CHAPTER 8

RESEARCH REPORT
Report
"A report is a statement of collected and considered facts, so drawn-up as
to give clear and Concise-information to persons who are not ready in
possession of the full facts of the subject matter of the report" .

A research report is:

A written document or oral presentation based on a written document
that communicates the purpose, scope, objective(s), hypotheses, methodology,
findings, limitations and finally, recommendations of a research project to
others.
 Purpose of Writing the Research Report

• The purpose of the written report is to present the

results of your research, but more importantly to
provide a convincing argument to readers of what
you have found.
• Present in conference.
• Publish in journals or articles.
• Get grant or financial aid.
 General Presentation & Format

• ALL reports should be typed

• Have a neat, clean cover
• Double‑space
• Don’t Mix pen and typing
• Page numbers should be centered at the
BOTTOM of each page
• Follow format and sequence
 Hints on Report Writing

• Wherever possible, use the first person ("I" or "we")

• Avoid long, involved sentences and overuse of
polysyllabic/long words.
• Use the active voice instead of the passive voice.
• Avoid excessive use of nouns as adjectives.
• Don't hide your findings in noncommittal/vague
statements-BE POSITIVE
• Keep specialized jargon/ nonsense to a minimum.
• Keep technical abbreviations and acronyms to a minimum.
• Avoid repeating facts and thoughts.
• Be concise.
TYPES OF RESEARCH REPORT

Technical
Report

Algorithmic
Popular
Resarch
Report
Report
Types of
Research
Report

Summary Interim
Report report
1. Technical Report:
A technical report (also: scientific report) is a document that describes the
process, progress, or results of technical or scientific research or the state of a technical
or scientific research problem.
It might also include recommendations and conclusions of the research.
Technical report is suitable for a target audience of researchers, research
managers or other people familiar with and interested in the technicalities such as
research design, sampling methods, statistical details etc.,

Technical Report includes:-

 Summary of results
 Nature of the study
 Research methodology
 Details of data
 Analysis of data & preparation of findings
 Conclusions
 Bibliography
 Technical appendices
 Index
2. Popular Report
It gives emphasis/importance on simplicity and attractiveness. The simplification
should be sought through clear writing, minimization of technical, particularly
mathematical, details and liberal use of charts and diagrams.
Attractive layout along with large print, many subheadings, even an occasional
cartoon now and then is another characteristics feature of the popular report.
General outline of popular report:
 Findings and their implications
 Recommendations for their follow-up
 Objective of the study- a general view of how the problem arises is presented along
with the specific objectives of the project under study.
 Methods employed- a brief and non-technical description of the methods and
techniques used, including a short review of the data on which the study is based is
given in this part of the report.
 Results- it constitutes the main body of the report where in the results are presented in
clear and non-technical terms with Liberal use of all sorts of illustration such as charts,
diagrams.
3. Interim report

In projects, an interim report is often compiled to analyze how the project is

proceeding, before its final completion.
This short report may contain either the first results of the analysis of some aspects
completely analyzed.
It facilitates the sponsoring agency to take action without waiting for the full report.
 It helps to keep alive the agency's interest in the study and prevent
misunderstandings about the delay.
 This repot also enables the researcher to find the appropriate style of reporting.
 Interim analysis is important in medical trials, to ensure that the patients are not
exposed to unnecessary danger during the trial.
4. Summary report

 Summary report usually contains a brief statement of the problem or

proposal covered in the major document(s), background information,
concise analysis and main conclusions.
 It is intended as an aid to decision-making by managers and has been
described as possibly the most important part of a business plan.
 They must be short and to the point.
 It just contains a brief reference to the objective of the study, its major
findings and their implications.
 It size is so limited as to be suitable for publication in daily newspaper.
5. Algorithmic research report

 An algorithm is a well defined sequence of steps to solve a problem

in industry, business and government.
 There are problems, viz., production scheduling, JIT, supply chain
management, line balancing, layout design, portfolio management,
etc., which exists in reality.
 The solution for the above problems can be obtained through
algorithms.
 Structure of Research Report

■Generally, a research report, whether it is called dissertation or

thesis, has to have the following structure
1) The Preliminary i.e. preface pages
2) The Text of the report / Main body of the report
3) The Reference material.
1. PRELIMINARY SECTION

 Title page
 Certification
 Candidate Declaration
 Preface including Acknowledgements
 Table of Content
 List of Tables
 List of figures
 List of Abbreviation
2. Main body of the report

CHAPTER 1-INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction
1.1Background of the study
1.2Problem Statement
1.3Purpose and objective of the study
1.4Research Questions
1.5Definition of Terms
1.6Significant of the study
1.7Conclusion
CHAPTER 2-LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction
2.1 Body of the literature
2.1.1 General area of research
2.1.2 Underlying theory
2.1.3 Variables used from previous literature
2.2 Theoretical Framework
2.3 Hypotheses
2.4 Conclusion
CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Variable and Measurement
3.3 Questionnaire design
3.4 Population and Sample
3.5 Scope of the study
3.6 Data analysis method
3.6.1 Goodness of data
3.6.2 Inferential analysis
3.7 Conclusion
CHAPTER 4- DATA COLLECTION, DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Goodness of Measure
4.2.1 Representativeness of data
4.2.2 Validity test
4.2.3 Reliability test
4.3 Inferential analysis
4.3.1 Descriptive analysis
4.3.2 Test of difference
4.3.3 Test of relationship
 Correlation analysis
 Hypothesis testing

4.4 Conclusion
CHAPTER 5-DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
5.1 Recapitulation of major findings
5.2 Discussion
5.3 Implication
5.3.1 Theoretical Implication
5.3.2 Practical Implication
5.4 Limitation
5.5 Recommendation for future research
5.6 Conclusion
3. REFERENCE MATERIAL

