Research Methodology

Part VI
Writing the Research Report

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 Content of the Lecture

1. Introduction
2. The writing process
3. Types of research reports
4. Components of a technical report
5. Seminar Presentation (Oral Presentation).

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Introduction
 Researchers often spend too much time designing
projects, developing questionnaires, collecting and
analyzing data.
 But, these tasks are only some parts of the
research process.
 Hard work and excellence alone do not guarantee
that research will have impact
 NOT ENOUGH TO DO GOOD RESEARCH
UNLESS THEY ARE COMMUNICATED TO
OTHERS.
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 Introduction
 The research task remains incomplete till the
report has been written and shared with others.
 i.e., RESEARCH HAS NO VALUE IF IT IS NOT
MADE PUBLIC.
 Hence, researchers must communicate their research
results clearly and fully either
 to advance knowledge and/or
 to make decisions about practical applications.

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 Introduction
 Researchers can share the results of their work with
colleagues and the public in a variety of ways.
 Preliminary results are usually shared during meetings
in seminars- through seminar presentations.
 Final results are usually communicated to others
through scholarly articles and book – publications.
 Public communications - press releases, public
testimony and announcements, newspaper articles,
etc.

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 The process of writing

 When preparing the research report you should

consider:
 The Audience:
 Who is going to read the report?
 What is the purpose of the report?
 Who will read the report?
 How will the report be used? etc.

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The process of writing
 The Story: you should attempt to tell the "story" to
your reader.
 A good "storyline" can help make an otherwise
very dull report interesting to the reader.
 And, writing is not about ‘getting it right the first
time’.
 Writing is a process- it takes time and effort and
can be improved with practice and better
planning.
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The process of writing

 The writing process begins by drafting your

ideas.
 Drafting or Composing: get your ideas
onto paper as a first draft by free-writing –
draft report.
 Time spent drafting is never wasted as it
will result in a better document with few
mistakes.
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The process of writing
 A first draft may not be considered as a final draft b/c.
 Your English might be a bit unpolished right now,
or you may have only written a series of notes that
need to be refined into an argument, discussion, and
paragraphs
 Rewriting is thus necessary.
 Rewriting: polish the report by improving coherence,
proofreading for mechanical errors, checking citations,
voices, and tenses.

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 The process of writing
 Usually, this step involves two related
procedures:
 Revising – is the process of inserting new
ideas, adding supportive evidence, deleting
or changing old ideas, etc.
 Editing – is the process of cleaning up -
spelling, grammar usage, verb tense,
sentence length and paragraph organization.

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 Types of Research Reports
 Generally two types of reports could be produced:
 Short Reports: are appropriate for studies in which
the problem is of limited scope, and for which
methodologies are simple and straightforward.
 At the beginning, there should be a brief statement
on the problem.
 Next comes the conclusions and
recommendations, followed by findings that
support the conclusions.

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Types of Research Reports
 Long Reports: follow well-defined formats.
Several formats for long reports exist.
 the logical format, the psychological format, the
chronological format, etc.
The logical format
 the introductory information covering the
purpose of the study, the methodology is
followed by the findings.
 Then comes the conclusions and
recommendations.
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 Types of Research Reports
 The psychological format: The conclusions and
recommendations are presented immediately
after the introduction with the findings coming
later.
 Readers are quickly exposed to the most
critical information i.e. conclusions and
recommendations.
 The chronological report - is based on time
sequence or occurrence.
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Types of Research Reports
 Usually long reports are of two types:
 the popular report and
 the technical or base report.
 Which of these to use depends chiefly on
the audience and the researcher’s
objectives.

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Types of Research Reports
 The popular report: is designed for the non-
technical audience with no research background and
interested only in results rather than on
methodology.
 It gives emphasis on simplicity and attractiveness
 It should encourage rapid reading, quick
comprehension of major findings and prompt
understanding of the implication and conclusions.

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Types of Research Reports
 The general outline of a popular report.
1.The findings and their implications: Emphasis is
given on the findings of most practical interest and
on the implications of these findings.
2.Recommendations for action: Recommendation for
action on the basis of the findings of the study.
3. Objective of the study: the general and specific
objectives of the project.

