Dr Paul McElheron

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Researching Writing a Dissertation

• Dr Paul McElheron
• www.scba.dk

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(No Transcript)
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Things you shouldnt say at your dissertation
defence
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Differences Dissertations Assignments

• The Dissertation differs from Assignments
• You need to demonstrate you can identify an
  appropriate research question
• You have to demonstrate you know some thing about
  research methods
• Requires a critical review of existing literature

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The Dissertation at a Glance

• About 15,000 words (/- 10)
• Individual research into a management issue of
  your choice
• In 2 parts dissertation proposal (15 of the
  marks) and dissertation
• Graded as assignments

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Covered in this session

• Project proposal
• The dissertation process
• Getting started choosing a topic
• Research methods
• Writing the dissertation
• Referencing
• Workshop / any questions

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What the Dissertation is NOT

• Not a purely work-based project
• Not the Last Word
• Not an extended essay
• Not Research First-Think Later
• Not statistics for the sake of statistics

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What the Project Might be

• A why question that requires analysis
• An emphasis upon problem solving research
• The problem clearly defined
• A method of solution discovered

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You Are Being Asked to Do the Following

• Identify define a research question
• Critically review existing literature
• Design a piece of research
• Analyse, present discuss

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Project Proposal

• 15 of the total project mark
• Minimum 2000 words
• Project Tutors will advise on scope and
  feasibility

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Project Proposal Framework

• Use the University Dissertation Proposal
  Pro-Forma
• Background and overview
• Statement of issue and research objectives
• Methodology
• Analysis
• Structure of final project
• Time schedule
• Can be submitted online

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The Dissertation Process

• Research Question
• Literature Review
• Research Design
• Data Collection
• Data Analysis
• Conclusions
• Implications

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What is a Dissertation?

• A major piece of work 15,000 words
• Chosen individually
• Likely to include an empirical element
• Likely to be academic research
• A why question problem based
• Difficult?
• Knowledge based on experience observation

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Why you are asked to do a dissertation

• Sharpen your information gathering, critical
  analytical skills
• Enhance your subject specific knowledge
• Relate academic theories to real world problems
• Develop transferable skills

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Choosing a Topic (1)

• Personal interests relevance
• Further your knowledge development
• Of value to your organisation (possibly)
• Durability/substance
• Topic adequacy
• A future/immediate career orientated choice
• Access
• Feasibility
• Micro-politics
• Resources

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Choosing a Topic (2)

• Choose something manageable
• Choose something interesting
• Choose something which doesnt overlap too much
  with other assessments you have submitted
• Discuss your choice

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The topic needs to be

• Interesting to you
• Feasible
• Course-related
• Academic
• Analytical

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Six stage process for choosing a topic

• Identify broad topic academic discipline
• Determine the scope
• Brainstorm issues, puzzles questions
• Map and structure the issues
• Conduct a reconnaissance
• Frame your research question

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Consider Formulating the Title as a Question

• Is an Academic Education the Best Preparation for
  a Career in the Senior Management?
• How Far Can Western Management Training Practices
  be Used to Develop the Asia-Manager?

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Planning your work

• When do you want to have each chapter completed?
• How much time will you need for primary research?
• When must all research work be completed?
• How much time will you need for writing up?
• Will you need your dissertation bound in any way?

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How Long Does it Take?

• Organisation of ideas is the hard bit
• You will find weaknesses/flaws only when you
  start to write up state them
• Allow 30 of time for writing up
• 4-6 months?

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What is Research?

• Research is an Original Contribution to Knowledge
• Your must show two (maybe three) things
• Identification of an unanswered question
• Evidence of analysis
• The Answer!

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Fundamental concerns

• Four categories of information sought
• Attitudes or what people see/understand
• Beliefs what people think is true, (stronger than
  attitudes)
• Behaviour or what people do
• Attributes or what people are
• Validity the degree to which we are measuring
  what we need to measure
• Reliability

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Research Terminology

• Methods Methodology
• Empirical research vs theoretical
• Epistomology

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Epistemology what constitutes valid knowledge
and how can we obtain it?

• Positivism social researcher as a scientist
• Facts not values
• Theory testing

• Phenomenology social researcher as a detective
• Values play a significant part
• Theory building

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The Methodological Continuum

• Phenomenology
• Theory-Building
• Qualitative
• 5 Depth face-to-face interviews
• High response rates expected
• More analytical

• Positivism
• Theory Testing
• Quantitative
• 500 closed-ended postal questionnaires
• Low response rate expected
• More design / implementation work

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Choice of Research Methods

• Data search
• Interviews
• Questionnaires
• Panels, including focus groups
• Observation
• Delphi technique

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The Methodology Chapter

• Need to show knowledge of methodological debates
• Examiners look closely at this
• Shows what you learned about the process of
  research itself

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Research design the University expects

• Awareness of different approaches
• Clear justification of the approach taken
• Description of approach, (sampling, collection,
  analysis presentation
• Critical presentation of the methodology
• Demonstrates an understanding of the approach
  taken

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Sources of Information

• Academic journals the gold standard
• Working Papers most peer reviewed
• Books
• Non-academic journals standards vary
• Consultancy reports use for context only
• Newspapers use for context only
• The internet

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Selecting the Research Method

• What information is needed?
• How will it be collected?
• How accurate will it be?
• Will the methods get all the information?
• Will the information appear credible?
• Will the participants conform?
• Who will administer the methods?
• How can the information be analysed?

