Week 12 Lesson 2 The role of audience – Readability – comprehension – Tone

The audience for the written report

The organization of a report, its length, focus on details, data presentation, and
illustrations will, in part, be a function of the audience for whom it is intended.
The letter of transmittal of the report will clearly indicate to whom the report is
being sent. An executive summary placed at the beginning will offer (busy)
executives just the right amount of vital details – usually in less than one page.
This will help the managers to quickly grasp the essentials of the study and its
findings, and turn to the pages that offer more detailed information on aspects
that are of special interest to them. Some managers are distracted by data
presented in the form of tables and feel more comfortable with graphs and
charts, while others want to see “facts and figures.” Both tables and figures
are visual forms of representation and need to be presented in reports. Which
of these are to be prominently highlighted in the report and which relegated to
an appendix is a function of the awareness of the idiosyncracies of the ultimate
user of the report. If a report is to be handled by different executives, with
different orientations, it should be packaged such that they know where to find
the information that meets their preferred mode of information processing. The
length, organization, and presentation modes of the report will, among other
things, depend at least in part on the target audience. Some businesses might
also prescribe their own format for report writing. In all cases, a good report is
a function of the audience for whom it is intended and its exact purpose. As we
have seen, some reports may have to be long and detailed, and others brief and
specific. Sometimes, the findings of a study may be unpalatable to the executive
(e.g., the organizational policies are outdated and the system is very
bureaucratic), or may reflect poorly on management, tending to make them
react defensively (e.g., the system has an ineffective top‐down approach). In
such cases, tact should be exercised in presenting the conclusions without
compromising on the actual findings. That is, while there is no need to suppress
the unpleasant findings, they can be presented in a non-judgmental, non‐
fault‐finding or finger‐pointing manner, using objective data and facts that
forcefully lead to, and convince the managers of the correctness of, the
conclusions drawn. If this is not done, the report will be read defensively, the
recommendations will not be accepted, and the problem will remain unsolved.
Readability – comprehension – Tone
Despite the fact that report writing is a function of the purpose of the study and
the type of audience to which it is presented, and accordingly has to be tailored
to meet both, certain basic features are integral to all written, reports. Clarity,
conciseness, coherence, the right emphasis on important aspects, meaningful
organization of, paragraphs, smooth transition from one topic to the next, apt
choice of words, and specificity are all important features of a good report. The
report should, to the extent possible, be free of technical or statistical jargon
unless it happens to be of a technical or statistical nature. Care should also be
taken to eliminate grammatical and spelling errors. Any assumptions made by
the researcher should be clearly stated in the report, and facts, rather than
opinions, provided. The report should be organized in a manner that enhances
the meaningful and smooth flow of materials, as the reader progresses through
it. Indeed, every reader loves to read a well‐built “story.” The balance
between the academic standpoint and the writing of a good story is not always
easy to find though; some trial and error is often needed.
The importance of the appearance of the report and its readability cannot be
overemphasized. Appropriate headings and subheadings help organize the
report in a logical manner and allow the reader to follow the transitions easily.
A double‐spaced, typed report with wide margins on all sides enables the
reader to make notes/ comments while perusing the contents.