report writing.ppt

7/28/2019 Report Writing.ppt

1/34

REPORT WRITING

byDr. Sunil Misra

Associate Professor

Human Resource & Organizational BehaviourDepartment of MBA

E-mail: [email protected]


2/34


3/34

Report Writing

Research is complete only whenthe results are shared with thescientific community. Althoughsuch sharing is accomplished invarious ways, both formal andinformal, the traditional mediumfor communicating research is

the scientific journal.


4/34

4

Kinds of ReportsOccasional Reports : to alert / update on asituationActivity Reports : to sum up a trip / conference/ meeting / any other eventStatus / Progress Reports : to give a generalreview of activities in a department / progresson a particular projectFormal Reports : to provide a comprehensiveoverview


5/34

5

Basics for all Reports Objectives - the purpose for writing

the Report.Readers Identify the readers and

focus on what they know about the

contextScope


6/34

6

Basics of Report Writing

A. Identify and state theProblem

B. Determine the FactorsC. Gather InformationD. Interpret the DataE. Organize the FindingsF. Write the Report


7/34

SM / HSS / IIT-KGP 7

What are Reports?

An Orderly and Objective

Communication of FactualInformation that Serves aBusiness Purpose.


8/34

Title Page

A title page should summarize themain idea of the Report.

The title should include theDEPENDENT VARIABLE,INDEPENDENT VARIABLE and

the SAMPLE.Abbreviations should be avoided

in the title.


9/34

Title Page

The recommended length for atitle is 10 to 12 words.

Redundancies such as A Studyof An Exper imental

Investigation of Theory of,Some, Toward a shouldbe avoided.


10/34

Report Writing

Author/s name and institutional affiliation:Every manuscript must have a bylineconsisting of two parts: the name of the

author/s and the institution where theinvestigation was conducted.

The preferred form of an author s name is

first name, middle initial, and last name.Example: Sunil Misra OR Amit R. Lathiya.Omit all titles (e.g., Dr., Professor) anddegrees (e.g., Ph D, M Sc, M Tech , etc.)


11/34

Report Writing

AbstractAn abstract is a brief, comprehensivesummary of the contents of thereport. It allows readers to survey thecontents of an report quickly. Almostall the journals/thesis/reports require

an abstract. Normally, an abstractshould consist of 100 to 250 words(empirical study) and in case of

review article 75 words.


12/34


13/34

Report WritingIn introduction the following things are

considered:

What is the point of the study?

How do the hypotheses and the experimentaldesign relate to the problem?What are the theoretical implications of the

study and how does the study relate toprevious work in the area?What are the theoretical propositions tested

and how were they derived?


14/34

Report Writing

Introduction should generally include:

Review of literature: relationship of var iables established through

theoretical background and the works done in the past by var ious researchers in the area.

Develop the background: Discuss the l i teratur e but do not include an exhaustive historical r eview.


15/34

Report WritingDemonstrate the logical continuity between previous and present work.Controversial issues, when relevant,should be tr eated fair ly.

A table representing, year of publication, author /s name, var iables used for study, and the major f indings for a quick glance is

desirable.


16/34

Report Writing

INTRODUCTION SECTION

Review of literature

Gap areasObjective of the studyConceptualization of variablesConceptual modelHypotheses/Research Questions


17/34

Report WritingMETHOD

The method section describes in detail how thestudy was conducted. Such a description enablesthe readers to evaluate the appropriateness of one s methods and the reliability and validity of one s result. The method section is usuallydivided into three parts:

a. Sample (Sample character istics, demographic information- age, gender, etc.)

b. Measures (scale, number of dimensions, i tems,alpha value)

c. Test administration


18/34

Report Writing

RESULTSThe results section summarizes the data.First, briefly the main results or findingsare stated, then the data are reportedwith sufficient details to justify theconclusions.

If hypotheses are to be tested, use thesuitable statistics and report the findings.


