Best use
A research report explains what was found, how, and what it means, for a reader who needs the conclusion and wants to trust it. It is the format for consultants, analysts and anyone publishing findings rather than a method.
Recommended structure
Summary first — the conclusion, in one page, for the reader who reads nothing else. Then the question, the method, the findings in order of importance, the limits, and the recommendations. Every claim in the findings points to where it came from.
What a finished version should include
An executive summary, a contents page, findings with their sources, a limitations section that is honest, and an appendix for the detail. The studio drafts the frame; the findings and their citations are yours, and they are what the report is worth.
Worked example
The plan the studio would build for Where the Time Goes
A research report planned the way the structure above says, in the order its contents page would show. Every line is an editable chapter in the studio.
Where the Time GoesHanna OstrowskiSample book · Research report
- 01
Summary
The conclusion on one page, for the reader who reads nothing else.
- 02
The question and the method
What was asked, of whom, and how it was recorded.
- 03
Finding 1 — Where the week goes
The largest block of time and what fills it.
- 04
Finding 2 — Meetings and the gaps between them
The cost of fragmentation, with the evidence.
- 05
Finding 3 — What people would change
The self-reported wish list against the recorded week.
- 06
Limits and recommendations
What this study cannot say, and what to do with what it can.
Other formats
If the job is different
Continue