UNIT-4 (BRM)

RESEARCH REPORT
SYLLABUS-
Report Preparation: Meaning, types and layout of research report;
Steps in report writing ;

Literature review and its significance, Citations Styles, Bibliography

and Annexure in report,

Essentials of good research report, presentation of a report, Ethics

in Research, Plagiarism Check.
 WHAT IS REPORT IN RESEARCH?
• Research reports are recorded data prepared by
researchers or statisticians after analyzing
information gathered by conducting organized
research, typically in the form
of surveys or qualitative methods.

•  research report is a reliable source to recount

details about a conducted research and is
most often considered to be a true testimony
of all the work done to garner specificities of
research.
Contents of  Research
 Report
• The researcher must keep in mind that his research report must
contain following aspects:
• Purpose of study
• Significance of his study or statement of the problem
• Review of literature
• Methodology
• Interpretation of data
• Conclusions and suggestions
• Bibliography
• Appendices
 Research report layout in
Research Methodology

• The Research report layout must necessarily be conveyed enough about

the study so that he can place it in its general scientific context, judge
the adequacy of its methods and thus form an opinion of how seriously
the findings are to be taken. 
• For this purpose there is the need of proper layout of the report. The
layout of the report means as to what the research report should
contain. 
• A comprehensive layout of the research report should comprise
preliminary pages,
•  the main text and the end matter.
 Preliminary Pages

• In its preliminary pages the report should carry

a title and date, followed by
acknowledgements in the form of ‘Preface’ or
‘Foreword’. Then there should be a table of
contents followed by list of tables and
illustrations so that the decision-maker or
anybody interested in reading the report can
easily locate the required information in the
report.
 • Main Text
• The main text provides the complete outline of the
research report along with all details. Title of the research
study is repeated at the top of the first page of the main
text and then follows the other details on pages
numbered consecutively, beginning with the second page.
Each main section of the report should begin on a new
page. The main text of the report should have the
Main Text following sections:
• Introduction
• Statement of findings and recommendations
• The results
• The implications drawn from the results; and
• The summary.
 The purpose of introduction is to introduce the research
project to the readers. It should contain a clear statement of
the objectives of research i.e., enough background should be
given to make clear to the reader why the problem was
considered worth investigating. A brief summary of other
relevant research may also be stated so that the present
Introduction:  study can be seen in that context. The hypotheses of study, if
any, and the definitions of the major concepts employed in
the study should be explicitly stated in the introduction of the
report.
 • After introduction, the research report
must contain a statement of findings
• Statement of and recommendations in non-technical
language so that it can be easily
findings and understood by all concerned. If the
recommendations findings happen to be extensive, at this
point they should be put in the
summarised form.
  A detailed presentation of the findings of the
study, with supporting data in the form of
tables and charts together with a validation of
results, is the next step in writing the main
text of the report. This generally comprises
the main body of the report, extending over
several chapters. The result section of the
Results:  report should contain statistical summaries
and reductions of the data rather than the raw
data. All the results should be presented in
logical sequence and splitted into readily
identifiable sections. All relevant results must
find a place in the report.
  Toward the end of the main text,
the researcher should again put
down the results of his research
Implications clearly and precisely. He should,
of the results:  state the implications that flow
from the results of the study, for
the general reader is interested in
the implications for
understanding the human
behaviour. 
 •  It has become customary to
conclude the research report
with a very brief summary,
resting in brief the research
Summary: problem, the methodology, the
major findings and the major
conclusions drawn from the
research results.
 CATEGORIES OF REPORT

 Reports fall into three major categories: 

Information oriented 
Decision oriented 
Research oriented 
The substance and focus of the content determines the category. However, a
report may contain characteristics of more than one category. 
Information Reports 

Information Reports 

In describing any person, object, situation, or concept, the following

seven questions (6 Ws+ 1 H) help to convey a comprehensive picture: 

WHO does WHAT to WHOM WHEN, WHERE, HOW and WHY? 

 Decision Reports
Decision reports adopt the following steps of the problem solving approach :

Identifying the problem 

Constructing the criteria 

Generating and evaluating the options 

Making a decision Drawing up an action plan 

Working out a contingency plan 

Research Oriented:

Research reports contribute to the growth of subject

literature. They pave the way for new information,
significant hypotheses, and innovative and rigorous
methods of research and measurement. They broadly
have the following organization -
Literature survey to find gaps in knowledge.

Nature and scope of the study, hypothesis to be tested, and significance and K utility of the study

Methodology for collecting data, conducting the experiment, and analysing the data. 

Description and analysis of the experiment and data.

Findings. 

Conclusions. 

Recommendations. 

Suggestions for further research.

Backup evidence and data. 

literature review
• A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a
specific topic. It provides an overview of current
knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories,
methods, and gaps in the existing research that you can
later apply to your paper, thesis, or dissertation topic.
• There are five key steps to writing a literature review:
• Search for relevant literature
• Evaluate sources
• Identify themes, debates, and gaps
• Outline the structure
• Write your literature review
Literature
Review:
Bibliography
The bibliography comes after the appendices section and is separated from it by a
division sheet written BIBLIOGRAPHY.

It is listed as a major section in all capital letters in the table of content.

A bibliography contains the source of every reference cited in the footnote and
any other relevant works that the author has consulted.

