Basic Understanding about Scientific Report Writings Email at razzaque.sarker@gmail.com

1. Scientific Report Writings
Presented by:
Abdur Razzaque Sarker, PhD
MHE (Health Economics), MSS (Economics)
Health Economist
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)
 Email: razzaque.sarker@gmail.com

2. ❑ A form of communication that gives information.
It is used
✓ to record routine events.
✓ to record non-routine events.
✓ as a basis for making decision
✓ as a basis for planning in the future
What is a Report

3. What is a Scientific Report
❑ A scientific report is a document that describes the process, progress, and or results
of technical or scientific research or the state of a technical or scientific research
problem.
❑ It might also include recommendations and conclusion of the research.
❑ It allows readers to understand the experiment without doing it themselves
❑ Scientific reports gives the others the opportunity to check the methodology of the
experiment to ensure the validity of the results

4. Research findings are typically presented in journals and other professional
reports in the IMRaD format (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion).
The purpose of each of these sections is to answer the following questions:
Introduction - Why did you do your experiments?
Methods - Which experiments did you do and how did you do them?
Results - What happened when you did them?
Discussion - What do the results mean?
What does a scientific report include?

5. Reporting of Scientific Studies
❖Accurate reporting of scientific studies is most important.
Researchers use the studies as a base for their own research.
❖Clinicians use them to plan the right treatment for the patients.
❖The government health agencies use them to design impactful
preventive and treatment strategies.
❖Thus, if you don’t report the results accurately in the scientific
publications, they won’t provide any value to the society and all your
hard work will go waste.

6. Technical Communication- 5Cs
1. Clarity
2. Conciseness
3. Concreteness
4. Coherence
5. Context

7. Purpose of scientific report writing
❖ Sharing information with other scientists
❖ Review the research by other scientists
❖ To show what progress has been made
❖ To persuade through logical argument

8. Typical Report Structure
 Title page
 Abstract/summary
 Introduction
 Methodology
 Findings/results
 Analysis and discussion
 Summary and conclusions
 Recommendations
 References/bibliography
 Appendices

9. Structure
 Can’t change component parts
 But can
Make interesting and readable by focus on internal
structure of sections
Way sections flow together
What info included, left out, emphasized
 Report tells a story!

10. Writing Process
 Start with the data – not the introduction
 Narrow them down to a few figures
 Assemble them into a story board
 Find the trends in the figures. Find the one thing that ties them together
 Tell your readers how to read your figures and what the main point is
 Then map out the story that tells what the main point is

11.  Start with Methods and Results sections
 Connect results with how you got them
 Then connect your interpretation of results (Discussion) to scientific
assumptions or principles (Theory)
 Connect what you set out to do (Introduction) to what you found
(Conclusion)
Writing Process

12.  Title page
 Abstract/summary
 Introduction
 Methodology
 Findings/results
 Analysis and discussion
 Summary and conclusions
 Recommendations
 References/bibliography
 Appendices
Title
✓ A title should be short and concise but
comprehensive.
✓ You can use a title while working on there port but
choose the final title when the work is ready.
✓ A good title is brief but informative, and says exactly
what your paper is about.
✓ You can choose 3-4 key words and construct a
headline containing those words.

13. Abstract
The guidelines below address issues to consider when writing an abstract
❖ What is the report about, in miniature and without specific details?
❖ State main objectives. (What did you investigate? Why?)
❖ Describe methods. (What did you do?)
❖ Summarize the most important results. (What did you find out?)
❖ State major conclusions and significance. (What do your results mean? So what?)
What to avoid
➢ Do not include references to figures, tables, or sources.
➢ Do not include information not in report.
Additional tips:
✓ Find out maximum length (may vary from 50 to 300+ words).
✓ Process: Extract key points from each section. Condense in successive revisions.

14. The Introduction
The introduction should contain four basic elements:
1. The purpose (objective).
2. The scientific literature relevant to the subject (background).
3. The hypothesis.
4. The reasons you believed your hypothesis viable

15. Introduction should answer these questions
❖ What is the nature of the study?
❖ What is the objective of the study?
❖ What background information is necessary for the reader?
❖ What should the reader know or understand
❖ What particular method was used to conduct the study?
Why?

16. Method Section
❖ Accurate and complete account of what
you did in the lab and what materials you
used
❖ Usually a chronological structure
❖ Past tense
❖ Don't mix results with procedures

17. Method Section
Below are some questions to consider for effective methods sections in scientific
reports.
❑ How did you study the problem?
❑ Briefly explain the general type of scientific procedure you used.
❑ How did you collect your data? Qualitative or quantitative?
❑ What did you use?
❑ Describe what materials, subjects, and equipment (chemicals, experimental
animals, apparatus, etc.) you used.
❑ How did you proceed?
❑ Explain the steps you took in your experiment. (These may be subheaded by
experiment, types of assay, etc.)
❑ Which statistic software used ? How?

