Whether you’re writing your proposal or the introduction to your dissertation or thesis, you will need to convince your supervisor or examiner that you’ve identified a researchable problem. The trouble is that not every problem is a research problem. Methodologists like Van de Ven (2007) provide guidance on how to distinguish between an ordinary problem and a research problem. […]
Is your problem a RESEARCH problem? Read More »
You may wonder why my sympathy for Cronbach’s Alpha (also called Coefficient Alpha). Well, it’s because alpha is one of the most frequently misunderstood and misinterpreted statistics in theses, dissertations, proposals and other academic publications involving measurement 🥲. SO, WHAT IS CRONBACH’S ALPHA? Cronbach’s alpha is a measure of the internal consistency
8 Misuses of Poor Cronbach’s Alpha Read More »
One aspect of research methodology that often confuses students is the topic of reliability. This is because there are really two main types of reliability: MEASUREMENT reliability and RESEARCH reliability. These two reliabilities are very different. Measurement reliability is all about assessing the reliability or consistency of the scores of your measurement instruments. These assessments
Reliability: Measurement vs Research Read More »
The Purpose Statement is your time to shine. This is the time when you can tell your reader exactly what you’ve designed your research to do. Of course, the Purpose Statement must address the knowledge gap that you described in your Problem Statement. However, the Problem Statement is focused on the problem, and not directly on
Writing the Purpose Statement Read More »
By the time you write the abstract of your thesis or dissertation, you will need to have completed your study, finalised your results, and appreciated the implications of your findings. And you’re probably exhausted. However, academic formatting styles provide valuable guidance on the content and format of the abstract. These should help you over the
Crafting the ABSTRACT Read More »
One of the most important aspects of the methodology section is to relate what you’re writing to your own research. Students frequently reproduce pages of textbook definitions of research concepts e.g., research approaches, sampling, reliability, validity etc., with virtually no reference to their own research. Let me show you an example of how many students (unfortunately) describe
Writing your Methodology WELL Read More »
If you’re writing the methods section of your research, you will need to describe your sample. (I’m dealing here with the sample description, rather than the sampling method.) So, how should you describe your sample? According to APA guidelines, you should refer to people as ‘participants’, not as ‘subjects’. The term ‘subjects’ is used in
Describing your Sample Read More »
How many times have you chosen to read something based on its title? Many times, I’m sure. So, the title of your thesis or dissertation is important. It should present your research accurately and encourage others to read it. Here are answers to a few FAQs on academic titles: HOW MANY WORDS SHOULD THE TITLE
Whether you’re writing your dissertation or proposal, you’ll need to specify the Delimitations and Limitations of your research. Here is a description of the differences between them. DELIMITATIONS are what you decide upfront will be the boundaries, restrictions or fences of your research. For example, you may decide to restrict your population or sample, or to restrict
Delimitations and Limitations Read More »
There are certain parts of a proposal, dissertation or thesis that often trip students up early on. Let me share 5 of them with you (in no particular order). First off, is the trap of outdated references. The rule of thumb is that over 80% of your references should be newer than 5 years old (unless
5 Dissertation TRAPS: How to avoid them Read More »