Writing a Successful Thesis or Dissertation : Tips and Strategies for Students in the Social and Behavioral Sciences
by Fred C. LunenburgFormat: Hardcover
Pub. Date: 2007-12-21
Publisher(s): Corwin Pr
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Summary
This comprehensive manual offers direction for every step of the thesis or dissertation process, from choosing an appropriate topic to adapting the finished work for publication.
Table of Contents
| Getting Started | |
| Selecting a Suitable Topic | p. 2 |
| Sources of Topics | p. 3 |
| Criteria for Topic Selection | p. 10 |
| Summary | p. 15 |
| Selecting a Chair and Committee | p. 16 |
| Criteria to Consider in Selecting a Chair | p. 17 |
| Composition and Role of the Committee | p. 20 |
| Research Prospective Committee Members | p. 21 |
| The Desirable Student | p. 23 |
| Summary | p. 25 |
| What You Need to Know | |
| Quantitative Research Designs | p. 28 |
| Descriptive Research Design | p. 30 |
| Correlational Research Design | p. 35 |
| Causal-Comparative Research Design | p. 45 |
| Quasi-Experimental Research Design | p. 49 |
| Experimental Research Design | p. 54 |
| Theory Development | p. 59 |
| Summary | p. 61 |
| Basic Statistics | p. 62 |
| Descriptive Statistics | p. 63 |
| Inferential Statistics | p. 67 |
| Summary | p. 87 |
| Qualitative Research Designs | p. 88 |
| Phenomenological Research Design | p. 89 |
| Case Study Research Design | p. 96 |
| Ethnographic Research Design | p. 99 |
| Grounded Theory Research Design | p. 102 |
| Mixed Methods Research Design | p. 106 |
| Summary | p. 109 |
| The Dissertation Chapters | |
| Writing the Introduction Chapter | p. 112 |
| Background of the Study | p. 113 |
| Statement of the Problem | p. 114 |
| Purpose of the Study | p. 116 |
| Significance of the Study | p. 117 |
| Definition of Terms | p. 118 |
| Theoretical Framework | p. 122 |
| Models | p. 123 |
| Research Questions (or Hypotheses) | p. 126 |
| Limitations | p. 133 |
| Delimitations | p. 134 |
| Assumptions | p. 135 |
| Organization of the Study | p. 135 |
| Summary | p. 136 |
| Writing the Literature Review Chapter | p. 137 |
| Searching the Literature | p. 138 |
| Writing the Literature Review | p. 142 |
| Synthesizing the Literature | p. 154 |
| Summary | p. 164 |
| Writing the Methodology Chapter | p. 165 |
| Introduction | p. 166 |
| Selection of Participants | p. 167 |
| Instrumentation | p. 180 |
| Data Collection | p. 194 |
| Data Analysis | p. 200 |
| Summary | p. 204 |
| Conclusion | p. 204 |
| Writing the Results Chapter | p. 206 |
| Introduction | p. 209 |
| Descriptive Statistics | p. 210 |
| Testing the Research Questions (or Hypotheses) | p. 213 |
| Additional Analyses | p. 222 |
| Summary | p. 223 |
| Conclusion | p. 224 |
| Writing the Discussion Chapter | p. 225 |
| Introduction | p. 226 |
| Summary of the Study | p. 226 |
| Discussion of the Findings | p. 228 |
| Guidelines to Structure Your Discussion Section | p. 229 |
| Implications for Practice | p. 236 |
| Recommendations for Further Research | p. 238 |
| Conclusions | p. 240 |
| Summary | p. 242 |
| The Defense and Afterward | |
| The Proposal and Final Oral Defense | p. 244 |
| Prepare a Well-Written Document | p. 245 |
| Know the Format | p. 245 |
| Prepare Your Presentation | p. 246 |
| Practice Your Presentation | p. 248 |
| Anticipate Questions | p. 248 |
| Final Oral Defense | p. 249 |
| Tips for Avoiding Common Mistakes | p. 251 |
| Summary | p. 253 |
| Presenting and Publishing Your Dissertation | p. 254 |
| Presentations | p. 254 |
| Job Interview | p. 261 |
| Academic Journals | p. 262 |
| Books | p. 266 |
| Chapters in Books | p. 269 |
| Popular Press | p. 269 |
| Internet Publishing | p. 269 |
| Desktop Publishing | p. 270 |
| Planning the Writing Process | p. 270 |
| Summary | p. 272 |
| Initial Letter Soliciting Participation | p. 273 |
| First Follow-Up Letter | p. 274 |
| Second Follow-Up Letter | p. 275 |
| Dissertation Proposal Outline (Correlational) | p. 276 |
| Dissertation Proposal Outline (Analysis of Variance and Regression) | p. 280 |
| Dissertation Proposal Outline (Multivariate Analysis of Variance) | p. 284 |
| Dissertation Proposal Outline (Qualitative) | p. 288 |
| Qualitative Research Critique | p. 293 |
| Agreement: Guidelines for Chairing a Dissertation | p. 295 |
| Checklist for Dissertation Quality | p. 299 |
| References | p. 305 |
| Index | p. 321 |
| Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved. |
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