Team Recommendation Report
Introduction & Methodology
Writing the Introduction & Methodology
The introductory paragraph should be specific to the project and identify both context and purpose in three to four lines.
The Methodology explains the methods the team used to gather information. It doesn't share information; it simply comments on the logic of your research decisions, the tools you used, the search terms you used, how these influenced your local survey choices and how you completed the local study.
A Quick Note About
Writing the Introduction
Introduction: Comment on PURPOSE and SCOPE
In a new TAB area, provide a brief Introduction to the report as well as commenting on the team's approaches to research; this is the team's Methodology.
There are often other paragraphs in the introductory section. I've seen as many as five or as few as one.
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Open with the specific issue rather than general commentary.
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Don't tell your client what they already know--like Best Vet provides affordable animal care--they know what they do.
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Verify the purpose and scope of the report.
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Then, identify the sections of the Recommendation Report to help orient the audience to the organization and materials that you've included.
Write the Introduction AFTER the Report is Complete
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Near the end of the project, a team member should go back and REVISE the Introduction.
A Quick Note About:
Writing the Methodology.
THE METHODOLOGY: Comments on Research Approaches, Tools, and Logic
START THE METHODOLOGY with a general introduction.
The introductory paragraph of the Methodology should be specific to the project and identify the purpose of the research choices as well as including a brief description of the research scope and tools used by the team to locate materials.
Three lines is a good length.
Next, COMMENT on the DAY/DATE meeting with your local client (full name + title at the organization) as the point of departure from the introduction into your research. The client meeting helped you solidify the scope and topic/s of inquiry. Use it as the starting point for your Methodology journey.
After using the client/team meeting to open the second paragraph of the Methodology section, walk the readers (your targeted audience and secondary audiences) through each step of the team's research journey. FRAME each step of the journey--from digital research to the local study--using you attitude, with the focus on the client, the challenge, and the research steps.
QUANTIFY the TEAM INVESTMENT
Some teams opt to comment on the number of weeks and hours of research early in the Methodology section. Other teams quantify their research investment at the end of the Methodology as they transition to the Analysis.
Be honest. Ask team members to help you generate this number rather than guessing.
Typically this is a 10 week project with teams investing about 100 hours in research. However, overall teams usually invest 200+ hours in collaboration, research, analysis, the local study, composing, and revising.
THEN, use the “we searched” – how we searched – “we used” –to clarify sources/search terms and other research strategies.
The Methodology reports on your steps as a team of researchers:
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What did you want to know?
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How did you shape search terms to tackle your research questions?
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Where did you look for data?
The goal of the Methodology is to explain what the team did to collect the information used to analyze the situation and shape recommendations.
Every methodology differs based on the client's needs and team research strategies.
Share Electronic Research First
Share Electronic Research First: EXAMPLE
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“We examined Wisdom Tooth's presence on the internet. To do this, we Google searched using “Wisdom Tooth Theatre Project” and found: your website, Facebook page, … We also searched “Indianapolis Theatre Companies” and found . . . “
Be sure to comment on your digital research first, then share how you shaped the local study around data you were not able to find previously published. This will help you transition from digital research to the local survey.
The methodology section allows you to IDENTIFY ELECTRONIC SOURCES and TEAM SURVEY strategies to create a logic for choices you made as you tracked down information, read it, decide what was good, synthesized it, and share it.
SHARE ELECTRONIC RESEARCH FIRST: Search Terms, Databases, Areas of Focus
Since most, if not all, of your secondary research was completed electronically, tell the audience about how you made your choices regarding what to look for, how to look for it, and which tools to use to get to the best data.
Support Tools
There are three support tools available as you compose the Methodology section.
Anticipate what your audience does or does not know.
IF YOU NAME A TOOL/DATABASE, DEFINE THE TECHNOLOGY in a way that quantifies the nature of the tool for your audience. If the audience is affiliated with IUPUI, you don't need to comment on the databases.
NON-IU AUDIENCE: BE MORE DESCRIPTIVE
IUPUI provides access to over 300,000 academic articles through password protected databases. ProQuest Direct one of the top-tier database our team used; it provides access to [tell the reader more about ProQuest, other databases you used, and your search phrases.]
IU AUDIENCES: THEY CAN ACCESS THESE DATABASES AND DON'T NEED AS MUCH COMMENTARY
The team used IU databases including ProQuest Direct and EBSCO Host to search the following phrases:
If your audience isn't internet savvy, you might also need to explain the nature of Google Scholar in addition to commenting on the amazing resources available through IUPUI databases.
