21/03/19

WRITING A
RESEARCH
REPORT
McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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What is a Research Report?

•  It is a wri1en plan of a study.
•  It spells out in detail what the researcher
intends to do.
•  It permits others to learn about the intended
research and to offer sugges=ons for
improving the study.
•  It also helps the researcher clarify what needs
to be done and to avoid uninten=onal
problems.

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Major Sec=ons of a

Research Report
•  There are four topics addressed in this
area:
1)  The purpose of the study
2)  The jus=fica=on for the study
3)  The research ques=on/hypothesis,
including variables to be inves=gated
4)  The defini=on of terms

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Purpose of the Study

•  The purpose states succinctly what the

researcher proposes to inves=gate.
•  This should be a concise statement, providing
a framework to which details are added later.
•  Clarifica=on of the field of interest should be
considered here.

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Jus=fica=on of the Study

•  The researcher must make clear why this par=cular
study is important to inves=gate.
•  He or she must present an argument for the study.
•  A good jus=fica=on should also include any specific
implica=ons that follow if rela=onships are
iden=fied.
•  There could be an implica=on that current methods
are not good enough, however, this should be made
explicit.

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Research Ques=on or Hypothesis

•  The par=cular ques=on to be inves=gated

should be stated here.
•  Favoring hypotheses will help clarify and
become a strategy point.
•  It should be clearly stated as concisely as
possible.
•  There should be any inference made if a
hypothesis is well-stated.

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Defini=ons
•  All key terms should be defined.
•  The researcher’s task is to make the
defini=ons as clear as possible.
•  Some=mes, terms will have to be modified to
fit the present study.
•  While it is probably impossible to eliminate
all ambiguity, the clearer the terms used, the
fewer the difficul=es that will be encountered
with the study.

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Background and Review of Literature

•  This may be a lengthy sec=on since it is a par=al

summary of previous work related to the focus of
the study.
•  The researcher should demonstrate a familiarity
with previous research and understand the
relevance of the study being planned.
•  A major weakness of many literature reviews is that
they cite references without indica=ng their
implica=ons for the planned study.

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Procedures
•  The procedures sec=on includes discussion of
the following:
–  Research Design
–  Sample
–  Instrumenta=on
–  Procedural detail
–  Internal validity
–  Data analysis

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Results/Findings
•  Results of a study can be presented only in a
research report.
•  Results are usually not found in the proposal
sec=on.
•  This sec=on is found near the end of the research
report and cons=tutes the descrip=on of what kind
of analyses were performed.
•  The data are revealed by the form of sta=s=cal
analysis that was applied to the data, and any
significance that was observed.

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Discussion
•  The discussion sec=on of a report presents the
author’s interpreta=on of what the results
imply for theory and/or prac=ce.
•  Researchers place their results in a broader
context.
•  Here, difficul=es as well as limita=ons of the
study are noted, and sugges=ons for future
considera=ons are included.
•  Results and Discussion sec=ons should be kept
separate, since the Discussion sec=on goes
beyond the data.
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General Rules to Consider

•  A research report should be wri1en as clearly and
concisely as possible.
•  Research reports are always wri1en in the past
tense and free from jargon.
•  A style manual (APA manual) should be consulted
before beginning the report.
•  Once the report is completed, it is a good idea to
have a thesis forma1er/editor check for style and
grammar.
•  Computerized programs have made research
reports easier to complete, due to self-correc=ng
programs.
McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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