Totalizer 1.1/EL Report: Research, Integrity, and Communication
Totalizer 1.1/EL Report: Research and Integrity
This document discusses the Totalizer 1.1/EL Report’s role in research and ensuring its integrity. It focuses on how the report reflects the investigation process.
The Report from a Process Perspective
From a process viewpoint, the report comprises a series of tasks designed to meet the requirements of the research demand. Research involves numerous tasks, such as:
- Preparing recording equipment
- Personnel training
- Planning outings
- Monitoring collected information
The Report from an Organizational Perspective
All activities ensure the report maintains a privileged position, allowing observation of the entire investigation. Research consists of fragmented and diverse activities where phases are not necessarily linear or cumulative. In qualitative research, recesses and setbacks to previous phases are common. Research objectives may be modified based on fieldwork, potentially influencing the research design. The report signifies the moment to pause the process, allowing the researcher to distance themselves from the investigation and retrace their steps.
The Report from an Analytical Perspective
Analytically, this is the most sensitive part, reconstructing the investigation based on demand requirements. A unitary view is necessary to retrieve specific information obtained to address the problem that motivated the study. The report takes over all research and redefines it for the lawsuit.
The Report as a Research Paper
The report is the medium through which the entire investigation is introduced and made known. Nothing done during an investigation is visible to an outside observer, except for the data registration that took place during fieldwork.
The report is a rhetorical element that lends credibility and realism to the whole study. The report is the basis on which everything that has been done, and how it was done, is judged. Hence the importance of the report for the instance that demands research. The delivery of the report formally initiates an investigation when accepted and is synthesized as the cost generated by the investigation.
Nothing exists in a formally conducted investigation without its Final Report. The report is defined here as a document confirming the investigation. All investigations or studies generate documents (reports) that present and document them. But how should quantitative and qualitative reports be documented?
Quantitative Reports
Quantitative reports document research through the analysis of numerical data corresponding to observed facts. These are easily verified from results presented as percentages or in comparison with other data. Such research is unproblematic when documented objectively and can, therefore, be supported by scientific findings.
Qualitative Reports
Qualitative reports document research through discourse analysis, interpreted for meanings. Its scientific validity is a difficult subject, but its importance is fundamental for understanding the report. The report is a document that certifies and identifies research rhetorically, to the point of providing or removing all validity for the reader.
The Report as a Means of Communication
The report serves as a means to disseminate research; it is the document responsible for communicating the investigation’s results. The report contains the substance of the investigation and, more importantly, must communicate it properly so that it can be known and shared by other researchers or individuals. The importance lies not only in communicating the results but also in communicating them in a way that does not pose any problem or setback for their knowledge and understanding. Such communication cannot ignore the intended reader.