Team Recommendation Report
Analysis
Compiling the Analysis.
The Analysis is the heart of the report. This is where you share all of your best research, analyze what this means for the client, and draw conclusions that lay a solid foundation for EVERY recommendation.
The Analysis should incorporate all of the W231 strategies we practice in Writing Project 1 in addition to report writing techniques we've discussed and read about in Shwom for the Recommendation Report.
A Quick Note About:
Using Multiple Sources
USE MULTIPLE SOURCE SYNTHESIS in the Analysis.
Using multiple source synthesis in the Analysis will support every big idea and key point. You can rely exclusively on expert commentary, business examples, and materials found during your database research. Two reputable sources synthesized is solid support. Or, you can synthesize outside research with your local study to support your analysis.
Support Tools
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Book Five of the ARP Booklet provides helpful guidelines and tools for writing the Analysis.
A Quick Note About:
Writing the Analysis.
WRITING THE ANALYSIS
To open the Analysis, provide a SHORT / THREE LINE introduction that extablishes the context and purpose of the Analysis. Then, identify key points the team will explore in the Analysis. Highlighting key concepts in the same order they will appear in the Analysis helps guide your audience through the logic and organization of this section. (A slightly longer Analysis opening is okay--but make sure it's data packed and specific.)
Organize your Analysis into major sections. Each section is dedicated to sharing research and analysis that supports a corresponding recommendation. If the team wants to recommend that a client use Instagram to promote events, the Analysis section would provide expert commentary on why Instagram is a good choice, examples of promoter successfully using Instagram, and other supporting data like statistics, best practices, and trends. If your local study asked respondents if they look at Instagram to find local events, then your local study might have relevant information for the Instagram section too. The key is to have a variety of valid sources to inform and support your recommendations.
The Analysis does more than share information; the Analysis critically examines what this information means to your client. Every section will be packed with research, supporting quotes, data, statistics, and other convincing findings.
SIMPLE FORMAT OPTION FOR EACH SECTION
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We sought: Here is what we sought.
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We found: Here is what we found.
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This means: This is what the information we found suggests for you, our client, and the specific issue(s) at hand.
Each ANALYSIS section should have a DETAILED BOLD HEADING.
Headings & Subheadings
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Use BOLD HEADINGS and subheadings to walk the audience through what you looked for, what you found, and what this suggests for the client. This should provide a clear rationale with supporting evidence for each aspect of each recommendation.
Savvy writers share relevant information AND a call to action in their headings
Name experts. Share quotes. Analyze numbers.
NEEDS NEW HYPERLINK
After the clear heading, the section should follow a "we sought, we found, this means" model:
An EXAMPLE with multiple source synthesis using a team's local study and a CNN poll:
We wanted to better understand why millennials in the Indianapolis area were not attending productions at Wisdom Tooth, so we conducted a survey of students at IUPUI. Nearly nine in ten of our IUPUI survey respondents identified as Millennials. Three out of every four respondent said they do not attend the theatre because of high ticket prices. Our respondents are not alone. A CNN survey of Millenials and their entertainment choices had similar results.
Price is the #1 Limitation for Ticket Sales
to College Students
CNN (2016) reported that eight in ten Millenials said that price was one of the biggest factors in what they chose to do each weekend. This means that both Indianapolis and US Millenials are concerned about how much money they spend on entertainment. The local and national surveys also suggest that more Millenials would attend an entertainment event, like the theater, if the tickets were affordable. This means that Wisdome Tooth can entice Millenials to attend their shows through more affordable ticket prices.
Finding the Right Price: $12 Tickets
Entice College Students
The next paragraph should pick up where this one heading off: why do Millenials think i$12 s an "affordable" ticket price? Tell the reader IN THE HEADING the BIG INFORMATION in the bold headings.
Savvy writers take the next step in
their bold headings to share relevant information or a call to action
ON TOP OF signaling a topic.
BE SURE TO INTEGRATE BOTH DIGITAL AND TEAM GENERATED DATA IN THESE SECTIONS--both secondary and primary research.
Clearly explain:
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What we looked for?
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Why?
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What we found?
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Where?
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And, in addition, share examples of other businesses using this information/ strategy successfully.
