissertation defenses and journal reviews, so include the effect size beside every test.

How should I handle non-significant results in my results chapter?

Report them fully and openly, with the statistic, exact p-value, and effect size, exactly as you would a significant result. Do not treat a non-significant result as proof that no effect exists; it means only that you did not detect one. Report the finding plainly in Chapter 4 and reserve any discussion of why the effect may not have appeared, including questions of statistical power, for Chapter 5. Transparent null findings are not penalized.

How should tables and figures be formatted in APA 7?

APA 7 tables use horizontal rules only, never vertical ones, and should be interpretable on their own. Prefer exact p-values in a column over asterisk significance flags. Number tables and figures in the order they are first mentioned, and refer to each explicitly in the text by number, such as "As shown in Table 2," rather than "the table above." Do not present the same data in both a table and a figure; choose the clearer format.

Writing a Chapter That Reports Cleanly

The results chapters that pass are the ones that do one thing well: report the findings, completely and objectively, in the format APA 7 specifies, and stop there. Organize the chapter around your research questions, screen and describe your data before the inferential tests, report every result with its statistic, exact p-value, effect size, and confidence interval, format your tables and figures to standard, and leave every word of interpretation for Chapter 5. Do that, and the results chapter stops being the place your dissertation collects revisions and becomes the clear, defensible evidence base the discussion is built on.

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