why should a research report be realistic

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http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1477-7860 Sarah Mitchell 1 , 2 ,
Zahra Ahmed 1 ,
Anne-Marie Slowther 2 ,
Jane Coad 3 ,
Jeremy Dale 2
1 Oncology and Metabolism , The University of Sheffield , Sheffield, S10 2SJ , UK
2 Warwick Medical School , University of Warwick , Coventry , Warwickshire , UK
3 School of Health Sciences , University of Nottingham , Nottingham , UK
Correspondence to Dr Sarah Mitchell, Oncology and Metabolism, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2SJ, UK; s.j.mitchell{at}sheffield.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2021-322017

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health services research
data collection
palliative care

Introduction

Clinicians with medical training work in an environment where randomised controlled trials (RCTs) overshadow other forms of medical evidence in informing clinical practice, policy and guidance. It is no surprise that clinical researchers tend towards RCTs, since they are considered the ‘gold standard’ of research, placed firmly at the top of traditional hierarchies of evidence. RCTs are grounded in a positivist paradigm, seeking to answer the question ‘does this intervention work?’ by generating and testing a hypothesis in order to propose or dispute a particular truth. This approach may work well for research about specific medical treatments or technologies, including drug treatments such as a new pain medication. However, it is limited when it comes to research that examines less well-circumscribed, complex interventions, such as pain management through a new clinic or play therapy. Furthermore, in the ‘real world’ of clinical practice, it is rarely possible to control the environment in which a healthcare intervention is delivered. In paediatrics, the nature of a child’s illness or ability to comply with medical treatments is multifactorial, depending on their medical condition and on other factors including their family dynamics, access to education, housing and mental health. Clinicians must take these into account when making skilled decisions about evidence-based medical treatments …

Twitter @MacGPSarah

Contributors This article was conceptualised by SM, ZA, JD, A-MS and JC. SM drafted the article. ZA, JD, A-MS and JC reviewed the article for intellectual content and edited the final version. All authors have reviewed and approved this version.

Funding This article was conceptualised and written as part of SM's National Institute for Health Research Doctoral Research Fellowship funded by the Research Trainees Coordinating Centre (DRF-2014-07-065).

Disclaimer The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) or the Department of Health.

Competing interests None declared.

Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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What is realist research, when should we consider it, how and why?

Affiliations.

1 Oncology and Metabolism, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2SJ, UK [email protected].
2 Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, Warwickshire, UK.
3 Oncology and Metabolism, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2SJ, UK.
4 School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
PMID: 34083216
DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2021-322017

Keywords: data collection; health services research; palliative care.

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Jacks Of Science

Simple Answers to Scientific Questions

Why Is Research Practical And Realistic

There are many reasons why is research practical and realistic. The most important reason is that it allows us to understand the world around us.

Through research, we can learn about new things, figure out how best to solve problems, and make informed decisions. Another reason why research is practical and realistic is that it helps us to improve our lives.

We can use research to find new ways to improve our health, our relationships, and even our careers. In short, research is essential for understanding the world around us and improving our lives.

Research is practical and realistic because it is a systematic way to assess, analyze, and identify solutions or improve existing processes.

Explain it to a child.

Research is useful because it helps us understand how to solve real problems. It also helps us make better decisions.

Research provides insights that allow us to make informed decisions that can help reduce uncertainty or risk. By studying the available data, researching our options, conducting interviews with experts in the field, observing trends in similar situations, etc., we gain an understanding of the most effective solution suitable to our individual needs.

Why is research practical and realistic?

Research is practical and realistic because it provides us with evidence-based insight to help solve real-world problems, and can be used to generate better-informed decisions.

The scientific process ensures that any conclusion reached is supported by rigorous data collection and analysis, ensuring the reliability of findings. Doing research can lead to greater innovation as the results can be applied in a variety of contexts that have not been explored before.

It also allows for greater collaboration across different fields as researchers share their individual experiences for more interconnected ideas and solutions.

What makes research practical and realistic?

What makes research practical and realistic is the scope of its application. Research that goes beyond theoretical paradigms and into real-world scenarios will be much more beneficial on a large scale.

Practical research strives to develop solutions to existing problems, such as finding new ways to increase efficiency in the workplace or developing better medical treatments.

Additionally, research should be conducted with an eye toward potential applications; understanding how valid results can be implemented across different disciplines will give researchers an even better appreciation of their work’s value.

Finally, conducting valid tests with methodologies designed to ensure scientific integrity can further maximize the impact a research project may have on society at large. What makes research practical and realistic is ensuring it’s rooted in direct applicability, backed by ethical practice, and understood for its potential scope.

Why do you need research practical and realistic?

Research is essential to the success of any project. It helps to ensure that the decisions made are done with a well-thought-out approach that takes into account any potential risks and rewards linked to an action or course of action.

When research is practical and realistic it allows for greater insight into the current situation as well as provides ways in which problems or challenges can be undertaken efficiently and successfully. Practical and realistic research also allows for creativity, as solutions can be tailored to suit specific areas or needs, such as technological advancements or economic changes.

Ultimately, having practical and realistic research is important because it allows for an effective and successful outcome from any project.

How do you research practically and realistically?

Why do you need research to be practical and realistic? Research, when done properly, is a tool we can use to learn more about the world around us. It allows us to explore new studies, analyze existing data and gain insights from it that can then be used to further our understanding of the subject matter being studied.

Furthermore, research conducted practically and realistically ensures that what is learned has tangible benefits for society by translating it into real-world applications. Whether it’s through advances in medical treatments or technological advancements, research helps make sure progress is made in areas ranging from education to business.

Research also makes it easier for people to identify solutions to problems humans face in their everyday lives, no matter if they are personal or professional. Thus, by being practical and realistic when conducting research one can help ensure that the information acquired will benefit not only them but everyone else as well.

What does practical mean in research?

When it comes to research, the concept of “practical” is more comprehensive than one might think. Practical research focuses on developing tangible solutions that are applicable in everyday life, rather than simply focusing on theories or abstract ideas.

This means researching to gain useful information and results, such as data that can be used by business professionals to make effective decisions, or information that can help professionals understand a certain topic better.

Additionally, practical research incorporates the appropriate methodology and tools needed to generate useful and actionable results.

Ultimately, practical research aims to bring greater clarity and positive perspective to a situation via thorough investigation, helping to create solutions and uncover answers while making a meaningful difference in the lives of those it serves.

What does realistic mean in research?

Realism in research can be defined as a method of collecting data to inform conclusions and research-based decisions. In particular, realism takes an unbiased approach to the data collected and seeks to answer questions based on facts rather than personal opinions or subjective interpretations.

The goal of realistic research is to increase understanding of a given situation and develop strategies that could be used in real-world contexts. It’s a valuable tool for making informed decisions on any subject, whether it be social, economic, or political.

Realistic research involves looking at the whole picture and striving for accuracy in the results so that effective solutions can be formed and put into action.

By considering these factors it is clear why researching is such a practical and realistic endeavor – providing tremendous advantages along the way!

Jacks of Science sources the most authoritative, trustworthy, and highly recognized institutions for our article research. Learn more about our Editorial Teams process and diligence in verifying the accuracy of every article we publish.

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Knowledge syntheses: systematic & scoping reviews, and other review types.

Before you start
Getting Started
Different Types of Knowledge Syntheses
Assemble a Team
Develop your Protocol
Eligibility Criteria
Screening for articles
Data Extraction
Critical appraisal
What are Systematic Reviews?
What is a Meta-Analysis?
What are Scoping Reviews?
What are Rapid Reviews?

When is a Realist Review methodology appropriate?

Elements of a realist review, methods & guidance.

What are Mapping Reviews?
What are Integrative Reviews?
What are Umbrella Reviews?
Standards and Guidelines
Supplementary Resources for All Review Types
Resources for Qualitative Synthesis
Resources for Quantitative Synthesis
Resources for Mixed Methods Synthesis
Bibliography
More Questions?
Common Mistakes in Systematic Reviews, scoping reviews, and other review types

According to Pawson et al. (2005) , a realist review, or a realist synthesis, is a method for studying complex interventions in response to the perceived limitations of conventional systematic review methodology. It involves identification of Contexts, Mechanisms and Outcomes for individual programs to explain differences, intended or unintended, between them. Pawson et al. (2005) add that "t raditional methods of review focus on measuring and reporting on programme effectiveness, often find that the evidence is mixed or conflicting, and provide little or no clue as to why the intervention worked or did not work when applied in different contexts or circumstances, deployed by different stakeholders, or used for different purposes" (p. 21).

When to Use It: As stated by Wong (2019) , realist reviews are used when needing to answer the question “what works, for whom, under what circumstances?” Rycroft-Malone et al. (2012) state that realist reviews are "particularly appropriate for unpacking the impact of complex interventions because it works on the premise that one needs to understand how interventions work in different contexts, and why" (p. 9). Wong (2019) confirms that realist reviews are steadily on the rise.

The following characteristics, strengths, and challenges of conducting realist reviews are derived from Rycroft-Malone et al. (2012) and Pawson et al. (2005) .

Characteristics:

Rycroft-Malone et al. (2012) describe that "a realist synthesis follows similar stages to a traditional systematic review, but with some notable differences" which include:

The focus of the synthesis is derived from a negotiation between stakeholders and reviewers and therefore the extent of stakeholder involvement throughout the process is high.

The search and appraisal of evidence is purposive and theoretically driven with the aim of refining theory.

Multiple types of information and evidence can be included., the process is iterative..

The findings from the synthesis focus on explaining to the reader why (or not) the intervention works and in what ways, to enable informed choices about further use and/or research.

Strengths:

The innate theory-driven approach in conducting realist reviews allows for coherent sense-making of complex interventions.

According to Pawson et al. (2005) , realist reviews have "an exploratory rather than judgmental focus" (p. 21), adding that they "seek to unpack the mechanism of how complex programmes work (or why they fail) in particular contexts and settings" (p. 21).

According to Pawson et al. (2005) , realist reviews have "the potential to maximize learning across policy, disciplinary and organizational boundaries", mainly due to the programme theory approach it takes (p. 32).

Challenges:

Finding balance: According to Rycroft-Malone et al. (2012) , "the challenge of developing a framework for a realist synthesis is in finding a level of abstraction that allows reviewers to stand back from the detail and variation in the evidence, but that is also specific enough to meet the purpose of the review" (p. 3).

Rycroft-Malone et al. (2012) state that conducting a realist review "is not an easy option. Realist review[s] demands much of the reviewer, including an ability to think flexibly and deal with complexity" (p. 9).

Pawson et al. (2005) also state that realist reviews can't be applied in a wide variety of contexts, explaining that "realist review[s] cannot be used as a formulaic, protocol-driven approach. Realist review[s] [are] more about principles that guide than rules that regularize" (p. 32).

Pawson et al. (2005) also add that realist reviews are "not standarizable or reproducible the same sense as a conventional Cochrane review" (p. 32) and that realist reviews often only lead to, at the most, tentative recommendations. As well, it is important to note that realist reviews require considerable skill to complete and to date have not been published as much as other review types.

