Post Menu and Details.
- Try different formats for research reports
- Engage the reader from the start
- Avoid walls of text
- Analyze your data
- Create an interactive report
- Some Additional Tips:
- Create Research Reports
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Reading time: ~4 minutes
All too often, people work hard to generate data that can benefit their businesses, but that data isn’t shared in a way that enables others to act on it. The design of your research report will help you make your report stand out and ensure that your information is as comprehensive, digestible, and actionable as possible.
Do you know that creating reports in Salesforce can easily convey your message and help your colleagues take action?
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Try different formats for research reports
PDFs are common, but they don’t have to be the only way you share information. Consider other research report formats, such as presentations, infographics, or real-time data reports.
It is best to think about how much information you are going to put into your report and what is the best way to present it in the context of your business before deciding which format to use. Gather feedback on the preferred method of delivering information from those you’re creating the report for. Your best option might be a one-page report if they want a quick update.
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Engage the reader from the start
Your audience needs to be hooked from the beginning, whether it’s a slide, content block, or something else. Report cover pages are likely to be the first thing they see, so you want to make a great first impression. Color, font, and image choices are very crucial.
Titles and subheadings establish expectations, so ensure they are 100% accurate and tell the reader what they can expect from the report. Use a large font for the report’s title and a descriptive subtitle directly beneath it to convey its contents.
In addition, you should include visuals in your article that pique the reader’s interest. Images, illustrations, or even animated icons can be used. If your report involves sensitive information, make sure they are relevant and well-thought-out.
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Avoid walls of text
An intimidating, dull-looking presentation or document isn’t something anyone wants to review. It’s important to use paragraphs, callouts, images, and other design elements to help make your content easy to read when producing a research report.
When writing a report about something complex, be sure to keep your content concise and use visuals instead of additional paragraphs of text to convey your point.
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Analyze your data
Use data visualization to present any important numbers in your research report. Graphs, charts, and pictograms are excellent tools for displaying numbers at a glance.
Nevertheless, it would be best to keep in mind that you want your charts to be clear and concise rather than flashy. Your report’s data should be highlighted, not distracted, by data visualization. A data visualization can be very useful when describing social media performance. Rather than using a lengthy paragraph to explain performance, the example uses charts to demonstrate how well or poorly the ads did.
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Create an interactive report
You can make a digital document or online presentation even more engaging by including interactivity. You can add audio, embed videos or past live streams, or allow the reader to click on charts or prompt animations to make your report more interactive.
However, don’t forget that time-strapped readers want the insight straight from your report, so don’t add things that aren’t essential. Ensure that your report is engaging and easy to read without making it flashy. Your chart legends appear as interactivity when your reader hovers over each bar or line in your graph. The interactive reports on your website can be shared via an online link or by embedding them on a landing page. In some cases, you may wish to encourage readers to interact with the content to gain their insights.In this case, social media can also be a good tool.
Some Additional Tips:
- Take note of everything you know about the research topic. What are our competitors’ strengths and weaknesses? Speak with other researchers who are familiar with the research subject and who understand the industry’s language. Research reports can be dissenting if the terms are misused.
- As you write, read aloud. If the researcher stumbles over the words as they read the report, the reader may too. If the researcher cannot put an idea in one sentence, it is too long and needs to be changed to understand it.
- Check your grammar and spelling. The report will be easier to understand with good grammar and spelling. Verbs should be used in the present tense. The present tense sounds more immediate, so you might consider using it. Experiment with new words and phrases. Take advantage of the opportunity to have fun with the language.
- Only discuss significant discoveries. Don’t talk about data that isn’t meaningful. Keep in mind that not all research report information is essential.
Create Research Reports
- Don’t stray from the survey questions. Don’t say that the people in a survey “were concerned” about something when there are different degrees of concern.
- They must be able to understand the graphs themselves. The reader should not be led astray by incorrectly worded graphs: give them a title and sample size.
- Communicate clearly. In every report section, the researcher should be accurate with details and language.
- Use creative titles- In particular, in segmentation studies, choose names “that give life to the study”. You can use these names for a long time after the preliminary analysis.
- Conclusions in research reports can be challenging to write, but they provide the best chance to shine. Be precise in your summary. It is sometimes helpful to start the conclusion with a specific point, then describe the most important part of the study, and finally summarize the implications of the findings.
- Get a few more eyes to read the report. Authors are notorious for not noticing their own mistakes. But what they present is their responsibility. If you are sending the draft to colleagues or friends, make sure it has been approved before being sent out.
- Most importantly, write in clear, concise English that many people can understand.
Thank you for reading!