If you are writing a report or proposal to evaluate different plans, methods, sites, or products, before making your recommendations you have to compare the alternatives and discuss which is the most suitable. Sometimes such an evaluation is called a justification; more often it is called a comparative analysis.

You can write a comparative analysis as primarily objective in which your presence and your preference for a particular option does not become apparent until the end of the report (in your recommendation). Or you can write it as primarily subjective in which your preference is evident much earlier in the report. This article will discuss the objective approach. In a future article, I will discuss the subjective approach.

An effective comparative analysis contains three main parts, in which you

• identify and describe the items to be compared (the alternatives)
• establish the factors that will influence the final selection (the selection criteria)
• evaluate each of the alternatives

The sequence in which you present these parts depends on whether you are writing an objective or a subjective analysis. In the objective approach, the criteria come after the subjects:

Writing an Objective Analysis

Start with a Summary in which you identify the need for the analysis and state what option should be adopted or which product should be purchased.

Introduce the Comparative Analysis

Identify the methods or products you evaluated and state why they were chosen. We recommend you limit your list to no more than four alternatives. If during your investigation you examined more than four, divide them into two groups:

1. Those you examined but found had constraints, and eliminated early in your study. Describe these briefly, and explain why you eliminated them.
2. Those which had clear possibilities and you examined in detail. Describe them briefly and explain why you included them in your evaluation.

Describe the Alternatives

Now describe the features, capabilities, and cost of each alternative without making any personal comments or offering an opinion about its suitability. Your intent is simply to tell about each alternative.

Establish Your Selection Criteria

Before you evaluate each alternative, you need to identify what factors will influence your selection. These are factors such as cost, accessibility, availability, convenience, and ease and speed of operation. Each criterion you establish should be more than a simple statement like: “They must be acquired within a total lease price of $1200 per month.” You also have to show why each criterion is important, otherwise your readers may question why you have established it: “They must be acquired within a total lease price of $1200 per month, to conform to the budget authorized at the October 2006 board meeting.”

Evaluate the Alternatives

Never compare the alternatives against each other. This creates two problems:

1. You get tangled up in a circle, often producing a confusing analysis.
2. Your bias, whether intended or otherwise, tends to show.

A far simpler and more convincing way to evaluate each alternative is to compare it against the established criteria without introducing any comments or opinions.

Draw Conclusions

At this point you summarize the key outcomes from the evaluation. Now you can insert your comments and opinions; now you can compare one alternative against the others because you have conducted an objective evaluation in previous paragraphs. However, never introduce anything that has not been discussed earlier in the report: the conclusions must present no surprises. Neither must they state what action should be taken: that belongs in the recommendation.

Make a Recommendation

Tell your readers what action needs be taken. Use a positive, definite, active voice. I encourage you to use the first person when possible: I recommend…

Lisa Moretto is the President of RGI Learning, Inc. For 16 years she has helped engineers improve their oral and written communication skills. Visit www.rgilearning.com or call (585) 461-3617 to learn about RGI’s courses.

© 2007 RGI Learning

Please email me your ideas or thoughts at LisaM@rgilearning.com and I can address them in a future article.

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