問題：「請問您是否能舉例說明我們如何在研究論文中陳述與研究結果不符的結果？我的研究結果並不太好，但希望能以較好的句型結構方式呈現，以免影響我的論文。」

- 香港大學博士生

回答：

有時候研究過程並未能按照我們的計畫進行，而我們則必須在論文中說明這一點。我們提供以下的句型結構用於當研究的結果不如我們所預期，您也可以善用以下結構去解釋及辯護那些不符期望的結果。

當您想要對結果的解釋表示謹慎

• Initially we thought that x was equal to y. However, a more careful analysis / closer inspection revealed that …
• These results / data / findings thus need to be interpreted with caution / care / attention.
• The conclusions of the review should be treated / interpreted / analyzed / read with caution.
• However, due care / careful attention / extreme caution must be exercised / paid in …
• Given that our findings are based on a limited number of Xs, the results from such analyses should thus / consequently / therefore be treated with considerable / the utmost caution.
• Other researchers have sounded / We should sound a note of caution with regard to such findings.

當您想要概述不利或意料之外的結果

• As was / might have been expected, our findings were often contradictory …
• Contrary to expectations / Unlike other research carried out in this area, we did not find a significant difference between …
• Our results were disappointing / poor / inadequate / unsatisfactory / below expectations. However, …
• Our study was unsuccessful / not successful in proving that …
• Our research failed to account for / justify / explain / give an explanation for / give a reason for the low values of …
• Surprisingly / Unfortunately / Disappointingly / Regrettably, no signs of X were / evidence for X was found.
• What is surprising / we were surprised to find / we are unable to account for is the fact that …
• A substantial / appreciable / noticeable disagreement is evident.
• The Xs appear to be over-predicted / overestimated / overstated …
• This number is slightly lower than the value we expected / anticipated / predicted and there is certainly room for improvement.

當您發現必須承認研究限制的存在

• We aware that our research may have two limitations. The first is … The second is … These limitations highlight / reveal / underline / are evidence of the difficulty of collecting data on ….
• It is plausible that a number of limitations may / might / could have influenced the results obtained.
• First / To begin with … An additional / Another possible source of error is …
• Since / Given that / As the focus of the study was on X … there is a possibility / there is some likelihood / it is not inconceivable that dissimilar evaluations would have arisen if the focus had been on Y.
• The restricted use of X could account for / be the reason for / explain why …
• There are several sources for / causes of / reasons for possible error.
• A major source of unreliability / uncertainty / contamination is in the method used to …
• Unfortunately, it was not possible / we were unable to investigate the significant relationships of X and Y further because / due to the fact that Z is …
• Inevitably / Not surprisingly / As expected / As anticipated, there were some discrepancies / inaccuracies / problems due to …
• The performance was rather / slightly / a little disappointing. This was probably as a result of …
• One downside / disadvantage / negative factor regarding our methodology is that …
• Further data collection is required / would be needed to determine exactly how X affects Y.

當您想要解釋並辯護不利或意料之外的結果

• It is very likely / probable / possible that participants may have erroneously … and this may have led to / brought about changes in …
• The prime / primary / foremost cause of the discrepancy is due to / a result of / a consequence of X.
• This apparent lack of correlation can be attributed to / explained by / justified by …
• The reason for this rather contradictory result is still not entirely / completely clear, but …
• There are several possible explanations for this result / finding / outcome.
• These differences can be explained / justified / accounted for in part by …
• It can thus be suggested / conceivably hypothesized / reasonably assumed that …
• The unexpectedly high / low level of X is undoubtedly / certainly / without any doubt due to …
• A possible / reasonable / satisfactory explanation for X may be that ….
• Another possible explanation / rationalization / reason for this is that …
• Clearly / Evidently / Naturally there may be other possible explanations.
• This happened / occurred / may have happened / may have occurred because we had not examined X sufficiently / in enough depth due to …
• The reasons for this result are not yet wholly / completely / entirely understood.
• It cannot be ruled out / ignored that there was some unintended bias in …
• An unintended bias cannot be ruled out / should be taken into consideration.
• We cannot rule out that X might / may have influenced Y.
• The observed increase in X could be attributed to / might be explained by it / could be interpreted as being a result of …
• Despite the fact that / Although X was expected to do Y, it was not predicted that X would also do Z.
• However, this is not particularly surprising given the fact / in light of the fact / if we consider that…

當您想要表達研究中已儘量減少不利或意料之外的結果

• Although performance was not ideal / perfect / optimal, we still / nevertheless believe that …
• This poor performance was not unexpected / surprising / very significant. In fact …
• This result was not expected / predicted / anticipated. However, the reason for this is probably / it is likely that the reason for this is / it is probable that the reason for this is that …
• Our investigations so far have only been on a small scale / applied to …
• These discrepancies are negligible / can be neglected / considered as insignificant / are of no real consequence due to the fact that …
• Despite the limitations of this method, and consequently the poor results in Test 2, our findings do nevertheless / in any case / however suggest that …
• Given that / Since / On account of the fact that this was only a preliminary attempt to do X it is hardly surprising that …
• As is well known, Xs are extremely hard / difficult / problematic / time-consuming / cumbersome to control, so / thus / consequently …
• In fact, X was beyond the scope of this study / not a primary goal in this research / not the focus of this study / not attempted in this study.
• Consequently, it is inevitable / understandable / not hard to appreciate / not surprising that …
• Note / It should be noted / It is worthwhile noting that …
• A / One limitation of our research is that the surveys were not conducted in the same period.
• However / Nevertheless / Despite this, we can still state that …
• We failed / were not able / were unable to find a link between x and y, but this may / might depend on the methodology chosen for our research.