Reporting the Results

Research done by busy missionaries often gets bogged down at the reporting stage. The results are in. The findings have been found. The implications for the decision have been communicated informally. The job of writing up the results looms laborious and long. Actually, it is not necessary to write up a full report on every project undertaken. But certainly the bigger projects, and the projects which are likely to have wide appeal need to be written up so that others can benefit from the research too.

Since OC type research is usually applied research there is an assumption that the project was done because a decision needed to be made. For this reason the report should be written with the decision makers in mind. Technical language should not be used in the body of the report. The emphasis should be on presenting the findings and recommendations clearly and succinctly.

Reports customarily include the following major sections:

• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Methodology
• Data Analysis
• Recommendations
• Appendices

Executive Summary
This first section of the report is the most important and will likely be the only part that gets read by most people interested in the project. lt should be a summary of the entire report but focusing on the findings and their implications for the research question which prompted the project in the first place. This section should be two to four pages long and two is better than four.

Introduction
The purpose of this short section is to state plainly the research question and the specific goals of the research project.

Methodology
This section narrates the steps taken in the project. lt tells how the sample was taken, how the questionnaire was designed, and how the data was analyzed.

Data Analysis
Here are reported the results of the tabulations and statistical methods, if any. Graphical presentations beat tables by a mile. Bar charts and pie charts are good for indicating simple tabulations. Line graphs are good for showing growth rates or trends. Cross tabulations can sometimes be presented in three dimensional graphic form.
These charts and graphs should help the reader grasp the primary points in the results of the study. Don't complicate the main points here. lf you want to report more detailed tables and charts put them in an appendix. Presentation of these charts and tables will naturally lead to a discussion of the findings and the implications of the findings.

Recommendations
This is the researcher's time to shine. You should know more about this project and what it means than anybody else. ln this section goes your recommendations and your rationale based on the study for those recommendations. As in all science, findings and implications should be stated in a tentative manner and as the opinion of the researcher.

Appendices
lf a questionnaire was used in the project, it should be included in the appendices. Tables too detailed for the report but of some importance should be included here.

Source: OC Research Manual