Evaluating Development Cooperation/Standard Evaluation Methods/Reporting Methods

Report writing Report writing is going to form an essential part of PPA researchers’ task. Sufficient attention will therefore need to be paid by all members of the research team to this. However well the field exercise will have been, all will come to naught if the findings are not clearly articulated for the others to take note of. Although some people find report writing quite easy, for the large majority this is a very difficult task. In the second PPA this task is even going to be more challenging than was the case in PPA1. The num ber of sites that are going to be covered will be much larger and the issues that PPA intends to cover are expected to be more complex. Yet the expectations of good quality reports are quite high, thus necessitating some special effort in report writing. One way in which we can improve our report writing skills and thus become more confident about writing itself is by considering the processes that other writers employ. Overall, experienced writers rely on five key steps in writing. One can move more than once through any of these steps for more information, better organisation, or a more developed draft. The key steps are: Prewriting: Deciding on the subject, considering the needs of the reader, and gathering information. Planning: Choosing a preliminary thesis and organisation. Drafting: Writing a first draft to develop the main ideas and discover new ones. Revising : Making changes in the thesis, structure, content, paragraphing, and sentences. Finishing: Proofreading for grammar, consistency, spelling errors, and preparing the final copy. (1) Prewriting (can also be used in actual writing) Step 1: Clarify your topic, theme or subject before starting to write your report. Try to answer the following questions: (1) What is the assignment that we have been researching about and for which we need to write a report? (2) What should we write about the assignment? 58 (3) How can we keep our topic within manageable limits? (4) What is our purpose in writing about this topic? (5) Who will be the readers of our report? (6) What is our role as a writer/s? Step 2: Make reminder lists of: topics sub-topics themes interesting findings, issues, points, etc quotes Step 3: Take each of the topics that you want to write about and then use the six “helper” questions to begin developing your report: What was it? Who was involved in it? When did it happen? Where did it happen? How did it happen? Why did it happen? Step 4: Develop organisational patterns for the report You may use the “traditional” methods for presenting information, such as narration and comparison, to develop new perspectives on the subject that is being written on. The following format may be useful: Description: How would you describe it? What are its traits? What are its physical or other characteristics? How does it look, feel, sound, etc? Narration: How did it come about? What history does it have? Comparison: What is it similar to or different from? Can it be compared to something more familiar? How is it like or unlike that similar/dissimilar example? Examples: What examples illustrate your topic/point? Cause and effect: What caused it? What effects has it created? Process: How does it occur? What processes does it involve? How is it used? (2) Planning: The process could be achieved in three stages as follows: Stage 1: Choose the main idea or thesis A thesis is a sentence that presents the main idea or set of ideas of the report, an idea that every fact and detail should support (a thesis may change after a first draft of the report has been written – if the evidence from the research is contrary to the thesis). 59 The thesis has two qualities: It states the paper’s topic It states a specific opinion or attitude concerning the topic. The thesis also helps to establish the purpose of the report. Example: Topic Thesis statement/s (Topic + Opinion or Attitude) Vulnerability among fishermen Over-exploitation of fish stocks from the sea off the coast of Bagamoyo (due to the policy of liberalisation of fishing, trade and markets) has led to heightened vulnerability of local fishing communities and to a serious decline in fishing livelihoods. Stage 2: Choosing an organisational pattern After collection of information and the writing of the preliminary thesis statement/s the next step now is to organise ideas. This process continues throughout the rest of the drafting. A possible guide (list) for shaping the report may include: Chronological: telling the story; explaining the evolution of a problem; and describing the order in which something happened. Description: describing the layout of a place; the situation of poverty in a given locality; trends, the complexity of policy and planning, etc. Simple to complex: moving from an overview of a situation to specific details concerning it. Thesis/support: stating a general judgment and then explaining it in smaller units. Here logical evidence is useful. Order of importance: formulating an ordered list of goals to be achieved, tasks to be accomplished, or points at issue Checklist: presenting items to consider, in order, before performing a certain action. Process: presenting the steps involved in accomplishing a certain goal. Comparison: judging between two or more alternatives. Cause and effect: considering the causes of a problem as well as its effects. This is usually a challenge that makes PRA\PLA claims of less value. Problem solving: making the decisions necessary to move from a current situation to a desired situation. This has implications for policy. Pros and cons : reviewing good and bad points about an issue and then making recommendations. Persuasion: arguing for a change of belief or action – useful for advocacy. 60 Stage 3: Creating a plan for the report It is now time to work on the structure of the report. Note, however, that decisions may change as you write, but a preliminary plan still helps to direct your work. Read over your pre-writing materials and your thesis, and attempt using the following approach: (a) Developing clusters, topic outlines and key statements: Moving from Field activity reports to Site Report s The following steps can help us in writing up information that the team now has in the form of Field activity reports. This is only a suggested approach. There are many other approaches. Team members should familiarize themselves with the process and understand the rationale behind each of the steps. Step1: Silent reading Copies of all field activity reports should be made available to each team member, who should in turn read each report silently, taking note of key points, including process, findings and tentative conclusions. Step 2: Loud reading Each Field activity report is read out loudly by one of the team members. All the other team members listen actively, taking note of the most important information in the Field activity report. Keep your fieldwork notebooks handy. You may need them for reference. Step 3: Card Writing At the conclusion of any reading of a Field activity report each team member writes down on cards the key points that they discern from the listening exercise. These could be process points, findings, analysis, conclusions, etc. Specific quotes can also be written onto cards verbatim. Agree as a team the format and codes that you wish to use before writing commences. Only one point should be written per card (refer to the card writing notes for details of how to write cards). After cards for all Field activity reports have been written, they should now be posted onto a wall or other large surface. Step 4: Clustering and/or categorizing of cards The team should now proceed to cluster or categorise cards according to common issues, themes, etc. The clustering exercise is iterative and interactive. Initial emphasis should be on creating broad categories or clusters. This will then be followed by sub-categories and later by a definition of possible linkages and relationships. Give appropriate titles to the clusters and sub-clusters (e.g. Coping Strategies of IDPs). 