MKT360 Chapter 14: Research Reports and Presentations

Goals of Reports and Presentations

1. Effectively communicate findings

2. Provide interpretations of findings

3. Draw conclusions

4. Provide insight

5. Make recommendations

6. Discuss limitations

Typical format of research reports

1. Title page
2. Table of contents
3. Executive summary
4. Introduction
5. Research methodology
• Research design, sampling information, data collection, analysis
6. Results
7. Conclusions and recommendations
8. Appendices

Characteristics of oral presentations

• Allow for two-way communication
• Often presented virtually
• Executives may be present
• Short and to-the-point (i.e., concise)
• Focus on recommendations

Three traits of effective visual aid

1. visibility

2. legibility

3. simplicity

Pie Charts

• Excellent for nominal and ordinal data
• May be used for interval data, never for ratio data
• Single variable with 3 – 10 categories
• Should use percentages, not just raw numbers
• Useful for demographic information
• Audience’s perception is influenced by the color and location of slices

Line and Area Charts

• Useful for ratio data
• Never nominal, ordinal, or interval data
• Express patterns over time (e.g., sales)
• May contain several variables
• Stacked area charts are more difficult to read

Bar Charts

• Most flexible type of chart
• Nominal, ordinal, and interval data
• Clustered bar charts for cross-tabulations
• Stacked bar charts acceptable alternative to pie charts
• Show results of paired t-tests or ANOVA
• Legends identify each column
• Poor labeling on axes could lead to misinterpretation

Infographics

• Eye-catching visualization

• Attract attention

• Present information in unique fashion

• Uses text, visuals, and data

• Title and labels are important