19/34

Report Writing

When reporting inferential statistics(e.g., t-tests, F- tests, and chi-square),information about the value of the testto be included.The degrees of freedom, the probabilitylevel and the direction of the effectneeds to be mentioned.It is desirable, to give a summary of findings at the end of the result sectionfor a quick look.


20/34

Report Writing

DISCUSSION

After presenting the results, one shouldevaluate and interpret the implications

especially with respect to one s originalhypothesis.

One is free to examine, interpret andqualify the results as well as to drawinferences from them. One should beguided by the following questions:


21/34

What I have contributed here?

How has my study helped to resolve

the original problem?

What conclusions and theoreticalimplications can I draw from mystudy?


22/34

Report Writing

Conclusions

Implication of the studyContribution of the present work

Limitation of the studyScope for future research


23/34

Page numbering

Page numbers for the prefacing materials of the report should be in small Romannumerals and should be centered at thebottom of the pages.Page numbers for the body of the reportshould be in Arabic numerals and should becentered at the bottom of the pages.Font: Times New Roman, 12 point, doublespacing, A4 size paper with 1 margin all thesides.


24/34

Report Writing

Author noteReferences

Appendices

Appendix AAppendix BAppendix C, etc.


25/34


26/34

Report Writing

In references:Blegen, M., & Mueller, C. W. (1987). Nurses job satisfaction. Alongitudinal analysis, Research in Nur sing and H ealth , 10, 227-237.

Gruneberg, M. M. (1979). Understanding job satisfaction. NewYork: John Wiley & Sons.

Gradner, J., Paulsen, N., Gallois, C., Callan, V., & Monaghan,P. (2001). An intergroup perspective on communication inorganisations. In H. Giles & W. P. Robinson (Eds.), The new handbook of language and social psychology (pp. 561-584).Chichester, UK: Wiley.

Holthouse, D., & Potok, M. (2008). The year in hate. RetrivedApril 8, 2008, fromhttp://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=886.


27/34

Redundancy A total of 65 par ticipants They were both alike F our dif ferent groups saw instructions which were exactly the same as those used.absolutely essenti al has been previously found small in size one and the samein close proximitycompletely unanimous

just exactlyvery close to significanceperiod of timesummarize briefly

the reason is because


28/34

Report WritingTense

Generally, past tense [e.g., Mitra (1998)showed] or present perfect tense [e.g., Mitra(1998) has shown] is appropriate for literature

review.Method and the results section should bewritten in the past tense.

Present tense should be used to discuss theresults and to present the conclusions.The use of I first person pronoun should be

avoided in the report writing.


29/34

Report WritingGrammar

Incorrect:The percentage of correct responses as well as

the speed of the responses increase withpractice.

Correct:The percentage of correct responses as well as

the speed of the responses increases with

practice.

Incorrect: The data indicates thatCorrect: The data indicate that


30/34

Incorrect: Neither the highest scorer northe lowest scorer in the group had any

doubt About their competency.Correct: Neither the highest scorer nor thelowest scorer in the group had any doubtabout his/her competency.

Incorrect: To test this hypothesis, theparticipants were divided into twogroups.

Correct: To test this hypothesis, wedivided the participants into two groups.


31/34


32/34

Thanks !


33/34

Quality of presentation

a) Is the topic appropriate for the journal towhich the manuscript is submitted?

b) Is the introduction clear and complete?c) Does the statement of purpose

adequately and logically orient thereader?d) Is the literature adequately reviewed?

e) Are the citations appropriate andcomplete?f) Is the research question clearly

identified, and is the hypothesis explicit?


34/34

g) Are the conceptualization and rationaleperfectly clear?

h) Is the method clearly and adequatelydescribed?

i) Are the techniques of data analysisappropriate, and the analysis clear?

j) Are the results and conclusions unambiguous,valid, and meaningful?

k) Is the discussion thorough? Does it stick tothe point and confine itself to what can be

concluded from the significant findings of thestudy?l) Is the paper concise?m) Is the manuscript prepared according to APA

l ?

report writing.ppt

Documents