Suggested Citation: Jung, BC (1999-2023). Professor Jung's Guidelines for Writing the Special Project Report.
http://www.bettycjung.net/Pch594gl.htm
PURPOSE
A number of people have asked if I would write some guidelines for
Sections 4 and 5, since I had set the awful precedent of writing guidelines
for Sections 1 - 3. So, to finish what I started, here are the guidelines
for the last two sections of the Special Project.
This document contains some additional guidance for writing your
Special Project Report. It is meant to supplement the Department's Special
Project Guidelines document, my course syllabus ,
and the Statistical Reporting 101 document.
All these documents should provide you with what you should keep in mind when you write your
drafts.
Note: I have developed these guidelines for the students
I am advising. Others are welcome to use these guidelines, but check with
your Special Project Advisor first.
E-mail me if you have found these guidelines helpful, or, unhelpful. I
can always modify them based on user feedback. Thanks.
WHAT IS THE SPECIAL PROJECT?
In brief, this is a "Research and Development" course in which you develop a
communications product, as a solution to an identified problem for a
particular agency, over the course of two semesters, as part of Special Project
Seminar I (PCH 593), and Special Project Seminar II (PCH 594).
During the first semester, you developed a proposal that:
- Outlined the philosophical and theoretical Public Health and Health
Education bases for approaching the problem (Section 1);
- Documented a review of the literature of the frameworks and theories
used in previous solutions to similar problems, as well as the solutions
themselves that have been developed to address the problem(s) you are
addressing, or, similar problems, as well as the feasibility of the Project
you were proposing (Section 2), and;
- Delineated the steps that will be taken to complete the Special
Project, stating specifically how data will be collected and analyzed,
and what institutional approvals were obtained (Section 3).
During the second semester,, you actually
carry out (implement) the plan of action you developed and stated in your Special
Project Proposal. During PCH 594 - Special Project Seminar II, you actually
complete everything you talked about in your Proposal. Just like you had a
proposal to show for your efforts in PCH 593, you will have a report and the
finished product to show for your efforts in PCH 594.
Your final report will consist of:
- Background for your Special Project (updated Sections 1, 2, 3);
- Documentation of the actual product research and development. This would
include a narrative of all your activities, presentation and the analyses of
the data from your data collection activities, explanations of how you used
the results from your data collection for the development, pilot testing (evaluation)
and modification of your Product Prototype (Section 4);
- Summary, significance and future implications for Public Health Practice.
This would include conclusions, recommendations, etc. regarding the Special
Project, and what you think will be its contribution to the field of Public
Health and Community Health Education (Section 5).
And, along with the Report you will be submitting the actual completed
Product to be given to the Sponsoring Agency as well as to the SCSU Department
of Public Health.
GIVENS
- Always use APA format.
- Always check your grammar and spelling before you hand in your
drafts. Microsoft Word has spell and grammar checks. Learn to use these
great tools.
- I will penalize if APA format is not used and if I have to correct
spelling and grammar.
- I like subheadings. It helps me (and other readers) to find where
everything is.
INTRODUCTION & REPORT TITLE
Introduction
- Now that you have actually gone through the process of developing a prototype,
tested and modified it based on data you have collected, it is now time to document
the actual process. This is what you will be doing for Sections 4 & 5 of your
Special Project.
- As Sections 1, 2 and 3 were considered your Proposal, Sections 4 and 5 will
comprised what will be referred to as the Report. Note that your Special
Project actually consists of two major parts -- the write-up, which includes
Sections 1 through 5, and the Product itself.
Special Project Title
- You can probably start by changing the title of the proposal you wrote
last semester to reflect the final Special Project. It could take the form of
"A Communications Product" for "Agency Name" to "increase, enhance, improve
a health behavior" by/for/among a "target population".
- Example: A Brochure for Agency X to Raise Awareness of an Educational
Program for Health Care Providers
Updating Sections 1, 2 & 3
- The first three sections should read as if your Special Project has been
completed, and you are providing documentation that justifies your approach
to the development and evaluation of the Product.
- To refresh your memory as well as bring the Proposal up to the present,
you will need to update Sections 1 through 3, specifically Section 3. This
section was where you delineated your plan of action in the future tense.
Now, it should be written in past tense describing everything you have
done (not just in words, but also in action). However, you do not need to go
into extensive detail in Section 3. Save the details for Section 4.
- You don't need to change everything to past tense. For example, "Permission has been
given by the Agency Preceptor..." would become "Permission was given
by the Agency Preceptor...." Or, "The concept of Self-efficacy will be used..."
would become "The concept of Self-efficacy was used...." Use common sense
and a critical eye when rewriting.
