RESEARCH REPORT OUTLINES

COVER/TITLE PAGE: Give a clear title to your project, then in the center of the page
give the name of the client recipient and his/her position/organization. Count, but
do not number the Title Page.
TABLE OF CONTENTS: The first page of the table of contents should start with small
Roman numerals (ii) and continue through the end of the Executive Summary.
Acknowledgement must be short and included in the beginning with a declaration that
this is an original work of the student. In the Table of Contents, list only the starting page
of each major section. Have a major section for Research Questions, then indent and
list each research question separately as subheadings along with start page. Use a short
descriptor for each research question so your readers know what the information is about
(not just RQ1, RQ2, etc.).
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: [about 1-2 pages]: This is a short overview of your entire
report. It should contain a very brief but concise overview of your research purpose and
objectives, methods, major findings, and specific conclusions and recommendations.
INTRODUCTION: [about 2 3 pages]:
This chapter should introduce the reader to the project and should answer the following
important questions
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

What is the project?

What is the significance of the project ?( Why)
Scope of the project? ( Where)
Time frame for the project? (When)
How would the project be done?
What contribution the project would make to the company

ABOUT THE INDUSTRY, COMPANY AND THE PRODUCTS [about 3 5 pages]:

This chapter should introduce the reader to the industry the company operates in briefly
talking about the prospects and problems of the industry and should also refer to the
various players operating within the industry. The student should keep on narrowing the
focus from the industry to the company to the division and then to the products he is
working on, briefly sharing important information with the reader. This chapter should
not exceed 5 pages of the report
REVIEW OF LITERATURE/ THEORETICAL BACKGROUND [about 7 8
pages]:
Review of literature/ theoretical background should contain following points
1. International/ national journals,
2. Conferences,
3. Books, reports, which are related to the project.

OBJECTIVE [1 page]:
The research question and broad objectives should be translated into specific objectives
which the project work would aim at satisfying.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: [about 6 8 pages]:
Development (including pre-testing) and GENERAL description of questionnaire (i.e.,
length and major sections). Put a copy of the final questionnaire in the Appendix and
refer to it in this section. If you are using a schedule then say so and include it in the
Appendix. (a) Data collection method Describe your procedures and why you chose
this particular method, and why it was the best option given your criteria. (b) Sample
plan. Here, you can use a revised version of the information you turned in for
Assignment # 1 & 2 in Research Methodology. Report all methods and procedures in
detail and use appendices as needed for detailed information (i.e., maps, time/area
matrix). If you have changed later to other parts of the plan (i.e., locations, times, etc.),
only report what you actually ended up doing. (c) Sample Description. Give your desired
and final sample size, report the response rate (number of surveys completed divided by
all respondents contacted, not including ineligibles), and describe reasons for nonresponse, such as refusals. Then, report demographic characteristics of your sample
using exhibits as needed. Conclude with an assessment of how well your sample
represents the target population.
DATA ANALYSIS, RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION
This chapter would organize the data collected into organized form and using various
presentation and analysis tools would be organized and analyzed. In-depth analysis
should be carried out using statistical tools e.g. descriptive/ inferential statistical tools
(mean, mode, median , Correlation, regression etc )
Put each research question(Objectives)on a SEPARATE page. Do NOT discuss any
research questions that you did not end up addressing. For each research question: (a)
Restate the research question (perhaps as the section title). (b) Identify questions in the
questionnaire used to answer the research question and briefly describe the question
format. You need to state the question type (e.g., 5-pt Likert scale anchored by., 7-pt
semantic differential scale anchored by, checklist with 10 items, 4-item ranking
question, open-ended, etc.) but NOT level of measurement (interval, ordinal, nominal
although you could refer to ordinal and nominal as categorical questions and interval as
scale or open-endedmost students who have taken a course in Research
Methodology will understand that). EXAMPLE: To answer this research question,
survey question #3 asked respondents to rate on a 5-point scale where 1 = very satisfied
and 5 = very unsatisfied, a list of 5 different items such as convenience and
cleanliness.. (c) Report your findings and dont be overly technical in discussing the
statistical procedures, although you might footnote inferential test statistics if applicable.
Present your results in a manner your average readers can easily understand! Summarize
your key points and refer to exhibits for detailed findings. Be sure to conclude with a
summary paragraph that gives your interpretation of findings and your best answer to the

