Can your chapter dream or desire?

This study seeks to …
This chapter reflects on …
The research recommended …
This disconnection fails to recognise …

If you have used one of these phrases, consider the truth value of your claim. Each of these sees an abstract construct as capable of thinking and acting as a human. Studies are incapable of desire. Chapters are incapable of thinking. Research is incapable of perception. A disconnection is incapable of any of these.

Why these forms?

Why do writers use these forms? They are succinct. They avoid using the first person (I, we), which, regrettably, is still frowned upon in many academic domains. They avoid clumsy third-person references to the author, as in, “The researcher sought to …”.

Nevertheless, they are illogical and should be avoided. How to do so? Some ideas:

For “This study seeks to …”

✓ The purpose of this study was to …
✓  In this study, we sought to …
✓  This study was directed at answering …

For “This research recognises … “

✓  With this research, recognition is given to …
✓  In the light of this study, we recognise …

For “This disconnection fails to recognise … “

✓  This disconnection arises from a failure to recognise …

Or, depending on the intended meaning:

✓  This disconnection leads to a failure to recognise …

So much is clear. However, when the actor is a section, chapter, or paragraph, a more nuanced approach may be useful.  A chapter is, after all, a piece of communication, so this chapter discusses is fine. But avoid taking it further.  Avoid the likes of “This chapter agrees with …”.  The following work well:

✓  In this chapter [something]is discussed.
✓  This chapter presents reflections on …
✓  In this chapter, we reflect on …

In my experience, the most common attribution error is substituting the researcher for the study (the researcher becomes the study). More examples:

🗴  This system acknowledges that …
🗴  The economy recognises that …
🗴  The integration envisages …
🗴  The study hopes to …
🗴  The present study is convinced that …
🗴  The study is interested in …
🗴  This research recognises …
🗴  The research interviewed …
🗴  A case-study design appreciates …
🗴  The social model believes …
🗴  Chapter 6 realised that …
🗴  The literature review attempted to …
🗴  The theme aimed to understand …
🗴  The report was cognisant of …
🗴  The results found that …
🗴  This section tries to understand how …

Final note—some of the quoted examples exhibit another error: reporting on a research process in the present rather than the past tense.

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