10. Communicating the Results

Communicating the results of your study, project, or business case is crucial in market research. We discuss the core elements of a written research report, provide guidelines on how to structure its core elements, and how you can communicate the research findings to your audience in terms of their characteristics and needs. We show you how to organize and simplify complex and dense information in an efficient and reader-friendly way. Using Stata, and drawing on a case study, we show how you can combine and present several graphs and (regression) tables concisely and clearly. We also provide guidelines for oral presentations, suggestions for visual aids that facilitate the communication of difficult ideas, and ideas on how to best structure the oral presentation of results. Finally, we discuss ethical issues that may arise when communicating report findings to your client.