The following resource provides further support on conducting a realist review:

METHODS & CONDUCT

Marchal, B., Belle, S. V., & Westhorp, G. (2018, April 18). Realist Evaluation . Retrieved from https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/approach/realist_evaluation

Westhorp, G. (2015, February 27). Realist impact evaluation: an introduction . Retrieved from https://www.betterevaluation.org/resources/realist-impact-evaluation-introduction

Wong, G., MacPhee, M., Merrett, K., Miller, K., Taylor, S., & Pawliuk, C. (2020, March 10). The Realist Review Process Workshop [Presentation]. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0390457

REPORTING STANDARDS

Wong, G., Westhorp, G., Manzano, A., Greenhalgh, J., Jagosh, J., & Greenhalgh, T. (2016). RAMESES II reporting standards for realist evaluations . BMC Medicine , 14 (1). doi: 10.1186/s12916-016-0643-1

SUPPLEMENTARY RESOURCES

Check out the supplementary resources page for additional information, including articles, on realist reviews.

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Next: What are Mapping Reviews? >>
Last Updated: Aug 23, 2024 10:28 AM
URL: https://guides.library.utoronto.ca/systematicreviews

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Home » Research Report – Example, Writing Guide and Types

Research Report – Example, Writing Guide and Types

Table of Contents

Research Report

Definition:

Research Report is a written document that presents the results of a research project or study, including the research question, methodology, results, and conclusions, in a clear and objective manner.

The purpose of a research report is to communicate the findings of the research to the intended audience, which could be other researchers, stakeholders, or the general public.

Components of Research Report

Components of Research Report are as follows:

Introduction

The introduction sets the stage for the research report and provides a brief overview of the research question or problem being investigated. It should include a clear statement of the purpose of the study and its significance or relevance to the field of research. It may also provide background information or a literature review to help contextualize the research.

Literature Review

The literature review provides a critical analysis and synthesis of the existing research and scholarship relevant to the research question or problem. It should identify the gaps, inconsistencies, and contradictions in the literature and show how the current study addresses these issues. The literature review also establishes the theoretical framework or conceptual model that guides the research.

Methodology

The methodology section describes the research design, methods, and procedures used to collect and analyze data. It should include information on the sample or participants, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis techniques. The methodology should be clear and detailed enough to allow other researchers to replicate the study.

The results section presents the findings of the study in a clear and objective manner. It should provide a detailed description of the data and statistics used to answer the research question or test the hypothesis. Tables, graphs, and figures may be included to help visualize the data and illustrate the key findings.

The discussion section interprets the results of the study and explains their significance or relevance to the research question or problem. It should also compare the current findings with those of previous studies and identify the implications for future research or practice. The discussion should be based on the results presented in the previous section and should avoid speculation or unfounded conclusions.

The conclusion summarizes the key findings of the study and restates the main argument or thesis presented in the introduction. It should also provide a brief overview of the contributions of the study to the field of research and the implications for practice or policy.

The references section lists all the sources cited in the research report, following a specific citation style, such as APA or MLA.

The appendices section includes any additional material, such as data tables, figures, or instruments used in the study, that could not be included in the main text due to space limitations.

Types of Research Report

Types of Research Report are as follows:

Thesis is a type of research report. A thesis is a long-form research document that presents the findings and conclusions of an original research study conducted by a student as part of a graduate or postgraduate program. It is typically written by a student pursuing a higher degree, such as a Master’s or Doctoral degree, although it can also be written by researchers or scholars in other fields.

Research Paper

Research paper is a type of research report. A research paper is a document that presents the results of a research study or investigation. Research papers can be written in a variety of fields, including science, social science, humanities, and business. They typically follow a standard format that includes an introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion sections.

Technical Report

A technical report is a detailed report that provides information about a specific technical or scientific problem or project. Technical reports are often used in engineering, science, and other technical fields to document research and development work.

Progress Report

A progress report provides an update on the progress of a research project or program over a specific period of time. Progress reports are typically used to communicate the status of a project to stakeholders, funders, or project managers.

Feasibility Report

A feasibility report assesses the feasibility of a proposed project or plan, providing an analysis of the potential risks, benefits, and costs associated with the project. Feasibility reports are often used in business, engineering, and other fields to determine the viability of a project before it is undertaken.

Field Report

A field report documents observations and findings from fieldwork, which is research conducted in the natural environment or setting. Field reports are often used in anthropology, ecology, and other social and natural sciences.

Experimental Report

An experimental report documents the results of a scientific experiment, including the hypothesis, methods, results, and conclusions. Experimental reports are often used in biology, chemistry, and other sciences to communicate the results of laboratory experiments.

Case Study Report

A case study report provides an in-depth analysis of a specific case or situation, often used in psychology, social work, and other fields to document and understand complex cases or phenomena.

Literature Review Report

A literature review report synthesizes and summarizes existing research on a specific topic, providing an overview of the current state of knowledge on the subject. Literature review reports are often used in social sciences, education, and other fields to identify gaps in the literature and guide future research.

Research Report Example

Following is a Research Report Example sample for Students:

Title: The Impact of Social Media on Academic Performance among High School Students

This study aims to investigate the relationship between social media use and academic performance among high school students. The study utilized a quantitative research design, which involved a survey questionnaire administered to a sample of 200 high school students. The findings indicate that there is a negative correlation between social media use and academic performance, suggesting that excessive social media use can lead to poor academic performance among high school students. The results of this study have important implications for educators, parents, and policymakers, as they highlight the need for strategies that can help students balance their social media use and academic responsibilities.

Introduction:

Social media has become an integral part of the lives of high school students. With the widespread use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, students can connect with friends, share photos and videos, and engage in discussions on a range of topics. While social media offers many benefits, concerns have been raised about its impact on academic performance. Many studies have found a negative correlation between social media use and academic performance among high school students (Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010; Paul, Baker, & Cochran, 2012).

Given the growing importance of social media in the lives of high school students, it is important to investigate its impact on academic performance. This study aims to address this gap by examining the relationship between social media use and academic performance among high school students.

Methodology:

The study utilized a quantitative research design, which involved a survey questionnaire administered to a sample of 200 high school students. The questionnaire was developed based on previous studies and was designed to measure the frequency and duration of social media use, as well as academic performance.

The participants were selected using a convenience sampling technique, and the survey questionnaire was distributed in the classroom during regular school hours. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis.

The findings indicate that the majority of high school students use social media platforms on a daily basis, with Facebook being the most popular platform. The results also show a negative correlation between social media use and academic performance, suggesting that excessive social media use can lead to poor academic performance among high school students.

Discussion:

The results of this study have important implications for educators, parents, and policymakers. The negative correlation between social media use and academic performance suggests that strategies should be put in place to help students balance their social media use and academic responsibilities. For example, educators could incorporate social media into their teaching strategies to engage students and enhance learning. Parents could limit their children’s social media use and encourage them to prioritize their academic responsibilities. Policymakers could develop guidelines and policies to regulate social media use among high school students.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, this study provides evidence of the negative impact of social media on academic performance among high school students. The findings highlight the need for strategies that can help students balance their social media use and academic responsibilities. Further research is needed to explore the specific mechanisms by which social media use affects academic performance and to develop effective strategies for addressing this issue.

Limitations:

One limitation of this study is the use of convenience sampling, which limits the generalizability of the findings to other populations. Future studies should use random sampling techniques to increase the representativeness of the sample. Another limitation is the use of self-reported measures, which may be subject to social desirability bias. Future studies could use objective measures of social media use and academic performance, such as tracking software and school records.

Implications:

The findings of this study have important implications for educators, parents, and policymakers. Educators could incorporate social media into their teaching strategies to engage students and enhance learning. For example, teachers could use social media platforms to share relevant educational resources and facilitate online discussions. Parents could limit their children’s social media use and encourage them to prioritize their academic responsibilities. They could also engage in open communication with their children to understand their social media use and its impact on their academic performance. Policymakers could develop guidelines and policies to regulate social media use among high school students. For example, schools could implement social media policies that restrict access during class time and encourage responsible use.

References:

Kirschner, P. A., & Karpinski, A. C. (2010). Facebook® and academic performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(6), 1237-1245.
Paul, J. A., Baker, H. M., & Cochran, J. D. (2012). Effect of online social networking on student academic performance. Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology, 8(1), 1-19.
Pantic, I. (2014). Online social networking and mental health. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17(10), 652-657.
Rosen, L. D., Carrier, L. M., & Cheever, N. A. (2013). Facebook and texting made me do it: Media-induced task-switching while studying. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 948-958.

Note*: Above mention, Example is just a sample for the students’ guide. Do not directly copy and paste as your College or University assignment. Kindly do some research and Write your own.

Applications of Research Report

Research reports have many applications, including:

Communicating research findings: The primary application of a research report is to communicate the results of a study to other researchers, stakeholders, or the general public. The report serves as a way to share new knowledge, insights, and discoveries with others in the field.
Informing policy and practice : Research reports can inform policy and practice by providing evidence-based recommendations for decision-makers. For example, a research report on the effectiveness of a new drug could inform regulatory agencies in their decision-making process.
Supporting further research: Research reports can provide a foundation for further research in a particular area. Other researchers may use the findings and methodology of a report to develop new research questions or to build on existing research.
Evaluating programs and interventions : Research reports can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of programs and interventions in achieving their intended outcomes. For example, a research report on a new educational program could provide evidence of its impact on student performance.
Demonstrating impact : Research reports can be used to demonstrate the impact of research funding or to evaluate the success of research projects. By presenting the findings and outcomes of a study, research reports can show the value of research to funders and stakeholders.
Enhancing professional development : Research reports can be used to enhance professional development by providing a source of information and learning for researchers and practitioners in a particular field. For example, a research report on a new teaching methodology could provide insights and ideas for educators to incorporate into their own practice.

How to write Research Report

Here are some steps you can follow to write a research report:

Identify the research question: The first step in writing a research report is to identify your research question. This will help you focus your research and organize your findings.
Conduct research : Once you have identified your research question, you will need to conduct research to gather relevant data and information. This can involve conducting experiments, reviewing literature, or analyzing data.
Organize your findings: Once you have gathered all of your data, you will need to organize your findings in a way that is clear and understandable. This can involve creating tables, graphs, or charts to illustrate your results.
Write the report: Once you have organized your findings, you can begin writing the report. Start with an introduction that provides background information and explains the purpose of your research. Next, provide a detailed description of your research methods and findings. Finally, summarize your results and draw conclusions based on your findings.
Proofread and edit: After you have written your report, be sure to proofread and edit it carefully. Check for grammar and spelling errors, and make sure that your report is well-organized and easy to read.
Include a reference list: Be sure to include a list of references that you used in your research. This will give credit to your sources and allow readers to further explore the topic if they choose.
Format your report: Finally, format your report according to the guidelines provided by your instructor or organization. This may include formatting requirements for headings, margins, fonts, and spacing.

Purpose of Research Report

The purpose of a research report is to communicate the results of a research study to a specific audience, such as peers in the same field, stakeholders, or the general public. The report provides a detailed description of the research methods, findings, and conclusions.

