Compose a Research Report on a Relevant Social Issue

What is a Research Report?

Research is connected to our curiosity: we get curious, ask questions,
and immerse ourselves in discovering everything there is to know.
Without curiosity and research, progress would slow to a halt, and our
lives as we know them would be completely different. In addition,
research may help us discover new things and provide feasible
solutions to problems based on data gathered. Do you know that
research plays a critical role in the innovation process? Research is
essentially an investment in technology and modernization
transformed into new products, processes, and services.

A Research Paper presents an original thesis, or purpose statement,

about a topic and develops that thesis with information gathered from
a variety of sources. Writing a research paper is an ideal way to
organize thoughts, craft narratives, or make arguments based on
research, and share newfound knowledge with the world.

The Major Sections of a Research Report

1. Research Title
A good title for a research article is the one which on its own, is able
to introduce the research work to the fullest extent but in a concise
manner. Always remember, the first aim of a research title is to
capture the reader's attention.
With this in mind, the title should summarize the main idea or ideas
of your study. A good title contains the fewest possible words needed
to adequately describe the content and/or purpose of your research
paper.

2. Research Introduction
The introduction leads the reader from a general subject area to a
particular topic of inquiry. It establishes the scope, context, and
significance of the research being conducted by summarizing current
understanding and background information about the topic. It also
states the purpose of the work in the form of the research problem
supported by a hypothesis or a set of questions. The introduction
includes explaining briefly the methodological approach used to
examine the research problem, highlighting the potential outcomes
your study can reveal, and outlining the remaining structure and
organization of the paper.
Think of the introduction as a mental road map. The reader must be
able to answer these four questions:
 What was I studying?
 Why was this topic important to examine?
 What did I know about this topic before I did this study? How
will this study advance new knowledge or ways of
understanding?

3. Review of Related Literature

A literature review surveys books, scholarly articles, and other
sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and
in so doing, provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation
of these works in relation to the research problem being investigated.
Literature reviews are designed to provide an overview of sources you
have explored while researching a particular topic and to demonstrate
to your readers how your research fits within a larger field of study.

When writing your literature review, keep in mind these key points:
 Use evidence. Your interpretation of the available sources
must be substantiated with evidence [citations] that may prove
that what you are saying is valid.
 Be selective. Select only the most important points in each
source to highlight in the review.
 Use quotes sparingly. Do not use extensive quotes as a
substitute for your own summary and interpretation of the
literature.
  Summarize and synthesize. Remember to summarize and
synthesize your sources within each thematic paragraph as
well as throughout the review.
 Keep your own voice. While the literature review presents
others' ideas, your voice as a writer should remain front and
center.
 Use caution when paraphrasing. When paraphrasing a source
that is not your own, be sure to represent the author's
information or opinions accurately and in your own words.

4. Methodology
The methods section describes the actions to be taken to investigate a
research problem and the rationale for the application of specific
procedures or techniques used to identify, select, process, and analyze
information applied to understanding the problem, thereby, allowing
the reader to critically evaluate a study's overall validity and
reliability. The methodology section of a research paper answers two
main questions: How was the data collected or generated? And, how
was it analyzed? The writing should be direct and precise and always
written in the past tense.

When writing your Methodology, keep in mind these tips:

 Readers need to know how the data were obtained because the
method you chose affects the results and, by extension, how
you interpreted their significance in the discussion section of
your paper.
 Methodology is crucial for any branch of scholarship because
an unreliable method produces unreliable results and, as a
consequence, undermines the value of your analysis of the
findings.
  In most cases, there is a variety of different methods you can
choose to investigate a research problem. The methodology
section of your paper should clearly articulate the reasons for
having chosen a particular procedure or technique.
 The reader wants to know that the data was collected or
generated in a way that is consistent with accepted practice in
the field of study. The method must be appropriate to fulfilling
the overall aims of the study.
 The methodology should discuss the problems that were
anticipated and the steps you took to prevent them from
occurring.
 In the social and behavioral sciences, it is important to always
provide sufficient information to allow other researchers to
adopt or replicate your methodology.

5. Results and Discussion

The Results section should set out your key experimental results,
including any statistical analysis and whether or not the results of
these are significant. The discussion section, therefore, needs to
review your findings in the context of the literature and the existing
knowledge about the subject. You also need to demonstrate that you
understand the limitations of your research and the implications of
your findings for policy and practice. This section should be written
in the past tense.

When writing your Results and Discussion, practice the following:

 Data presented in tables, charts, graphs, and other figures may
be placed among research text or on a separate page.
 The contextual analysis of the data explains its meaning in a
sentence form.
 There must be a report on data collection, recruitment, and/or
participants.
 The data must correspond to the central research question(s).
  The secondary findings (secondary outcomes, subgroup
analyses, etc.) must be clearly presented.
Remember that in the Result and Discussion section, past tense is
generally used to summarize the findings like the given example
below. But when you are interpreting the results or describing the
significance of the findings, present tense should be used.

6. Summary, Conclusion, and Recommendations

This includes inferences, deductions, abstractions, implications,
interpretations, and general statements based upon the findings. This
part should appropriately answer the specific questions raised at the
beginning of the investigation in the order they are given under the
statement of the problem.

When writing your Summary, Conclusion, and Recommendation,

keep in mind the following steps:
 Present the final statement or conclusion on the issues you
raised in your paper.
 Summarize your thoughts and convey the larger significance
of your study.
 Identify how a gap in the literature has been addressed.
 Demonstrate the importance of your ideas.
 Introduce possible new or expanded ways of thinking about the
research problem. .