How to Write a Research Report. Part 1
If you have carried out practical research, you will need to write a report on it to present your results. Empirical study reports are very different from theoretical survey reports. And here we will tell you how to complete it properly and without common flaws. You can always order similar reports on paper4college.com.
Basic Elements of the Report
The way a text is built means a lot in case you want to deliver your message clearly. The construction of a report is determined by its scientific genre and consists in having the required categories. Basically, the structure reflects the sequence of your research.
You should better start with annotation, then specify the conceptual and operational basis of your research, determine what the source of information for you was, state the methods and the procedure of the investigation.
Now it is time to proceed to the main part. Here you will need to write the systematized and interpreted outcomes of the data received.
In the end, make sure to include practical recommendations. Make conclusions.
The last pages should be devoted to references that helped you to complete the report and to appendices that clarify and verify the investigation conducted. Here are the detailed recommendations for how to write each of the mentioned parts. As for other assignments, you can always get qualified homework help.
Annotation of the Topic
- The paper deals with … (the object and subject of the study, the main scientific question or several of them).
- The phrase for clarifying the research topic.
- 2-3 phrases to clarify the outcomes of the investigation from the perspective of the expected conclusions: “Based on the certain approach or analysis of the certain data, we have found out that …” (write what has been discovered as a result of data evaluation and analysis in correspondence with the hypotheses set).
Conceptual and Operational Basis
This part does not require a long and detailed text because usually a detailed description is added to bigger papers like courseworks or dissertations. Here you will need to briefly mention the main ideas of the key sources you used as your theoretical basis.
Obviously, your paper is not something brand new, even if you think so. There is a certain background, and papers on the same topic written by other authors (if you did not manage to find them within 5 minutes in Google, this does not mean they do not exist). If you consider yourself a scientist, you will review the main classic and recent papers to discover more about the issue and write your paper accordingly.
Determination of the Type of Responders
Here you should explicate why you have selected these particular sources for the investigation. The motivation should be based on the goals you have set and results you were going to achieve.
Specification of Data Collection Methods
People working in the field of science are very concerned about methods because they constantly search for the best effective ways to get relevant outcomes. With your survey you test some of the methods and offer some specifications to them that are actually the adjustments you need based on the specifics of particular sources you use and information from them.
Have you applied the qualitative or quantitative methods? Classify them and provide arguments why these methods were the best to apply in this particular study.
Also, mention the techniques you used to receive the outcomes to be analyzed. This may be questionnaires, interviews, observation (inclusive or exclusive), analysis of documents, experiment, or combinations of the abovementioned techniques.
To provide arguments for the selected methods and techniques, you may use the evidence and experience from the studies by other scientists. For example, you may say: “Discovering the *insert issue* as a social problem, Jones (2015) have successfully applied the method of ***, so I find this appropriate to apply in this study.”
Analysis and Interpretation of the Survey Results
This part is supposed to include the program of the investigation and reflection on the process of the data collection, as well as the analysis of the outcomes you got.
The analysis of the collected sociological data determines the elements, their systematization, classification, and discussion, i.e. interpretation based on the received outcomes with the conclusion on the way of certain groups of people think, live, cooperate, etc.
If you had a pilot study at the previous stages of the survey, it would be a good idea to tell what you found out and what you decided to change about the procedure and methods of the investigation.
What kind of data do you have? Give examples of data processing. Big tables should better be provided as appendices and linked to in-text, but some small ones can be a part of the main text of the report.
As a result of the analysis, you may get a new typology, classification, hypothetical reconstructions of the life of the societies observed, or theoretical suppositions. You may add more about the existing understanding of a certain practice and issue, may disclose the stereotypes and offer new ideas and terms to the scientific field you are working in.