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Types of Research Reports
4. Methods employed: A brief description of the
methods and techniques used, is given in this part of the
report.
5. Results: This section constitutes the main body of the
report where the results of the study are presented in
clear terms using all sorts of illustrations such as charts,
diagrams and the like.
6. Technical appendices: More detailed information on
methods used, forms, etc. is presented in the form of
appendices.
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Components of a technical report
The technical report
This should include a full documentation and detail - it
is the major source document.
A technical research report contains several sections.
 There are three parts: the prefatory pages, the
body of the report and the appended sections.
A) Prefatory pages – includes the title page, tables of
contents, charts and illustrations, synopsis (summary,
abstracts).

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Components of a technical report
The Title page – should include: the title of the report,
the date, for whom it was prepared and by whom it
was prepared.
 A satisfactory title should be brief, but should at
least include:
 The variables included in the study, the type of
relationship between the variables, etc.
The table of contents – any report of several sections
should have a table of content showing page
numbers.
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Components of a technical report
Abstract: this is a short summary (200-250 words) of
the research.
 The abstract should be a concise summary of
the entire paper.
 It helps readers to determine whether the full
report contains important information and
whether they should read the complete report.
 It prepares them for what is to come.

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 Components of a technical report
 It goes first in the report, but should be written last.
 Hence, an abstract should briefly:
 Re-establish the topic of the research.
 Give the research problem and/or main objective of the
research.
 Indicate the methodology used.
 Present the main findings and conclusions
 Sometimes, this is known as an ‘executive summary’.

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Components of a technical report
Common Problems in preparing the Abstract
 Too long and too much detail: Abstracts that
are too long often have unnecessary details.
 The abstract is not the place for detailed
explanations of methodology or the context
of your research problem.
 Too short: Shorter is not necessarily better.

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Components of a technical report
B) The body of the report – contains the introduction, findings,
summary and conclusions and recommendations.
1) Introduction – will mostly contain the same material as the
introduction to your proposal
 It introduces the research by
 Giving the background,
 Presenting the research problem,
 Indicating the objectives,
 The rationale or significance and the scope and
limitations, and
 Introducing the rest of the report

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Components of a technical report
 The last paragraph of the introduction should explain
the organization of the rest of the report – signpost
 Example: “Section two reviews the relevant
literature. In Section 3, we describe the data we
have collected. In Section four, we test our
hypothesis using this data. Section five concludes
and makes recommendations for future research.”

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Components of a technical report
Common problems in writing the introduction
1. Too much detail, and hence too long: detailed
descriptions of method, study site and results should
come in later sections.
2. Repetition of words, phrases or ideas. A high level
of repetition makes your work look careless.
3. Unclear problem definition: Without a clear
definition of your research problem the reader is left
with no clear idea of what you are studying.
4. Poor organization
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Literature Review
The report should also include a literature review.
 i.e. the works you consulted in order to understand
and investigate your research problem.
 What does previous research say about the topic
 It should justify that:
 Other studies left the problem unsolved which
leaves a gap in knowledge and
 Your study tries to fill the gap at least a little bit

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Literature Review
Common Problems:
Trying to read everything: if you try to be
comprehensive you will never be able to
finish the reading!
 The literature review should not provide a
summary of all the published work that
relates to your research, but only a survey
of the most relevant and significant work.
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Literature Review
Reading but not writing: Writing takes much more
effort than reading-
 don't put writing off until you've "finished"
reading.
Not keeping bibliographic information: When
preparing your reference you might notice that you
have forgotten to keep the information you need.
 To avoid this nightmare always put references
into your writing.
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The methods
The methodological section answers at least two main questions:
 How was the data collected or generated?
 How was it analyzed?
 The data collection step covers at least:
 the target population that is being studied and the sampling
methods used.
 the research design used and the rationale for using it
including the sample size,
 the materials and instruments used often with a copy of
these materials in the appendix,
 the specific data collection method (survey, observation or
experiment)
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The methods
 If secondary data are used, their suitability to the problem at
hand be fully assessed.
 Your methodology should make clear the reasons why you
chose a particular method or procedure.
Common Problems
1. Unnecessary explanation of basic procedures
2. Problem blindness: Do not ignore significant problems or
pretend they did not occur.
 Recording how you overcome obstacles can form an
interesting part of the methodology.