Some common purposes of a research report include:

Sharing knowledge: A research report allows researchers to share their findings and knowledge with others in their field. This helps to advance the field and improve the understanding of a particular topic.
Identifying trends: A research report can identify trends and patterns in data, which can help guide future research and inform decision-making.
Addressing problems: A research report can provide insights into problems or issues and suggest solutions or recommendations for addressing them.
Evaluating programs or interventions : A research report can evaluate the effectiveness of programs or interventions, which can inform decision-making about whether to continue, modify, or discontinue them.
Meeting regulatory requirements: In some fields, research reports are required to meet regulatory requirements, such as in the case of drug trials or environmental impact studies.

When to Write Research Report

A research report should be written after completing the research study. This includes collecting data, analyzing the results, and drawing conclusions based on the findings. Once the research is complete, the report should be written in a timely manner while the information is still fresh in the researcher’s mind.

In academic settings, research reports are often required as part of coursework or as part of a thesis or dissertation. In this case, the report should be written according to the guidelines provided by the instructor or institution.

In other settings, such as in industry or government, research reports may be required to inform decision-making or to comply with regulatory requirements. In these cases, the report should be written as soon as possible after the research is completed in order to inform decision-making in a timely manner.

Overall, the timing of when to write a research report depends on the purpose of the research, the expectations of the audience, and any regulatory requirements that need to be met. However, it is important to complete the report in a timely manner while the information is still fresh in the researcher’s mind.

Characteristics of Research Report

There are several characteristics of a research report that distinguish it from other types of writing. These characteristics include:

Objective: A research report should be written in an objective and unbiased manner. It should present the facts and findings of the research study without any personal opinions or biases.
Systematic: A research report should be written in a systematic manner. It should follow a clear and logical structure, and the information should be presented in a way that is easy to understand and follow.
Detailed: A research report should be detailed and comprehensive. It should provide a thorough description of the research methods, results, and conclusions.
Accurate : A research report should be accurate and based on sound research methods. The findings and conclusions should be supported by data and evidence.
Organized: A research report should be well-organized. It should include headings and subheadings to help the reader navigate the report and understand the main points.
Clear and concise: A research report should be written in clear and concise language. The information should be presented in a way that is easy to understand, and unnecessary jargon should be avoided.
Citations and references: A research report should include citations and references to support the findings and conclusions. This helps to give credit to other researchers and to provide readers with the opportunity to further explore the topic.

Advantages of Research Report

Research reports have several advantages, including:

Communicating research findings: Research reports allow researchers to communicate their findings to a wider audience, including other researchers, stakeholders, and the general public. This helps to disseminate knowledge and advance the understanding of a particular topic.
Providing evidence for decision-making : Research reports can provide evidence to inform decision-making, such as in the case of policy-making, program planning, or product development. The findings and conclusions can help guide decisions and improve outcomes.
Supporting further research: Research reports can provide a foundation for further research on a particular topic. Other researchers can build on the findings and conclusions of the report, which can lead to further discoveries and advancements in the field.
Demonstrating expertise: Research reports can demonstrate the expertise of the researchers and their ability to conduct rigorous and high-quality research. This can be important for securing funding, promotions, and other professional opportunities.
Meeting regulatory requirements: In some fields, research reports are required to meet regulatory requirements, such as in the case of drug trials or environmental impact studies. Producing a high-quality research report can help ensure compliance with these requirements.

Limitations of Research Report

Despite their advantages, research reports also have some limitations, including:

Time-consuming: Conducting research and writing a report can be a time-consuming process, particularly for large-scale studies. This can limit the frequency and speed of producing research reports.
Expensive: Conducting research and producing a report can be expensive, particularly for studies that require specialized equipment, personnel, or data. This can limit the scope and feasibility of some research studies.
Limited generalizability: Research studies often focus on a specific population or context, which can limit the generalizability of the findings to other populations or contexts.
Potential bias : Researchers may have biases or conflicts of interest that can influence the findings and conclusions of the research study. Additionally, participants may also have biases or may not be representative of the larger population, which can limit the validity and reliability of the findings.
Accessibility: Research reports may be written in technical or academic language, which can limit their accessibility to a wider audience. Additionally, some research may be behind paywalls or require specialized access, which can limit the ability of others to read and use the findings.

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Qualitative Research Journal

ISSN : 1443-9883

Article publication date: 15 December 2020

Issue publication date: 2 August 2021

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the critical realism (CR) philosophical viewpoint and how it can be applied in qualitative research. CR is a relatively new and viable philosophical paradigm proposed as an alternative to the more predominant paradigms of positivism, interpretivism and pragmatism. This paper reviews the concept, its benefits and limitation. It goes further to provide an example of how CR is used as a philosophical and methodological framework with the systems thinking theory to applied qualitative research.

Design/methodology/approach

A study of project management challenges in a Nigerian government organisation is used to demonstrate a qualitative research approach, which includes a coding process and data analysis that is consistent with CR ontology and epistemology.

CR focuses primarily on closed systems. However, a more accurate explanation of reality is obtained in addition to the identification of contextual causal mechanisms in the context of study when a general systems theory is applied.

Research limitations/implications

The knowledge about the nature of relationships obtained in the context of study may not necessarily be replicated in another context. However, this paper elucidates a CR process that is generalisable by demonstrating how a theory is applied in a different context.

Originality/value

The paper demonstrates how systems theory is used to understand interactions in a CR paradigm. It engages with CR approach critically and illustrates a clear example of how CR can be applied in social research.

Critical realism
Systems thinking
Data analysis

Acknowledgements

No funding nor potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Lawani, A. (2021), "Critical realism: what you should know and how to apply it", Qualitative Research Journal , Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 320-333. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRJ-08-2020-0101

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Why realism is the key to wellbeing – new research

why should a research report be realistic

Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Business Economics, University of Bath

Professor of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science

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Life coaches and motivational speakers often treat positive thinking as the key to happiness. Self-help books tend to promote a similar message, with Norman Vincent Peale’s bestseller The Power of Positive Thinking claiming:

When you expect the best, you release a magnetic force in your mind which by a law of attraction tends to bring the best to you.

The idea is not merely that optimistic thinking dispels present gloom, but that it also launches a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby simply believing in success delivers it. In happiness terms, optimistic thinking seems to be a win-win strategy.

Perhaps this is why unrealistic optimism – the tendency to overestimate the likelihood that good things will happen and underestimate the likelihood that bad things will happen – is one of the most pervasive human traits. Studies consistently show that a large majority of the population ( about 80% according to most estimates ) display an overly optimistic outlook.

But pessimism does have its advocates. Despite the fact that expecting the worst can be extremely psychological painful, pessimists are, by their nature, fairly immune to disappointment.

As the English writer Thomas Hardy noted :

Pessimism is, in brief, playing the sure game. You cannot lose at it; you may gain. It is the only view of life in which you can never be disappointed. Having reckoned what to do in the worst possible circumstances, when better arise, as they may, life becomes child’s play.

This view receives implicit support from Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman and his late colleague, Amos Tversky. According to their concept of loss aversion , we feel twice as much pain from losses than we experience joy from equal gains.

For example, the pain of an unexpected loss of £5 is twice as strong as the joy of an unexpected gain of £5. In most cases, whether a gain or a loss is perceived, depends on what was expected. Getting a pay raise of £5,000 may seem like a loss if you were expecting £10,000. Unrealistic optimists, by expecting a lot, are setting themselves up for large doses of destructive disappointment.

These behavioural views of the merits of an optimistic or pessimistic mindset contrast with the perspective of mainstream economics according to which it is best to have realistic beliefs. The point is that to make good decisions, accurate, unbiased information is required.

Optimism and pessimism are therefore judgemental biases that make for poor decisions, leading to worse outcomes and lower wellbeing. Particularly prone to harmful error of this sort are career choices , saving decisions and any choice involving risk and uncertainty.

In our research , we investigated whether it is optimists, pessimists or realists that have the highest long term wellbeing. To do this, we tracked 1,601 people over 18 years.

Wellbeing was measured by self-reported life satisfaction and psychological distress. Alongside this, we measured particpants’ finances and their tendency to have over or under estimated them. Better finances are associated with higher wellbeing, so no surprise there.

Keeping it real

Our main finding is that it is not just outcomes that matter but also expectations. Other things being equal, overestimating outcomes and underestimating them are both associated with lower wellbeing than getting expectations about right. Realists do best.

The research may well come as a relief to many people, as it shows you don’t have to spend your days striving to think positively. Instead, we see that being realistic about your future and making sound decisions based on evidence can bring a sense of wellbeing, without having to immerse yourself in relentless positivity.

As to why these results arise, two mutually inclusive possibilities come to mind. Firstly, our results could be the result of counteracting emotions. For optimists, disappointment may eventually dominate the anticipatory feelings of expecting the best, so happiness starts to fall. For pessimists, the depressing effect of expecting doom (dread) may eventually dominate the elation when the worst is avoided.

An alternative to counteracting emotions is that plans based on inaccurate beliefs are bound to deliver worse outcomes than would rational, realistic beliefs. In all events, our finding is that a misperception of either sign involves lower wellbeing.

A majority of the population tend towards optimism, so should they curb their enthusiasm? Our study does suggest realists are the happiest, but this does not necessarily mean that becoming a realist (if such a change was possible) would necessarily boost wellbeing. All we can say is, it might.

This may be especially so in the context of coronavirus. Both optimists and pessimists make decisions based on biased expectations. Not only does this lead to bad decision making, but also a failure to take suitable precautions to potential threats.

Optimists see themselves as less susceptible to the risk of COVID-19 than others and are therefore less likely to take appropriate precautionary measures. Pessimists, on the other hand, may never leave their houses or send their children to school again. Neither strategy seems like a suitable recipe for wellbeing. Realists meanwhile, take measured risks knowing susceptibility depends to a major extent on age.

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Optimism bias
Financial wellbeing

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What is Meant by the Realistic Research Paper

Published by Owen Ingram at January 27th, 2023 , Revised On October 10, 2023

A realistic research paper is academic writing containing original researched content or reviews. If we consider the difference in practical research papers with regular research, a significant difference occurs when we don’t add our discussions or arguments to the writing.

The realistic research paper only includes research that is authentic and approved. When you write an essay , you write whatever you know about the topic, but it’s different in a realistic research paper.

Comparing further research papers and academic writing, the research paper is somehow lengthier than academic writing as it contains more researched content.

In a realistic research paper, you need to insert the researched content without any addition to your words. However, in this article, we will discuss writing a research paper efficiently:

How to Write a Realistic Research Paper?

If we talk about the difficulty usually face able in writing the realistic research paper, it’s not tricky more than usual writing. This is because you have to include factual and proven data.

But some things need to be healthy while writing the research paper. These include the entire idea of the topic and sources for collecting the authentic material.

Here are the steps, including tips for making your research efficient:

Understand the Topic/Assignment:

It’s impossible to complete the task of writing a research paper without the knowledge of the topic and its theme. So, the first thing is to know about the problem and carefully understand its details.