Be specific and detailed. And, use discretion. If you named every place you and your team members looked, it would be long and cumbersome. If you name every search term, it could fill three pages. Be logical. Integrate lists, and (brace yourself) use math to total numbers rather than listing too much data independently.
For example, if you used three IUPUI database, instead of saying the number of sources each one provides, add the numbers together, then say: Together, ProQuest Direct, ABI Inform, and EBSCO Search Premier provide access to over 25,000 scholarly publications allowing us to access timely relevant articles on funding for school libraries. [This is just an example of how you might shape your commentary/ this information is not accurate]
Avoid comments that are boastful and not quantified like, "We worked very hard for hours on end to search for good materials to use in our report. It was very hard to find statistical support because your problem is so specialized."
If you want to say you worked hard, do it briefly and tactfully like, "As a team, we invested approximately 100 hours searching databases, reading relevant articles, and reporting from top publications in the Review of Literature." Quantify. Be specific.
Identify Search Terms: EXAMPLE
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We Google searched “library technologies”, “funding for libraries”, “elementary school libraries”, “grants for libraries”, “faith-based school libraries” and "free books for libraries". After discovering/ considering/reading this information, we used IUPUI Proquest Central: “The largest multidisciplinary database with over 11,000 titles, more than 8,000 in full-text.” We also searched . . .
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name more search tools, like Google Scholar if your team used them.
Side note: Don't whine, complain, or brag in business writing. In person, you might. On the phone, possibly. But don't put these types of communications in writing, including in emails or personal texts. Nothing business related is totally private; even lawyer/client privacy privilege can get dicey.
How did this research help you focus aspects of your project?
After commenting on research logic, strategies, and tools, the Methodology provides a nice place for a list of areas you focus on/ areas relating to recommendations (see IU Theatre use of a list in their Methodology section).
EXAMPLE: A Portion of
IU Theatre's Methodology
"In addition to EBSCO, we found useful information about the effective use of social media to advertise, increased attendance of live theatre, and peer to peer marketing in online articles and periodicals found through Google search prompts. After finding a significant amount of information we began to analyze and interpret it. In doing so five main topics emerged:
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Engaging with a social media presence
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Marketing to first-year college students
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Assessing what young people are doing (if not attending theatre)
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Networking, community outreach and partnerships with local organizations
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Leveraging IU Theatre’s physical location with a sign or marquee
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Promoting through backstage access and ticket giveaways
In continuing to analyze these five categories we began to understand what our team needed to know specifically about IU Theatre’s needs and challenges. The data helped shape our primary research. Our primary research phase sought to gather information about IU students specifically and to test their responses to some of the strategies we uncovered during our secondary research."
*A complete "Methodology" section from another team, Wisdom Tooth, is included at the bottom of this page. The Wisdom Tooth format will not work for every team, but it does provide a unique window into the way one team personalized and shaped their research to address Wisdom Tooth's challenge: how to attract millennials.
STEPS for COMMENTING ON ELECTRONIC RESEARCH
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Begin the METHODOLOGY with general comments on your research PURPOSE and SCOPE.
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Then DEVELOP COMMENTARY on your DIGITAL RESEARCH.
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After that, TRANSITION FROM the secondary research to THE LOCAL STUDY.
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AFTER DOING ELECTRONIC RESEARCH, what did you still need to know? How did this influence your choices for the primary research, the local survey or study?
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After Doing Electronic Research:
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Provide a transitional moment-or-paragraph that clarifies why you opted to do a particular survey, poll, study, or series of interviews.
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Comment on the team's process/logic.
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Let your client know there is a copy of the survey tool and findings in the Appendix. [provide hyperlinks to the data]
STEPS for COMMENTING ON THE TEAM STUDY:
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INTRODUCE THE STUDY: Survey Tool, Target Audience, Number of Responses
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Comment on the Local Study Tool + Scope
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Comment on questions. Multiple choice? Likert scale? Other? Why were these the best format choices for your study?
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Comment on Audience + Why the tool was the best way to connect with the audience
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Comment on Technology/ distribution method(s)
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Comment on numbers you attempted to reach (pools of target audiences); ways you reached the audience(s), and the number who responded. You may also comment on time frame (how long a survey was available on Facebook or how many days/hours you spent in a game store lobby talking with patrons).
