Deck 21: The Research Report

Question 1

To improve your writing

A)use technical terminology.
B)use the longest words possible.
C)write only one draft.
D)read it aloud.
E)use complex sentences.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

A good summary should NOT contain

A)background information.
B)tables of data.
C)conclusions.
D)recommendations.
E)purpose of the research.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following best describes the essential goal of a complete research report?

A)Presentation of the technical aspects of all data analyses performed in the project.
B)Presentation of all information needed by the reader in easily understandable language.
C)Presentation of all data collected in the research project in easily understandable language.
D)Adherence to the outline of the report.
E)Accurate presentation of information.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT an aid in the crafting of a research report that meets the writing criterion of clarity?

A)Using short sentences.
B)Using a logically ordered outline.
C)Rewriting the first draft.
D)Re-stating an important point in different words.
E)Using short paragraphs.

Question 5

Which of the following is FALSE?

A)The research report represents the end product of the research process.No matter what the proficiency with which all previous steps have been dispatched,the project will be no more successful than the research report.
B)The audience determines the type of report.Researchers must make every effort to acquaint themselves with the specific preferences of their audience.They should not consider these preferences as unalterable,but any deviations from them should be made with reason and not from ignorance.
C)The fundamental criterion by which research reports are evaluated is communication with the reader.
D)The technical capacity of the reader is unimportant as far as the research report is concerned.Rather,the reader's interest is critical in determining the content of the report.An interested reader should be expected to overcome any difficulties he or she might have in understanding the report because of limited technical expertise.
E)The competency of the researcher is often evaluated based on the readability of the research report.

Question 6

Completeness of the research report should be evaluated from the perspective of the

A)researcher.
B)data collected.
C)reader.
D)data analyst.
E)report writer.

Question 7

Which of the following is FALSE?

A)The research report is the end product of the research process.
B)The fundamental criterion by which research reports are evaluated is communication with the reader.
C)The report reader is the only reason to prepare a research report.
D)The intended use of the research report does not affect the content of the report.
E)The research report criteria of completeness,accuracy,clarity,and conciseness are related.

Question 8

Which of the following is TRUE?

A)In general,the amount of detail contained in the research report should be inversely proportional to the amount of direct control the user can exercise over the areas under discussion.
B)A good rule of thumb in report writing is to include all those findings that might be of interest to the reader.
C)One particularly helpful technique for securing conciseness in a research report is to read the draft aloud.
D)The true summary is an abstract of the whole report in which everything is restated in condensed form.
E)The writer must make a trade-off between completeness and conciseness.

Question 9

A research report is NOT

A)clear if it provides all the information the readers need in a language they understand.
B)incomplete when it is brief.
C)determined by the reader's interest and abilities.
D)capable of generating inaccuracies due to inept phrasing,illogical reasoning,and mishandling of the data.
E)hard to tailor to a group of executives.

Question 10

Which of the following is TRUE about the technical aspects of a research report?

A)The technical sophistication of the report reader should act as a guide for the technical sophistication of the report.
B)Technical jargon impresses the report reader.
C)The technical capacity of the reader is unimportant as far as the research report is concerned.Rather,the reader's interest is critical in determining the content of the report.
D)Both a and b.
E)All of the above are correct.

Question 11

The most important part of a written research report is the

A)summary.
B)body.
C)appendix.
D)conclusion.
E)introduction.

Question 12

Accuracy in a report refers to

A)mathematical accuracy.
B)grammatical accuracy.
C)correct terminology.
D)Both a and b.
E)a,b and c.

Question 13

Which of the following should NOT be included on the title page of a research report?

A)The subject of the report.
B)The name of the research organization.
C)The date of submission.
D)The name of the client organization.
E)The cost of the project.

Question 14

Report inaccuracies come from

A)brief reports.
B)illogical reasoning.
C)mishandling of data.
D)Both a and b.
E)Both b and c.

Question 15

Which of the following is TRUE?

A)Because the research report is all that most executives will see of a project,it is the basis for their evaluation of the research project.
B)If the research team has worked exceptionally hard on the project at hand,a sloppy report will still show the amount of effort explained.
C)Executives are easily convinced of the usefulness of the report's findings with a lot of statistics in the body of the report.
D)The research report does not need to describe the research method because it is over the heads of the audience.
E)All of the above are false.

Question 16

A written report may be considered incomplete because it

A)is too brief.
B)includes interesting but not vital information.
C)is too long.
D)includes statistical calculations unfamiliar to the reader.
E)All of the above are sources of report incompleteness.

Question 17

Which of the following characteristics should NOT affect the content of the research report?

A)The reader's technical sophistication.
B)The reader's interest.
C)The circumstances surrounding the research.
D)The intended use of the report.
E)The researcher's technical sophistication.