It gives the reader an idea of the literature available on the subject and that has
influenced or aided the author. 
 Types of Bibliographies

•  The title of a bibliography should indicate what type of items are listed. Some
common varieties of bibliographies are given below:
1.Bibliography of Works cited lists only those items which have been referred to
in the text. 
2.Selected Bibliography contains only those items which the author thinks are of
primary interest to the reader and indicates the criteria used for selecting the
items.
3. Annotated Bibliography gives a brief description of each item to help the
reader to find out the usefulness of the book.
 Citation Style:

• What is a citation and citation style?

• A citation is a way of giving credit to individuals for their creative and
intellectual works that you utilized to support your research. It can also
be used to locate particular sources and combat plagiarism. Typically, a
citation can include the author's name, date, location of the publishing
company, journal title, or DOI (Digital Object Identifier).
• A citation style dictates the information necessary for a citation and
how the information is ordered, as well as punctuation and other
formatting.
TYPES-

• APA (American Psychological Association) is used by Education,

Psychology, and Sciences
• MLA (Modern Language Association) style is used by the Humanities
• Chicago/Turabian style is generally used by Business, History, and the
Fine Arts
 • The terms “appendix” and “annex” are
commonly confused in research papers.
While the use of an appendix is more
common, the annex can also be a valuable
ANNEXUR way of supplementing your research.
E IN • Both the appendix and the annex add
supporting/supplementary information (SI),
REPORT like tables and graphs, datasets, or
transcriptions. Both are posted online and
can be referred to by researchers with a
particular interest in your study (especially if
they’re open access).
DIFFERENCE-

• The main differences between these two forms of data supplement

are context and length. Appendixes are common and are part of the study;
you likely used them in theses and dissertations. Annexes deal with
much longer and more detailed sets of information, and they’re additional
to the study’s content. Let’s take a deeper look at the differences so you’ll
never them confused.
ESSENTIALS
OF GOOD
REPORT-
RESEARCH ETHICS-

• Research ethics are the set of ethical guidelines that guides us on how
scientific research should be conducted and disseminated.
• Research ethics govern the standards of conduct for scientific researchers
It is the guideline for responsibly conducting the research.
• Research that implicates human subjects or contributors rears distinctive
and multifaceted ethical, legitimate, communal and administrative
concerns.
OBJECTIVE OF RESEARCH ETHICS-

• The first and comprehensive objective – to guard/protect human

participants, their dignity, rights and welfare .
• The second objective – to make sure that research is directed in a manner
that assists welfares of persons, groups and/or civilization as a whole.
• The third objective – to inspect particular research events and schemes
for their ethical reliability, considering issues such as the controlling risk,
protection of privacy and the progression of informed consent.
PRINCIPLES
OF
RESEARCH
ETHICS-
ADVANTAGES OF RESEARCH ETHICS-

• Research ethics promote the aims of research.

• It increases trust among the researcher and the respondent.
• It is important to adhere to ethical principles in order to protect the dignity, rights and welfare of research
participants.
• Researchers can be held accountable and answerable for their actions.
• Ethics promote social and moral values.
• Promotes the ambitions of research, such as understanding, veracity, and dodging of error.
• Ethical standards uphold the values that are vital to cooperative work, such as belief, answerability, mutual
respect, and impartiality.
• Ethical norms in research also aid to construct public upkeep for research. People are more likely to trust a
research project if they can trust the worth and reliability of research.
 PLAGIARISM CHECK

• PLAGIARISM 
• Plagiarism means using someone else’s work without
giving them proper credit. In academic writing,
plagiarizing involves using words, ideas, or information
from a source without citing it correctly. In practice, this
can mean a few different things.
 Process of Checking a Research Paper for
Plagiarism:

1. Source Citation
• Inconsistent citation format may lead to plagiarism. Writers must cite with the mention
of the first source.
• They must incorporate other essential stuff like authors’ names or the publication date.
2. Quoting from elsewhere
• Quoting from a good source is permissible to enhance the writing standard. Writers
should avoid patchy information. Sometimes accidental plagiarism may take place.
Content creators must use quotation marks in their research papers to avoid plagiarism.
They must write thoughtfully, infuse new ideas and engage readers with original
content.
3. Using paraphrasing tools
• Some writers try brainstorming ideas and borrow information from already published materials.
However, it may cause unintentional plagiarism. Paraphrasing tools could be advantageous.
Often, writers got to establish their views on similar subjects for an extended time. Utilizing
paraphrase software, they can invigorate the procedure.
4. Presenting original ideas
• Students must consider innovative ideas for research rather than borrowing from others. They
ought to use unique perspectives and contribute to the field of knowledge. However, there
should not be any intellectual dissonance. Students must use citations and allow scanning for
their papers before the final presentation.
• Employing a plagiarism checker
• When people go through a piece of writing, they may retain some phrases or sentences in
their minds. Often writers tend to use them in their essays, which may result in developing
duplicate contents. Online plagiarism checkers for students are extremely helpful to avoid
unintentional similarity. One must run their articles through them before final submission.
• Various plagiarism detectors are accessible that create plagiarism reports with the share of
plagiarism and uniqueness. The tools scan files, documents, URLs, and raw texts with the
sophisticated A.I and Machine Learning-based algorithms.