Chapter 10: Drawing up a research report

When documenting your research, everything falls into place: it has all become one whole. Now you just have to dot your i’s and cross your t’s. Has every aspect been covered, has the right content been placed in the right section? Are the style and structure of the report satisfactory? How is the layout? What needs to go into the appendix? Have all sources been listed in the bibliography appendix? Was that done correctly?

Do not work too hurriedly! Read and reread the report, have others assess it and do not be afraid to make mistakes or, more importantly, to amend them. Consider the first version of your report as a 'scrap version'. But do not throw it away! You never know if you might be able to use parts of it later.

Design case 1 Supermarket G & C

The supermarket management wants to make immediate use of the recommendations from the research study. You will therefore have to draft a report that is legible for them and clear, and that has a good management summary.

The more technical aspects relating directly to the design and execution of your method should be included in the appendix. Examples are long tables, the summary of responses or technically complex analyses. Summarize the long tables in a handy version, so that the members of the management team do not need to search to understand the meaning.

Discussions were already held on a possible follow-up research study when the survey was started up: on the basis of the results of the research study, it is possible to conduct a number of in-depth interviews within the organization, in order to gain more insight into staff experience. Together, the two studies will provide a good picture of the decisions to be taken with respect to customer-friendliness.

Allow colleagues and the project manager at Curioso to read the final report. After all, they took on the job and the research agency is responsible for the content.

Design case 2 Trade Union VaHoP

It is also advisable to include a management summary in the research report for VaHoP. It is difficult, however, to place the results of all the interviews in a 'handy overview'. For this reason, you must pay extra attention to the results of these interviews and the associated conclusions. Look for some additional literature and place the conclusions in a broader, communicative context. If the management team gains a better understanding of the underlying processes, it will be in a better position to respond to them.

The recommendations for future policy deserve extra attention here. After all, there was a hidden agenda at the start of the research study: they actually wanted to use the research results to ‘freshen up' the management team. Therefore, keep strictly to the subject of the study when making recommendations.

Here too, the idea is to use the results of the interviews to organize a satisfaction survey among the members. In your recommendations for future research, you can anticipate this by making suggestions. 

Design case 3 Own topic

If you carried out the study on your own, you should not be so easily satisfied and that is why you should also ask a number of fellow students to read it, too. Naturally, you must also follow the instructions of your study supervisor, but the added insights offered by fellow students are just as important.

For students who have performed their assignment in groups: discuss the conclusions and try to learn from each other. In this case, 'peer assessment' is a powerful tool for producing a good quality report, for learning from one another. Do not be afraid of criticism! Give each other constructive comments and suggestions, so that everyone is satisfied with the final result.

First make a 'rough, scrap version' of the final report. Then allow the supervisors and your fellow students (or colleagues) to read it. Make a new version on the basis of their advice. Let people read the new version. Repeat these steps until the content of the report is in order.

Then take one more look at the style, use of language and layout; only then should you submit it.