LECTURE NOTES

CHAPTER 13--PLANNING LONG REPORTS

FIVE STEPS IN PLANNING REPORTS

• The foundation of any report is formed by five steps:
  1. Define the problem and the purpose
  2. Outline the issues for investigation
  3. Prepare a work plan
  4. Conduct research
  5. Analyze and interpret data, draw conclusions, and develop recommendations

DEFINING THE PROBLEM

• The definition of the problem establishes the scope of the investigation; the person authorizing the study typically defines the problem.
• The problem statement should specify:
  • What needs to be determined?
  • Why issue is important?
  • Who is involved in situation?
  • where trouble is located?
  • When it started?
  • How situation originated?
• The statement of purpose clarifies the goal of the investigation.
• The statement of purpose can take three forms:
  • Infinitive: the purpose is to determine which candidate is best qualified for the job.
  • Question: Which candidate is best qualified?
  • Declarative statement: The best qualified candidate will be identified.
• After a written statement of purpose is prepared, it should be confirmed with the person who authorized the report.

OUTLINE ISSUES FOR INVESTIGATION

• Problem factoring: breaking a general problem into a series of specific questions.
• The outline of issues for analysis is often different from the outline of the resulting report.
• Outlining the issues to be addressed during an investigation leads to development of alogical structure for the resulting report.
• The overall purpose of the study determines whether an informational or analytical approach is more logical; however, many assignments require both information and analysis.
• Informational assignments (with very little analysis or interpretation) are factored on the basis of subtopics:
  • In order of importance
  • Sequentially
  • Chronologically
  • Spatially
  • Geographically
  • Categorically
• Analytical assignments (with analyses, conclusions, or recommendations) are factored on the basis of problem-solving methodology:
  • Hypotheses: to discover causes, predict results, identify solutions to a problem.
  • Relative merits or bases of comparison: to compare alternatives against criteria.
• The rules of division:
  • Divide a topic into at least two parts.
  • Choose a significant, useful basis or guiding principle for division.
  • Limit yourself to one basis at a time when subdividing whole into parts.
  • Make certain each group is separate and distinct.
  • Be complete when listing components of whole.
• A preliminary outline provides a frame of reference for the study; it is especially important when the assignment involves collaboration or is extremely complicated.
• The two most common outline formats: alphanumeric and decimal.
• Parallel construction in an outline--using the same grammatical form for all captions at a single level of the outline--provides clues to the relationships among ideas and is considered the proper approach by most of those who might review the outline.
• Outlines may be phrased in two ways:
  • Descriptive (topical) outlines identify topics (for example, "Market growth").
  • Informative (talking) outlines, which suggest something about topics, may take form of question or brief phrase (for example, "How rapidly is market growing?" or "Market growth has slowed").
• Informative outlines, especially in question form, are generally more useful than descriptive outlines for guiding research.

PREPARING THE WORK PLAN

• The work plan explains how you will solve the problem: steps required, their sequence and timing, sources of information.
• A formal, written work plan for a major investigation should include:
  • Problem statement
  • Statement of purpose and scope of investigation
  • Discussion of tasks, methods, and constraints
  • Description of end products
  • Review of assignments, schedules, resource requirements

CONDUCTING THE RESEARCH

• Business research uses a mix of primary and secondary sources:
  • Secondary sources: information that has already been collected
  • Primary sources: firsthand information not previously compiled
• Secondary sources commonly used in business research: general reference works, popular publications, government documents, on-line databases, internal reports, company databases, brochures, newsletters, annual reports.
• How to make the best use of secondary sources:
  • Be selective; choose recent, respected material.
  • Stop when you reach the point of diminishing returns.
  • Take notes.
• Four main types of primary sources: documents, observations, surveys, experiments.
• Documents: company files, such as sales reports, balance sheets, income statements, policy statements, correspondence, contracts, log books; government documents; legal documents.
• The same document can be both a primary and a secondary source. For example, if you use financial information from an annual report, the annual report is a secondary source; if you compare the features of the annual report to those of other annual reports, it is a primary source.
• observations: information obtained formally or informally by using the five sense.
• Observations are useful for studying physical activities, objects, processes, the environment, and human behavior.
• The value of an observation depends on the objectivity and reliability of the observer.
• Surveys: information obtained by asking qualified people for their opinions.
• A survey may take the form of (1) an interview with an expert or (2) a large-scale survey based on a questionnaire.
• Three decisions must be made before conducting a survey:
  • Should you use face-to-face interviews, phone calls, or printed questionnaires?
  • How many people should you contact to get reliable (reproducible results, and who should they be?
  • What specific questions should you ask to get a valid (true) picture?
• When designing a questionnaire, use a mix of question types:
  • Open-ended
  • Either-or
  • Multiple choice
  • Scale
  • Checklist
  • Ranking
  • Fill in the blank
• Follow these tips when constructing a questionnaire:
  • Make instructions clear.
  • Keep questionnaire short and easy to answer.
  • Formulate questions that provide easily tabulated or analyzed answers.
  • Avoid leading questions.
  • Limit each question to one point.
  • Ask only one thing at a time.
  • Avoid vague or abstract questions.
  • Include questions that rephrase earlier questions as cross-check on validity of earlier responses.
  • Pretest questionnaire.
• Experiments: information obtained through controlled testing; most useful in scientific fields.
• the difficulty of controlling all variables limits the value of experiments in most business situations.

ANALYZING AND INTERPRETING DATA

• The analytical process is a search for relationships among various pieces of evidence and the formulation of conclusions and recommendations based on that evidence.
• Numerical data can be manipulated to produce statistics, which can be interpreted to reveal the significance of the data.
• Three important types of statistics: averages, trends, and correlations.
• Average: number representative of a group of numbers.
• Three types of averages: mean, median, and mode.
• Mean: sum of all the items in the group divided by the number of items in the group; useful when you want to compare one item or individual with the group, but can be misleading if one of the numbers is extreme.
• Mode: most frequently occurring number, the case that occurs most often; useful when you want to know what case you are most likely to encounter, easier to calculate than the median, and not affected by extreme numbers.
• Trend: pattern exhibited by data over a period of time.
• Correlation: consistent relationship between variables, but not necessarily indicative of cause and effect.
• Statistics provide a foundation for conclusions.
• Conclusions: interpretations of what the facts mean, which are influenced by assumptions and value judgments.
• the validity of conclusions depends on the skill and objectivity of the analyst.
• Teamwork often leads to the best conclusions because each member of the team acts as a balance on other members' reasoning process.
• Recommendations differ from conclusions:
  • Conclusions: what all facts add up to; interpretation of what information means.
  • Recommendations: what should be done in light of facts and their meaning.
• Useful recommendations
  • are practical,
  • are acceptable to the audience, and
  • indicate what should happen next and who should do what.

PREPARING THE FINAL OUTLINE

• The preliminary outline that guided research is seldom used as the blueprint for the final report; it must be reworked to take into account purpose, audience reaction, and the things learned during the study.
• The placement of conclusions and recommendations depends on the audience's probable response:
  • in front if a positive reaction is expected, or
  • at the end if resistance is anticipated.
• Once the final outline is in mind, begin identifying which points can and should be illustrated with visual aids (tables, graphs, schematic drawings, or photographs)
• When planning the illustrations for your report or presentation, aim to achieve a reasonable balance between the verbal and the visual.

Last Update: 3/07/01
Web Author: Angie Chittick
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