To see examples of Analysis sections, visit the Canvas Module: ANALYSIS SECTION Samples from CHE and Creekside Reports
Be sure to end the ANALYSIS section with a BRIEF CLOSING which will serve as a transition to the RECOMMENDATIONS.
Organizational choices depend on your project and client needs.
Research Driven Organization:
Looks at Primary and Secondary research, relates these to the client/problem and moves toward the logic for recommendations
EXAMPLE:
We sought to find out if Millennials attend the theatre. We found that they do, and they value the arts. They attend the theatre 4 times a year: quotes/share research. They value the arts: quotes/share research. This data helped us conclude—recommendation.
Recommendation Driven Organization:
Looks at the topics that inform a recommendation and allow those sections to shape the organization. The research is shared as it relates to each point. Each point is related to your organization/client’s need.
EXAMPLE:
To attract Millennials, research suggests that Theatre should
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a) Advertise across social media platforms: we sought/ share research/ relate to client
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b) Lower ticket prices/provide discounts: we sought/ share research/ relate to client
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c) Cultivate local presence: fliers, tables at campus events, etc.
Deciding on a basic organizational orientation is the first step toward shaping the Analysis.
There are many options; two logical structures are:
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Research Driven
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Recommendation Driven
NOTE: Allow your Recommendations to help shape the organization of your project. Use the logic you and your team used to get to the recommendations to inform the organizational structure.
Research Model vs Recommendation Model
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If you found your best ideas through research, using a research-driven model makes sense.
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If you had recommendations and tracked down research to support your ideas, using a recommendation driven structure makes sense.
TO CHART OR NOT TO CHART
Graphs and charts differ from team to team. Many use pie graphs and bar charts. The material you need to share with the audience is at the heart of your design choices. The textbook has a nice section on which graphs/charts work best in particular situations. Sometimes a radar graph is best; other times a pie chart is a better choice. It depends on the complexity of the data.
Charts should make complicated data easier to understand.
DESIGN WITH THE ANALYSIS IN MIND
The charts/graphs should be designed to support materials/data in Analysis paragraphs. With this in mind, the author of a particular Analysis section may have particular needs for the way data is charted. And, the information on the chart should always be analyzed/deciphered at the paragraph level. See Figure 1 which verifies that nearly 8 in 10 social workers think --this--.
The goal with charts/graphs is to visually show what is difficult to explain in words. This is why yes and no answers are not ideal for charts and graphs--it's easy to explain how many are yes and how many are no. The times yes/no is charted is when you're wanting to prove a point that almost everyone thinks one thing or to otherwise show a tremendous gap. The other occasion might be a nearly 50/50 split; the chart visually renders how close 46% is to 54% (so there are some times yes/no charts work just fine).
ANALYSIS CHARTS vs APPENDIX CHARTS
You can use the survey tool charts in the Appendix areas with the survey. No need to invest energy recreating what Survey Monkey provided to you.
The challenge is analyzing information, then building charts that display the data you want to share with readers in the Analysis. This is critical to building informative charts for the Analysis.
Each visual needs:
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a Figure number
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clear title
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legend
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clear two-digit statistics
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as needed
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a caption
More on when and when not to build a chart.
TITLE/ DATA
Remember that the title, legend, and caption are every bit as important as the shape, color, and style of the visual.
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Be strategic and detailed with titles.
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Make sure the legend is easy to read and understand.
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X and Y axis must be clearly identified and defined when you use them.
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Provide clear, concise commentary in captions.
NOT ALL QUESTIONS ARE CHART WORTHY
Sometimes it's hard to know what to chart, what to write about, and what to pass over. Be sure that charted information is relevant to the report topic.
AVOID BUILDING A CHART SIMPLY BECAUSE THE DATA EXISTS
The key is building charts the report needs rather than charting information simply because it was collected in the poll.
INTERNAL REDUNDANCY:
PARAGRAPHS REPEAT WHAT IS IN THE CHART/ CHARTS REPEAT WHAT IS IN THE PARAGRAPHS
Each chart should stand on its own. If the chart were cut from the report and laid on a table in the Student Center, someone should be able to pick it up and understand the data and what it means in relation to the issue.
The same is true of the paragraph discussing data shared on a chart. Assume that the reader cannot see the chart. Talk the reader through the data and clarify why this information is relevant to the topic.
