Bài giảng Business Communication - Chapter Twelve: Research and Planning for Business Reports

Chapter TwelveResearch and Planningfor Business ReportsMcGraw-Hill/IrwinCopyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Learning ObjectivesLO12.1 Explain how planning and conducting business research for reports impacts you credibility.LO12.2 Create research objectives that are specific and achievable.LO12.3 Explain principles of effective design for survey questions and choices.LO12.4 Develop charts and tables to concisely display data and accentuate key messages.Learning Objectives (cont.)LO12.5 Evaluate the usefulness of data sources for business research.LO12.6 Conduct secondary research to address a business problem.LO12.7 Evaluate research data, charts, and tables for fairness and effectiveness.Developing Your Ideas with Primary ResearchPrimary research the analysis of data that you, people from your organization, or others under your direction have collected.Secondary research the analysis of data collected by others with no direction from you or members of your organization.Creating SurveysSurvey questions should be: simple to answernon-leadingexhaustive and unambiguouslimited to a single idea.Analyzing Your DataLearn as much as you can about forecasting and other forms of statistical and quantitative analysis Learn as much as you can about spreadsheet, database, and statistical software Analyzing Your DataRely on others in your analysisStay focused on your business problem and look for the big picture Creating Effective ChartsInformation sufficiencyCharts should contain enough information for the reader to quickly and reasonably understand the ideas that are being displayedCreating Effective ChartsEase of processingBy selecting only the necessary information and placing labels and data at appropriate places, you enable your reader to process the information quickly and efficientlyFormatting Guidelines for Specific Chart TypesFormatting Guidelines for TablesEvaluating Data QualityReliability relates to how dependable the data is—how current and representativeRelevance relates to how well the data apply to your specific business problemAdaptability relates to how well the research can be altered or revised to meet your specific business problemEvaluating Data QualityExpertise relates to the skill and background of the researchers to address your business problem.Biases tendencies to see issues from particular perspectivesDocumenting Your ResearchDecision makers expect excellent documentation of your information because this helps them evaluate the credibility of your reportCreating Fair Charts