Structuring Your Survey Report
Posted by Jeffrey Henning on Wed, Feb 17, 2010
Many research reports proceed with the same slow deliberation that the author used to carefully conduct the analysis. Here in America, generations were educated to write five-paragraph essays, accumulating facts in a steady build-up towards a triumphant conclusion, and research reports often follow a similar pattern. Unfortunately, in the age of text messages, tweets and hyperlinks, most readers will not read much of your carefully constructed five-part paper.
Structure your report so that your research won't be ignored. You did the research, and you want it to resonate widely. Your readers don't need to follow the path you took to reach your conclusions or - even worse - review the answers to questions in the order in which you asked them of respondents.
You want everyone from senior executives to middle managers to line staff to be able to take something from your research report that is relevant to their work. Some will have the time and inclination to read the entire report, but others will just want the highlights.
Write the report as if they won't read all of it. Journalists in the 19th century often wrote flamboyant, meandering news accounts that took their time to get to the actual story that they were reporting. A growing professionalization of journalism 110 years ago stimulated the development of the inverted pyramid style of reporting, with a summary news lead followed up by further detail. The advantage for editors was that they could cut the article to fit a specific physical location in the newspaper while still reporting the most important details. The advantage for readers was that they could skim headlines and first paragraphs to get a general sense of the news and could stop at any point when reading the longer article.
Create your report in the same way. Use the inverted pyramid style to answer up front the essential business questions that prompted the research in the first place. Start with your conclusions and support them, rather than accumulating evidence. Only then give the detail for those of your readers with the time and interest.
Think of three types of readers as you write your report: someone who just wants the gist of the study; someone who wants the conclusions with supporting details; and someone who is interested in the entire body of research.
You spent significant effort conducting your analysis. Spend a little bit more structuring your report for maximum impact.