REPORT WRITING

Neuman, 2003, chapter 16Babbie, 1990, chapter 18Bryman, 2004, chapter 24Creswell, 2003, chapter 3

To communicate the findings to othersA way to disseminating knowledgeTo fulfil a class or job assignmentTo meet an obligation to an organization that A written document that communicates the methods and findings

of a research project to others. It’s more than just a summary of finding It is a record of the research process

Your audience Always know for whom you are writing You should write a research report differently depending on

whether the primary audience is:

an instructor : writing and organization clear, logical thinking, demonstrate a solid grasp of substantive and methodological concepts -> use technical terms explicitly when appropriate; they should not be used excessively or incorrectly

students : it is best to define the technical terms and label each part of the report. The discussion should proceed in logical, step by step manner with many examples

professional social scientist/scholars : do not need definitions of technical terms or explanations of why standard procedures were used. They are interested in how the research linked to the abstract theory or previous findings in literature. They want a condensed, detailed description of research design. They pay close attention to how variables are measured and the methods of data collection. They like a compact, tightly written, but extensive section on data analysis, with a meticulous discussion of results

practitioners : prefer a short summary of how the study was conducted and results presented in a few simple charts and graphs.They like to see an outline of alternative paths of action implied by results.

the general public : use the simple language, provide concrete examples & focus on the practical implications of findings for social problems

Style refers to the type of words chosen by the writer and the length and form of sentences or paragraphs used.

Tone is the writer’s attitude or relation toward the subject matter. The tone expresses distance from the subject matter; it is professional and serious; objective, accurate and clear. Clear writing can be achieved by thinking and rethinking the research problem and design, explicitly defining terms, writing with short declarative sentences, and limiting conclusions to what is supported by the evidence.

Organizing thoughts A writer needs something about which to write; the topic, research question,

design and measures, data collection techniques, results, and implication. The most basic tool for organizing writing is the outline; helps to organize

the ideas (put the ideas in a sequence; group related ideas together; separate the more general, or higher level ideas from more specific ideas.

We need to return to the literature after completing data collection and analysis for several reasons; Time has passed between the beginning a project, and new

studies may have been published After completing a research project, a researcher will know

better what or is not central to the study and may have new questions in mind when rereading studies in the literature

When writing the report, researcher may find that notes are not complete enough or a detail is missing in the citation of a reference source.

RewritingRewriting helps a writer express himself or herself with a greater clarity, smoothness, precision and economy of words. Rewriting involves two process: revising and editing

Pre-writing: arranging notes on literature, making lists of ideas, outlining, completing bibliographic citations, and organizing comments on data analysis

Composing: get your ideas onto paper as a first drafts by free writing, drawing up bibliography and footnotes, preparing data for presentation, and forming an introduction and conclusion

Rewriting: evaluate and polish the report by improving coherence, proofreading for mechanical errors, checking citations, and reviewing voice and usage.

Introduction: fokus tulisan & pentingnya isi laporan Theory: teori yg mendasari hipotesa penelitian Data: menjelaskan gambaran data penelitian, prosedur pengambilan

sampel, besar sampel & tingkat respon Measurement: menjelaskan bagaimana konsep utama diukur Methods and models: cara menggambarkan hubungan antar variabel,

termasuk analisa multivariat yang dignakan untuk menjelaskan temuan.

Results: gambaran deskripif hasil temuan menjelaskan apakah hipotesa terbukti; bagaimana tingkat signifikansinya, karakteristik kontekstual dan perbedaan individual.

Conclusion: kembali kepada masalah yang melatarbelakangi penelitian seperti telah disebut dalam pendahuluan dan teori. Implikasi pembuktian hipotesa

writing as thinking – writing is thinking and conceptualizing a topic. write ideas down rather than talk about it work through several drafts of a paper rather than trying

to polish the firs draft develop an outline write out a draft and then shift and short ideas, moving

around entire paragraphs in the manuscript finally, edit and polish each sentence

Writing habit – establish the discipline of writing on a continuous and regular basis

–consider how you will enhance the readability of it for other people use consistent terms through out the manuscript. consider how narrative “thoughts” of types guide a reader

umbrella thoughts-big thoughts-little thoughts-attention or interest thoughts

Use coherence to add readability of the manuscript – present a systematic whole

Working at the “polish” level of writing. use the active voice as much as possible in scholarly

writing use strong verbs and verb tenses appropriate for the

passage in the study – incl adjectives and adverbs use the past tense edit and revise drafts of a manuscript to trim excess

words, the “fat” from the prose

ethical issues in the data analysis and interpretation protect anonymity of individual data, once analyzed, need to be kept for a reasonable period of

time (5-10 years) who owns the data it is collected and analyzed need to provide an accurate account of the information

ethical issues in writing and disseminating the research do not use language or words that are biased against persons

because of gender, sexual orientation, racial or ethnic group, disability, or age.

avoid the fraudulent practices (suppressing, falsifying or inventing findings to meet a researcher's or an audience's needs.

do not to misuse the result to the advantage of one group or another

release the details of the research with study design so that readers can determine the credibility of the study