61 Step 5: Write short statements Using a flip-chart you should now write short statements that describe the issue/s, findings, conclusions, unanswered questions, etc. Keep the message simple and clear. This should in due course give you a number of paragraphs – the first building blocks for your Site Report. Find appropriate visuals, quotations and pictures to illustrate the story behind the writing. After writing the statements check both the cards and the Field activity reports (and possibly also your notes) to confirm that no important piece of information has been left out. Step 6: Assign draft statements parag raphs to structure Assign your draft paragraphs to your pre-determined structure, being flexible enough to cater for any need to modify structure. Step 7: Time to check Check for correctness, consistency and validity of what you have written. Ensure that the statements logical sense, are not repetitive, and appropriately respond to your thesis. This is also one of the final opportunities for the team to see if there is information that was not recorded in the Field activity reports or vital information that was recorded but has not been captured in the draft report. After checking, give the draft to a peer (or colleague) to read and give you feedback on content, style, process, etc. 7.6 Drafting Step 1: Practical arrangements Identify an appropriate place (where you normally feel comfortable writing from); Choose an appropriate set of tools: pens, pencils, calculator, computer, etc. Step 2: Start your first draft When you are ready to write: begin the drafting process by reviewing the results of your research and planning. Put your thesis, analysis,, and outline on one sheet of paper. Group your notes so that they reflect your intended order of writing. Write your draft – at this time not worrying about your starting point – it could be at the beginning, with a conclusion, or in the body of the report. Step 3: Write quickly Write quickly, following your outline. If new ideas come outside of your outline write them down too so that you do not forget them later. Get down on paper every point that supports your thesis, and fulfils your objective of informing, analysing and advocating. Explore creative options – nothing that you write can be wrong. 62 Ignore the following possible voices inside you: “it is too short”, “this sentence does not make sense”, “this paragraph is not clear” – revising and proofreading will come later! Step 4: Do not get stuck Do not allow yourself to get stuck! If you do not have enough information about a particular point: - leave a dash, and continue with the rest of the report. - write down the question that you will need to answer later - and then continue. - Return to the prewriting and outline notes. Step 5: Wrap up your draft writing Now that your first draft is nearly ready: make some notes to guide your revision. jot down points that need more research or possible changes in organisation. Jot down any new good ideas for inclusion in the second draft. 7.7 The structure of the report Structure means the manner of building, construction or organising; the arrangement or interrelation of all the parts of a whole; the manner of organisation or construction. Why do we need a structure? When we read a document, we expect to be able to navigate through it with ease, finding information presented in a readable way, so that when we put it down we have got the message. Readers will need to know what the report is about, why they should read it, and what action is expected of them as result. They do not want to be daunted by a threatening layout containing large volumes of information without headings, visuals, table of contents, etc. Overall, the report should have: (a) An introduction – giving background information, outlining methodology, and stating the main thesis. (b) A body – detailing the findings and relating these to the objectives and thesis of the study. (c) A conclusion – which includes a summary statement of implications of the findings. The key structural components that are proposed for Site Reports are: (1) Title (2) Subtitle (3) Originator/Publisher (4) Table of contents (5) Introduction/Rationale/Purpose (6) Chapters, Sections/Parts 63 (7) Headings and subheadings. (8) Numbering systems. (9) Bullet points (10) Visuals. (11) Appendices. (12) References (13) Index. The following tips/questions could be useful when one is developing a structure or its contents: Identification: Have you identified where, when, and with whom the research was done? Objectives: Have you spelt out what the research set out to do in the field in the first place? Methodology: What process was followed? What methods were used? What did the process and methods help to bring out? What limitations did you encounter with the process and methods? How were they overcome? Findings: What were the most important findings of the research? How did the findings help answer the research questions? How did they differ from expectation? What lessons do we learn from these? Conclusions and Recommendations : What are the main conclusions from the study? What implications do these conclusions have for different stakeholders but particularly for policy? What recommendations do you make from the study? 9.2 Reporting Organization programme teams are required to prepare the following programme reports: Quarterly Financial Exception Reports (reporting only financial variances on budgets) Annual and other Impact Reports (NB these are not required in 2005/6 while a review of Organization's monitoring and evaluation system is underway) · Completion reports - see OPAL Regions may also have their own internal reporting requirements, for example some ask for quarterly programme reports with more narrative detail. Your Country or Regional Programme Manager will be able to advise you of these requirements. When a PIP closes, the final PIP quarterly report should be modified to record main achievements and failures, reasons for closure, decisions made on any grant balances, recommendations regarding future collaboration with partner agencies (where applicable) and main lessons learned. Donors also require reports to be written and different donors will have different requirements. Some guidance on this is available from your regional International Funding advisor or from the International Funding Unit in Oxford, or check the Donor information page on the IFU intranet pages.