Chapter 8: Project Control and Evaluation
From "IQP Guidelines" By John T. O'Connor
Report Format
No single format can be appropriate for all IQP reports. The following information summarizes important elements of the contents of an IQP report. Students and their advisors are encouraged to revise this format when appropriate. In particular, the titles of Chapters IV and V may be more well-suited to some IQP topics than to others.
As indicated above, WPI has adopted Kate L. Turabian's A-Manual for Writers (latest edition), from the University of Chicago Press, as its style manual. This is available in the bookstore and should be consulted frequently while the report is being written.
TITLE PAGE:
The Title Page should include the title of the project, the name(s) of the author(s), the date of final approval (month and year), and the name(s) of the project advisor(s). Careful thought should be given to selection of and appropriate project title, and it must include no more than fifty characters.
ABSTRACT:
The WPI transcript Abstract should present a concise overview of the entire project, and must not exceed eighty words (WPI rule). However, the project advisor(s) may prefer to include a longer Abstract (or Executive Summary) in the project report itself.
The transcript Abstract should clearly state the project objectives, rationale, provide a brief summary of the procedure employed, and describe the final results produced from the project. The Abstract should be written as a completely self-contained section; (i.e., it should provide sufficient information to a reader who may read no other portion of the project).
Arnold (1) describes an Abstract as follows:
The Abstract is not only the most important section of the report or paper, but also the most difficult to write. Effective abstracts:
1) must contain enough specific information to satisfy the needs of a research worker looking for sources of information and of an administrator looking for a progress or status definition;
2) must be a complete self-sufficient unit;
3) must be made as short as possible without violating accuracy or eliminating essential information;
4) must be written in fluent, easily understood language;
5) but be consistent in tone and emphasis with the parent report or paper; and
6) should make the widest possible use of numerals and standard, generally recognized abbreviations.
Abstracts and Executive Summaries are generally written after the remainder of the project is complete, and has been reviewed. As such, they all too often suffer from being hurriedly done. They are the sections of the reports which are usually read first and a reader will often go no further if they do not arouse his or her interest. Thus, careful thought and planning is important to insure that these sections reflect the quality of the entire report.
AUTHORSHIP PAGE:
The Authorship Page should state clearly--for each project student--the responsibilities assumed separately, as well as those assumed by the group (or a subgroup). References should be made to particular sections of the project report.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
A Table of Contents is useful for directing readers to the location of specific information they seek; it also allows them to obtain a quick overview of the contents of the entire project. All titles and subtitles in the Table of Contents must be exactly the same as in the text, and all divisions/subdivisions used in the text must be present in the Table of Contents. The typing format for each level of division must be consistent from chapter to chapter. (See Turabian manual for correct typing format.)
TABLE OF TABLES
TABLE OF FIGURES
(see "TABLE OF CONTENTS" above)
CHAPTER 1--INTRODUCTION:
This chapter introduces the subject of the project to the reader. It should include broad project objectives and explain why the project is worth doing.
The Introduction should address the following questions:
What is the project subject?
What are the goals of the project? The sub goals?
Why is the project being conducted? (What is the project's specific purpose?
What makes this project a suitable IQP? (What are the major societal and technological dimensions of the project, and how are they to be addressed?)
Who is the project audience? Who will utilize the project results? (The project audience should be viewed more broadly than merely the faculty.)
How will the results be utilized?
In what physical form will the project results be presented?
What is the general procedure which will be employed in conducting the project?
The final paragraph/paragraphs of this chapter should briefly preview the contents of each of the succeeding chapters. It is important that this section present an accurate description of what appears later in the report; any last minute adjustments must be reflected in this section.
CHAPTER II-BACKGROUND (or LITERATURE REVIEW):
The function of this chapter is to give the intelligent, but non-specialist, reader all the introductory information needed to understand the project. This chapter gives the setting of the project. It elaborates upon, documents, details, etc., many of the topics touched upon in the Introduction (Chapter I) in a more cursory fashion (e.g., the importance of the project, debates concerning aspects of the project, specifics on alternatives, benefits to be derived from the results of the project, etc.). It must also supply the reader with any technical background which is necessary to understand the project and fully explain possible alternatives being evaluated in the project. This chapter is based on a thorough literature review.
The opening paragraphs) of every chapter should discuss the major divisions of the chapter in such a way as to make the flow of the chapter clear and logical. Of course, the divisions mentioned in this paragraph (or paragraphs) should match the divisions which the reader notes when he/she skims the chapter for content and structure before reading it. often major divisions are--in turn--subdivided further in the text. In this case an introductory sentence/paragraph following such major division should describe the division's structure, content, progression, etc.
This chapter is usually quite lengthy and extensively documented ('footnotes' may be placed all together at the end of the chapter to facilitate typing). Full citations are necessary for all quoted material, all specific facts which are not general knowledge, and all quantitative data.
As noted above, this chapter is based on a thorough literature review--particularly in relationship to the alternatives being considered. Certain elements should be present in the review of any article, book, or other source:
-Bibliographic Information: Author and title are usually mentioned in narrative: journal (or book), volumes, number, date, pages (or publisher, place of publication--in the case of books), are mentioned in footnoted. (See Turabian for correct format.)
-Thesis or Conclusion: Main statement, conclusion, judgment, or hypothesis put forward in this source.
-Argument: Major arguments put forward in support of thesis or conclusion. The thesis/conclusion may be supported by empirical work or by inductive/deductive reasoning. In the case of empirical work, the specifics of the work should be presented very clearly (e.g., sampling procedure, sample size, assumptions made, study protocol, statistical significance of conclusions, etc.).