18. Result Section
❖ Present data
❖ State in verbal form as well as visual
❖ Use sentence to draw attention to key points in
graphs, figures, etc.
❖ Number and title tables and graphs
❖ Use appendix for raw data or complex calculations

19. Writing prompts for Results
❖ What are your results?
❖ Is the data presented so results are clear,
logical and self-explanatory?
❖ What is the main point – what ties results
together?
❖ Don't interpret results
❖ Avoid extra words:

20. Some questions effective discussion sections in scientific
reports address.
❖ What do your observations mean?
❖ Summarize the most important findings at the beginning.
❖ What conclusions can you draw?
For each major result:
❖ Describe the patterns, principles, relationships your results
show.
Discussion

21. ❖Explain how your results relate to expectations and to literature cited in your
Introduction. Do they agree, contradict, or are they exceptions to the rule?
❖ Explain plausibly any agreements, contradictions, or exceptions.
❖ Describe what additional research might resolve contradictions or explain
exceptions.
❖ How do your results fit into a broader context?
❖ Suggest the theoretical implications of your results.
❖ Suggest practical applications of your results?
❖ Extend your findings to other situations or other species.
❖ Give the big picture: do your findings help us understand a broader topic?
Discussion

22. What to avoid:
➢ Don't overgeneralize.
➢ Don't ignore deviations in your data.
➢ Avoid speculation that cannot be tested
in the foreseeable future.
Discussion

23. Conclusions
 A conclusion is not merely a summary of your points or a
restatement of your research problem but a synthesis of key
points.
 Presenting the major issue you raised in report
 summarizing your thoughts
 demonstrating the importance of your ideas
 introducing possible new or expanded ways of thinking.

24. References
❑ List of all sources
❑ Use of recommend style
In text
According to Bell (2010, p. 23), the most important part of the research
process is ...
Burton (2012) provided information for…
Reference page
Bell, J. (2010). Doing your research project, 5th ed. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Burton, P.A. (2012). Castles of Spain. Available at:
http://www.castlesofspain.co.uk, [Accessed 14 October 2012].

25. Appendices
Additional information that would disrupt the reader if
included in the main report, but is useful to understand
context
✓ Questionnaires
✓ Data
✓ Interview transcripts
✓ Observation notes

26. Guidelines for Scientific Report

27. ❑ Several guidelines are introduced to ensure the results are reported in an
accurate manner.
❑ The eleven guidelines that are commonly used for reporting various types of
scientific studies.
❑ The purpose of having these reporting guidelines in scientific research is to
create a manual for the authors to follow and promote total transparency,
accurate reporting, and easier assessment of the validity of reported
research findings.
Guidelines for Scientific Report

28. 1) PRISMA
➢PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and
Meta-analyses) is a guideline for proper reporting of systematic reviews
and meta-analyses.
➢It is also useful for critical appraisal of a published systematic review.
➢The PRISMA statement comprises a checklist of 27 items, which are
divided into the categories of title, abstract, introduction, methods, results,
discussion and funding.
➢It also advocates the use of a flow diagram to present the results in an
effective manner.

29. 2)
CONSORT
➢CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) is a statement
that guides the reporting of randomized controlled trials.
➢The statement was first developed in 1996 to remove any bias in reporting
the results of randomized clinical trials.
➢It comprises a 25-item checklist and is divided into categories like title and
abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and other information.
2) CONSORT

30. ➢STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in
Epidemiology) is a guideline for reporting observational studies like
cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies.
➢STROBE came into being in 2004.
➢It comprises a 22-item checklist under the headings of title and abstract,
introduction, methods, results, discussion, and other
information.
3) STROBE

31. ➢ STARD (Standards for the Reporting of Diagnostic accuracy studies) has been
developed for accurate reporting of diagnostic and prognostic studies.
➢ A survey about the diagnostic studies published in medical journals between 1978 and
1993 revealed poor or mediocre quality. They lacked a proper study design, proper
method, and difficulty in evaluating their results.
➢ Thereafter, STARD came forth with the checklist of 25 items under the following
headlines title/abstract/keywords, introduction, methods, results, and discussion.
➢ A flow diagram is recommended to report the methods used for patient recruitment
and the order in which the tests are carried out.
4) STARD

32. ➢ SPIRIT (Standard Protocol Items Recommendations for Interventional Trials) was
created in 2007 for the reporting of scientific trial protocols as many of them lacked
information on primary outcome, treatment allocation methods, and the use of
blinding in randomized trials.
➢ It includes 33 items divided into the following domains administrative information,
introduction, methods, ethics and dissemination, and appendices. It recommends a
protocol in a specified format which includes a table of contents, section headings,
glossary, and list of references.
5) SPIRIT

33. 1) PRISMA
6) CARE
❑ CARE (Consensus-based Clinical Case Reporting) is developed to
increase the accuracy, transparency, and usefulness of case reports.
❑ More information:
https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/care/

34. 7) SRQR
➢ SRQR (Standards for reporting qualitative research) is formulated to define the
standards for reporting qualitative research and preserve the requisite flexibility to
accommodate various paradigms, approaches, and methods used in them.
➢ Consisting of 21 items, it requires the authors to define and explain the key
elements of each item and provide examples from recently published articles.

35. 8) SQUIRE
➢ SQUIRE (Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence) guidelines
provide a framework to report any new study conducted for improving the healthcare
of the community

36. 9) CHEERS
➢ CHEERS (Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards) is an
attempt to consolidate and update previous health economic evaluation guidelines
into a useful reporting guidance.
➢ It is a user-friendly 24 item checklist with recommendations divided into following
categories title and abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and other
information.

37. 10) ARRIVE
➢ ARRIVE (Animal Research Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) has been laid
down to report any area of bioscience research that uses laboratory
animals, to improve the quality of information published and reduce the
number of animal studies

38. 11) AGREE
➢ AGREE Reporting Checklist can be used by practice guideline developers, guideline
users, funders, peer reviewers, and journal editors to improve the comprehension,
completeness, and transparency of reporting in practice guidelines.
➢ https://www.agreetrust.org/

39. Thank you
Presented by:
Abdur Razzaque Sarker, PhD
MHE (Health Economics), MSS (Economics)
Health Economist
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)
 Email: razzaque.sarker@gmail.com