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Writing

Do You Find it Challenging to Introduce Theory into Your Thesis or Dissertation?

Literature Review, Recent references, Theoretical/conceptual framework, Theory, Writing / By

Theoretical and conceptual framing in academic writing is a challenge for many students. So why do you need theory at all? Why not simply identify a problem, conduct an interview or a survey, and report your results without using a theoretical base? Well, first, as a postgraduate student, you are required to use a theoretical …

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Is your problem a RESEARCH problem?

Literature Review, Writing / By

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. …

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8 Misuses of Poor Cronbach’s Alpha

Cronbach's alpha, Methodology, Misusing Cronbach's alpha, Reliability, Writing the methodology / By

  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 …

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Reliability: Measurement vs Research

Cronbach's alpha, Methodology, Misusing Cronbach's alpha, Reliability, Writing the methodology / By

  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 …

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Crafting the ABSTRACT

The Abstract, Writing / By

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 …

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Writing your Methodology WELL

Methodology, Methods, Writing / By

  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 …

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