Collaborative Research Assignment

For the collaborative research project assignment, you and three or four other classmates will define a problem on campus or in the Davis community that needs to be addressed. To address this problem, you will conduct primary and secondary research and write a formal recommendation report in which you describe and interpret your findings, draw conclusions from your analysis of findings, and make recommendations. You will tailor your report to meet the information needs of a specific decision maker. Your goal in writing this report is to try to persuade that decision maker—your target reader—to accept your conclusions and act on your recommendations.

The collaborative research project will consist of the following sequence of assignments:

1. Problem Statement (addressed to Dr. Andy)
2. Research Proposal (addressed to target audience)
3. Management Plan (addressed to Dr. Andy)
4. Formal Report (addressed to target audience)
5. Rhetorical Analysis and Team Evaluation (addressed to Dr. Andy)

This research project should represent your best research, writing, and editing skills; it should show off what you have learned in Business Reports and Technical Communication.

The following topics are meant to give you ideas for the kinds of problems that your team might research for the formal report project. The problem that your team chooses to research, though, must be a real problem in need of research and resolution. Ideal problems to research are those that you and your team members can identify in the communities in which you work and live (e.g., UC Davis, a UC Davis organization or department, Davis, a Davis neighborhood or community organization). You will need to identify a decision maker (audience) to whom you will address your research proposal and report.

Here are some potential problems that may be in need of research:

• The causes of students’ disinterest in campus activities
• A comparative analysis of two or more product brands in search of the best brand to purchase to meet a specific department’s or organization’s needs
• A comparative analysis of two or more companies offering similar services in search of the best service to purchase to meet a specific organization’s needs
• The feasibility of opening a specific business in the Davis area
• The feasibility of changing the way a center on campus serves students (such as the Learning Skills Center, International Learning Center, or Internship and Career Center)
• The advisability of pursuing a graduate degree in your field, instead of entering the work force with a bachelor’s degree
• The reasons why a new organization is not finding consistent work
• The problem with a current process, policy, or procedure in a local organization or department and the feasibility of implementing a more effective process, policy, or procedure
• The causes of students or members of an organization struggling to use a new software, service, or product
• The problem with current training methods and ways to improve those methods
• The causes of students or members of an organization struggling to publicize a worthy or charitable organization, or one of its events or causes
• The problem with current publicity and marketing approaches and ways to improve those approaches
• An analysis of campus cultural and entertainment activities, showing that some should be eliminated, added, or both
• An analysis of the job opportunities in a specific field (for example, law, finance, accounting) (target audience might be a department chair)

You must conduct at least two interviews with appropriate individuals and use at least one other method of primary research, such as observation or document analysis, for the formal report. You must also draw on at least four secondary sources (others’ published work). At least two of your secondary sources must not be published on the Web (Review Web vs. Print Resources on page 4 of this assignment sheet). Not meeting these research requirements will result in a lower final report grade.

In addition to interviews, other forms of primary research might include

• Your own special knowledge of a subject
• Observation of organization or community members carrying out a process or procedure or observation of organization or community members performing particular activities
• Analysis of a document or set of documents, product, service, or system
• A questionnaire

Forms of secondary research might include

• Web and media sources
• Government documents and reference materials
• Other documents (maps, pamphlets, special dictionaries)
• Business documents (annual reports, brochures, etc.)
• Professional publications and peer-reviewed journals (e.g., Consumer Reports, Psychology Today, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, American Behavior Scientist)
• The University Library (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/) has access to a wealth of databases (including Google Scholar) with hundreds of thousands of articles (many available in full text) on a wide range of subjects. The following library links should lead you to some excellent articles for your research:
• Finding an article: http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/ul/help/findarticles.php
• Searching databases for articles: http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/ul/research/articles.php

Check with me at any time for help; any student who does not seek my help is (I must assume) having no trouble.

Your report should include all the essential components of a formal report, as outlined in the formal reports entry in the Handbook of Technical Writing. A report is “formal” because it has parts that follow specific forms. Thus, your report should contain the following parts:

1. Cover Memo or Letter—If you are addressing your report to an external audience, write a letter. If you are addressing your report to an internal audience, write a memo.