- For material that your actions do not have a direct impact on -- in
general, conceptual material should not be placed in any particular tense
because concepts, in theory, are timeless. For example, your "Health Outcome
Goal" because it is so general, would remain a goal to strive for. The goal
has not changed because of your Special Project, but has probably become
a little more achievable because of your Special Project, as least for
the Agency. Research applications of concepts you reported in Section 2
should already be in past tense.
- Theories should also be treated this way, and should not be written
in past tense, except when reporting research using the theories. When
referring to them, unless they were found to be false during Intercession,
keep references to theories timeless. IF the theories have been recently rejected
(highly unlikely, especially if they have been around for some time, and
which is the reason why I wrote in the first set of guidelines to stay with
more traditional concepts and theories), then you would have to document this
revolutionary event in Section 2, and talk about how this has impacted your
Project and how it will impact future Practice in Section 5.
- Similarly, statistics written in the future tense (i.e., by 2050, the
largest minority population group in the U.S. will be Hispanic) should
remain in the future tense. Such statistics remain predictive even after you
have completed your Special Project, unless, of course, you are planning to
spend the next 50 years completing your project (in which case I'm not
going to be around to give you a grade). If you cannot show your
Project has substantially changed any statistics you have talked about in
Section 2, leave them as you wrote them.
Creating Data Shells
- To facilitate the entire process of data collection and reporting, you can
begin to organize how you plan to report your analysis FIRST. This is done with
the creation of data shells, or, data templates.
- Data shells are empty tables you create that will be filled by the data you
collect.
- Organize your set of data shells by data collection instrument. For each
instrument there will be 3 main sections (Descriptive statistics, Preliminary
data processing, Data Analysis):
- Descriptive Statistics - Category data description that includes frequency
and percentage tables. This would include tables for demographic variables, and
all the variables you have collected data for. Organize tables so you are reporting
similar types of data together. For example, report all Yes/No questions in
one table, Likert Scale responses in another table, and derived categorical
variables from qualitative analyses (statement and "other" responses, etc.) in
still another.
- Preliminary processing of qualitative data - tables for recording
text and developing categories.
- Data Analysis (Bivariate analysis) - Contingency tables that explore the relationships between
variables. You should include contingency tables for your demographic variables
and the other variables in your surveys. Perform Chi-Square analyses when both variables are categorical. For example,
Yes/No questions can be analyzed this way.
- Data Analysis (Bivariate analysis) - Analysis of variance. If you have Likert
Scale responses, you can compare the mean ratings for a series of statements.
- Data Analysis (Bivariate analysis) - Analysis of variance. If you have
Likert Scale responses, you can compare the mean ratings of a statement by a
demographic variable.
Refer to the
Statistical Reporting 101 document on how I want the statistics
written up, and what to include in the Results section and the Appendix.
WRITING SECTION 4 - PRODUCT RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
The purpose of this section is to document your research and development
activities. The perspective should be specific in nature, but should
reflect the integration of the basic principles of Public Health Practice
as advanced in Healthy People 2010, referenced public health sources, and
the health behavioral and organizational theories and frameworks you have
selected to guide you through the research and development process. You
should include:
- A statement about how your activities are linked to the statement of the problem,
as well as the goals and objectives you talked about in Section 1;
- A general summary of the methods and procedures that comprised your research and
development process to lay the groundwork for your more detailed explanations
in the sections to follow.
Narrative - Formative Research
Think about the title of your report. This section should be general, with specific
examples of how you implemented your plan (proposal). Reiterate what your
health outcome goal is. Your rewritten Section 3 can provide an outline of what
you need to include when writing up this section, which basically is an
expansion of Section 3's "Development & Evaluation of Strategy" section.
Give specific examples of how the process was implemented for each parameter:
- Agency Parameters - how did the Agency Preceptor facilitate the development
of your product?
- Department Parameters - how did your Special Project Advisor facilitate
the process?
- Expert Parameters - how were theories/conceptual frameworks used in
the development process? How did these frameworks help you to choose one
approach over another?
- Target Population Parameters - how did your understanding of the target
population impact the way you developed the product? What did you do
differently to accommodate limitations set by the population? For example,
because your target population was elderly you used a larger font and
white paper to make the product easier to read, etc., etc.
Initial Product Development
Use this section to describe your pre-development data collection
activities. In other words, describe the input you obtained to develop the
Product Prototype.
- Describe how you performed your data collection. Record dates, how
you distributed your surveys, where and how you conducted your focus groups,
when your first and second mailings went out, etc.
- Where appropriate, reference the Appendix that includes the data
collection instruments, data documentation - variable listings, codebooks,
data analysis protocols preliminary data processing.