research question based on the data. If your findings are mixed or inconclusive, say so!
(d) Exhibits should be placed on the same page or the next page as your discussion of the
answer to the research question. Do NOT put the exhibits in an appendix!
CONCLUSIONS [about 1 2 pages]:
This will be the important chapter of the SIP Report. Conclusions derived from the
logical analysis presented in the Results and interpretation Chapter shall be presented and
clearly enumerated, each point stated separately.
LIMITATIONS OF THE PROJECT [1 page]:
Include a brief discussion of the major project limitations. Limitations include things
such as time & money constraints, non-response issues like break offs, non-response to
open-ended questions, problems with your research design or questionnaire, cautions
about sample representative ness etc.

RECOMMENDATIONS [about 1 3 pages]:

The recommendations should be based on your research conclusions. Dont make
recommendations not clearly supported by your findings. A bullet format is often an
effective way to list your major conclusions and recommendations if you have them
provided you take pains to explain these points somewhere.

APPENDIX: This must include:

A copy of the questionnaire, schedule as well as sample working of data
Any technical or very detailed material (e.g., maps, time sampling grids,
instruction sheets for interviewers, etc.).
Any company document that has a direct bearing on the study conducted and
which the reader, in your opinion, must be aware of.
A sample of the working in case the data analyzed through SPSS or RATS is
extensive e.g. 3000 responses.
IN ADDITION:

The report should be written in the third person and in past tense. Check your
early assignments in Research Methodology and class notes for help.
Use headings and subheadings liberally. It makes it easier for the reader to follow
along.
The student should use A/4 size white paper and printing should be double-spaced
in font size 12 with sub titles in font size 14 and main title in font size 18 (sans

serif) Take care to provide margins: left- 35mm, right -20mm, bottom 20mm
and top -35 mm. You may wish to begin each separate section on a new page. It
may be easier to produce your report if you keep tables/figures on separate pages
from the text. In any case, the exhibits should be located in the text near the
discussion of those figures and not in the appendix.
EXHIBITS: Do NOT simply cut and paste as that amounts to plagiarism. Excel or SPSS
output tables into your project and use these as exhibits. Make appropriate graphs and
professional tables (using either SPSS or Excel). Each exhibit and appendix item should
be referred to in the text (e.g., as shown in Exhibit 3) when it is introduced. Each
exhibit must be numbered and titled (e.g., Exhibit 1: Comparison of Student Satisfaction
across Class Levels) and should contain labels and other information necessary to
interpret it. Exhibits should be able to suffice as a stand-alone view of results, so make
sure they are properly labeled and include legends where needed.

Every table must be numbered, serially, given a title and then inserted in the text to
make reference to it easy. All graphs must clearly show what the dependent variable
is and what the independent variable is so the axes must be titled.
Check grammar and spelling on your final draft! Part of your grade will be based
on grammar, spelling, and proper writing style (which means professional and
objective!). At the postgraduate level spelling and grammatical errors are
unforgivable so use a good dictionary and the spell check provided on the p.c..
Have FOUR copies of your report bound. Give the title of the project the name of
your institute and your name with year clearly on the cover. Bring your copy of the
report to class on the due date. The reports appearance will be evaluated in
assigning the report grade. For financial reasons you may print one copy in color
for the client and one for the library and the other two can be in black & white.
Reports will be graded for the final exam and this includes an oral defense before a
panel.
There must be a section of Theoretical Discourse included in the Project to show
your grasp of the subject, a Literature Review to show the extent of your reading
and a substantial bibliography provided at the end in the form explained in class.
You may use either the Chicago Manual or Style or the European Style both of
which were explained in class.
Footnotes become cumbersome while taking printouts so stick to end notes and give
numerical notations appropriately.
Whenever you quote anything more than two sentences or 15 words please indent
the same within the text. You may use italics or inverted commas to give the quote
but not both.