DISCUSS THE
LOCAL STUDY NEXT:
Rational, Survey Tool/s, Target Audience,
Distribution Strategy, Number of Responses
The local study is your team's primary research: data you generate through a survey, poll, questionnaire, observations, or accumulation of data previously not systematically collected and analyzed. Statistics and other information from your study will be threaded throughout the Analysis section of your Recommendation Report as supporting evidence.
In the Methodology, you'll comment on the study. You'll INTRODUCE THE STUDY, Survey Tool, Target Audience, Number of Responses
AFTER commenting on the Local Study, compose a BRIEF CLOSING to the Methodology: This is step-by-step how the team worked through the process—in 3 lines, if possible.
"Our findings informed . . . we analyzed . . . these laid a foundation for our recommendations."
The close of the Methodology is a transitional moment to the analysis section.
Side Note: There is no one, correct way to shape a methodology section in college; different areas of study have different expectations as they comment on a variety of research techniques, tools, and objectives. You must adapt to the expectations in your field or in your classes. The same is true in W231; your methodology should be strategically sculpted using rhetorical appeals to your client and to your client's secondary audiences--possibly the Board of Directors or a CEO.
STUDENT EXAMPLES
Wisdom Tooth
METHODOLOGY: Marketing Wisdom Tooth Theatre to Millennial's
Wisdom Tooth used an unorthodox format. It met their team needs and provided their client with a clear understanding of their research methods.
Note:
The team commented on the digital footprint because part of their recommendations focused on increasing that digital profile. It is unlikely that your team will include this sort of section; every project is different.
Sample Methodology Section
To create relevant and useful recommendations to increase the attendance of younger audiences, we sought to understand what the Wisdom Tooth Theatre Project had done up until this point, how other theatre companies had addressed the same struggles, and what specifically could be done to appeal to the audience Wisdom Tooth was looking for–the Millennial generation.
We accessed academic literature on the subject using databases and internet search engines, in addition to a local study comprised of two surveys, one of Wisdom Tooth patrons and one of IUPUI students.
Investigating the Digital Footprint
One aspect of our secondary research involved researching the theatre company’s digital footprint. Searching “wisdom tooth theatre project” on Google led to their website, a Facebook page with 520 likes, a Myspace page connected to 23 people that hadn’t been updated since 2014, a blurb on the Indy Arts Guide website, and an expired Groupon for a previous show. Meanwhile, a search of “Indianapolis theatre companies” will show IndyFringe as the second result, but there is no mention of Wisdom Tooth on the first page among more than seven other results.
Reviewing Current Research on Marketing to Millennials
The other aspect of our digital research was building a review of literature that addressed Wisdom Tooth’s challenge of reaching potential audiences. Our research started with IUPUI databases and Google Scholar. The three IUPUI databases we used were ProQuest, EBSCOhost, and JSTOR. These gave us access to more than 16,600 academic journals, in addition to the 160 million documents available using Google Scholar.
In order to target the problem presented by Wisdom Tooth, the search terms we used in the databases included “theatre” and “performing arts” to keep results relevant to the field, generational terms such as “millennials” and “baby boomers,” audience-related terms (“audience cultivation,” “audience development,” “audience attendance”), and terms having to do with reaching audiences such as “social media,” “marketing,” “brand exposure,” and “education.”
Surveying Wisdom Tooth Patrons
Our next goal was to understand the demographics of Wisdom Tooth’s current audience, as well as how they found out about the company and what sort of theatre they were interested. The first leg of our primary research consisted of a survey distributed amongst audience members at Wisdom Tooth’s most recent production, “Impressionism.”
The survey was constructed using Google Forms, had four questions, and was conducted on paper with pens and pencils, distributed by hand to 13 patrons at the February 19th and 20th shows. Only 23% of the respondents were Millennials which meant that we were not engaging our target audience. Since we did not hear from Millennials through these survey attempts, we reached out to IUPUI students with the assumption that more of them would fall into the desired demographic.
Surveying IUPUI Students
Following the survey of current Wisdom Tooth audience members, we wanted to investigate the group that Wisdom Tooth identified as desired audience members: the Millennial generation. For this reason, we drew from the IUPUI student body for our sample. This survey was again created using Google Forms but was distributed as an electronic link. The survey contained eight questions and was made available to IUPUI students using messages through Canvas, email, and Facebook. In person requests to peers to complete the survey were also made. We had 83 responses. 87% of the respondents were Millennials.
After analyzing the findings of the second survey, we had more insight on how often Millennials attend performing arts events, what social media platforms they use, where they find out about events, and what they are looking for in a show. This data paired with the secondary research allowed us to focus our recommendations on social media/internet presence, outreach, and choice in productions.