2. Cover Page (optional)

3. Title Page

4. Table of Contents

5. Executive Summary

6. Introduction (the following components are typically addressed)

• Definition of Problem
• Helpful Background Information
• Report Purpose and Significance
• Overview of Objectives and Methods of Inquiry (briefly address the “what” and “how” of your research)
• Benefits (briefly highlight how the report benefits the target audience)
• Limitations of Research Conducted (if any)
• Report Scope (what it covers and what it does not)
• Organization (how the report is organized)

7. Text (Main Body of Report)

• Describe and justify your research methods and any evaluative criteria that you used to reach your ultimate conclusions. Clarify precisely what you were looking for in your research and why.
• You might find the following organization strategy helpful:

8. Conclusions

• Summary of Findings
• Overall Interpretation of Findings—What do they mean?

9. Recommendations

10. Works Cited or References

11. Appendices (if any)

12. Visuals—You need to include at least two visuals in the body of your report: tables, charts, graphs, and conceptual graphics work well to usefully display data and aid in readability and comprehension. These visuals must be original and created by you. Visuals that are downloaded or copied from another source will not be acceptable in the report body.

Because many of you will find excellent secondary sources accessible on the Web or through an online library database, I need to clarify what I consider a “Web” resource and a “Print” resource.

Articles from online library databases that have been peer reviewed and/or published in a newspaper or magazine are, oddly enough, still considered “print” resources. “Print resources” is becoming a tricky term. Many books, peer-reviewed academic journals, and magazines are now available as PDF documents online. The library even collects “electronic journals” instead of “print journals” now. The only difference is that the journal is available electronically as a PDF document instead of as a magazine on a library shelf. Even Google Scholar provides access to an array of excellent “print” resources from respectable publications. See http://scholar.google.com/.
Web resources are those that are published solely on websites. They include professional websites, personal websites, blogs, wikis, and others. These resources need to be carefully evaluated because not all of them are credible. They are not peer reviewed and they often contain opinions not based on extensive research. Even some online newspapers and magazines are questionable, as some do not have official editorial boards that review content for accuracy.

You may count resources from library databases as “print resources.” Be careful, though, because some of the databases present a plethora of resources, from respectable studies to short opinion articles published on websites.

Please use the formal report format described in the entry formal reports in the Handbook of Technical Writing. Refer to the sample report on pages 201-217. Your report should be single-spaced (double-spaced between paragraphs) and use headings, lists, visuals, graphs, ample white space, and other layout and design elements as appropriate.

Your report will be as long as it needs to be to thoroughly and convincingly address each major report component. Remember, your audience and purpose in writing the report should determine whether or not your report has effectively accomplished its goal—to successfully convince your audience that your conclusions are logical and your recommendations will most effectively address or solve the problem as you have defined it. A well-written, persuasive, and thorough report with all of the components should be 11-15 pages in length (Front and back matter will take a minimum of 5 pages and the report body should take anywhere from 6-10 pages).

Please see the “Calendar of Assignments” for deadlines for each major assignment of the collaborative research project. The deadline for each assignment will be stated on the respective assignment prompt.

TIP: Taking advantage of your group’s SmartSite forum or other chosen collaboration technologies will significantly increase the quality and productivity of your collaboration work.

As stated in the Course Syllabus, your grade for formal writing assignments will reflect the quality of writing and research, not the time and effort expanded, and will be based on how you will be expected to write in a business context. In general, I will consider the kind and quality of research you have done, your interpretation and logical use of the data you report, the persuasiveness of your arguments, and the organization/format/mechanics of the report.

• Introduction
• Findings (and interpretation/evaluation)
• Conclusion/Recommendations
• Completeness
• Persuasiveness
• Clarity/Coherence
• Accuracy
• Tone/Goodwill Effect

• Attractiveness
• Logical Organization
• Readability
• Consistency
• Use of Visuals

• Spelling/Typos,
• Grammar/Punctuation