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 non-response, 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, nominalalthough 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 openended 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.