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Sampling Plan

• Sampling unit who will be surveyed?
• Sample size how many shall be surveyed?
• Sampling procedure how should respondents be
  chosen?

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Approaches to the main research methods
Unstructured Structured
Interviews In-depth, open Keep to script, answer options
Panels Focus groups Delphi
Questionnaire Research diary Tick boxes
Observation Research diary Observation schedule, Activity sampling
Data search Search engine Primary/secondary
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Interviewing

• Several types, arranged, intercept, structured
• Very versatile
• Can record additional observations
• Expensive
• Susceptible to interviewer bias

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Questionnaires - advantages

• Relatively inexpensive
• Can reach people at long distance
• Avoids interviewer bias
• Anonymity possible
• Response quality may be better, (respondents may
  gather consult sources)

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Questionnaires - disadvantages

• Low response rates
• Difficult to develop rapport
• No opportunity to probe or clarify
• Strong tendency to give answers that are
  socially, desirable, make the respondent look
  good, please the researcher
• Can the respondent provide a meaningful answer?
• Biased response?
• Easy to critique

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Focus Group Research

• A gathering of 6-10 people invited to spend a few
  hours with a skilled moderator to discuss a
  product, service, organisation or marketing
  entity.
• Start with a broad question, encourage free
  easy discussion, hoping that group dynamics will
  reveal deep feelings and thoughts.

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Focus Groups - advantages

• Use homogenous groups, similar needs interests
• Good for ascertaining interest or acceptance
• Suited to motivational research, attitudes,
  perceptions
• Used as a prelude to more sophisticated techniques

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Focus Groups - disadvantages

• Is it real research?
• Biased participation?
• Nature and direction of discussion led by the
  most articulate or aggressive
• Conclusions have to be inferred by reading the
  discussion
• Results cannot be quantified, (small sample)

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Observational Research

• Fresh data can be gathered by observing
• Can obtain findings not accessible by other
  methods

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Common errors made in Research

• Selective observation
• Inaccurate observation
• Over-generalisation
• Made-up information
• Ex post facto hypothesising
• Illogical reasoning
• Ego involvement in understanding
• Premature closure of inquiry
• Mystification

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Delphi Technique

• A forecasting method
• A group decision making tool reaps the benefit
  of group decision making while insulating the
  process from group decision making
• Aids decision making in a political of emotional
  environment
• Useful where decisions affect strong factions
  with opposing views, conflicting goals
• Works formally or informally

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Common errors made in research

• I found a juicy data set and accidentally found
  that serial killers all had telephone numbers
  with the number 13 in them. I then decided that
  fear of the number 13 makes people into serial
  killers, wrote a book about my findings and
  became famous.
• What error of human enquiry is NOT present in
  this scenario?
• Ex post facto hypothesizing
• Illogical reasoning
• Made-up information
• Inaccurate observation

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Standard format of a dissertation 6 chapters

• Executive summary
• Contents
• Introduction (1000-1500)
• Theory/Literature review (2500-3000)
• Research methods (1500-2000)
• Data description, presentation of findings
  (2500-3000)
• Analysis interpretation of findings (3500-4000)
• Conclusions, recommendations, reflections
  (1000-1500)
• References

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Writing the Dissertation

• The marker will be less knowledgeable on detail
  than you
• Explain motivations, goals, methodology, make no
  assumptions, apart from basics
• Get feedback, (supervisors, friends, fellow
  students give feedback too).

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Ideas for the Introduction

• A clear statement of your subject
• An explanation of why the research is worthwhile
• An outline of the methods used
• An indication of the limitations of the study
• A summary of the chapters to follow
• Thanks to any person or agency who gave you
  special help

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Ideas for the Chapters

• Each one should answer a major question
• Each chapter should contain lots of answers to
  smaller questions
• Use sub-headings to guide the reader
• Develop points carefully, step by step
• Each chapter should make sense if read on its own
• Give chapters introductions and conclusions as
  well

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Writing Style Revisited

• A review of good practice

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A Well Written Dissertation..

