Stating expected outcomes **(optional) (Move 3, Step 3)**

In this final unit you will learn how to state your study’s expected outcomes. Complete follow-up comprehension activities to check your understanding of this unit and revise what you have learnt about the Introduction section.

This part of the Introduction section typically concludes the whole section. Its main aim is to tell the reader what your expectations are about the study’s value (significance) and implications in terms of addressing the research gap and extending the current body of knowledge on the topic. This part is usually written in just a few sentences (1-3), as more detailed information will be given in the Expected Outcomes section of a research proposal (see the Expected Outcomes module).

Examples:

Here are some examples from adapted Introductions to research articles and proposals:

This study may shed a powerful light on how policy is constructed in authoritarian settings, and what adverse consequences there can be of exporting transparency without electoral sanctioning. (Malesky & Schuler, 2012) (Political Science)
In this way, the study may contribute to academic knowledge and challenge policy makers to embrace a more variegated approach to the question of ‘national’ security and citizens’ roles within it. (Stevens & Vaughan-Williams, 2016) (Political Science).
The ﬁndings may have signiﬁcant implications for more typical party systems in that they are not completely devoid of intra-party variance, and social background may go a long way to explaining this variance. (Courtney, 2015) (Political Science).

What do you notice about the use of hedging structures (e.g., modal verbs and adverbs—may, might, possibly, perhaps)? What effect do you think they are trying to achieve?

Here are some more examples of “outcomes statements” from research articles:

The results of this study contribute some empirical evidence in an attempt to raise awareness of a test bias which has been overlooked in many ESL/EFL contexts (Applied Linguistics) (cited in Khamkhien, 2015).
In fact, our ﬁndings challenge a centerpiece of political participation orthodoxy— that individual resources such as time, knowledge, and money are the strongest predictors of participation (Weaver & Lerman, 2010) (Political Science).
Based on our results, this study provides a more nuanced picture of how a citizen’s sense of (in)security is linked to the levels at which they perceive certain issues as threatening (Stevens & Vaughan-Williams, 2016) (Political Science).

What effect does the use of the Present Simple tense produce in these examples? How is it different from the one used in the previous examples?

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Task 4

Distinguishing between steps in Introductions: All moves

Read shorter extracts from several Introductions to research articles (1 to 2) in the field of economics. Match the extracts to Move 3 steps by dragging them into the spaces.

Text 1 (Source: Dutta, N., & Williamson, C. (2016). Can foreign aid free the press? Journal of Institutional Economics, FirstView, 1–19.)

In this study, we contend that the magnitude of foreign aid’s influence is conditional on the existence of democratic checks as democracies can minimize the ability for recipient governments to misappropriate aid funds.

Given the importance of press freedom, we seek to understand how a country can free its press.

We will evaluate if aid has any impact, positive or negative, on press freedom.

Our empirical approach utilizes panel data from up to 106 aid receiving countries from 1994 to 2010.

As has been suggested in the literature, foreign aid may positively influence press. However, it is also plausible that foreign aid prevents media sector freedom by expanding the role of the state, promoting government over private investments, and further entrenching inefficient regimes.

Reviewing previous research

Stating the purpose of the present study

Presenting a hypothesis

Presenting methodology

Note: Every hint in group field should be enclosed with curly braces.

Text 2 (Source: Chalioti, E. (2015). Incentive contracts under product market competition and R&D spillovers. Economic Theory, 58(2), 305–328.)

This study seeks to contribute to the existing literature on the theory of the firm that argues that considering a firm in isolation may be misleading.

Normally it is assumed that the optimal effort only affects the first two moments of the distribution of wages and the agent’s problem has a closed-form solution.

We use the standard principal-agent model in a competitive setting where the researchers’ decisions cannot affect firms’ strategic interactions.

In our model, we assume that researchers’ tasks are focused on cost reduction and their rewards are directly related to the output of their task.

Providing background information or facts

Stating the purpose of the present study

Presenting methodology

Note: Every hint in group field should be enclosed with curly braces.

Distinguishing between Move 3 steps in Introductions

Read shorter extracts from several Introductions to research articles (1 to 3) in the field of economics. Match the extracts to Move 3 steps by dragging them into the spaces.

Text 1 (Source: Chatzopoulos, T., & Lippert, C. (2016). Endogenous farm-type selection, endogenous irrigation, and spatial effects in Ricardian models of climate change. European Review of Agricultural Economics, 43(2), 217–235.)

We set out to assess the extent to which modelling adaptation explicitly affects the partial effects of the climatic attributes.

We have proposed a new analytical strategy to explicitly account for the endogeneity of any climate adaptation measure.

Due to data privacy restrictions, the analysis was carried out for small-area aggregates.

Stating the purpose of the present study

Presenting methodology

Stating the value of the study

Note: Every hint in group field should be enclosed with curly braces.

Text 2 (Source: Prell, C., & Lo, Y-J. (2016). Network formation and knowledge gains. The Journal Of Mathematical Sociology, 40(1), 21–52.)