For better understandings, the writer usually conducts with their supervisors or professionals. Later on, clarify the paper’s format, method, goal, deadline, quantity, quality, and submission procedure.

It’s a good idea to have a structured layout before you start writing because it will help you remember what’s on your mind and what it was. Most of the time, when you are writing, you forget the material you are researching. The best way of defending this problem is to use sticky notes.

Start Researching

After you finish understanding the topic, start researching the subject and the things related to your problem. Discuss the research based on the discussion between professionals and try to sort out the issue you can focus on further.

Never stick to a single source instead focus on researching through multiple sources, including physical books, reliable sources, and websites. Please don’t add the content that is in your mind because it may look unauthentic.

Trying to add the maximum citation to your context would increase the originality of the content.

However, one of another idea of increasing the originality is to use questions that are engaging and relevant to your writing.

Create a Thesis Statement

It’s just liked a summary that describes the purpose and overview of the content. If you are beginning the paper with the questions, it should be answered in the thesis statement . That’s isn’t enough because you have to tell why this question is supportive of your research.

The thesis statement is a statement that should be short and efficient because it just gives an idea about your context. This happens through reading it repeatedly and refining all the way.

Create an Outline/Structure

An outline of the research paper includes the arguments and different ideas which you will share in your writing. The framework helps create a better presentation.

An outline is a fact that makes your writing efficient because you will cover all the topics and other research material.

Talking about the structure of the research paper, the fabric helps to maintain the presentation. Through making the structure, you can quickly build blocks for a paragraph.

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Start with the introduction of the research paper.

The best way to write an introduction is to make it based on What, Why, and How. This is important and effective because they want to know what the research is about, why they should read, and how they will engage.

“What” will explain the history and background of the research, where it will also discuss the key terms about the topic of the study.

“Why” will tell be the supportive section to the previous one, whereas it will also tell essential issues and questions in the context.

“How” will discuss the things which going to be addressed in the paper. Its usually done by mentioning the table of content or index in the beginning.

Start writing the body.

The body is the most important and central part of the research paper. It would brief all the research, whereas it should contain multiple headings.

This part of the paper is one of the most difficult ones because it should contain everything. This would be the part where the outline you made will be helpful. The thesis statement and shape are the best way of staying on track.

The headings, along with the paragraphs, should be engaging with one another because the topic is individual, and the research should be relevant.

Start proofreading and revision.

None of the writers is perfect and accurate, and when they are writing, they use the words that are coming in their minds. These words usually comprise of some mistakes and poor writing. However, the proofreading and revising it is the best option for making your content better.

During proofreading, you should do your paper writing. You should check all the errors, including vocabulary, grammatical errors, and weak structure. You can use the grammar checker tool like Grammarly , Prepostseo grammar checker , Zoho .

There are numerous situations where you have to write a research paper. Many people fail to get their degree on time because of weak research or poor presentation.

However, the above factors are beneficial in making your research paper full and final. Through passing time, the trend of getting the researched content is also getting competitive. This is because many sources over the internet, as well as published, are unauthentic.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a realistic research paper.

A realistic research paper is a scholarly work grounded in feasible objectives, evidence-based analysis, and achievable goals, contributing meaningfully to the field of study.

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How to Write Recommendations in Research | Examples & Tips

How to Write Recommendations in Research | Examples & Tips

Published on September 15, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on July 18, 2023.

Recommendations in research are a crucial component of your discussion section and the conclusion of your thesis , dissertation , or research paper .

As you conduct your research and analyze the data you collected , perhaps there are ideas or results that don’t quite fit the scope of your research topic. Or, maybe your results suggest that there are further implications of your results or the causal relationships between previously-studied variables than covered in extant research.

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What should recommendations look like, building your research recommendation, how should your recommendations be written, recommendation in research example, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about recommendations.

Recommendations for future research should be:

Concrete and specific
Supported with a clear rationale
Directly connected to your research

Overall, strive to highlight ways other researchers can reproduce or replicate your results to draw further conclusions, and suggest different directions that future research can take, if applicable.

Relatedly, when making these recommendations, avoid:

Undermining your own work, but rather offer suggestions on how future studies can build upon it
Suggesting recommendations actually needed to complete your argument, but rather ensure that your research stands alone on its own merits
Using recommendations as a place for self-criticism, but rather as a natural extension point for your work

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There are many different ways to frame recommendations, but the easiest is perhaps to follow the formula of research question conclusion recommendation. Here’s an example.

Conclusion An important condition for controlling many social skills is mastering language. If children have a better command of language, they can express themselves better and are better able to understand their peers. Opportunities to practice social skills are thus dependent on the development of language skills.

As a rule of thumb, try to limit yourself to only the most relevant future recommendations: ones that stem directly from your work. While you can have multiple recommendations for each research conclusion, it is also acceptable to have one recommendation that is connected to more than one conclusion.

These recommendations should be targeted at your audience, specifically toward peers or colleagues in your field that work on similar subjects to your paper or dissertation topic . They can flow directly from any limitations you found while conducting your work, offering concrete and actionable possibilities for how future research can build on anything that your own work was unable to address at the time of your writing.

See below for a full research recommendation example that you can use as a template to write your own.

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If you want to know more about AI for academic writing, AI tools, or research bias, make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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While it may be tempting to present new arguments or evidence in your thesis or disseration conclusion , especially if you have a particularly striking argument you’d like to finish your analysis with, you shouldn’t. Theses and dissertations follow a more formal structure than this.

All your findings and arguments should be presented in the body of the text (more specifically in the discussion section and results section .) The conclusion is meant to summarize and reflect on the evidence and arguments you have already presented, not introduce new ones.

The conclusion of your thesis or dissertation should include the following:

A restatement of your research question
A summary of your key arguments and/or results
A short discussion of the implications of your research

For a stronger dissertation conclusion , avoid including:

Important evidence or analysis that wasn’t mentioned in the discussion section and results section
Generic concluding phrases (e.g. “In conclusion …”)
Weak statements that undermine your argument (e.g., “There are good points on both sides of this issue.”)

Your conclusion should leave the reader with a strong, decisive impression of your work.

In a thesis or dissertation, the discussion is an in-depth exploration of the results, going into detail about the meaning of your findings and citing relevant sources to put them in context.

The conclusion is more shorter and more general: it concisely answers your main research question and makes recommendations based on your overall findings.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

George, T. (2023, July 18). How to Write Recommendations in Research | Examples & Tips. Scribbr. Retrieved August 26, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/recommendations-in-research/

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The critical steps for successful research: The research proposal and scientific writing: (A report on the pre-conference workshop held in conjunction with the 64 th annual conference of the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress-2012)

Pitchai balakumar.

Pharmacology Unit, Faculty of Pharmacy, AIMST University, Semeling, 08100 Bedong. Kedah Darul Aman, Malaysia

Mohammed Naseeruddin Inamdar

1 Department of Pharmacology, Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Gowraganahalli Jagadeesh

2 Division of Cardiovascular and Renal Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, USA

An interactive workshop on ‘The Critical Steps for Successful Research: The Research Proposal and Scientific Writing’ was conducted in conjunction with the 64 th Annual Conference of the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress-2012 at Chennai, India. In essence, research is performed to enlighten our understanding of a contemporary issue relevant to the needs of society. To accomplish this, a researcher begins search for a novel topic based on purpose, creativity, critical thinking, and logic. This leads to the fundamental pieces of the research endeavor: Question, objective, hypothesis, experimental tools to test the hypothesis, methodology, and data analysis. When correctly performed, research should produce new knowledge. The four cornerstones of good research are the well-formulated protocol or proposal that is well executed, analyzed, discussed and concluded. This recent workshop educated researchers in the critical steps involved in the development of a scientific idea to its successful execution and eventual publication.

INTRODUCTION

Creativity and critical thinking are of particular importance in scientific research. Basically, research is original investigation undertaken to gain knowledge and understand concepts in major subject areas of specialization, and includes the generation of ideas and information leading to new or substantially improved scientific insights with relevance to the needs of society. Hence, the primary objective of research is to produce new knowledge. Research is both theoretical and empirical. It is theoretical because the starting point of scientific research is the conceptualization of a research topic and development of a research question and hypothesis. Research is empirical (practical) because all of the planned studies involve a series of observations, measurements, and analyses of data that are all based on proper experimental design.[ 1 – 9 ]

The subject of this report is to inform readers of the proceedings from a recent workshop organized by the 64 th Annual conference of the ‘ Indian Pharmaceutical Congress ’ at SRM University, Chennai, India, from 05 to 06 December 2012. The objectives of the workshop titled ‘The Critical Steps for Successful Research: The Research Proposal and Scientific Writing,’ were to assist participants in developing a strong fundamental understanding of how best to develop a research or study protocol, and communicate those research findings in a conference setting or scientific journal. Completing any research project requires meticulous planning, experimental design and execution, and compilation and publication of findings in the form of a research paper. All of these are often unfamiliar to naïve researchers; thus, the purpose of this workshop was to teach participants to master the critical steps involved in the development of an idea to its execution and eventual publication of the results (See the last section for a list of learning objectives).

THE STRUCTURE OF THE WORKSHOP

The two-day workshop was formatted to include key lectures and interactive breakout sessions that focused on protocol development in six subject areas of the pharmaceutical sciences. This was followed by sessions on scientific writing. DAY 1 taught the basic concepts of scientific research, including: (1) how to formulate a topic for research and to describe the what, why , and how of the protocol, (2) biomedical literature search and review, (3) study designs, statistical concepts, and result analyses, and (4) publication ethics. DAY 2 educated the attendees on the basic elements and logistics of writing a scientific paper and thesis, and preparation of poster as well as oral presentations.

The final phase of the workshop was the ‘Panel Discussion,’ including ‘Feedback/Comments’ by participants. There were thirteen distinguished speakers from India and abroad. Approximately 120 post-graduate and pre-doctoral students, young faculty members, and scientists representing industries attended the workshop from different parts of the country. All participants received a printed copy of the workshop manual and supporting materials on statistical analyses of data.

THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF RESEARCH: THE KEY TO GETTING STARTED IN RESEARCH

A research project generally comprises four key components: (1) writing a protocol, (2) performing experiments, (3) tabulating and analyzing data, and (4) writing a thesis or manuscript for publication.

Fundamentals in the research process

A protocol, whether experimental or clinical, serves as a navigator that evolves from a basic outline of the study plan to become a qualified research or grant proposal. It provides the structural support for the research. Dr. G. Jagadeesh (US FDA), the first speaker of the session, spoke on ‘ Fundamentals in research process and cornerstones of a research project .’ He discussed at length the developmental and structural processes in preparing a research protocol. A systematic and step-by-step approach is necessary in planning a study. Without a well-designed protocol, there would be a little chance for successful completion of a research project or an experiment.

