A primary research report presents findings and interpretation from laboratory or field research. You can think of it as a lab report, but it's much more than that.
See the examples of primary research reports.
One of the examples is an experiment to see whether production of rainbow trout can be increased by varying water temperature. While there is not a one-to-one correspondence between the typical sections in primary research reports and the sections you see in the actual rainbow trout report, you'll find that most of the functions are carried out. Instead of a full paragraph, sometimes all that is needed is a single sentence. And sometimes certain functions are combined into a single sentence.
NotebookLM-generated infographic of this chapter
Purpose of primary research reports
To enable readers to replicate your experiment or survey, you provide information like the following (each normally in its own section):
Contents of primary research reports
Although the sections and the titles of those sections vary, primary research reports have these typical contents:
Introduction
The introduction to the primary research report needs to do what any good introduction to a report needs to do—get readers ready to read the report. It may provide some background, but not more than a paragraph. Common elements, such as background, can be handled in the introduction. If they require a lot of discussion, however, they may need their own sections. For details, see the full discussion of introductions.
Straight forward but does not say why this comparison is being mde
The following reports on a study designed to compare spawning time and egg quality of rainbow trout broodstock maintained in cold creek water with those of broodstock maintained in constant temperature spring water. Included is a discussion of the research background, the methods and facilities used in the present study, and the results and conclusions drawn from the experiment.
Literature review (problem, background)
One of the first things to do is to discuss the situation that has led to the research work. This segment of the primary research report is called the literature review but may also be called background or problem. It can be a sentence or two in the introduction or a section of its own.
Construct the literature review in such a way that it shows the sequence of past research in relation to your current research. Does your research prove, disprove, or simply add to what is alreasy known? See the examples in literature review.
Purpose, objectives, scope
Also toward the beginning of this type of report discuss what you intended to do in the research project—what were your objectives? Also, explain the scope of your work—what were you not trying to do?
Materials, equipment, facilities
Remember that one of your goals in writing this type of report is to enable the reader to replicate the experiment or survey you performed. Key to this is the discussion of the equipment and facilities you used in your research. Describe things in detail, providing brand names, model numbers, sizes, and other such specifications.
Theory, methods, procedures
To enable readers to replicate your project, you must also explain the procedures or methods you used. This discussion can be step by step: "first, I did this, then I did that...." Theory and method refer more to the intellectual or conceptual framework of your project. These explain why you used the procedures that you used.
Results, findings, data
Critical to any primary research report is the data that you collect. You present it in tables, charts, and graphs (see the chapter on creating, formatting, and incorporating graphics into your reports). These can go in the body of your report, or in appendixes if they are so big that they interrupt the flow of your discussion. Of course, some results or findings may not be presentable as tables, charts, or graphs. In these cases, you just discuss it in paragraphs. In any case, you do not add interpretation to this presentation of data. You merely present the data, without trying to explain it.
For very bsic research, you will see "Observations" as the heading indicating
Discussion, conclusions, recommendations
In primary research reports, you interpret or discuss your findings in a section separate from the one where you present the data. Now's the time to explain your data, to interpret it. This section, or area of the report, is also the place to make recommendations or state ideas for further research.
Bibliography
The ideal of the primary research report is build upon or add to the knowledge in a particular area. It's the vehicle by which our knowledge advances for a specific topic. Your primary research report rests on top of all the work done by other researchers on the same topic. For that reason, you must list the sources of information you used or consulted in your project. This list occurs at the end of the report. For guidelines and format, see the chapter on documentation.
Typical format and organization of primary research reports
In most technical-writing courses, you should use a format like the one shown in the chapter on report format. (The format you see in the example starting on page is for journal articles). In a primary research report for a technical-writing course, however, you should probably use the format in which you have a transmittal latter, title page, table of contents, list of figures, and abstracts and in which you bind the report.
As for the organization of a primary research report, the typical contents just listed are arranged in an actual primary research report in just about the same order they were just discussed. Loosely, it is a chronological order. First, you discuss set-up issues such as the problem and objectives, then you discuss the procedures, then the data resulting from those procedures, then your conclusions based upon that data.
Related information
Example of a well-written lab report. Reed College
Writing the Experimental Report: Overview, Introductions, and Literature Reviews. Purdue OWL
I would appreciate your thoughts, reactions, criticism regarding this chapter: your response—David McMurrey.
