Suggested Guidelines for ThesisDissertation Chapters

1
Suggested Guidelines for Thesis/Dissertation
Chapters

• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Problem Statement Why is this research
  important?
• What are the objectives of this study?
• What are the testable hypotheses?
• Outline of thesis/dissertation. What do the next
  chapters cover?

2

• Chapter 2 Literature Review
• Review of relevant literature.
• Compare/contrast previous literature with what
  you intend to do.
• How does your intended work extend the knowledge
  frontier?

3

• Chapter 3 Research Methodology
• Develop the theoretical framework underlying this
  research.
• How would results from the testable hypotheses
  alter or support the proposed theoretical
  framework?
• How sturdy is this theoretical framework? Are
  there short-comings?

4

• Chapter 4 Data Specifications and Collection
  Procedures
• Background information about data sources.
• Variable descriptions.
• Sampling procedures.
• Descriptive statistics.

5

• Chapter 5. Empirical Model and Estimation Results
• Based on theoretical framework, develop empirical
  model.
• Discuss estimation procedure and testing.
• Discuss estimation results and test results.

6

• Chapter 6 Summary, Conclusions and
  Recommendations
• Summarize your findings.
• Given your empirical results, what do you
  conclude?
• Based on your results and conclusion, what do you
  recommend?
• What are the limitations of your research? What
  else could be done? What do you recommend for
  future research based on your findings?