Contents of a Research Report (Qualitative)

31 July 202531 July 2025 aswnetadmin No Comments

A research report is used to present the completed study, including background, methods, findings, interpretations, and recommendations.

Section	Description	Examples from a research done in Senegal
Title	Reflects the full project with more clarity if needed. On cover page if desired. Cover page contains date, relevant image, authors and institutions.	Voices of Transition: Educational Pathways of Wolof-speaking Youth in Senegal
Summary or abstract	Overview of the report. At times accompanied by key words and points.	All the topics of the report are covered in few words, less than 500. Usually without headings.
Introduction	Brief restatement of the topic, goals and the contents of the report.	This report explores the school experiences of Wolof-speaking migrant youth in Dakar.
Background	Same as proposal, updated to reflect relevance of findings. Literature updated too.	Outlines the language policy challenges in Senegal’s urban schools.
Philosophy and Theoretical Framework	Reiterated to remind reader of the guiding worldview.	Ubuntu (philososhy) and Diopian (theory) framework was used to analyse relational knowledge.
Methodology and Methods	What was done and how, with any adaptations noted. Include ethics.	Used interviews, youth drawings, and indaba translated from Wolof.
Data	What was collected and from whom and in what format eg narratives, stories, interview responses, drawings etc	20 youth narratives, 6 parent-teacher indaba sessions.
Analysis	How data was merged and sieved through the theoretical lens to generate findings.	Co-team analysis, using software eg Nvivo, with participants, colour-coding, deep immersion etc
Findings	Summarises key unique and new observations.	Findings can be arranged in categories (that is descriptions of data), themes (that is, interpretive categories), narratives, stories, quotes, visuals, case studies or a combination of these. The choice of presentation must align with the methodology and methods.
Discussion	Deeper analysis linking findings to broader contexts, literature and theories.	Language exclusion mirrors colonial legacies; families offer resistance through ujamaa (cite).
Conclusions	Final insights drawn from findings.	Wolof-speaking youth show resilience. Schools have not adapted to cultural realities.
Implications	What the findings mean in broader terms.	Highlights the need for inclusive language policies in African education.
Suggestions	Exploratory ideas that may inform further thinking.	Consider mother-tongue literacy as a bridge to formal education.
Recommendations	Specific actions drawn from the study.	Introduce Wolof-French support programs; build community-school partnerships via indaba.
Conclusion	Ending of the report	Draw the report to a close.
List of references	All literature used	Use a relevant or recommended format.
Appendixes	Additional useful information to help with understanding or prove that data collection and analysis was done as described	Ethics advice or approval; permissions, data collection documents that are completed, examples of original transcripts, initial themes, field notes etc

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