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Conference and research seminar Q&A

Questions to expect after a research presentation

Research audiences ask questions to locate a result inside the wider literature, test the reasoning, and understand what the finding means beyond the reported analysis.

Questions about the research design

  • How did you distinguish your proposed mechanism from the main alternative?
  • Why did you define the sample, outcome, or time window this way?
  • What robustness check had the largest effect on the result?
  • How did missing data or measurement error affect the analysis?

Questions about interpretation

  • Is the effect large enough to matter in practice?
  • How does this finding compare with the contradictory study you cited?
  • What is the most plausible alternative interpretation?
  • Does the evidence support the mechanism or only the final association?

Questions about relevance and next steps

Prepare a short version of the answer for a conference session and a longer version for a seminar. Keep one backup slide for the method, one for robustness, and one for the most likely alternative explanation.

  • Who can use this result and what should they do differently?
  • Which context would be the hardest test of the finding?
  • What new data would most reduce the remaining uncertainty?
  • How will this project change in its next phase?

KEEP PREPARING

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