Documentation of Research Report

 A report is a written document on a particular topic, which conveys information and ideas
and may also make recommendations.
 Report places the research study in the public domain for consideration and confirmation.
 Inaccurate, incomplete, poorly written, excessively long or structure less reports fail to
achieve their purpose.
 Scientific Research done in academic institutions is called dissertation.
Purpose of report writing
 The first step in writing any research report is to identify the intended readers. Because the
organization, style, and even the mode of presentation depend on the target audience.
 Reports aimed at colleagues and intended for publication in scholarly and professional
journals or for presentation at a convention.
 Reports aimed at decision makers / management / government and intended for in-
house use only.
Good Report
 The language used should be simple and there should be no grammatical or spelling
mistakes.
 All points should be clear to the intended reader.
 Should be concise with information and arranged logically under various headings and
sub- headings.
 All information should be correct and supported by proper and enough number of
evidences and references.
 All relevant material should be included in a complete report. For example data set, maps,
appendices, graphs etc.
Need for Accurate Reporting
 Researchers need to report research accurately for two reasons.
 First, a clear explanation of the researchers’ methods provides an opportunity for readers
to completely understand the project.
 Second, an accurate report provides the necessary information for those who wish to
replicate the study. Enough information must be included to enable reproduction of the
study.
Types of Reports
Practical Report
 In the practical world of business or government, a report conveys an information and
(sometimes) recommendations from a researcher who has investigated a topic in detail.
 A report like this will usually be requested by people who need the information for a
specific purpose and their request may be written in terms of reference or the brief.
Academic Report
 A report written for an academic course can be thought of as a simulation.
 Theoretical ideas will be more to the front in an academic report than in a practical one.

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 We can imagine that someone wants the report for a practical purpose, although we
are really writing the report as an academic exercise for assessment.
Basic Structure of a research report
A report has three parts
 Initial Part
 Middle Body
 End Portion
Initial Portion
o Title of Report
o Acknowledgement
o Summary/ Abstract
o List of Contents
o List of Figures and Tables
o List of Appendices
o Introduction
o Literature Survey
o Problem identification
o Aims and objectives
Middle Body
o Methodology and materials used
o Results
End Part
o Discussions
o Conclusions
o Future Recommendations
o Appendices
o References
The Mechanics of Writing a Research Report
 Initially researchers may find the writing style used for research reports awkward or
unaesthetic, but there is a definite purpose behind the rules governing scientific writing:
clarity. Every effort must be made to avoid ambiguity.
 Most of the research reports, however, include five basic sections or chapters i.e.
introduction, literature review, methods, results, and discussion.
Introduction
 The introduction should alert the reader to what is to follow. Most introductions usually
contain the following:
 Introducing the broad subject. The first job of the report writer is to provide some
information about the background and the nature of the problem under investigation. If the
research topic has a long history, then a short summary should be presented.

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 This section should also discuss any relevant theoretical background that pertains to the
research topic. (Example)
 Justification. Provide rationale and justification for the project. This section should
address the question of why it is important for us to spend time and energy researching this
particular problem. (Example)
 Research can be important because it deals with a crucial theoretical issue or because it has
practical value, or because it has methodological value.
Literature Review
 The second major section is the review of the literature.In some formats, the literature
review is incorporated into the introduction.
 Briefly recapitulates the work done in the field by previous researchers.
 The writer should summarize only those studies most relevant to the current project.
 All literature reviews should be accurate, relevant and up to date. (year wise)
 Accuracy: A concise and accurate distillation of each study in your review is a prerequisite
for any literature review.
 The main points of each study— hypotheses that were tested, sample, method, findings,
and implications— should be briefly summarized.
 The review should be selective but thorough.
 Relevance: The writer is obligated to discuss the relevance of the past work to the current
study.
 Various development achieved in past work are seen and major conclusions recurred are
assessed. Commonalities of problems and identified.
 A relationship of previous studies is checked and established with the current study.
 The ultimate aim of the review is to show how your study evolved out of past efforts.
Problem identification
 After thorough theoretical background of the subject and literature survey a researcher
looks for any gaps in the proposed solutions and techniques and accordingly based on these
gaps a problem or research question to be answered by the further study is identified and
written down in concise form.
 After problem identification various aims and objectives of the further study are listed
down.
 The chapter concludes with an unequivocal statement of the various methodologies for
achieving these objectives are also described.
Methodologies adopted & Materials used
 This is the main body of the report which includes the work carried out during the current
research study.
 All the methods, material, approaches and analysis carried out is described here.
 In case of scientific research analytical work and modelling used is included here.

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 Simulation studies, computational work and experiments conducted are described here in
detail.
 This includes a description of both independent and dependent variables used in the
analysis, explaining how the variables were selected.
 Each method / variable also requires some justification for its use — variables cannot be
added without reason.
 The mean and the standard deviation for each variable should be reported when necessary.
 Sample size: The researcher should state the number of subjects or units of study and also
explain how these entities were selected.
 Sample characteristics: The sample should also be described in terms of its demographic,
lifestyle, or other descriptor characteristics. When human subjects are used, at least their
age and sex should be indicated.
 Methodology: Every research report requires a description of the methods used to collect
and analyze data. (Example). Experiment / interview / survey / visit / primary or secondary
data etc.
 The amount of description depends on the audience; for example, for journals, it must
contain more detailed information than reports.
 Included in this chapter should be an examination of ethical issues, if any.
Results
 Description of the analysis: The statistical techniques used to analyze the data should be
mentioned.
 If the analysis used common or easily recognized statistics, a one-sentence description
might be all that is needed, such as "Chi-square analyses were performed on the data" or
"Analysis of variance was performed…..“
 If appropriate, the particular statistical program used by the researcher should be identified.
 The findings should be linked to the statement of the problem or research questions
mentioned in the statement of research problem.
 The author should clearly state whether the results supported the hypotheses or whether
the research questions were answered.
 Next, any peripheral findings can be reported here
 Tables, charts, graphs, and other data displays should be presented. If the article is being
submitted to a journal, in the proper format.
 Many readers turn first to the tables and may not read the accompanying text; consequently,
tables should be easily understood by readers.
 Never miss numbering and legends. Also cite them properly inside text.
Discussions
 Summary: A synopsis of the main findings of the study often leads off this section.

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 Implications/interpretations: This is the part of the report that discusses the meaning of
the findings. If the findings are in line with current theory and research, the writer should
include a statement of how they correspond with what was done in the past.
 If the findings contradict or do not support current theory, then some explanation for the
current pattern of results should be provided.
 Limitations: The researcher should list some of the potential weaknesses of the research.
Perhaps the sample was limited or the response rate was low or the experimental
manipulation was not as clean as it could have been.
 Suggestions for future research and work: In addition to answering questions, most
research projects uncover new questions to be investigated. The suggestions for research
should be relevant and practical.
Appendices
 One may not need an appendix at all, or one may need several. If one has used
questionnaires, it is usual to include a blank copy in the appendix.
 One can include data or calculations, not given in the body of report, that are necessary, or
useful, to get the full benefit from your report.
 There may be models, maps, drawings, photographs or plans that onefeels to include. If
special equipment or software has been used, one may include some vital information about
it.
References
 List all the sources which you referred in the body of the report.
 In-text references and end bibliography.
 You may use the pattern prescribed by IEEE, or any other standard pattern recognized by
university.

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