Research topic

The first and the foremost difficult task in research is to identify a topic for investigation. The research topic is the keystone of the entire scientific enterprise. It begins the project, drives the entire study, and is crucial for moving the project forward. It dictates the remaining elements of the study [ Table 1 ] and thus, it should not be too narrow or too broad or unfocused. Because of these potential pitfalls, it is essential that a good or novel scientific idea be based on a sound concept. Creativity, critical thinking, and logic are required to generate new concepts and ideas in solving a research problem. Creativity involves critical thinking and is associated with generating many ideas. Critical thinking is analytical, judgmental, and involves evaluating choices before making a decision.[ 4 ] Thus, critical thinking is convergent type thinking that narrows and refines those divergent ideas and finally settles to one idea for an in-depth study. The idea on which a research project is built should be novel, appropriate to achieve within the existing conditions, and useful to the society at large. Therefore, creativity and critical thinking assist biomedical scientists in research that results in funding support, novel discovery, and publication.[ 1 , 4 ]

Elements of a study protocol

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Research question

The next most crucial aspect of a study protocol is identifying a research question. It should be a thought-provoking question. The question sets the framework. It emerges from the title, findings/results, and problems observed in previous studies. Thus, mastering the literature, attendance at conferences, and discussion in journal clubs/seminars are sources for developing research questions. Consider the following example in developing related research questions from the research topic.

Hepatoprotective activity of Terminalia arjuna and Apium graveolens on paracetamol-induced liver damage in albino rats.

How is paracetamol metabolized in the body? Does it involve P450 enzymes? How does paracetamol cause liver injury? What are the mechanisms by which drugs can alleviate liver damage? What biochemical parameters are indicative of liver injury? What major endogenous inflammatory molecules are involved in paracetamol-induced liver damage?

A research question is broken down into more precise objectives. The objectives lead to more precise methods and definition of key terms. The objectives should be SMART-Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-framed,[ 10 ] and should cover the entire breadth of the project. The objectives are sometimes organized into hierarchies: Primary, secondary, and exploratory; or simply general and specific. Study the following example:

To evaluate the safety and tolerability of single oral doses of compound X in normal volunteers.

To assess the pharmacokinetic profile of compound X following single oral doses.

To evaluate the incidence of peripheral edema reported as an adverse event.

The objectives and research questions are then formulated into a workable or testable hypothesis. The latter forces us to think carefully about what comparisons will be needed to answer the research question, and establishes the format for applying statistical tests to interpret the results. The hypothesis should link a process to an existing or postulated biologic pathway. A hypothesis is written in a form that can yield measurable results. Studies that utilize statistics to compare groups of data should have a hypothesis. Consider the following example:

The hepatoprotective activity of Terminalia arjuna is superior to that of Apium graveolens against paracetamol-induced liver damage in albino rats.

All biological research, including discovery science, is hypothesis-driven. However, not all studies need be conducted with a hypothesis. For example, descriptive studies (e.g., describing characteristics of a plant, or a chemical compound) do not need a hypothesis.[ 1 ]

Relevance of the study

Another important section to be included in the protocol is ‘significance of the study.’ Its purpose is to justify the need for the research that is being proposed (e.g., development of a vaccine for a disease). In summary, the proposed study should demonstrate that it represents an advancement in understanding and that the eventual results will be meaningful, contribute to the field, and possibly even impact society.

Biomedical literature

A literature search may be defined as the process of examining published sources of information on a research or review topic, thesis, grant application, chemical, drug, disease, or clinical trial, etc. The quantity of information available in print or electronically (e.g., the internet) is immense and growing with time. A researcher should be familiar with the right kinds of databases and search engines to extract the needed information.[ 3 , 6 ]

Dr. P. Balakumar (Institute of Pharmacy, Rajendra Institute of Technology and Sciences, Sirsa, Haryana; currently, Faculty of Pharmacy, AIMST University, Malaysia) spoke on ‘ Biomedical literature: Searching, reviewing and referencing .’ He schematically explained the basis of scientific literature, designing a literature review, and searching literature. After an introduction to the genesis and diverse sources of scientific literature searches, the use of PubMed, one of the premier databases used for biomedical literature searches world-wide, was illustrated with examples and screenshots. Several companion databases and search engines are also used for finding information related to health sciences, and they include Embase, Web of Science, SciFinder, The Cochrane Library, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Scopus, and Google Scholar.[ 3 ] Literature searches using alternative interfaces for PubMed such as GoPubMed, Quertle, PubFocus, Pubget, and BibliMed were discussed. The participants were additionally informed of databases on chemistry, drugs and drug targets, clinical trials, toxicology, and laboratory animals (reviewed in ref[ 3 ]).

Referencing and bibliography are essential in scientific writing and publication.[ 7 ] Referencing systems are broadly classified into two major types, such as Parenthetical and Notation systems. Parenthetical referencing is also known as Harvard style of referencing, while Vancouver referencing style and ‘Footnote’ or ‘Endnote’ are placed under Notation referencing systems. The participants were educated on each referencing system with examples.

Bibliography management

Dr. Raj Rajasekaran (University of California at San Diego, CA, USA) enlightened the audience on ‘ bibliography management ’ using reference management software programs such as Reference Manager ® , Endnote ® , and Zotero ® for creating and formatting bibliographies while writing a manuscript for publication. The discussion focused on the use of bibliography management software in avoiding common mistakes such as incomplete references. Important steps in bibliography management, such as creating reference libraries/databases, searching for references using PubMed/Google scholar, selecting and transferring selected references into a library, inserting citations into a research article and formatting bibliographies, were presented. A demonstration of Zotero®, a freely available reference management program, included the salient features of the software, adding references from PubMed using PubMed ID, inserting citations and formatting using different styles.

Writing experimental protocols

The workshop systematically instructed the participants in writing ‘ experimental protocols ’ in six disciplines of Pharmaceutical Sciences.: (1) Pharmaceutical Chemistry (presented by Dr. P. V. Bharatam, NIPER, Mohali, Punjab); (2) Pharmacology (presented by Dr. G. Jagadeesh and Dr. P. Balakumar); (3) Pharmaceutics (presented by Dr. Jayant Khandare, Piramal Life Sciences, Mumbai); (4) Pharmacy Practice (presented by Dr. Shobha Hiremath, Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy, Bengaluru); (5) Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry (presented by Dr. Salma Khanam, Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy, Bengaluru); and (6) Pharmaceutical Analysis (presented by Dr. Saranjit Singh, NIPER, Mohali, Punjab). The purpose of the research plan is to describe the what (Specific Aims/Objectives), why (Background and Significance), and how (Design and Methods) of the proposal.

The research plan should answer the following questions: (a) what do you intend to do; (b) what has already been done in general, and what have other researchers done in the field; (c) why is this worth doing; (d) how is it innovative; (e) what will this new work add to existing knowledge; and (f) how will the research be accomplished?

In general, the format used by the faculty in all subjects is shown in Table 2 .

Elements of a research protocol

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Biostatistics

Biostatistics is a key component of biomedical research. Highly reputed journals like The Lancet, BMJ, Journal of the American Medical Association, and many other biomedical journals include biostatisticians on their editorial board or reviewers list. This indicates that a great importance is given for learning and correctly employing appropriate statistical methods in biomedical research. The post-lunch session on day 1 of the workshop was largely committed to discussion on ‘ Basic biostatistics .’ Dr. R. Raveendran (JIPMER, Puducherry) and Dr. Avijit Hazra (PGIMER, Kolkata) reviewed, in parallel sessions, descriptive statistics, probability concepts, sample size calculation, choosing a statistical test, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and ‘ P ’ values, parametric and non-parametric statistical tests, including analysis of variance (ANOVA), t tests, Chi-square test, type I and type II errors, correlation and regression, and summary statistics. This was followed by a practice and demonstration session. Statistics CD, compiled by Dr. Raveendran, was distributed to the participants before the session began and was demonstrated live. Both speakers worked on a variety of problems that involved both clinical and experimental data. They discussed through examples the experimental designs encountered in a variety of studies and statistical analyses performed for different types of data. For the benefit of readers, we have summarized statistical tests applied frequently for different experimental designs and post-hoc tests [ Figure 1 ].

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Conceptual framework for statistical analyses of data. Of the two kinds of variables, qualitative (categorical) and quantitative (numerical), qualitative variables (nominal or ordinal) are not normally distributed. Numerical data that come from normal distributions are analyzed using parametric tests, if not; the data are analyzed using non-parametric tests. The most popularly used Student's t -test compares the means of two populations, data for this test could be paired or unpaired. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to compare the means of three or more independent populations that are normally distributed. Applying t test repeatedly in pair (multiple comparison), to compare the means of more than two populations, will increase the probability of type I error (false positive). In this case, for proper interpretation, we need to adjust the P values. Repeated measures ANOVA is used to compare the population means if more than two observations coming from same subject over time. The null hypothesis is rejected with a ‘ P ’ value of less than 0.05, and the difference in population means is considered to be statistically significant. Subsequently, appropriate post-hoc tests are used for pairwise comparisons of population means. Two-way or three-way ANOVA are considered if two (diet, dose) or three (diet, dose, strain) independent factors, respectively, are analyzed in an experiment (not described in the Figure). Categorical nominal unmatched variables (counts or frequencies) are analyzed by Chi-square test (not shown in the Figure)

Research and publication ethics

The legitimate pursuit of scientific creativity is unfortunately being marred by a simultaneous increase in scientific misconduct. A disproportionate share of allegations involves scientists of many countries, and even from respected laboratories. Misconduct destroys faith in science and scientists and creates a hierarchy of fraudsters. Investigating misconduct also steals valuable time and resources. In spite of these facts, most researchers are not aware of publication ethics.

Day 1 of the workshop ended with a presentation on ‘ research and publication ethics ’ by Dr. M. K. Unnikrishnan (College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal). He spoke on the essentials of publication ethics that included plagiarism (attempting to take credit of the work of others), self-plagiarism (multiple publications by an author on the same content of work with slightly different wordings), falsification (manipulation of research data and processes and omitting critical data or results), gift authorship (guest authorship), ghostwriting (someone other than the named author (s) makes a major contribution), salami publishing (publishing many papers, with minor differences, from the same study), and sabotage (distracting the research works of others to halt their research completion). Additionally, Dr. Unnikrishnan pointed out the ‘ Ingelfinger rule ’ of stipulating that a scientist must not submit the same original research in two different journals. He also advised the audience that authorship is not just credit for the work but also responsibility for scientific contents of a paper. Although some Indian Universities are instituting preventive measures (e.g., use of plagiarism detecting software, Shodhganga digital archiving of doctoral theses), Dr. Unnikrishnan argued for a great need to sensitize young researchers on the nature and implications of scientific misconduct. Finally, he discussed methods on how editors and peer reviewers should ethically conduct themselves while managing a manuscript for publication.

SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION: THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL SELLING OF FINDINGS

Research outcomes are measured through quality publications. Scientists must not only ‘do’ science but must ‘write’ science. The story of the project must be told in a clear, simple language weaving in previous work done in the field, answering the research question, and addressing the hypothesis set forth at the beginning of the study. Scientific publication is an organic process of planning, researching, drafting, revising, and updating the current knowledge for future perspectives. Writing a research paper is no easier than the research itself. The lectures of Day 2 of the workshop dealt with the basic elements and logistics of writing a scientific paper.