Question 18

Which of the following is NEVER part of a good summary?

A)Introductory information providing background for the research
B)Important results
C)Conclusions
D)Headings and subheadings
E)Recommendations

Question 19

Report writing should NOT be evaluated on which of the following criteria?

A)Inclusion of technically sophisticated explanations of data analyses.
B)Completeness of the report.
C)Conciseness of the writing style.
D)Accuracy of the information presented.
E)Clarity of the writing style.

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT a common source of inaccuracy in report writing?

A)Simple errors in addition or subtraction.
B)Confusion between percentages and percentage points.
C)Inaccuracy caused by grammatical errors.
D)Confused terminology resulting in fallacious conclusion.
E)Faulty data analysis.

Question 21

When it comes to discussing the limitations of the study,the writer should

A)emphasize what could have been accomplished given a larger research budget.
B)acknowledge that all studies contain error and this one is no different.
C)not mention them,let the data speak for itself.
D)provide a balanced account of the specific problems.
E)tell an amusing anecdote relating to statistical infallibility.

Question 22

Which of the following is TRUE?

A)A conclusion is an opinion of what future action should be taken.
B)In general,it is not desirable for the researcher to draw conclusions in the written report.Rather they should limit their reports to presentations of the facts and should let the reader draw his or her own inferences from this presentation.
C)If a report is to be read by one familiar with the research topic,an introduction is unnecessary.
D)As a general rule,the research report with a wide distribution will require a more extensive introduction than a report for a narrow audience since a major purpose of the introduction is to provide the background information the reader needs to appreciate the discussion in the body of the report.
E)In general,the amount of detail contained in the research report should be inversely proportional to the amount of direct control the user can exercise over the areas under discussion.

Question 23

When preparing an oral/verbal presentation,the first task of the presenter should be to

A)determine who will be in the audience.
B)develop graphical presentation aids.
C)decide on the organization of the presentation.
D)test the sound system where the presentation will take place.
E)write the verbal portion of the presentation.

Question 24

Which of the following is typically NOT included in the body of a research report?

A)Statements as to whether the results are based on primary or secondary data.
B)Description of the sampling plan.
C)Discussion of the method of analysis.
D)Conclusions.
E)Statement of the limitations of the study.

Question 25

Which of the following should NOT be placed in the appendix of the written research report?

A)A copy of the data collection form.
B)Detailed calculations of test statistics.
C)Detailed calculations used to determine sample size.
D)Source tables for summary tables found in the body of the report.
E)The formal statements of the research hypotheses.

Question 26

Which of the following is NOT true when presenting the results in the body of the report?

A)Tables and figures should be used sparingly since they can be included liberally in the appendix.
B)Each table should address only a single problem.
C)Numbers in tables should be rounded to two effective digits.
D)Irrelevant information should be omitted.
E)Tables and figures should be logically ordered.

Question 27

Which of the following is FALSE?

A)Definitions of unfamiliar terms should be included in the introduction.
B)The introduction should not state the specific objectives of the research.
C)The report reader should be made familiar with the relationship between the research project and other related work.
D)The body of the report is one of the hardest sections to write in that it is important that the reader be told what was done,and why it was done,without the use of technical jargon.
E)All of the above are true.

Question 28

Which of the following is FALSE?

A)A good test of a summary is self-sufficiency in that a summary should not require the appended full report but should be able to stand on its own.
B)In general,it is not desirable for the researcher to draw conclusions in the written report.Rather they should limit their reports to presentation of the facts and should let the reader draw his or her own inferences from this presentation.
C)The good summary in a research report contains the necessary introductory information to provide background,and the important results and conclusions.
D)The true summary is an abstract of the whole report in which everything is restated in condensed form.
E)As a general rule,the research report with wide distribution will require a more extensive introduction than a report for a narrow audience since a major purpose of the introduction is to provide the background information the reader needs to appreciate the discussion in the body of the report.

Question 29

Which of the following is FALSE about the research report summary?

A)A true summary gives the high points of the entire body of the report.
B)A good test of a summary is its self-sufficiency in that a summary should not require the appended full report but should be able to stand on its own.
C)A good summary contains background information,important results,and conclusions.
D)Headings and subheadings should always be used to organize a summary.
E)The purpose of the introduction in the summary is to provide the reader with the minimal background to appreciate the results,conclusions,and recommendations of the study.

Question 30

Definitions of unfamiliar terms used in the report should be defined in the

A)introduction.
B)summary.
C)body.
D)conclusions.
E)appendix.

Question 31

Which of the following is NOT typically part of the good summary?

A)Introductory information providing background for the research
B)Important results
C)Conclusions
D)Headings and subheadings
E)All the above are part of the good summary.

