A finding of no effect is a finding. In the results chapter and in the limitations section, a null result should appear at the same length and in the same register as a significant one, with the sample size and the design stated beside it.
The temptation runs the other way. Writers pad a null result with framing: "although the effect did not reach significance, the direction was encouraging," or a long paragraph on why the study may have been underpowered. Committees tend to trust a student who reports the weaker result plainly, and they tend to probe a chapter that cushions it.
Report four things beside a null result. (1) The sample size and the population it describes. (2) The design, because a null from a matched comparison supports different conclusions than a null from a randomized trial. (3) The estimate and its interval, not only the p value, so readers can see what effects the data rule out. (4) What the design cannot establish, stated once.
A null result with a wide interval and a small sample is inconclusive, not evidence of no effect, and the chapter should say so. A null result with a narrow interval and an adequate sample is informative: it constrains the plausible size of the effect, and that is useful to the field.
Distinguish the limitation of the study from the limitation of the finding. Limitations belong in a dedicated section. The finding belongs in the results, unqualified by language that belongs to the limitations.
This is guidance on reporting practice, consistent with the APA 7 emphasis on reporting effect sizes and confidence intervals (American Psychological Association, 2020). It is not a claim about how any particular committee will respond.
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