- Provide an overview of the data you have gathered.
- Provide a coherent context for the statistical tables found in the
Results section at the end of this section, and any raw data found in the
Appendix.
- Report pertinent findings and how you used these findings to develop
your prototype. Keep it factual. Data interpretation goes in Section 5.
Pilot test (Evaluation)/Revision of Product Prototype
Use this section to describe your post-development data collection
activities. This is where you talk about how you conducted the pilot
testing of your Product Prototype, and how you used the feedback you obtained
from your pilot testing to refine the prototype.
- Describe how you performed your data collection. Record dates, how
you distributed your surveys, where and how you conducted your focus groups,
when your first and second mailings went out, etc.
- Where appropriate, reference the Appendix that includes the data
collection instruments, data documentation - variable listings, codebooks,
data analysis protocols, preliminary data processing.
- Provide an overview of the data you have gathered.
- Provide a coherent context for the statistical tables found in the
Results section at the end of this section, and any raw data found in the
Appendix.
- Report pertinent findings and how you used these findings to revise
and refine your prototype. Keep it factual. Data interpretation goes in Section 5.
Results
Include all the data analysis tables for all your data collection
instruments. Organize these tables in the order you conducted your data collection, and by instrument. Each table should make sense in and by itself. Each table should have descriptive headings. Include "N"s or "n"s on all your tables. Make sure the math is right -- everything adds up correctly, percentages equal 100%. Whatever is not self-explanatory in the table should be explained in a note or notes right below the table. Use APA format.
Detailed guidelines for what to include can be found in
Statistical Reporting 101.
Pre-development Data Collection (Surveys, focus groups,
interviews, etc.)
- Descriptive statistics for all variables, and derived variables from
qualitative analyses
- Bivariate analysis
- Cross-tabulations - contingency tables
- Analysis of variance
Pilot test (Evaluation)/Post-development Data
Collection (Surveys, focus groups, interviews, etc.)
- Descriptive statistics for all variables, and derived variables from
qualitative analyses
- Bivariate analysis
- Cross-tabulations - contingency tables
- Analysis of variance
Summary
Write a comprehensive, but concise summary of Section 4, by highlighting
all the important points from each section.
Appendix
Additional documentation for Section 4 should be included in the Appendix.
There should be an appendix for EACH data collection instrument you used.
Each appendix for each instrument should include "Data Collection
Documentation," which consists of:
- Data collection instrument
- Permission letters
- Scripts used
- Variables Definition Listings
- Data Entry Templates (Surveys collecting closed-ended data)
- Codebooks
- Data Analysis Protocols for Qualitative Data ("Other", telephone
interview data, focus group data, etc. Basically any data collection using
scripts of any kind)
- Raw data with preliminary data processing (qualitative data)
Bibliography
In APA format, cite all sources used for writing Section 4.
WRITING SECTION 5 - SUMMARY, SIGNIFICANCE &
FUTURE IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE
Introduction
The purpose of this final section is to share your experiences with
the entire Special Project process. This is the section where you can
offer your interpretations of the various activities you were involved
in with the completion of your Special Project. You can express
your opinions, but I would really like for these opinions to be somewhat
reasonable, based on what you have done. Remember, this is still part
of a "Research and Development" Report.
Summary
This section should provide a general context for your Project. Think of
this as an expanded version of your Abstract narrative (which is limited to
150 words). Provide an overview of your Project (Section 1 summary), relevant
literature review (Section 2 summary). Talk about the strengths and
weaknesses of the Project, compared to what has already been done (in the
field, as reported in Section 2). Talk about how your Project is consistent
or inconsistent with what you found in your literature review.
Significance
This section should provide a more specific context for your Project.
Provide an honest assessment of your Product's contribution towards achieving
the health outcome goal you have set in Section 1.
Talk about the findings you considered pertinent by using them
to develop and refine your prototype. Were the findings what you expected
to find? Why were there surprise, or, unexpected findings (if any)? How
would you explain them? It might be easier to organize your discussion for
this section by data collection instrument (i.e, pre-development phase,
post-development phase).
Recommendations & Future Implications for Public
Health Practice
Recommendations - If someone else were to develop a product similar to
yours, what pearls of wisdom can you provide to make it easier for that person?
What areas have you identified that could use more research?
Implications - What would you do differently if you were to do this again?
Yes, this is the end! Now get everything together so it can get signed
off and you can graduate.
Links
Published on the Net: January 16, 2001
Updated: 12/25/2022 R196
© Copyright 1999 - 2023 Betty C. Jung All rights
reserved.