Question 32

Which of the following is NOT a recommended guideline for the presentation of tables in the body of the written report?

A)Order the columns or rows in the table by some measure of size.
B)Put the numbers to be compared into columns rather than rows.
C)Give brief verbal summaries of each table.
D)Put the numbers to be compared into rows rather than columns.
E)Round all numbers to two effective digits.

Question 33

The most technically oriented material in the report will usually be found in the

A)body.
B)introduction.
C)summary.
D)appendix.
E)bibliography.

Question 34

The following items should be included in the sampling section of the body of the report,except

A)the definition of the population.
B)what was done.
C)how the sample was chosen.
D)why the procedure chosen was used.
E)All of the above should be included in the body of the report;sampling section.

Question 35

The methods,results,and limitations of the research project are presented in the ____ of the written report.

A)summary
B)body
C)conclusion
D)introduction
E)appendix

Question 36

Which of the following details about the sampling plan could the researcher reasonably exclude from the body of the report?

A)How the population was defined and limited.
B)How the list of sampling units was generated.
C)What bias may have been introduced by overcoming difficulties in contacting designated sample elements.
D)Why the size of sample was chosen.
E)Calculations used to determine the sample size.

Question 37

The basics of the sampling plan used in the research project are typically presented in the ____ of the written report.

A)summary
B)conclusion
C)body
D)introduction
E)appendix

Question 38

When developing a table to include in a report body,the following hints should be followed

A)try to address more than one problem in the table.
B)place figures in ascending order.
C)round percentages to the second decimal place.
D)None of the above.
E)All of the above.

Question 39

Which of the following is typically NOT included in the introduction to a research report?

A)Definitions of unfamiliar terms or terms with a specific usage in the report
B)Background history to the research and the report
C)Specific objectives of the research
D)Hypotheses guiding the study
E)Description of the sampling frame and sampling plan

Question 40

The researcher told his client that the data indicated a relationship between the weight of dogs and consumption of low calorie dog biscuits.The researcher's remarks were a

A)recommendation.
B)conclusion.
C)hypothesis.
D)research proposal.
E)None of the above.

Question 41

Graphical presentation should be used

A)as often as possible as it is the best method.
B)to interpret results.
C)to vividly present the research findings.
D)only if graphs serve the purpose better than text or tables.
E)All of the above apply to graphical presentations.

Question 42

Which of the following is FALSE about charts in the research report?

A)Bar charts can only be single scale charts.
B)Pie charts and one-scale bar charts are used for similar purposes.
C)When the relationship being captured is the change in a variable through time,the vertical form of the bar chart is preferred with x-axis as the time axis.
D)A pictogram is essentially a bar chart.
E)A stratum chart is equivalent to a divided bar chart.

Question 43

The illustration of market share for the top brand in a product category for the previous twelve quarters could best be accomplished by use of a

A)divided-bar chart.
B)stacked-line chart.
C)two-scale vertical bar chart.
D)pie chart.
E)line chart.

Question 44

Trends can be displayed best by using a

A)pie chart.
B)line chart.
C)pictograph.
D)bar chart.
E)histogram.

Question 45

An analyst wishes to emphasize the magnitude (in dollars)of sales generated by each of three brands for the year ending December 31,2008,as well as the relative sales of each brand.Which of the following is the most appropriate chart for this purpose?

A)Stacked line chart
B)Aggregate pie chart
C)Histogram
D)One-scale bar chart
E)Line chart

Question 46

Which of the following is FALSE about oral/verbal reports?

A)It is generally better to give too much technical detail rather than too little when presenting an oral/verbal report.
B)One popular style of oral/verbal reports is to begin with the conclusions of the report and then discuss the evidence in support of these conclusions.
C)Only 15 to 20 minutes need to be left to answer questions for any oral/verbal report.
D)Graphic presentation of material is the best policy for oral/verbal reports.
E)All of the above are false.

Question 47

A stratum chart is equivalent to a

A)pictogram.
B)divided bar chart.
C)pie chart.
D)line chart.
E)bar chart.

Question 48

Pie charts are useful for

A)illustrating time-series data.
B)emphasizing dynamic relationships between two or more variables.
C)depicting relative size.
D)illustrating trend relationships.
E)depicting the relative growth in magnitude of a variable over time.

Question 49

The illustration of relative market share for the top four brands in a product category as of December 31,2000,could best be accomplished by use of a

A)line chart.
B)stacked-line chart.
C)two-scale vertical bar chart.
D)pie chart.
E)divided-bar chart.

Question 50

In a stratum chart,the vertical distance between two lines represents the

A)amount of the upper line variable.
B)amount of the lower line variable.
C)sum of the upper and lower line variables.
D)difference of the upper and lower line variables.
E)None of the above.