We will also attempt to examine which network structures emerge from different strategies.

We chose knowledge as it is a resource that can be understood to flow through a network structure. In focusing on knowledge, we distinguish between knowledge types and levels of knowledge expertise.

Although knowledge and learning are our main concerns in the model, we also introduce a social identity variable into our model.

We are interested in exploring which network strategies are more successful for building reciprocity with more knowledgeable (expert) actors in a network.

Stating the purpose of the present study

Presenting methodology

Note: Every hint in group field should be enclosed with curly braces.

Text 3 (Source: Cosimato, S., & Troisi, O. (2015). Green supply chain management: Practices and tools for logistics competitiveness and sustainability. The DHL case study. The TQM Journal, 27(2), 256–276.)

.

This paper seeks to achieve a better understanding of strategies and policies designed to deal with the emerging challenges in terms of logistics sustainable development.

This paper may contribute to a better understanding of the influence of green strategies and technologies on logistic industry and SCM in terms of system innovation and competitiveness.

The paper is structured as follows: ...

This paper aims to offer a new perspective on green technologies and innovations’ influence on SCM

The next section outlines the theoretical background and the research questions.

Stating the purpose of the present study

Stating the value of the study

Outlining the structure of the paper

Note: Every hint in group field should be enclosed with curly braces.

Text reconstruction (all moves)

Read an extract from an Introduction to a research article in the field of economics. Put the jumbled sentences in the correct order based on the plan. Drag the sentences around in the box.

Source: Chalioti, E. (2015). Incentive contracts under product market competition and R&D spillovers. Economic Theory, 58(2), 305–328.

1. Providing background information or facts
2. Question raising
3. Stating expected or preliminary outcomes

In this paper we suggest that the latter result need not hold if firms interact in the product market, which we are going to prove.

Does it really hold true?

Thus, the owners of the firms are better-off under full information where no insurance is provided.

The conventional wisdom in models with moral hazard, originating from Holmström (1979) and Holmström and Milgrom (1987), is that the optimal contract balances an increase in risk with weaker incentives for effort due to risk sharing.

Note: Every hint in group field should be enclosed with curly braces.

Text reconstruction (all moves revision)

Read the extracts from an Introduction to a research article in the field of political science. Put the jumbled sentences in the correct order based on the plan. Drag the sentences around in the box.

Text 1 (Source: Courtney, M. (2015). Social background and intra-party attitudes in Ireland. Irish Political Studies, 30(2), 178–198.)

1. Showing the importance of the topic
2. Providing background information or facts
3. Reviewing previous research
4. Question raising
5. Stating the purpose of the present study
6. Presenting methodology

Notwithstanding the fact that social background may be driving party affiliation, there may be a considerable amount of residual intra-party attitudinal variation.

The analysis begins with an assessment of the degree of intra-party variation in substantive political attitude items and the extent to which intra-party attitudes are delineated by the social background characteristics of its members.

However, the question remains whether the social background characteristics of political representatives affect their attitudes.

There is an increasing understanding that political elites in every state are disproportionately populated by middle-class and well-educated men.

Previous studies have tended to write of this residual variation and the social background explanation too easily (Farlie & Budge, 1974; Narud & Valen, 2000; Norris & Lovenduski, 1995; O’Sullivan, 2002).

This paper argues that social background and party afﬁliation are hierarchical, rather than competing, explanations.

Note: Every hint in group field should be enclosed with curly braces.

Text 2 (Source: Gallego, A., Buscha, F., Sturgis, P., & Oberski, D. (2014). Places and preferences: A longitudinal analysis of self-selection and contextual effects. British Journal of Political Science, 46(3), 529–550.)

1. Showing the importance of the topic
2. Providing background information or facts
3. Question raising
4. Stating the purpose of the present study
5. Presenting research questions
6. Announcing preliminary findings

Despite the large body of existing research in this area, the question of whether local contexts actually cause political preferences to change remains contested.

Establishing that both self-selection and, albeit limited, contextual effects exist is important for several reasons ...

We ﬁnd that in the years following a residential move, an individual’s political preferences become more aligned with the majority political orientation of the area into which they moved.

It should be noted that the political preferences of a national population are not randomly distributed across geographical areas.

In this study, we seek to address the full range of causes and political consequences of internal migration.

We focus our attention on two narrow yet fundamental research questions: Do people select into areas that exhibit majority political beliefs congruent with their own? And are individual political preferences inﬂuenced by the political orientation

Note: Every hint in group field should be enclosed with curly braces.

Language focus

See these sections in the Expected outcomes module to learn about typical language used to write about a study’s significance (value):

Stating expected outcomes (optional) (Move 3, Step 3)

Examples:

Distinguishing between steps in Introductions: All moves

Distinguishing between Move 3 steps in Introductions

Text reconstruction (all moves)

Text reconstruction (all moves revision)

Language focus

Stating expected outcomes **(optional) (Move 3, Step 3)**