Page 249 - DENG401_Advance Communication Skills

Advanced Communication Skills

Notes by students in their course of study or attaining a degree. These reports are generally
Research Reports, as they are prepared, keeping in view a research problem.
Academic Report differs from Business Reports in many ways. Academic Reports are
prepared by students in the course of their study, in partial fulfillment of a degree/
diploma from a University or College.

The academic report should be a substantive contribution to knowledge through
integration of the review of literature and methodology developed for the understanding
and resolution of management problem, and the empirical work done therein. The topic
for the Project should be manageable in size, scope, keeping in view the time and
organizational resources required for preparing a report. The roles of the project guide
include Supervising and guiding the student and providing periodic feedback based on
his/her progress and giving written feedback on the draft of the report submitted by the
student. The project proposal or synopsis should contain a brief background of the company,
its business and environment, and then a survey of literature and context description of
the subject. The final Project Report includes Acknowledgement, Certificate of Approval
from the Institute and Guides, Introduction, Research Design, Questionnaire, Results,
Conclusions, Recommendations, Appendices, Tables and References.
Business report writing need extensive research. The nature of research depends upon the
problem and purpose of the report. The research has to be conducted for making a successful
business report. Research can be exploratory or descriptive also it may be primary or
secondary research. Primary research involves the collection of data that does not already
exist. This can be through numerous forms, including questionnaires and telephone
interviews amongst others.
(a) Primary Research: In primary research information comes directly from the source. It
has to be compiled, analyzed and interpreted for getting the desired information.
Basic data may be generated via surveys, focus groups and other methods. While
conducting primary research, one can gather two basic types of information:
exploratory or specific. Exploratory research is open-ended, and helps in defining a
specific problem, and usually involves detailed, unstructured interviews in which
lengthy answers are solicited from a small group of respondents. Specific research,
on the other hand, is precise in scope and is used to solve a problem that exploratory
research has identified. Interviews are structured and formal in approach. Of the
two, specific research is the more expensive.
While conducting primary research the first step is formulating purpose and
objectives then preparing questions for the interview and identification of the target
group. After group is identified the next step is to decide upon the method or
medium which may be direct mail, telephone, or personal interviews. If you have to
use direct-mail questionnaire, the following guidelines will increase response rate:

(i) Questions that are short and to the point;
(ii) A questionnaire that is addressed to specific individuals and is of interest to
the respondent;
(iii) A questionnaire of no more than two pages;
(iv) A professionally-prepared cover letter that adequately explains why you're
doing this questionnaire;
(v) A postage-paid, self-addressed envelope to return the questionnaire in. Postage-
paid envelopes are available from the post office;

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