An overview of paper structure and thesis writing

Dr. Amitabh Prakash (Adis, Auckland, New Zealand) spoke on ‘ Learning how to write a good scientific paper .’ His presentation described the essential components of an original research paper and thesis (e.g., introduction, methods, results, and discussion [IMRaD]) and provided guidance on the correct order, in which data should appear within these sections. The characteristics of a good abstract and title and the creation of appropriate key words were discussed. Dr. Prakash suggested that the ‘title of a paper’ might perhaps have a chance to make a good impression, and the title might be either indicative (title that gives the purpose of the study) or declarative (title that gives the study conclusion). He also suggested that an abstract is a succinct summary of a research paper, and it should be specific, clear, and concise, and should have IMRaD structure in brief, followed by key words. Selection of appropriate papers to be cited in the reference list was also discussed. Various unethical authorships were enumerated, and ‘The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship’ was explained ( http://www.icmje.org/ethical_1author.html ; also see Table 1 in reference #9). The session highlighted the need for transparency in medical publication and provided a clear description of items that needed to be included in the ‘Disclosures’ section (e.g., sources of funding for the study and potential conflicts of interest of all authors, etc.) and ‘Acknowledgements’ section (e.g., writing assistance and input from all individuals who did not meet the authorship criteria). The final part of the presentation was devoted to thesis writing, and Dr. Prakash provided the audience with a list of common mistakes that are frequently encountered when writing a manuscript.

The backbone of a study is description of results through Text, Tables, and Figures. Dr. S. B. Deshpande (Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India) spoke on ‘ Effective Presentation of Results .’ The Results section deals with the observations made by the authors and thus, is not hypothetical. This section is subdivided into three segments, that is, descriptive form of the Text, providing numerical data in Tables, and visualizing the observations in Graphs or Figures. All these are arranged in a sequential order to address the question hypothesized in the Introduction. The description in Text provides clear content of the findings highlighting the observations. It should not be the repetition of facts in tables or graphs. Tables are used to summarize or emphasize descriptive content in the text or to present the numerical data that are unrelated. Illustrations should be used when the evidence bearing on the conclusions of a paper cannot be adequately presented in a written description or in a Table. Tables or Figures should relate to each other logically in sequence and should be clear by themselves. Furthermore, the discussion is based entirely on these observations. Additionally, how the results are applied to further research in the field to advance our understanding of research questions was discussed.

Dr. Peush Sahni (All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi) spoke on effectively ‘ structuring the Discussion ’ for a research paper. The Discussion section deals with a systematic interpretation of study results within the available knowledge. He said the section should begin with the most important point relating to the subject studied, focusing on key issues, providing link sentences between paragraphs, and ensuring the flow of text. Points were made to avoid history, not repeat all the results, and provide limitations of the study. The strengths and novel findings of the study should be provided in the discussion, and it should open avenues for future research and new questions. The Discussion section should end with a conclusion stating the summary of key findings. Dr. Sahni gave an example from a published paper for writing a Discussion. In another presentation titled ‘ Writing an effective title and the abstract ,’ Dr. Sahni described the important components of a good title, such as, it should be simple, concise, informative, interesting and eye-catching, accurate and specific about the paper's content, and should state the subject in full indicating study design and animal species. Dr. Sahni explained structured (IMRaD) and unstructured abstracts and discussed a few selected examples with the audience.

Language and style in publication

The next lecture of Dr. Amitabh Prakash on ‘ Language and style in scientific writing: Importance of terseness, shortness and clarity in writing ’ focused on the actual sentence construction, language, grammar and punctuation in scientific manuscripts. His presentation emphasized the importance of brevity and clarity in the writing of manuscripts describing biomedical research. Starting with a guide to the appropriate construction of sentences and paragraphs, attendees were given a brief overview of the correct use of punctuation with interactive examples. Dr. Prakash discussed common errors in grammar and proactively sought audience participation in correcting some examples. Additional discussion was centered on discouraging the use of redundant and expendable words, jargon, and the use of adjectives with incomparable words. The session ended with a discussion of words and phrases that are commonly misused (e.g., data vs . datum, affect vs . effect, among vs . between, dose vs . dosage, and efficacy/efficacious vs . effective/effectiveness) in biomedical research manuscripts.

Working with journals

The appropriateness in selecting the journal for submission and acceptance of the manuscript should be determined by the experience of an author. The corresponding author must have a rationale in choosing the appropriate journal, and this depends upon the scope of the study and the quality of work performed. Dr. Amitabh Prakash spoke on ‘ Working with journals: Selecting a journal, cover letter, peer review process and impact factor ’ by instructing the audience in assessing the true value of a journal, understanding principles involved in the peer review processes, providing tips on making an initial approach to the editorial office, and drafting an appropriate cover letter to accompany the submission. His presentation defined the metrics that are most commonly used to measure journal quality (e.g., impact factor™, Eigenfactor™ score, Article Influence™ score, SCOPUS 2-year citation data, SCImago Journal Rank, h-Index, etc.) and guided attendees on the relative advantages and disadvantages of using each metric. Factors to consider when assessing journal quality were discussed, and the audience was educated on the ‘green’ and ‘gold’ open access publication models. Various peer review models (e.g., double-blind, single-blind, non-blind) were described together with the role of the journal editor in assessing manuscripts and selecting suitable reviewers. A typical checklist sent to referees was shared with the attendees, and clear guidance was provided on the best way to address referee feedback. The session concluded with a discussion of the potential drawbacks of the current peer review system.

Poster and oral presentations at conferences

Posters have become an increasingly popular mode of presentation at conferences, as it can accommodate more papers per meeting, has no time constraint, provides a better presenter-audience interaction, and allows one to select and attend papers of interest. In Figure 2 , we provide instructions, design, and layout in preparing a scientific poster. In the final presentation, Dr. Sahni provided the audience with step-by-step instructions on how to write and format posters for layout, content, font size, color, and graphics. Attendees were given specific guidance on the format of text on slides, the use of color, font type and size, and the use of illustrations and multimedia effects. Moreover, the importance of practical tips while delivering oral or poster presentation was provided to the audience, such as speak slowly and clearly, be informative, maintain eye contact, and listen to the questions from judges/audience carefully before coming up with an answer.

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Guidelines and design to scientific poster presentation. The objective of scientific posters is to present laboratory work in scientific meetings. A poster is an excellent means of communicating scientific work, because it is a graphic representation of data. Posters should have focus points, and the intended message should be clearly conveyed through simple sections: Text, Tables, and Graphs. Posters should be clear, succinct, striking, and eye-catching. Colors should be used only where necessary. Use one font (Arial or Times New Roman) throughout. Fancy fonts should be avoided. All headings should have font size of 44, and be in bold capital letters. Size of Title may be a bit larger; subheading: Font size of 36, bold and caps. References and Acknowledgments, if any, should have font size of 24. Text should have font size between 24 and 30, in order to be legible from a distance of 3 to 6 feet. Do not use lengthy notes

PANEL DISCUSSION: FEEDBACK AND COMMENTS BY PARTICIPANTS

After all the presentations were made, Dr. Jagadeesh began a panel discussion that included all speakers. The discussion was aimed at what we do currently and could do in the future with respect to ‘developing a research question and then writing an effective thesis proposal/protocol followed by publication.’ Dr. Jagadeesh asked the following questions to the panelists, while receiving questions/suggestions from the participants and panelists.

Does a Post-Graduate or Ph.D. student receive adequate training, either through an institutional course, a workshop of the present nature, or from the guide?
Are these Post-Graduates self-taught (like most of us who learnt the hard way)?
How are these guides trained? How do we train them to become more efficient mentors?
Does a Post-Graduate or Ph.D. student struggle to find a method (s) to carry out studies? To what extent do seniors/guides help a post graduate overcome technical difficulties? How difficult is it for a student to find chemicals, reagents, instruments, and technical help in conducting studies?
Analyses of data and interpretation: Most students struggle without adequate guidance.
Thesis and publications frequently feature inadequate/incorrect statistical analyses and representation of data in tables/graphs. The student, their guide, and the reviewers all share equal responsibility.
Who initiates and drafts the research paper? The Post-Graduate or their guide?
What kind of assistance does a Post-Graduate get from the guide in finalizing a paper for publication?
Does the guide insist that each Post-Graduate thesis yield at least one paper, and each Ph.D. thesis more than two papers, plus a review article?

The panelists and audience expressed a variety of views, but were unable to arrive at a decisive conclusion.

WHAT HAVE THE PARTICIPANTS LEARNED?

At the end of this fast-moving two-day workshop, the participants had opportunities in learning the following topics:

Sequential steps in developing a study protocol, from choosing a research topic to developing research questions and a hypothesis.
Study protocols on different topics in their subject of specialization
Searching and reviewing the literature
Appropriate statistical analyses in biomedical research
Scientific ethics in publication
Writing and understanding the components of a research paper (IMRaD)
Recognizing the value of good title, running title, abstract, key words, etc
Importance of Tables and Figures in the Results section, and their importance in describing findings
Evidence-based Discussion in a research paper
Language and style in writing a paper and expert tips on getting it published
Presentation of research findings at a conference (oral and poster).

Overall, the workshop was deemed very helpful to participants. The participants rated the quality of workshop from “ satisfied ” to “ very satisfied .” A significant number of participants were of the opinion that the time allotted for each presentation was short and thus, be extended from the present two days to four days with adequate time to ask questions. In addition, a ‘hands-on’ session should be introduced for writing a proposal and manuscript. A large number of attendees expressed their desire to attend a similar workshop, if conducted, in the near future.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We gratefully express our gratitude to the Organizing Committee, especially Professors K. Chinnasamy, B. G. Shivananda, N. Udupa, Jerad Suresh, Padma Parekh, A. P. Basavarajappa, Mr. S. V. Veerramani, Mr. J. Jayaseelan, and all volunteers of the SRM University. We thank Dr. Thomas Papoian (US FDA) for helpful comments on the manuscript.

The opinions expressed herein are those of Gowraganahalli Jagadeesh and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Food and Drug Administration

Source of Support: Nil

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Corpus ID: 14497400

What Is Realism , and Why Should Qualitative Researchers Care ? Realism

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The When: Setting realistic timeframes for your research

In the first two articles of this series, we explored The What: Defining a research project and The Where: Constructing an effective writing environment . In this article, we are focused on The When: Setting realistic timeframes for your research. Discussion from this TweetChat event focused on accurately estimating the amount of time necessary for completing writing projects and strategies to better manage the time commitments during the writing project.

Q1/1a: Do you regularly track the time spent on research efforts? When planning a research project, do you tend to accurately predict, overestimate, or underestimate the time required?

If you aren’t tracking the amount of time you spend on research efforts, it is difficult to accurately predict the amount of time a new project will require. Even if you aren’t tracking your time yet, you can still assess how accurately you are estimating the time requirements of your writing projects.

Eric Schmieder admitted during the TweetChat that failing to track time on projects results in a tendency to underestimate time requirements for other projects. “I tend to underestimate the time requirements – probably because I do not track the time on projects very well.”

