Preparing your Research Report (BSB123 – Data Analysis)

1. Preparing your Research Report (BSB123 – Data Analysis) Prepared by Graham Klaassen (4S Study Skills Program Coordinator) graham.klaassen@qut.edu.au

2. On Completion of this Seminar, you will be able to… • Apply the suggested format for your Data Analysis Research Report • Identify the key elements of a Formal Written Report • Discuss the conventions surrounding the use of Tables and Figures

3. A Report’s Structure

4. Overall structure of Reports • Front matter • Text of the Report: • Introduction and background. • Body – discussion, interpretation and analysis. • Conclusion. • Recommendation/s • End matter

5. What constitutes Front Matter • Title page – this is all you need for this task • Letter of transmittal - not needed. • Terms of Reference – not applicable. • Executive summary -not needed. • Table of contents – not needed • List of tables – not needed • List of figures (= graphs) – not needed

6. Your Title Page • Concise and explicit title • Name and student number. • Tutor’s name. • Date. • Word Count. • Any other details as per Blackboard.

7. Suggested Report Structure Title Page 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Choose the heading and, if necessary, sub heading titles that best suit your analysis of the data 3.0 Use as many headings as you need to structure your Report ?.0 Conclusion ?.0 Recommendation/s Bibliography or References or Nothing Appendices???? 1000 words

8. 1.0 Introduction Must contain purpose and scope. • What does this report aim to do? What is its scope (time, industry, etc.)? The aim of this report is to … Then you need to outline, briefly: 2. The background situation (may need some further reading?). Educational experiences and outcomes

9. 1.0 Introduction (cont) 3. Why are we interested in this topic? The objective of the report • Specific details of the data being analysed • Your analytical agenda: what you will be analysing? Your groupings etc. • A concluding sentence - perhaps your key conclusions/findings—need to write this last!

10. Description vs. Analysis Analysis builds on description (definitions, facts and other information) to discuss the potential additional meanings and effects of the issue at hand.

11. Analytical Writing … is commonly used to show relationships between pieces of information. It is used to compare and contrast, assess or evaluate (for example, a number of approaches, theories, or outcomes or data sets). It has a structure based on the ordering of main ideas in relation to each other and uses evidence from various sources.

12. Analytical Writing typically: creates relationships between individual pieces of information by identifying main points and grouping information under these main points or conceptual categories.

13. Features of Analytical Writing • uses comparative and contrastive language to express the relationships between different pieces of information • For example, similarly; also; equally; whereas; in contrast; conversely

14. Organising your analysis • The Toulmin Method of logic is a common and easy to use formula for organizing an argument. • If you present data to your audience without explaining how it supports your thesis your readers may not make a connection between the two or they may draw different conclusions.

15. The basic components ofToulmin's Argument • Data/GroundsThese are the evidence that you will use to support your claim or position. • ClaimThe statement which you are offering for others, such as your readers or listeners, to accept. • WarrantsThese link your data/grounds with your claim. They also explain why or how the data supports the claim.

16. Claim: Hybrid cars are an effective strategy to fight pollution. Data 1: Driving a private car is a typical citizen's most air polluting activity. Warrant 1: Because cars are the largest source of private, as opposed to industry produced, air pollution switching to hybrid cars should have an impact on fighting pollution. Data 2: Each vehicle produced is going to stay on the road for roughly 12 to 15 years. Warrant 2: Cars generally have a long lifespan, meaning that a decision to switch to a hybrid car will make a long-term impact on pollution levels. Data 3: Hybrid cars combine a gasoline engine with a battery-powered electric motor. Warrant 3: This combination of technologies means that less pollution is produced. According to ineedtoknow.org "the hybrid engine of the Prius, made by Toyota, produces 90 percent fewer harmful emissions than a comparable gasoline engine."

17. The Focus of the Body Sections • Are the natures of the three assessment items (in terms of what they assess) the same or different? If same, in what ways? If different, in what ways? • Do you think the three assessment marks are correlated? • Do you think there are any relationships between students’ demographics (e.g. country of citizenship, degree type, gender) and their marks? Between learning behaviour (lecture attendance) and marks? • Do you expect students’ demographics and learning behaviour are related? • Can we predict a student’s final examination performance in BSB123?

18. Determinant V Predictor • … if something is a determinant of a dependent (or outcome) variable, you are making the assumption that the relationship is causal.  If you are saying that it is a predictor of a dependent variable, you are not saying that the relationship is causal, just predictive.  All causal relationships are predictive.  Not all predictive relationships are causal.For example, height is predicted by gender - men tend to be taller than women.  And men are taller, well, because they are men.  So gender is also a determinant of height. Jeremy Miles – Quantitative Analyst at Google

19. Variables to Consider/explore • Gender • Study Package Title • Country of Citizenship • Lecture Attendance • Total quiz mark (out of 20) - QUIZ • Research report mark (out of 20) - REPORT • Final exam mark (out of 60) - EXAM • Overall mark in the unit (out of 100) - TOTAL • Grade obtained in the unit – GRADE • you can consider to re-group the many categories into a smaller number of categories. (The re-grouping must not be arbitrary.)

