Research

Methods
LSS 2533

Chapter 9
How to Report your findings

Instructor: Maria Brewster

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

 Before starting your research find out if

you are going to be restricted by the
structure, style and content of your final
report
Think about the audience and produce
the report accordingly
The more professional your report looks,
the better the chances of success,
especially if you hope to aid in decision
making.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

3 ways of reporting your findings

Written report
Journal articles
Oral presentations

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Report structure
1. Title page
2. Contents
3. List of illustrations
4. Acknowledgements
5. Abstract/ summary
6. Introduction
7. Background
8. Methodology/ Methods
9. Findings/ Analysis
10.Conclusions
11.Recommendations
12.Further research
13.References
14.Bibliography
15.Appendices
Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Title page
It should have

Title of the report

Name of the researcher
Date of publication
The details of the funding organization if
any
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Contents page

Contents of the report as

Chapters or Section
heading/ subheadings
with their page numbers

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

List of Illustrations
This section includes
Title and page number
of all

Graphs
Tables
Illustrations
Charts etc
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Acknowledgements

You may wish to

acknowledge the
help of your
research
participants,
tutors, employers
and /or funding
body.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Abstract/ Summary

One page summary of the

research, its purpose, methods,
major findings and conclusions.

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Introduction
This section introduces the
research, setting out the aims and
objectives, terms and definitions. It
includes a rationale for the research
and a summary of the report
structure.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Background
This section includes all background
research which is obtained from the
literature, personal experience or both.
Show from where the information came
from- the sources ( Keep a complete
record of everything you read/ observe/
experience)
Do this to avoid getting accused of
plagiarism.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Methodology and methods

Give the description of and the
justification for the chosen research
methodology and research methods.
You can mention any issues pertinent to
your work

How many people took part, how they

were chosen, time scale , data
recording and analysis methods.
Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

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Findings / Analysis

Includes your main findings

If you have chosen a quantitative survey ,
this section may contain tables, graphs,
pie charts and associated statistics. If
you have dine a qualitative research this
section may contain descriptive sentences
containing lengthy quotations.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Conclusion

You sum up your findings and draw

conclusions from them, perhaps in
relation to other research or literature.

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Recommendations

List clear recommendations ( for

your company or govt. etc) which
have been developed from your
research

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Further research
It is useful to include this section
which shows how research can be
continued. May be research has
raised a lot more new issues on
which further research can be
done.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

References

Include all literature you have

referred to in your report. Follow the
reference style suggested by the
college. The reference style is APA.
Example: Authors surname alphabetically,
followed by first name, title of the book in italics,
publisher, place of publication and date of
publication.
Follow the standard style for journal articles,
websites or another materials as suggested.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Appendices
If you have constructed a questionnaire for
your research, or produced an interview
schedule or a code of ethics, it may be
useful to include them in your report as
appendix.
Avoid irrelevant appendices.
Other stuff you can include as appendices
are leaflets or letters, practical details of
research participant, sample transcripts, list
of interview dates, relevant charts or tables
which are too big for research report.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Bibliography

If you havent referred some works

in your report, which you read in
relation to your research, you can
include them in Bibliography
section. Make sure that these
bibliographic references are relevant
to your work.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

10 reasons why reports fail

There is no logical structure

Ideas are not well thought out
Work is disorganized
Assumptions are made which cannot be justified
by evidence
There are too many grammatical and spelling
mistakes
Sentences and paragraphs are too long or too
obscure
Ideas and sentences are completely taken from
other sources
There is too much repetition
There is too much irrelevant information
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Summary and conclusions are weak

Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College