-Critique: In some situations it may be appropriate to critique the article, book, etc. Are there logical errors in the arguments presented? Are the assumptions made sufficiently realistic (these are often worth questioning)? obvious errors--or problems in relating this source to your project should be noted.
CHAPTER III--PROCEDURE:
Starting from the goals of the IQP this chapter describes how the goals were achieved. The function of this chapter is to tell the reader specifically *how" the project was conducted. How did the students do their research for the project? What indexes, which libraries, what correspondence did they utilize? What surveys did they conduct? What interviews did they hold? What experiments did they perform? What methods of analysis were employed? In general, what research procedures did they follow and, why? This chapter is often divided into two areas: resources used and project method.
Frequently projects evaluate alternative programs to achieve a desired end (e.g., to suggest changes in a particular social policy). If so, what criteria were used to evaluate the alternatives? What specific measures were utilized in order to gain insight into these criteria? (A matrix, detailing the criteria and measures on one dimension and the alternatives considered on the other, may be a valuable table to include in this chapter).
This chapter is at the heart of the project. It should convince the reader that the author clearly understood the problem and has (have) pursued a logical task-sequence to achieve the project's objectives.
Project execution should be described in a clearly defined sequence of tasks. Major tasks should be broken into sub tasks. These may be tabulated, or represented graphically by Task Charts or PERT Charts.
CHAPTER IV--RESULTS:
In this chapter the raw results of the project including some of the most original and unique parts are presented--the specific data, information, findings, designs, etc., as they relate to the particular project. The structure of the chapter should be very similar to that of methodology, since this is the actual outcome of the procedures outlined there. The key is to keep the Results separated from the Analysis (unless one purposely decides to unify the two), by avoiding major manipulation of the data and by presenting the data as is.
Often this chapter presents the specific information which enables a choice to be made between enumerated alternatives. That is, the data on the specific criteria and measures used in the evaluation--as described in Chapter III--are presented in this chapter for each of the alternatives evaluated.
Frequently the main organization of this chapter is according to the alternatives considered, and--within each alternative--by criteria and measures. In this way the reader is presented with the full complement of information for each alternative. Although the information is given in this chapter, comparisons among the alternatives are usually not made until Chapter V. Missing items of information must be noted explicitly; otherwise, the reader does not know whether they were inadvertent omitted.
CHAPTER V--ANALYSIS OF RESULTS:
This is the most cerebral of all chapters, as it requires some serious thought to analyze the results of the project. Often, the analysis involves the comparison between data obtained in one location, applicable to problem at hand, and data obtained elsewhere. Other times, the analysis may try to explain why a certain observed behavior came about. In the case of a feasibility study, the analysis would weigh pros and cons, leaving the conclusions to the Conclusions chapter. There is no unique way to describe the analysis chapter; each project is different.
Often in this chapter, comparisons among alternatives are made. In this case, the main organization of this chapter may be by criterion, and within the heading--by specific measures. For example, "cost" and "effectiveness" would be two criteria for comparing different technologies in health care, and "direct labor costs" and "health status changes" could be among the measures used. This chapter sets the stage for the conclusions drawn in the final chapter.
CHAPTER VI--CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
The conclusions chapter combines the analysis with the goals to draw some conclusions about the project matter. In a feasibility study the conclusions would pertain to the feasibility or unfeasibility of something or other. In quantitative studies, the conclusions would bring forth hypotheses regarding specific behaviors or phenomena. The conclusions would be subdivided into groups if the methodology had identified major areas to be studied.
In this chapter the overall decisions are made and documented, based on the results and analysis thereof of the two proceeding chapters. This chapter is much more likely to be read than the entire report, and it must be written with great care. Assumptions, value judgments, data and procedural limitations, etc., must all be stated very explicitly. one should not assume that the reader has digested all previous sections of the report; some repetition cannot be avoided.
It is also most important to qualify conclusions appropriately, and not make statements which cannot be substantiated by the project procedures and data. Students should know--and state clearly--the limitations of their analyses. The implications of their findings should also be noted, and followed by suggestions for action and for future research.
A summary table (or tables) can be a particularly valuable device in this chapter. Data or conclusions represented previously in different formats can be highlighted here to support the project's conclusions. Such a table (or tables) can also serve to call the reader's attention to places where important data are missing and to the limitations which such omissions place on the project's conclusions. (Such a table may take the form of an annotated matrix, such as that described above under Chapter III.)
Recommendations are a logical sequence to the conclusions. They suggest remedial actions to some problem or further in-depth studies in some specific areas.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
(See Turabian for correct typing and organization).
GLOSSARY:
Where the technical vocabulary necessary to understand the project would not normally be understood by the non-specialist reader, it is often necessary to add a Glossary section. When the technical vocabulary is first used in the text, it is usually appropriate to define it briefly and also refer the reader to the Glossary where a more complete explanation is given.
APPENDICES:
Appendices are reserved for important material which is too voluminous for inclusion within the project text and would thus disrupt the smooth flow of information. All material placed in an Appendix must be referenced within the text of the project. Where necessary, separate Appendices should be used--rather than one large Appendix--to facilitate easy reference to the materials. Each Appendix should be lettered (i.e., A, B, C... ), given an appropriate title, paged, and included--with appropriate title and page--in the Table of Contents.
FOOTNOTE
Arnold, Christian K., "The Writing of Abstracts," in:
Estrin, Herman A., (Editor), Technical and Professional
Writing (New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1963),
p. 51
Last modified: June 25, 2007 10:53:25