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Findings and Discussions
 It is an organized presentation of results and is
generally the longest section of the report.
 i.e., what you did in the research and what you
found out.
 The Results Section includes:
 Statement of results: the results are presented in a
format that is suitable to the reader (e.g. in graphs,
tables, diagrams or written text).
 Explanatory text: all graphs, tables, diagrams and
figures should be accompanied by text that guides the
reader's attention to significant results.
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Findings and Discussions
The Discussion Section: provides explanation of
the results;
 Explanation of results: comments on whether
or not the results were expected and present
explanations for the results, particularly for
those that are unexpected or unsatisfactory.
 References to previous research: comparison
of the results with those reported in the
literature to support a claim or a hypothesis.

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Summary and Conclusion
 The summary and conclusions section presents:
 What was learned
 The benefits, advantages, applications, etc. of
the research (evaluation).
 The conclusions should follow logically from the
discussion of the findings.
 It should give the answer to your research
question(s).

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Summary and Conclusion
 The conclusions should
 Restate the hypothesis or research question
 Summarize your results
 Did you confirm your hypothesis
 Areas for further study

 No new citations, tables, or footnotes

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Summary and Conclusion
Common Problems
1. Too long. The conclusion section should be short not more
than 2.5% of an entire piece.

2. Too much detail. Conclusions that are too long often have
unnecessary detail.

3. Failure to reveal difficulties encountered: Problems,

drawbacks can be included in your conclusion section as a
way of qualifying your conclusions (i.e. pointing out the
negative aspects).

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Recommendations
 These are suggested future actions
 maybe for future action, policy changes, increases in
expenditure, etc. and some justifications.

 If the recommendations are again placed in roughly the

same sequence as the conclusions it makes reading easy .

 should take into consideration the local conditions,

constraints, feasibility and usefulness of the proposed
solutions.

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The appended section
c) The appended section: The annexes should
contain any additional information needed to
enable readers to follow your research
procedures and data analysis.
 Materials that are relevant to your project,
 But, inappropriate to include in the main
body of the text.

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The appended section
 Examples may include:
 detailed tables referred to in the text but not included
in order to keep the report short;
 lists of study sites, -districts, villages, etc. that
participated in the study;
 questionnaires or check lists used for data collection.
 excerpts from policy documents
 mathematical derivations and elaboration on
particular technique of analysis, etc.

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The appended section
 References: The reference section will include all those
publications to which you have referred in your report.
 Referencing has three main purposes:
 It shows where you got your ideas and quotes, and thus
demonstrates that you have not plagiarized.
 It allows the reader to follow up your ideas in more depth
and to ascertain that you are using appropriate material.
 It demonstrates that you have learnt how to use other
people’s work to develop your own ideas and answers.

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The appended section
 There are two parts to a reference citation.
 First, the way you cite the item in the text when you are
discussing it.

 Second, the way you list the complete reference in the

reference section at the end.

 References in the text:

 References appear in the text of your paper and are a
way of giving credit to the source of the information or
quote you have used in your paper.

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The appended section
 The references in your text can be numbered in the
sequence in which they appear in the report and then
listed in this order in the list of references (Vancouver
system).

 In the Harvard system: put in brackets:

 The author's last name,
 Year of publication in parenthesis,

 Example: (Shan, 2000: 84).

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The appended section
 If there are two authors, the first author is listed followed
by the term, et al., and then the year of the publication.

 References List: should contain all those works, which you

have consulted.

 References should be arranged alphabetically

according to the authors' last names;

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The appended section
 Example:

 For books - the following order may be adopted.

 Name of the principal author, last name first
 Date of publication
 Title, underlined or in italic styles
 Place, publisher, and
 Number and volumes if there are any.