• Has an appropriate structure it flows
• Has headings and sub-headings
• Includes research methods background
  information
• Demonstrates evidence of a wide range of
  information sources
• Includes reference to relevant theory, correctly
  referenced
• Uses both qualitative and quantitative sources of
  information
• Is analytical rather than descriptive
• Uses tables, figures and models to support the
  narrative
• Makes appropriate recommendations and conclusions

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Style of the Dissertation

• Use a title page and number the pages
• Put in a contents list
• Do what you say you will do in the introduction
• Footnotes not recommended
• Use quotes from opposing views
• Quotes and paraphrasing work well together
• Avoid excessive use of bullet points
• Plagiarism dont do it

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Writing Style

• Personal
• Information comes from the writers experience
• Personal feelings and views
• Recounts, tells a personal story
• Non-technical vocabulary
• I at the centre

• Academic
• Information comes from a range of sources
• Evidence argument, citing referencing others
  work
• Comments, evaluates, analyses
• Subject specific vocabulary
• I as observer commentator

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Language to Avoid

• Obviously
• Research shows..
• It is true that..
• This proves..
• Where does this lead us?
• Its a well known fact

• I, we, you
• I think
• I feel
• Good, bad, normal
• Contractions
• Jargon

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Language to use

• this suggests..
• it is plausible..
• This argument appears reasonable \ unreasonable
  because..
• Use the terminology!

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A Word about Word Count

• Approximately 15,000 words stick to the format
• The word count starts after the contents page and
  ends before the references
• Words in the appendix dont count
• Words in models dont count

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Literature Review

• The University will expect
• Normally 40-50 credible references
• Harvard system referencing throughout
• Use of original sources where possible
• Avoid the Heathrow library!

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References

• Closely tied to the review done early in the
  dissertation
• Markers usually check out this section early on
  and will form preliminary assessment notions
  early
• References must appear in the main body

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Requirements for Referencing

• Assertions or statements of fact
• Theories views or arguments
• Where information came from
• Who created the information
• Who collated the information

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When to Reference

1. Brahms wrote four symphonies
2. Brahms compositions were driven by unrequited
   love
3. Harry Potter was a wizard
4. The Harry Potter books constitute a danger to the
   moral fabric of youth

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Types of Referencing

• Quotations
• Paraphrasing
• Using your own words

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Examples

• QUOTATION to which the automatic human
  reaction is helpless discouragement. But for the
  successful leader failure is the beginning, the
  springboard of hope. (Bennis and Nanus, 1985,
  p.71).
• PARAPHRASE Failure is finality, a dead feeling
  of helpless discouragement. For the successful
  leader, failure can be the springboard to a new
  beginning, (Bennis Nanus, 1985).
• OWN WORDS Bennis and Nanus (1985) point out that
  effective leaders react to failure differently
  than other people. Rather than becoming
  de-motivated and discouraged as most people do,
  leaders see failure as a challenge which rousers
  them to greater efforts and stimulates hope for
  a brighter future.
• REFERENCE Bennis, W., and Nanus, B. (1985).
  Leaders The Strategies for Taking Charge New
  York Harper Row, p.71.

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An Ideal List of References

• Sources from the recommended reading
• Recognised leaders in the field
• Some up-to-date sources
• Something the marker has not yet read
• Contextualised information

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Conclusions

• Short concise statements of inferences made as a
  result of work done (numbered subsections ?)
• Must be directly related to the research
  question/problems raised
• Markers will scrutinise this section
• Future research useful to people following in
  your tracks

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Recommendations

• Suggest ways of solving the problems
• How the recommendations link to the aims of the
  dissertation
• Timescale and ressource allocation
• Should flow logically from the conclusions

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Reflections

• Analysis evaluation of the research process
• Strengths weaknesses of the dissertation
• Problems or constraints encountered

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Think of the Marker

• Make no unreasonable assumptions about the marker
• Dont bore the marker
• Markers hate to work hard on trivia, (to
  understand poorly named sections, organise
  themselves from your work, wade through bad
  grammar).
• Create a good impression
• Refer to QAA Assessment criteria for M Level

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Appendices

• Designed to let you include material not fitted
  easily into any chapter
• Important material referred to in more than one
  chapter
• Does not count against word count
• Material which casts light on work done but would
  impede the clear delivery of ideas
• Mathematical proofs unless prime focus
• Huge tables of data
• Lengthy company profiles

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Support - Blackboard

• Announcements
• ULMC staff
• Project guidelines / support materials
• Library / external links
• Discussion boards
• Study skills
• Example dissertations

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The Pub Bore Test

• Write an interesting account of your
  dissertation, in a few sentences, that you could
  use when someone in the pub asks, What is your
  research about? It has to be something to catch
  the listeners attention.

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Why writing a dissertation is harder than having
a baby

• Conceiving a baby is way more fun that conceiving
  a topic
• You know exactly how long pregnancy takes
• Everyone will admire your baby
• No one will complain that your baby is too
  similar to another one
• You can borrow other peoples stuff without it
  being called plagiarism

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Youre Almost There