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Literature Review

Lessons from My Students: Getting Unstuck – Four Essential Questions to Move Forward

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The Scenario A student recently told me they felt “stuck” on their dissertation proposal, even skipping their end-of-year holiday to make progress. A stuck proposal or dissertation often happens because the problem isn’t clear or the research process feels overwhelming. The Issue A stuck or unsuccessful proposal or dissertation typically signals a lack of clarity …

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Lessons from My Students: Crafting a Flawless Questionnaire

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  The Scenario A master’s student recently sent me their survey questionnaire for review. As I’ve seen in many such cases, there were several substantial issues that, if uncorrected, would compromise the quality of the data collected—and, in turn, the analysis, results, and conclusions. Fortunately, the survey had just begun, so there was still time …

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Avoiding the Traps of Questionnaire Design and Analysis in Your Dissertation

Cronbach's alpha, Data analysis, Methodology, Recent references / By

In preparation for our upcoming webinar on Avoiding the Traps of Questionnaire Design and Analysis in Your Dissertation at 6 pm (GMT+2:00) on 19th September, I’m writing about an issue of reliability that is often problematic for students. An old bathroom scale explains the concept of reliability of the measurement instrument in your dissertation. Here …

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Use ELICIT To Find, Summarise, And Organise Papers For Your Literature Review

Literature Review, Recent references, Writing the literature review / By

  A few months ago, I discovered Elicit AI. Elicit’s superpowers of organisation and summary complement Google Scholar’s advanced searches as well as Research Rabbit’s networks and timelines. With these tools, my literature search toolkit is now complete. Join me on Thursday evening 6th June @6:00 (GMT+2:00) when I take you through some of the …

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How Strong are Your Statistical Results? The Concept of Effect Size

Data analysis, Methodology, Recent references, Statistics / By

In a previous post, I spoke about what a statistically significant result means and doesn’t mean. A significant result may mean very little, not necessarily anything to inspire you to throw a party or make a supportive parent proud. A significant result does not tell you how strong – or meaningful – your result is. …

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Raise the Conceptual Level of Your Writing

Literature Review, Recent references, Styles, Writing, Writing the literature review / By

Many students approach their literature reviews by emphasising who (i.e., the authors of each reference) is saying what. Each paragraph begins with the authors’ names. This approach is not advisable as it shifts the focus to the authors rather than the content of their statements. Consider the following paragraph as an example of this unfortunate …

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5 tips when your sample is smaller than you intended and your results are mostly not significant

Data analysis, Recent references, Results, Sample / By

Sometimes, despite all your efforts, the sample size of your quantitative study turns out to be smaller than you planned. Maybe you received a low response rate to your online survey, your database search for patient records returned many unusable or missing records, or you found yourself in another scenario with a similar outcome. And …

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How well do you know the APA 7th edition formatting rules?

Literature Review, Recent references, Styles, Tables, Thesis submission, Writing / By

I’ve selected 10 rules from the APA 7th edition manual you might not know. Some of these may apply to your document. Only abbreviate a term if you use the abbreviation at least three times in the paper (APA 6.24). When presenting a number with a decimal point, do not put a zero before the …

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5 Ways to Improve Your Literature Review

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Show academic integrity Even if you feel strongly about your claim, be fair. Don’t pick a side and present a biased argument. Rather, explain the main claims or debates and contrast the strengths of yours against the weaknesses of the other(s). Then, the merits of your claim will emerge and the argument for your research will …

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