 Example: Ethridge, D. E. 2004. Research methodology in

Applied Economics, Iowa, Blackwell Publishing.
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 The appended section
 For magazines, Journal articles and newspapers the following
order is appropriate
 Name of author, last name first
 The data of the issue
 Title of article in quotation marks
 Name of periodical underlined
 The volume and number
 The pagination

 Example: Edwards, Clark. 1978. “The potential for Economics

Research” Agricultural Economics Research. 30, 29–35.

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Presentation Consideration
 Reports should be physically inviting, easy to read and match
the comprehension abilities of the audiences (reader).
 Remember that your reader:
 Is short of time
 Has many other urgent matters demanding his or her
interest and attention
 Is probably not knowledgeable concerning ‘research
jargon’
 It is always good to use words that convey thoughts
accurately, clearly and efficiently.

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Presentation Consideration
 Therefore the rules are:

 Simplify- Keep to the essentials.

 Justify- Make no statement that is not based on facts

and data.

 Quantify when you have the data to do so - Avoid

‘large’, ‘small’; instead, say ‘50%’, ‘one in three’.
 Use short sentences.

 Be consistent in the use of tenses (past or present

tense).
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Presentation Consideration
 Layout of the report: A good physical layout is important
since it will:
 make a good initial impression,
 encourage the readers.

 On the other hand:

 Poor reproduction, incorrect spelling and typographic
errors, overcrowding of text, inadequate labeling of
charts and tables, etc. reduce the credibility of a report.

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Presentation Consideration
 So, make sure that there is:

 An attractive layout for the title page and a clear table

of contents.
 Consistency in margins, spacing, headings and
subheadings, quotations and references

 Numbering of figures and tables, provision of clear

titles for tables, and clear headings for columns and
rows, etc.

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Seminar presentations
 Another method of presenting your research findings is
through oral presentation.

 At a university to other students or tutors, at a

conference to other researchers, or in a work place to
colleagues, employers or funding bodies.

 If you want people to take notice of your results, you need

to produce a good oral presentation.

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Seminar presentations
 Good seminar presentation improves both the research
and the reputation of the researcher.

 Power Point is a useful graphic presentation program.

 Since you can enhance your presentation with

animation, artwork and diagrams to make it more
interesting for your audience.

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Seminar presentations
 A successful presentation requires a condensation of a
lengthy and complex body of information.

 About 20 minutes presentation is usually required.

 An outline of what one is going to say includes

 Opening (background)
 Findings and conclusions
 Recommendations

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Seminar presentations
 The most important thing to keep in mind:
 The time will usually pass a lot more quickly than you
think
 the reason we run out of time is because we wasted half
an hour on the stupid preview!

 So, keep focused on the main ideas: The motivation, the

problem, and the main results

 You do not have to mention all of the difficulties and

shortcomings; people can ask during the presentation

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Seminar presentations
 Since time is limited, it’s especially important to get to the
point.
 You don’t need any literature review in a seminar.
 Just get to the point.

 Organizing your slides:

 A slide should contain a handful (25) of key points; it
should not fill the page

 Slides should not contain your entire presentation, just

the key things to remember

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Seminar presentations
 Leave slides up for a decent amount of time in order
for people to digest them.

 Graphics can be useful if they tell the story

 Speak loudly, slowly and clearly.

 THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH ENDING EARLY!

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Writing Journal Articles
 If you want your research findings to reach the academic
audience, it might be good to produce a journal article.

 The following steps will help you to publish:

 Choose a topical, original piece of research.

 Do your market research – find out which journal

publishes articles in your subject area.

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Writing Journal Articles
 Check on submission guidelines – produce an article in the
correct style and format and of the right length.

 Read several copies of the journal to get an idea about the

preferences of editors.

 Produce a clear, interesting and well-written article –ask

colleagues to read it and provide comments.

 Make sure there are no mistakes, remembering to check

the references.

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Writing Journal Articles
 If it is your first article, gain advice from someone who has
had work published.

 You might find it easier to write an article with someone else

 some supervisors will be willing to do this as it helps
their publication record.

 Of course, you will do most of the work, but it is very

useful to have someone read and comment.

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58
Thank You!

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