The reference material is generally divided as follows

1. References
2. Bibliography (APA Style or ..)
3. Appendices (SPSS output)
4. Glossary of terms (if any)
5. Index (if any)
How to report Findings

■ Once you have completed your research (analyzed your data),

there are three ways of reporting the findings.
1. Written reports
2. Journal articles
3. Oral presentation

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1. Written report format

Traditional written reports tend to be produced in the following

format.
1. Title of the page
– This contains the title of the report,
– The name of the researcher
– The date of publication.
– If the report is dissertation or thesis, the title page will include
details about the purpose of the report
■ for example “A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of for the
degree of Masters of Science in Information Systems”.
– If the research has been funded by a particular organization, details
of this may be included on the title page.  sponsors

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2. Contents page - list the contents of the report either in chapter or section
headings with sub headings if relevant and page numbers
3. List of illustrations – this section includes, title & page number of all graphs,
tables, illustrations & charts etc.
4. Acknowledgements – Some researchers may wish to acknowledge the help
of their research participants, tutors, employers and/or funding bodies
■ Political/Religious Affiliations/ acknowledgements
■ No need to criticize others who made problems
5. Abstract/Summary –This tends to be a one page summary of the research, its
purpose, scope, methods, main findings / Results and discussions/
conclusions.
6. Introduction- This section introduces research ,settings out the aims and
objectives, terms and definitions. It includes the rationale for the research
and summary of the report structure.
7. Background - in this section is included all your background research, which
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8. Methodology and Methods- this section is set out a description of ,and
justification for, the chosen methodology and research methods.
– The length and depth of this section will depend upon whether you are a
student or employee.
– You will need also to be aware of epistemological and ontological issues
involved.
• Epistemological-relating to the part of philosophy that is about the study of how we
know things
• Ontology-the part of philosophy that studies what it means to exist.
9. Findings/Analysis- this section should include your main findings.
– The content of this section will depend on your chosen methodology and
methods.
– If you have a large quantitative survey, this section may contain tables,
graphs, pie charts and associated statistics.
– If you have conducted a qualitative pieces of research, this section may
be descriptive style containing lengthy questions 23
10. Conclusion- In this section you sum up your findings and draw conclusions
from them, perhaps in relation to other research or literature.
11. Recommendations –Some academic reports will not need this section.
– If you are an employee researcher ,this section could be the most important
part of the port.
– In this section is set out a list of clear recommendations which have been
developed from your research.
12. Further research – It is useful in both academic reports and work-related reports
to include a section which shows how a research can be continued.
– Perhaps some results are inconclusive ,or perhaps the research has thrown
up many more research questions which need to be addressed
– It is useful to include this section because it shows that you are aware of the
wider picture and that your are not trying to cover up some thing which you
feel may be lacking from your own work .

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13. Reference –Small research projects will need only a reference section.
 Harvard system or Vancouver style, ACS, APA, Chicago system
– This includes all the literature to which you have referred in your project.
– The popular method is the Harvard system which lists the authors surnames
alphabetically, followed by their initials, date of publication, Title of book in
italics ,place of publication and publisher.
 If the reference is journal article the title of the article appears in inverted commas
and the name of the journal appears in italics, followed by the volume number and
pages of the article.

14. Bibliography - If you have read other work in relation to your research but not
actually referred to them when writing up your report, you might need to include in
the bibliography,
■ Citation  acknowledge
– You must indicate from where all the information to which you refer has come, so remember to keep a
complete record of every thing you read.
– If you do not do this, you could be accused of plagiarism which is a form of intellectual theft.
– When you are referring to a particular book or journal article, find out the accepted standard
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for
2. Journal Articles
■ If you want your research findings to reach a wider audience, it might
worth considering producing an article for journal.
■ Most academic journals do not pay for articles they publish, but many
professional of trade publications do pay for contribution, if published.
■ However, the competition can be violent and your article will have to
stand out from the crowd if you want to be successful.

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3. Oral presentations

■Another method of presenting your research findings is

through an oral presentation.
■This may be at the university or college to other students or
tutors, at a conference to other researchers or work colleagues,
or in work place to colleagues employers or funding bodies.
■Helps a wider audience to find out about a research.

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Considerations in Slide preparation

■ Your slides should be clear, visible and legible to the audience

■ Layout: consider background and text colors
– blue background with white/bright yellow text
■ Background: consistency
– use same background color and style for all slides
■ Font: size and style (capital, small letters)

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Delivering the oral presentation
■ Have hard copies as a reserve in case no electric power/LCD
■ Begin the presentation on time
■ Familiarize your self to the room locations, switch, microphones
■ Arrive early to the presentation hall so that you can discus with the organizers.
■ Insure that Your sound is hearable comfortable for the audience
■ Do not be nervous
■ Make eye contact with your audience
■ Draw the attention of your audience to important points
■ Make sure that you do not block the view of the audience
■ Mention owners of works in your literatures
■ Finish on time
■ Start the question/ answer session and welcome the audience
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Difficulties or Problems in Writing a Report

1) The Problems of Communications

a. Technical terms should be properly explained.
b. Neither too simple nor too difficult expression
c. Level of Knowledge and subject-matter
d. Language and drafting
2) The problem of objectivity .
3) The Problems of expression of bitter truths and unpleasant facts
Characteristics of good report

1) Attractive
2) Clear Topic
3) Balanced Language
4) No repetition of facts
5) Statement of scientific facts
6) Practicability
7)Description of the difficulties and the shortcomings
THANK YOU