CS 610 Sample Survey Report Outline

Richard Halstead-Nussloch, Ph.D.

revised 11 May 1997

• Title Page - Include a meaningful title, your name, course. A meaningful title will refer to the survey, not the assignment.
• Table of Contents - Include your headings and page numbers
• Abstract or Executive Summary - The abstract contains a sentence or two from each of the following major sections. Include your top one or two results, conclusions, and recommendations.
• Introduction -- Tell a story about the who, how, what, why, etc. of this survey study
  • Problem statement /information goal(s) (e.g.,
    • Assess attitudes towards the destruction of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
    • Evaluate hypotheses about factors affecting graduate students
  • Significance of the information goal and this study
  • Relation to other issues
  • Purpose of this study relative to problem
  • Definition of terms
  • Statement of assumptions
  • Summary--Restatement of your information goal(s)
    • Questions to be answered
    • Hypotheses to be tested
    • Problem statement for solution
    • Thesis to be evaluated
• Related research from literature review (often included in the Introduction)
  • Sources in bibliographic citation (If Internet, how to access)
  • Critique, review, and summary of related research (synthesize)
• Method - In a course titled, "Research Methods," the most important section. State and describe your research methods so that another researcher can duplicate your study (but not necessarily your results). For the survey report, the methods section will require subsections:
  • Questionnaire (Survey Instrument)--Describe how it was developed by charting how it addresses the information goal(s). Describe the questions you will use in your report and what is measured. Describe the measurement scales used. Optionally, include a copy of the survey in an appendix.
  • Data sample--Describe the respondents and how they were selected for the study.
  • Procedure--Describe the steps and actions that were performed in administering the survey.
  • Data analysis approach--Describe the steps and actions you took to collate, reduce, and analyze the data. Include the names and high-level descriptions of any statistical tests or visualization techniques that you used. Connect the data analysis back to your information goal(s) and forward to your results and conclusions.
• Results and Conclusions (Results--just the facts; Conclusions--Summary interpretations)
  • Results: Data, trends, profiles, patterns, and statistical analyses, e.g., charts and chi-square analyses as done in class. Don't forget to use good techniques of visualization for all charts you build. Following Tufte, try to accurately present data changes in the graphs and leave out design changes. A good strategy is to use pie graphs for percentages, bar graphs, and line graphs or scatterplots.
  • Conclusions: Your interpretations of the impact of the data/results on your information goal
  • Limitations on your interpretations of the results
  • Conclusions--your summary of your results and interpretations
• Discussion and/or Recommendations
  • Discussion: Generalization and abstraction from your results
  • Recommendations:
    • Implications for the general area of your information goal
    • Suggestions for the next step for your information goal
    • Specific recommendations for applying the results and findings of this survey study
• References and Bibliography (Include both)
  • References--Prior work specifically cited or pointed to in the report (use the reference method in the Plagiarism handout).
  • Bibliography--Prior work read, but not specifically cited in the report
• Number all pages and include the page numbers in the Table of Contents.