20. 2.0 Choose the heading title that best suits the focus of your analysis for this section • Intro sentence – set scene & focus reader • Summarisethe main point of the visual before you discuss it • Insert your visual - Figure or Table • Discuss its features (if relevant) • Analyse and interpret in context – refer to the previous slide for guidance as to what to analyse • Conclusion … lead into next section

21. 3.0 Follow this basic pattern of each section • Intro sentence – set scene & focus reader • Summarisethe main point of the visual before you discuss it • Insert your visual - Figure or Table • Discuss its features (if relevant) • Analyse and interpret in context – refer to the previous slide for guidance as to what to analyse • Conclusion… lead into next section

22. Note You do not have to include all Excel output (obtained for example from your hypothesis testing and regression analysis) in the body of your report; leave them in the appendices if appropriate.

23. ??.0 Conclusion – small section • Based on your analysis, what are the key conclusions (if any) that would be relevant to the reader? • Focus youranalysis and interpretation - this is drawn from the conclusions you have drawn {your claims} in each sections of the Body. • What information do you want the reader to take away from the report?

24. ??? .0 Recommendation • A sentence or two – Remember the focus of the report • “identify key factors that determine learning success with a view to providing more appropriate support for students in Data Analysis in future”

25. Further reading / research • May be some extra research needed beyond data provided. IF SO: • List any other sources consulted. • Books, journals, reports, databases. • Use QUTBS standard format (APA). • Use aBibliography not Reference List

26. Using Visuals – Figures and Tables

27. Use Visuals to … • Make points more vivid and add interest. • Foreground or emphasise important information that might be easily buried in blocks of text. • Demonstrate complex inter-relationships. • Present comprehensive information compactly, as in tables and graphs.

28. Selecting Visuals • Which graphic (table or figure) works best for the reader and the data set? • You need to assess which is the most appropriate table / figure to use for each section of the analysis. Refer to the Guide to Research Report document for some guidance

29. What are Figures? Figures focus on visual communication: • Graphs and Charts – (Pie, Gantt, Bar etc.) • Photographs, sketches, illustrations, cartoons. • Maps and diagrams.

30. Examples of Figures

31. What are Tables? Tables focus on words or exact values in a compact form (columns and/or rows): • Numerical tables. • Word lists or groups.

32. Examples of Tables

33. Components of a Visual • A numberedtitle identifying what the visual shows. With Figures the number and name go below the figure, with tables the name and number go above the table • A clear indication of what the data are. • Clearly labeled units.

34. Components of a Visual 4. Labels or legends identifying axes, colors, symbols, and so forth. 5. The source of the data, if you prepared the visual. (not necessary for this assignment as you have been given the data set) 6. The source of the whole visual, if you reproduce a visual someone else created. (Not to be done for this task)

35. Integrating Visuals • Refer to every visual in your text: • See Figure 6 below for a detailed comparison of . . . • Use the table or figure number in the text, but not the full title: • The data in Table 10 show a marked trend of . . .

36. Integrating Visuals… • Put the visual as soon after your reference as space and page design permit: • As Figure 3 shows (page 10), . . . • . . . (See Table 2 on page 14.)

37. Integrating Visuals … • Summarise the main point of the visual beforeyou present the visual itself. • Afterthe visual, evaluate the data and discuss its implications. • Weak: Listed below are the results. • Better: As Figure 4 shows, sales doubled in the last decade . . .

38. 3.0 Frequency Histogram Frequency histograms are bar-type graphs that show how the measured individuals are distributed along an axis of the measured variable. Frequency (the Y axis) can be absolute (i.e. number of counts) or relative (i.e. percent or proportion of the sample.) A familiar example would be a histogram of exam scores, showing the number of students who achieved each possible score. Frequency histograms are important in describing populations, for example size and age distributions Summarise the data in the figure Either centre the figure on the page or enlarge it so that it aligns with the text Analyse the data in the figure • Notice several things about this example: • the Y axis includes a clear indication ("%") that relative frequencies are used • the values labelled on the X axis are the bin centers; • sample size is clearly indicated, either in the legend or (in this case) the graph itself;

39. Referencing Assistance • QUT cite/write: http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/ • Other useful referencing sites: • http://www.bibme.org/ • https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/22/ • https://www.citethisforme.com/ • http://apareferencing.ukessays.com/generator/ • Google Advanced search Tips: http://scholar.google.com.au/intl/en/scholar/refinesearch.html

40. 4S Recordings Supporting your academic writing - Citing and Referencing - the basics https://lecturecapture.qut.edu.au/ess/echo/presentation/c472c0a3-888f-4a95-ac96-0aa4f1373875 Academic Writing - the Basics https://lecturecapture.qut.edu.au/ess/echo/presentation/7a15b973-826a-4dc7-9b16-5b908563d649