Chase Reeves shares 5 Tips to Help you Estimate how Much Time a Project Will Take as follows:

Double your estimation
Plan with an accountability partner
Reverse engineer a truly minimum viable product
Keep a daily productivity journal
Rediscover why you are doing this project

According to a paper titled Five keys to estimating , presented at PMI® Global Congress 2008, John Stenbeck claims, “In the realm of project management, nothing is more valuable than estimates that accurately reflect reality, motivate their fulfillment, and facilitate rigorous accountability.” He further explains that estimating is both a science and an art.

If you find that your to-do list is forcing you to make unrealistic estimates or is otherwise overly ambitious in your commitment to academic writing projects, Jane Jones offers five principles for making a better to-do list as follows:

Be honest with yourself
Set boundaries
Decide on a pace
Schedule according to the peaks and valleys in your semester

Q2/2a: What challenges do you face in scheduling time for research activities and writing? What strategies do you have for overcoming those challenges?

For Schmieder, the challenge is “Balancing those activities [research and writing] with other obligations such as family, work, volunteer efforts, etc.” Balance is essential.

According to Cassie Premo Steele who offers 4 ways to work-life balance in 4 minutes , “The thing about balance is that each person has to define it for herself. What works for one person may not work for someone else. What helped you at one point in your life may not be helpful now.” But how do we find the balance that works for us now?

Susan Robison says, “ Don’t manage time, manage goals ”. In managing goals, she says there are five things you can do:

Anchor your tasks to a sense of meaning and purpose
Prioritize which tasks are worthy of your resources of time, talent, energy, and attention
Allocate tasks across units of time
Account for the results of the allocation
Build and broaden your resilience and happiness while you do the above things

Meg Keeley of Bucks County Community College echoes this mindset, saying “As you look at how you spend your time, ask yourself if this matches your priorities.” in an online resource titled Managing Your Time and Study Environment . She then offers seven tips to using your time wisely:

Clear your schedule. Don’t overextend yourself.
Get motivated.
Prioritize.
Make sure you understand the task.
Break down the task into chunks.
It doesn’t have to be perfect.
When you really hate it, try to make it as enjoyable as possible.

Q3: What tools or resources do you use to improve your time management?

Kirstin O’Donovan states in a Lifehack article , “If you’re not taking advantage of one of the hundreds of time management apps and tools out there, you’re definitely missing a trick.” In the same article she shares 18 of the best available.

MindTools has a curated list of 62 time management tools in their list, but regardless of the tool, the purpose remains the same – track your time and know where it is being spent and what is available for the projects you’re working on.

Schmieder relies on a shared calendar approach to balance projects with family life. “I maintain a shared calendar with my wife through Google where all events are shared so I can find time between the planned activities for the research and writing efforts”, he said.

Q4: How can working with others impact your ability to maintain a realistic schedule?

Schmieder commented that “being dependent on the schedules of others and coordinating time for review and discussion can add to the challenges of predicting and maintaining a project schedule.” That dependency and additional scheduling elements introduce complexities beyond individual control.

Another interesting factor worth considering is the way each collaborator views deadlines. In a study conducted by Meng Zhu , an associate professor of marketing at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, she found that “people tend to choose impractical and ineffective approaches to tasks and deadlines” and “misperceptions of deadlines [and] urgency influence time management and performance.”

Q5/5a: How does the size of the project impact your ability to set realistic schedules? How do you manage large projects to better manage the time necessary for smaller pieces?

As projects increase in size and scope, it is naturally more challenging to estimate the total amount of time necessary for completion. After all, there are more places for schedules to change – for better or worse.

According to Meggin McIntosh, “academics have between 20 and 50+ writing projects at any given time, but ‘people don’t do projects.’ Projects can be broken into hunks, but you don’t do hunks. Hunks can be broken into chunks, but you don’t do chunks. Chunks can be broken into bites. You do bites!” For more about breaking a project into bites that can get done, read the TAA article, How to actually complete your writing projects: One bite at a time .

In addition to simply breaking down a project into smaller pieces, Schmieder stated, “Larger projects are easier to manage when the smaller pieces are considered in relation to one another. Items that are dependent on earlier steps must account for the time to complete the other steps as well.” Project management software and principles can help determine the interdependency of smaller pieces of a large project and ensure that things are completed in an optimal order.

Q6: How can you best balance your time when working on multiple research projects at the same time?

Schmieder shared that “often multiple research projects have some overlap due to discipline and research interests. Finding that overlap and focusing time where you can collect or review literature for multiple projects at once can help overall.” Dr. Janet Salmons agreed, suggesting “look for efficiencies and overlaps, so use time to accomplish more than one goal.”

Cited in a TAA article, Time management strategies: Take a time inventory , William Weare shared “one of the strategies he has used to become more productive is taking a time inventory to visually see where his time goes.” In conducting the time inventory, the focus is on granularity, so he suggests tracking everything you do in a day. “And he means everything: I get to work; I logged on; I put my milk in the refrigerator; I unpacked my stuff; I checked the weather; I checked in with my staff; I went to the restroom.”

Noelle Sterne suggests that meditation and mindfulness may be helpful in accomplishing your academic projects. Before ruling this idea out, consider the responses to “ five big excuses for not practicing meditation or mindfulness and suggests how to overcome them ” presented by corporate training consultant Karen Exkorn and summarized by Sterne.

No time” means you haven’t made the time. Even three minutes works (your timer again).
“Too busy” means you don’t have to add special time for the practice. Use mindfulness doing what you’re doing, only more consciously (dishes, diapering, grading papers).
“Too stressed”? Focus on doing one thing with full consciousness. Exkorn uses eating Hershey Kisses. You can use anything—a banana, driving, listening to a student pleading for an extension.
“Tried it”? For how long? Give it a fair chance, like any new habit.
“Too New Agey”? As Exkorn points out, mindfulness was featured on a January 23, 2014, Time magazine cover and in a New York Times article. Mindfulness has been praised and regularly practiced by actors, professional athletes, sports teams, and business leaders. And mindfulness and meditation are used by staff at Google, General Mills, Twitter, and many corporations. Recently, a PBS special aired titled “Mindfulness Goes Mainstream.”

Salmons added, “I am not a clock-watcher, and setting time limits/goals doesn’t work for me. We each need to find own strategy!”

Whatever your individual strategy, we hope that these resources help you to better manage your writing projects and set realistic timeframes for completing them.

Fact-checking warnings from Democrats about Project 2025 and Donald Trump

This fact check originally appeared on PolitiFact .

Project 2025 has a starring role in this week’s Democratic National Convention.

And it was front and center on Night 1.

WATCH: Hauling large copy of Project 2025, Michigan state Sen. McMorrow speaks at 2024 DNC

“This is Project 2025,” Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, said as she laid a hardbound copy of the 900-page document on the lectern. “Over the next four nights, you are going to hear a lot about what is in this 900-page document. Why? Because this is the Republican blueprint for a second Trump term.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has warned Americans about “Trump’s Project 2025” agenda — even though former President Donald Trump doesn’t claim the conservative presidential transition document.

“Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” Harris said July 23 in Milwaukee. “He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda will weaken the middle class. Like, we know we got to take this seriously, and can you believe they put that thing in writing?”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, has joined in on the talking point.

“Don’t believe (Trump) when he’s playing dumb about this Project 2025. He knows exactly what it’ll do,” Walz said Aug. 9 in Glendale, Arizona.

Trump’s campaign has worked to build distance from the project, which the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, led with contributions from dozens of conservative groups.

Much of the plan calls for extensive executive-branch overhauls and draws on both long-standing conservative principles, such as tax cuts, and more recent culture war issues. It lays out recommendations for disbanding the Commerce and Education departments, eliminating certain climate protections and consolidating more power to the president.

Project 2025 offers a sweeping vision for a Republican-led executive branch, and some of its policies mirror Trump’s 2024 agenda, But Harris and her presidential campaign have at times gone too far in describing what the project calls for and how closely the plans overlap with Trump’s campaign.

PolitiFact researched Harris’ warnings about how the plan would affect reproductive rights, federal entitlement programs and education, just as we did for President Joe Biden’s Project 2025 rhetoric. Here’s what the project does and doesn’t call for, and how it squares with Trump’s positions.

Are Trump and Project 2025 connected?

To distance himself from Project 2025 amid the Democratic attacks, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he “knows nothing” about it and has “no idea” who is in charge of it. (CNN identified at least 140 former advisers from the Trump administration who have been involved.)

The Heritage Foundation sought contributions from more than 100 conservative organizations for its policy vision for the next Republican presidency, which was published in 2023.

Project 2025 is now winding down some of its policy operations, and director Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official, is stepping down, The Washington Post reported July 30. Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita denounced the document.

WATCH: A look at the Project 2025 plan to reshape government and Trump’s links to its authors

However, Project 2025 contributors include a number of high-ranking officials from Trump’s first administration, including former White House adviser Peter Navarro and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

A recently released recording of Russell Vought, a Project 2025 author and the former director of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, showed Vought saying Trump’s “very supportive of what we do.” He said Trump was only distancing himself because Democrats were making a bogeyman out of the document.

Project 2025 wouldn’t ban abortion outright, but would curtail access

The Harris campaign shared a graphic on X that claimed “Trump’s Project 2025 plan for workers” would “go after birth control and ban abortion nationwide.”

The plan doesn’t call to ban abortion nationwide, though its recommendations could curtail some contraceptives and limit abortion access.

What’s known about Trump’s abortion agenda neither lines up with Harris’ description nor Project 2025’s wish list.

Project 2025 says the Department of Health and Human Services Department should “return to being known as the Department of Life by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care.”

It recommends that the Food and Drug Administration reverse its 2000 approval of mifepristone, the first pill taken in a two-drug regimen for a medication abortion. Medication is the most common form of abortion in the U.S. — accounting for around 63 percent in 2023.

If mifepristone were to remain approved, Project 2025 recommends new rules, such as cutting its use from 10 weeks into pregnancy to seven. It would have to be provided to patients in person — part of the group’s efforts to limit access to the drug by mail. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge to mifepristone’s FDA approval over procedural grounds.

WATCH: Trump’s plans for health care and reproductive rights if he returns to White House The manual also calls for the Justice Department to enforce the 1873 Comstock Act on mifepristone, which bans the mailing of “obscene” materials. Abortion access supporters fear that a strict interpretation of the law could go further to ban mailing the materials used in procedural abortions, such as surgical instruments and equipment.

The plan proposes withholding federal money from states that don’t report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention how many abortions take place within their borders. The plan also would prohibit abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid funds. It also calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that the training of medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, omits abortion training.

The document says some forms of emergency contraception — particularly Ella, a pill that can be taken within five days of unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy — should be excluded from no-cost coverage. The Affordable Care Act requires most private health insurers to cover recommended preventive services, which involves a range of birth control methods, including emergency contraception.

Trump has recently said states should decide abortion regulations and that he wouldn’t block access to contraceptives. Trump said during his June 27 debate with Biden that he wouldn’t ban mifepristone after the Supreme Court “approved” it. But the court rejected the lawsuit based on standing, not the case’s merits. He has not weighed in on the Comstock Act or said whether he supports it being used to block abortion medication, or other kinds of abortions.