Question 51

You have been allotted 90 minutes to present the results of a research project.Your formal presentation should be planned to take a maximum of ____ minutes.

A)60
B)45
C)30
D)90
E)75

Question 52

An analyst wishes to combine the information illustrated by six annual pie charts of market share for four categories of automobile manufacturers.Which of the following is the most appropriate chart for this purpose?

A)Stacked line chart
B)One-scale bar chart
C)Histogram
D)Aggregate pie chart
E)Line chart

Question 53

One advantage of the one-scale bar chart over the pie chart is

A)there is no advantage;both present the same information.
B)it is easier to understand.
C)it can be used to indicate magnitude of the variable categories.
D)it illustrates change over time.
E)it indicates relative percentages of the variable categories.

Question 54

An analyst wishing to communicate the results of a study investigating the estimated total consumption of the product by social class should probably use a

A)pie chart.
B)line chart.
C)stratum chart.
D)bar chart.
E)divided bar chart.

Question 55

Which statement does not accurately describe a good pie chart?

A)It is particularly effective for depicting relative size or emphasizing static comparisons.
B)No more than six slices should be generated.
C)The division should start at the twelve o'clock position.
D)The sections should be arrayed clockwise in increasing order of magnitude.
E)Exact percentages should be provided for each segment.

Question 56

The difference in the two most common forms of oral/verbal reports is the order in which the ____ are presented.

A)purpose of the study and the conclusions
B)specific objectives and the purpose of the study
C)conclusions and the supporting evidence
D)supporting evidence and the specific objectives
E)purpose of the study and the specific objectives

Question 57

An analyst wishing to compare the consumption of ABC ice cream against the four other leading brands by month for the last three years should probably use a

A)line chart.
B)pie chart.
C)bar chart.
D)pictogram.
E)stratum chart.

Question 58

An analyst wishing to show the fluctuations in coffee consumption by month over the past two years should probably use a

A)grouped bar chart.
B)pie chart.
C)line chart.
D)stratum chart.
E)divided bar chart.

Question 59

Which of the following is FALSE about charts in the research report?

A)The pie chart is particularly effective in depicting relative size or emphasis in dynamic comparisons.
B)The line chart is a two-dimensional chart that is particularly useful in depicting dynamic relationships such as time-series fluctuations of one or more series.
C)The stratum chart is in some ways a dynamic pie chart in that it can be used to show relative emphasis by sector and how the relative emphasis is changing with time.
D)The stratum chart is essentially a set of line charts whose quantities are aggregated or a total that is disaggregated.
E)A pictogram is a variation of a bar chart.

Question 60

In a typical stratum chart,the X-axis represents ____ and the Y-axis represents ____.

A)values of the variables,relative change
B)time,values of the variables
C)percentage change,values of the variables
D)time,percentage change
E)values of the variables,time

Question 61

A stratum chart is equivalent to a line chart.

Question 62

Which of the following pairs of charts are used for similar purposes?

A)Pie chart and one-scale bar chart
B)Line chart and two-scale bar chart
C)Stratum chart and divided bar chart
D)Both a and b.
E)a,b,and c.

Question 63

Pie charts are useful for illustrating trend relationships.

Question 64

Using symbols instead of a bar to indicate length is a variation on a bar chart called a

A)hi-lo chart.
B)line chart.
C)stratum chart.
D)pie chart.
E)pictogram.

Question 65

Definitions of unfamiliar terms used in the report should be defined in the ____________________.

Question 66

The appendix usually contains the most technically oriented material in the report.

Question 67

The most technically oriented material in the report will usually be found in the ____________________.

Question 68

Completeness of the research report should be evaluated from the perspective of the reader.

Question 69

The methods,results,and limitations of the research project are presented in the ____________________ of the written report.

Question 70

The chart most like the stratum chart is the

A)pictogram.
B)box chart.
C)grouped-bar chart.
D)divided-bar chart.
E)single line chart.

Question 71

Definitions of unfamiliar terms should be included in the introduction.

Question 72

Graphical presentation should be used as often as possible in the written report.

Question 73

Which type of bar chart is most useful to illustrate the change in two or more series through time?

A)Stacked-bar chart
B)One-scale bar chart
C)Divided-bar chart
D)Two-scale bar chart
E)Grouped-bar chart

Question 74

The fundamental criterion by which research reports are evaluated is communication with the reader.

Question 75

Distinguish between a conclusion and a recommendation.

Question 76

The most important part of a written research report is the introduction.

Question 77

The most important part of a written research report is the ____________________.

Question 78

Completeness of the research report should be evaluated from the perspective of the ____________________.