Research reports vary
greatly in length and type. In each individual case, both the length and the
form are largely dictated by the problems at hand. For instance, business firms prefer reports in the
letter form, just one or two pages in length. Banks, insurance organizations and financial institutions are generally fond of the short
balance-sheet type of tabulation for their annual reports to their customers
and shareholders. Mathematicians
prefer to write the results of their investigations in the form of algebraic
notations. Chemists report their
results in symbols and formulae. Students
of literature usually write long reports presenting the critical analysis
of some writer or period or the like with a liberal use of quotations from the
works of the author under discussion. In the field of education and psychology, the favorite form is the report on the
results of experimentation accompanied by the detailed statistical tabulations.
Clinical psychologists and social pathologists frequently find it
necessary to make use of the case-history form.
News items in the daily papers are also forms of report writing. They
represent firsthand on-thescene accounts of the events described or
compilations of interviews with persons who were on the scene. In such reports
the first paragraph usually contains the important information in detail and
the succeeding paragraphs contain material which is progressively less and less
important. Book-reviews which analyze
the content of the book and report on the author’s intentions, his success or
failure in achieving his aims, his language, his style, scholarship, bias or
his point of view. Such reviews also happen to be a kind of short report. The reports prepared by governmental bureaus,
special commissions, and similar
other organizations are generally very comprehensive reports on the issues
involved. Such reports are usually considered as important research products.
Similarly, Ph.D. theses and dissertations are also a form of
report-writing, usually completed by students in academic institutions. The
above narration throws light on the fact that the results of a research
investigation can be presented in a number of ways viz., a technical report, a popular report, an article, a monograph or at times
even in the form of oral presentation. Which method(s) of presentation to
be used in a particular study depends on the circumstances under which the
study arose and the nature of the results. A technical report is used whenever
a full written report of the study is required whether for recordkeeping or for
public dissemination. A popular report is used if the research results
have policy implications. We give below a few details about the said two types
of reports:
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