Project 2025 doesn’t call for cutting Social Security, but proposes some changes to Medicare

“When you read (Project 2025),” Harris told a crowd July 23 in Wisconsin, “you will see, Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.”

The Project 2025 document does not call for Social Security cuts. None of its 10 references to Social Security addresses plans for cutting the program.

Harris also misleads about Trump’s Social Security views.

In his earlier campaigns and before he was a politician, Trump said about a half-dozen times that he’s open to major overhauls of Social Security, including cuts and privatization. More recently, in a March 2024 CNBC interview, Trump said of entitlement programs such as Social Security, “There’s a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.” However, he quickly walked that statement back, and his CNBC comment stands at odds with essentially everything else Trump has said during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump’s campaign website says that not “a single penny” should be cut from Social Security. We rated Harris’ claim that Trump intends to cut Social Security Mostly False.

Project 2025 does propose changes to Medicare, including making Medicare Advantage, the private insurance offering in Medicare, the “default” enrollment option. Unlike Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans have provider networks and can also require prior authorization, meaning that the plan can approve or deny certain services. Original Medicare plans don’t have prior authorization requirements.

The manual also calls for repealing health policies enacted under Biden, such as the Inflation Reduction Act. The law enabled Medicare to negotiate with drugmakers for the first time in history, and recently resulted in an agreement with drug companies to lower the prices of 10 expensive prescriptions for Medicare enrollees.

Trump, however, has said repeatedly during the 2024 presidential campaign that he will not cut Medicare.

Project 2025 would eliminate the Education Department, which Trump supports

The Harris campaign said Project 2025 would “eliminate the U.S. Department of Education” — and that’s accurate. Project 2025 says federal education policy “should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.” The plan scales back the federal government’s role in education policy and devolves the functions that remain to other agencies.

Aside from eliminating the department, the project also proposes scrapping the Biden administration’s Title IX revision, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also would let states opt out of federal education programs and calls for passing a federal parents’ bill of rights similar to ones passed in some Republican-led state legislatures.

Republicans, including Trump, have pledged to close the department, which gained its status in 1979 within Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s presidential Cabinet.

In one of his Agenda 47 policy videos, Trump promised to close the department and “to send all education work and needs back to the states.” Eliminating the department would have to go through Congress.

What Project 2025, Trump would do on overtime pay

In the graphic, the Harris campaign says Project 2025 allows “employers to stop paying workers for overtime work.”

The plan doesn’t call for banning overtime wages. It recommends changes to some Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, regulations and to overtime rules. Some changes, if enacted, could result in some people losing overtime protections, experts told us.

The document proposes that the Labor Department maintain an overtime threshold “that does not punish businesses in lower-cost regions (e.g., the southeast United States).” This threshold is the amount of money executive, administrative or professional employees need to make for an employer to exempt them from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In 2019, the Trump’s administration finalized a rule that expanded overtime pay eligibility to most salaried workers earning less than about $35,568, which it said made about 1.3 million more workers eligible for overtime pay. The Trump-era threshold is high enough to cover most line workers in lower-cost regions, Project 2025 said.

The Biden administration raised that threshold to $43,888 beginning July 1, and that will rise to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025. That would grant overtime eligibility to about 4 million workers, the Labor Department said.

It’s unclear how many workers Project 2025’s proposal to return to the Trump-era overtime threshold in some parts of the country would affect, but experts said some would presumably lose the right to overtime wages.

Other overtime proposals in Project 2025’s plan include allowing some workers to choose to accumulate paid time off instead of overtime pay, or to work more hours in one week and fewer in the next, rather than receive overtime.

Trump’s past with overtime pay is complicated. In 2016, the Obama administration said it would raise the overtime to salaried workers earning less than $47,476 a year, about double the exemption level set in 2004 of $23,660 a year.

But when a judge blocked the Obama rule, the Trump administration didn’t challenge the court ruling. Instead it set its own overtime threshold, which raised the amount, but by less than Obama.

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PDF What Is Realism, and Why Should Qualitative Researchers Care?
Philosophic realism in general is defined by Phillips (1987, p. 205) as "the view that entities exist independently of being perceived, or independently of our theories about them.". Schwandt adds that "scientific realism is the view that theories refer to real features of the world. 'Reality' here refers to whatever it is in the ...
What is realist research, when should we consider it, how and why?
How to do realist research. Pawson and Tilley describe two main approaches, which have gained prominence in healthcare: realist evaluation and realist review.1 2 Realist evaluation is primary research, involving the collection of new data from original sources. Realist review (also known as realist synthesis) is secondary research involving an iterative, systematic search for existing data ...
What is realist research, when should we consider it, how and why?
What is realist research, when should we consider it, how and why? Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed. 2022 Dec;107 (6):448-450. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2021-322017.
Why Is Research Practical And Realistic
Research is practical and realistic because it provides us with evidence-based insight to help solve real-world problems, and can be used to generate better-informed decisions. The scientific process ensures that any conclusion reached is supported by rigorous data collection and analysis, ensuring the reliability of findings.
Critical Realism and Qualitative Research: An introductory Overview
Abstract. This chapter introduces a critical realist approach to qualitative research. Critical realist research methods are primarily focused on understanding, rather than merely describing ...
Full article: Realist review
This is why realist research is described as being 'theory-led'. Realist research values the use of theory for the particular lens it gives researchers to produce novel insights on social behaviour (Marchel et al., Citation 2018). Although there is a lack of realist research in the field of sport and exercise psychology, there are examples ...
Full article: The contributions of scientific realism and critical
Introduction. Pawson and Tilley (Citation 1997a) introduced realist evaluation through their seminal work Realistic Evaluation as a practical approach to realist-informed research.Since then, this proposed approach to evaluating complex interventions Footnote 1 has been used in many fields of evaluation sciences. Realist evaluation is a form of theory-driven evaluation characteristically set ...
(PDF) A Realist Approach to Qualitative Research
Abstract. The book presents an argument for adopting a realist philosophical perspective for qualitative research, showing that critically applying a realist ontology to a number of important ...
Research guides: Knowledge syntheses ...
Rycroft-Malone et al. (2012) state that realist reviews are "particularly appropriate for unpacking the impact of complex interventions because it works on the premise that one needs to understand how interventions work in different contexts, and why" (p. 9). Wong (2019) confirms that realist reviews are steadily on the rise.
Research Report
A research report should be written after completing the research study. This includes collecting data, analyzing the results, and drawing conclusions based on the findings. Once the research is complete, the report should be written in a timely manner while the information is still fresh in the researcher's mind.
What really matters for successful research environments? A realist
Supportive leadership, as a particular form of relationship, could be seen as an enabler to the provision of protected time and a reasonable workload, allowing time for research and for researcher identity formation.34, 38, 46, 48 Indeed, our realist synthesis findings highlight the central importance of researcher identity and thus offer a ...
Critical realism: what you should know and how to apply it
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the critical realism (CR) philosophical viewpoint and how it can be applied in qualitative research. CR is a relatively new and viable philosophical paradigm proposed as an alternative to the more predominant paradigms of positivism, interpretivism and pragmatism. This paper reviews the concept, its ...
Why realism is the key to wellbeing
Keeping it real. Our main finding is that it is not just outcomes that matter but also expectations. Other things being equal, overestimating outcomes and underestimating them are both associated ...
What is Meant by the Realistic Research Paper
A realistic research paper is academic writing containing original researched content or reviews. If we consider the difference in practical research papers with regular research, a significant difference occurs when we don't add our discussions or arguments to the writing. The realistic research paper only includes research that is authentic ...
How to Write Recommendations in Research
Recommendations for future research should be: Concrete and specific. Supported with a clear rationale. Directly connected to your research. Overall, strive to highlight ways other researchers can reproduce or replicate your results to draw further conclusions, and suggest different directions that future research can take, if applicable.
Essential Ingredients of a Good Research Proposal for Undergraduate and
It is expected that on reading this article, students should be able to: (a) demonstrate knowledge and understanding of what research is all about and its challenging nature; (b) display an enlarged comprehension of research gap(s), problem or question(s), aim, objectives, and hypotheses as well as their distinguishing characteristics; (c ...
The critical steps for successful research: The research proposal and
A research question is broken down into more precise objectives. The objectives lead to more precise methods and definition of key terms. The objectives should be SMART-Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-framed, and should cover the entire breadth of the project. The objectives are sometimes organized into hierarchies: Primary ...
[PDF] What Is Realism , and Why Should Qualitative Researchers Care
Realism. Realism Philosophic realism in general is defined by Phillips (1987, p. 205) as " the view that entities exist independently of being perceived, or independently of our theories about them. " Schwandt adds that " scientific realism is the view that theories refer to real features of the world. 'Reality' here refers to whatever it is in ...
The When: Setting realistic timeframes for your research
Susan Robison says, " Don't manage time, manage goals ". In managing goals, she says there are five things you can do: Anchor your tasks to a sense of meaning and purpose. Prioritize which tasks are worthy of your resources of time, talent, energy, and attention. Allocate tasks across units of time. Account for the results of the allocation.
Unpacking context in realist evaluations: Findings from a comprehensive
The main question driving realist evaluation is to uncover how an intervention 1 works, for whom, and under what conditions (Pawson and Tilley, 1997).The realist approach assumes that interventions are "theories incarnate" (Pawson and Tilley, 1997).As visually depicted in Figure 1, the theoretical structure underlying realist evaluation is in the form of context-mechanism-outcome (CMO ...
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Project 2025 says the Department of Health and Human Services Department should "return to being known as the Department of Life by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care."
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Why Research Is Necessary and Valuable in Our Daily Lives. It's a tool for building knowledge and facilitating learning. It's a means to understand issues and increase public awareness. It helps us succeed in business. It allows us to disprove lies and support truths. It is a means to find, gauge, and seize opportunities.
Study reveals the benefits and downside of fasting
MIT researchers have discovered how fasting impacts the regenerative abilities of intestinal stem cells, reports Ed Cara for Gizmodo.. "The major finding of our current study is that refeeding after fasting is a distinct state from fasting itself," explain Prof. Ömer Yilmaz and postdocs Shinya Imada and Saleh Khawaled.
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Collabstr analyzed data from Pew Research and DataReportal to illustrate WhatsApp's grip on internet users outside of the U.S. The analysis uses the World Bank's country income groupings .
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Knight says this research isn't meant to create a formula for writers to tell their stories, but he hopes it can help writers avoid easy pitfalls when charting their story. "In the most intuitive sense, people tend not to respond to places where nothing is getting better and nothing is getting worse," Knight says.
SMCI Stock Tumbles As Short Seller Accuses Super Micro Of Accounting
Short seller Hindenburg Research on Tuesday accused data center specialist Super Micro Computer of accounting manipulation, export control failures, customer issues and other problems.The report ...

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Why Is Research Practical And Realistic

Research is practical and realistic because it is a systematic way to assess, analyze, and identify solutions or improve existing processes.

Why is research practical and realistic?

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The search and appraisal of evidence is purposive and theoretically driven with the aim of refining theory.

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