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\begin{center}
\large\bf Structure of a Data Analysis Report
\end{center}

A data analysis report is somewhat different from other types of
professional writing that you may have done or seen, or will learn
about in the future.  It is related to but not the same as:
\begin{itemize}
\item A typical psych/social science paper orgainzed around
``in\-tro/meth\-ods/an\-a\-ly\-sis/re\-sults/dis\-cus\-sion'' sections.
\item A research article in an academic journal.
\item An essay.
\item A lab report in a science class.
\end{itemize}
The overall structure of a data analysis report is simple:
\begin{enumerate}
\item Introduction
\item Body
\item Conclusion(s)/Discussion
\item Appendix/Appendices
\end{enumerate}
The data analysis report is written for several different audiences at
the same time:
\begin{itemize}
\item {\bf Primary audience: A primary collaborator or client.} Reads
the \ul{\em Introduction} and perhaps the \ul{\em Conclusion} to find
out what you did and what your conclusions were, and then perhaps
fishes/skims through the \ul{\em Body}, stopping only for some
additional details on the parts that he/she thought were interesting
or eye-catching.  {\em Organize the paper around an agenda for a
conversation you want to have with this person about what you've
learned about their data: e.g., from most general to most specific, or
from most important to least important, etc.  Provide the main
evidence from your analysis (tabular, graphical, or otherwise) in the
\ul{Body} to support each point or conclusion you reach, but save more
detailed evidence, and other ancillary material, for the
\ul{Appendix}.}
\item {\bf Secondary Audience: An executive person.} Probably only
skims the \ul{\em Introduction} and perhaps the \ul{\em Conclusion} to
find out what you did and what your conclusions are.  {\em Leave
signposts in the \ul{Introduction}, \ul{Body} and \ul{Conclusion} to
make it easy for this person to swoop in, find the ``headlines'' of
your work and conclusions, and swoop back out.}
\item {\bf Secondary Audience: A technical supervisor.} Reads the \ul{\em
Body} and then examines the \ul{\em Appendix} for quality control: How
good a job did you do in (raising and) answering the interesting
questions?  How efficient were you?  Did you reach reasonable
conclusions by defensible statistical methods?  Etc.  {\em Make
specific cross-references between the \ul{Body} and specific parts of the
\ul{Appendix} so that this person can easily find supporting and ancillary
material related to each main analysis you report in the \u{Body}.
Add text to the technical material in the \ul{Appendix} so that this
person sees how and why you carried out the more detailed work shown
in the
\ul{Appendix}.}
\end{itemize}

\clearpage


The data analysis report has two very important features:
\begin{itemize}
\item It is organized in a way that makes it easy for different
audiences to skim/fish through it to find the topics and the level of
detail that are of interest to them.
\item The writing is as invisible/unremarkable as possible, so that
the content of the analysis is what the reader remembers, not
distracting quirks or tics in the writing.  Examples of distractions
include:
\begin{itemize}
\item Extra sentences, overly formal or flowery prose, or at the other
extreme overly casual or overly brief prose.
\item Grammatical and spelling errors.
\item Placing the data analysis in too broad or too narrow a context
for the questions of interest to your primary audience.
\item Focusing on process rather than reporting procedures and
outcomes.
\item Getting bogged down in technical details, rather than presenting
what is necessary to properly understand your conclusions on
substantive questions of interest to the primary audience.
\end{itemize}
It is less important to worry about the latter two items in the
Appendix which is expected to be more detailed and process-oriented.
However, there should be enough text annotating the technical material
in the Appendix so that the reader can see how and why you carried out
the more detailed work shown there.
\end{itemize}

The data analysis report isn't quite like a research paper or term
paper in a class, nor like a research article in a journal.  It is
meant, primarily, to start an organized conversation between you and
your client/collaborator.  In that sense it is a kind of ``internal''
communication, sort of like an extended memo.  On the other hand it
also has an ``external'' life, informing a boss or supervisor what
you've been doing.

\clearpage

Now let's consider the basic outline of the data analysis report in
more detail:

\begin{enumerate}
\item {\bf Introduction.}  Good features for the Introduction include:
\begin{itemize}
\item Summary of the study and data, as well as any relevant
substantive context, background, or framing issues.
\item The ``big questions'' answered by your data analyses, and
summaries of your conclusions about these questions.
\item Brief outline of remainder of paper.
\end{itemize}
The above is a pretty good order to present this material in as well.
\item {\bf Body.}  The body can be organized in several ways.  Here
are two that often work well:
\begin{itemize}
\item {\em Traditional.}  Divide the body up into several sections at
the same level as the Introduction, with names like:
\begin{itemize}
\item Data
\item Methods
\item Analysis
\item Results
\end{itemize}
This format is very familiar to those who have written psych research
papers.  It often works well for a data analysis paper as well, though
one problem with it is that the Methods section often sounds like a
bit of a stretch: In a psych research paper the Methods section
describes what you did to get your data.  In a data analysis paper,
you should describe the analyses that you performed.  Without the
results as well, this can be pretty sterile sounding, so I often merge
these ``methods'' pieces into the ``Analysis'' section when I write.
\item {\em Question-oriented.} In this format there is a single Body
section, usually called ``Analysis'', and then there is a subsection
for each question raised in the introduction, usually taken in the
same order as in the introduction (general to specific, decreasing
order of importance, etc.).  Within each subsection, statistical
method, analyses, and conclusion would be described (for each
question).  For example:
\begin{description}
\item[2. Analysis]
\item[2.1 Success Rate] ~ \\
Methods\\
Analysis\\
Conclusions
\item[2.2 Time to Relapse] ~ \\
Methods\\
Analysis\\
Conclusions
\item[2.3 Effect of Gender] ~ \\
Methods\\
Analysis\\
Conclusions
\item[2.4 Hospital Effects] ~ \\
Methods\\
Analysis\\
Conclusions
\item[Etc\ldots]
\end{description}
\end{itemize}
Other organizational formats are possible too.  Whatever the format,
it is useful to provide one or two well-chosen tables or graphs per
question {\em in the body of the report}, for two reasons: First,
graphical and tabular displays can convey your points more efficiently
than words; and second, your ``skimming'' audiences will be more
likely to have their eye caught by an interesting graph or table than
by running text.  However, too much graphical/tabular material will
break up the flow of the text and become distracting; so extras should
be moved to the Appendix.
\item {\bf Conclusion(s)/Discussion.}
The conclusion should reprise the questions and conclusions of the
introduction, perhaps augmented by some additional observations or
details gleaned from the analysis section.  New questions, future
work, etc., can also be raised here.
\item {\bf Appendix/Appendices.} One or more appendices are the place
to out details and ancillary materials.  These might include such
items as
\begin{itemize}
\item Technical descriptions of (unusual) statistical procedures
\item Detailed tables or computer output
\item Figures that were not central to the arguments presented in the
body of the report
\item Computer code used to obtain results.
\end{itemize}
In all cases, and especially in the case of computer code, it is a
good idea to add some text sentences as comments or annotations, to
make it easier for the uninitiated reader to follow what you are
doing.

It is often difficult to find the right balance between what to put in
the appendix and what to put in the body of the paper.  Generally you
should put just enough in the body to make the point, and refer the
reader to specific sections or page numbers in the appendix for
additional graphs, tables and other details.
\end{enumerate}


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