Contradictory, unexpected or inconclusive findings
Surprisingly, …
Unexpectedly, …
Contrary to expectations, …
The results of … were unexpected.
The most striking finding is that …
The results contrast with X who found …
There is or was little evidence to suggest that …
There is or was little evidence to support …
There is or was little evidence of …
… is or was not corroborated by the evidence …
There was no evidence of …
This does not imply that …
The results of … do not support the hypothesis of or that …
The results of … invalidate the hypothesis of or that …
The results suggest, contrary to current theory, that …
The results call for some explanation and comment: …
A number of elements require further explanation
This surprising result may be due to …
It is not clear why …
It is not immediately obvious how or why …
… may have been indirectly influenced by …
although the mechanism is not completely understood
The results are unclear or inconclusive or contradictory
… can be interpreted in a number of ways
The impact of … on … is not easy to determine
The data cannot adequately explain …
… complicates the assessment of the data
Interpretation of the data is complicated by …
The results are to some extent misleading
The results must be interpreted with a degree of or the utmost caution
The findings are not consistent with …
The disparity between the results may be due to …
These disparities may reflect …
The discrepancy between … may be explained by …
These apparent differences may be explained by …
While it may seem unlikely that …, it is important to remember that …
The reasons for … remain unclear.