Planning Business Reports: Accuracy, Purposes, Audience, and Data Collection - Prof. Ashle, Study notes of English Language

Download Planning Business Reports: Accuracy, Purposes, Audience, and Data Collection - Prof. Ashle and more Study notes English Language in PDF only on Docsity! Chapter 9: Planning the Business Report and Collecting Data Report Accuracy:  Report all of the relevant facts  Use emphasis and subordination appropriately o Not intended to sway the audience  Gives enough evidence to support your cause  Don’t let personal biases and unfounded opinions interrupt your interpretation Purposes of Reports:  Informing : o Relate the facts and events surrounding a particular situation o Present the facts alone  Analyzing : o Not only presents information but also analyzes it  Recommending : o Presents relevant information, interpret it, and then endorse a plan Audience Analysis:  Internal versus external audiences o External tend to need more background information  Level of knowledge and interest Common Types of Data:  Secondary Data : o Collected by someone else for some other purpose – data may or may not be published  Primary Data : o Collected by the researcher  Surveys, emails Evaluating Secondary Data  Before using secondary sources, ask these questions: o What was the purpose of the study? o How was the data collected? o Is the source credible? o How was the data analyzed? o How consistent is the data with that from other studies? o How old is the data? Questionnaire: (surveymonkey.com) 1. Be sure that every question you ask is necessary 2. Your language must be clear, precise, and understandable 3. The questions need to be neutral 4. Avoid biases by arranging in a logical order 5. Include all the answers by including another category 6. One idea per question 7. No overlapping categories 8. Demographics Using Graphics:  Show how something looks o Photos or diagrams  Show how to do something o Flow charts  Explain a process  Show how something is organized o Organizational chart  Display data o Tables  Show trends o Line and bar graphs ***Know when its best to use each*** Tables:  Shows large amounts of numerical data  Way to present several variables  Can handle much more information with precision  Identified by number (table 1) Preparing charts:  Save them for presenting important information  Keep charts simple  Label all your charts as figures o Bar Graphs  Communicate numerical values  Better at showing relative values of two or more items o Line Graphs  Shows changes in quantity over time  Plot up to 3-4 lines on a line graph  Use different colors for each  Begin the quantity scale by zero, if possible o Pie Charts  Shows relative size of the parts of a whole  No more than five parts/sections  Label the slices  Use different colors  Add up to 100%