Research Thesis Pattern

A PATTERN OF ORGANIZING RESEARCH PROJECT/THESIS
This note is prepared to facilitate students both in writing and organizing their thesis
research work. Faulty members as well as those others who may get the opportunity
to supervise student theses may also benefit from it.
A PATTERN OF ORGANIZING RESEARCH THESIS

Systematic organization of a research thesis is necessary to show its real scientific value.
A poor organization may render even a high-quality thesis as a worthless piece of work. In fact,
improper organization of a thesis is likely to frustrate all the valuable efforts made in
identification of its .research problem, review of literature, collection of data and performance of
analysis. Ordinarily, a research thesis may be organized in different styles1. Highly differentiated
patterns of arranging, ordering and collating research work of theses are used in different
universities of Pakistan. In fact, students in different departments of even the same university are
found to follow different patterns of organizing theses especially in writing captions,
constructing tables, designing graphs and referring literature. Besides following different styles
of writing and organizing their theses aside, students frequently misplace their actual contents.
Following any particular pattern of organizing a thesis2 per se may not be objectionable
as long as it satisfies the necessary requirements of writing and collating its research material.
What is objectionable is to follow different methods in organizing different sections of a thesis.
In fact, if different patterns of referring literature, numbering tables/graphs, citing quotations,
adding footnotes, etc, are mixed, it offends the basic norms of presenting a thesis and it often
leads to serious mistakes. Since a thesis is expected to be a completely error-free document, due
attention needs to be paid to both its write up and organization. Indeed, the organization of a
thesis must be based on a single pattern, if only to avoid serious mistakes. With these concerns in
view, an effort is made through this note to orient and facilitate students in writing their theses
and organizing their contents in accordance with the requirement of a uniform pattern.
Appearance of Initial Pages
A uniform appearance of initial pages and their order is the first requisite of organizing a
thesis. As mentioned above, any scheme and order of presenting of thesis research work may be
followed but then all the students must stick to the chosen pattern. The initial pages may be
arranged in the following manner. The hard bound cover carries the title of the thesis, LOGO of
the university, name of the student, names of the department and university, and year in which
the thesis was approved for awarding the degree. In general, the thesis title is written on the top
of these pages. About four to five lines below the topic, the University LOGO is depicted.
Usually, in about the middle of the page, the name of the author (student) is mentioned. Then,
towards the lower ends of these pages, the names of the department and university along with the
thesis submission date are written. The next first page following it is identical in all respects.
While preparing the initial pages, the students should keep the following other points in mind.
_____________________________________________________________________________
1. Researchers have commonly used the following three systems in writing and organizing their research work: the
Modern Language Association (MLA) method, American Psychological Association (APA) method and the
Numbered References method. These are also called the methods of documenting sources of citations. My objective
is not to repeat or explain these methods here. The purpose of this note is to serve as a ready reference for students
to write and organize their theses.
2. This note explains the organization of a thesis. However, it also applies, mutatis mutandis, to a project as well.
1. All the writings on the hard bound cover of the thesis or the project except the name of
the student and the thesis submission date should be in straight capital letters and not
in italic capital letters.
2. The title of the thesis or the project, name of the student and names of the Department
and University should not be enclosed in inverted commas or brackets or such other
signs.
3. When the title or topic of the thesis or the project is composed of two parts, they should
be combined by using the sign of colon. Do not separate the two parts of the title by
putting brackets around the second part or by using some other signs.
4. The table of contents and lists of tables, figures, appendices and annexure should not be
typed in tables with rows and columns. It may be typed first in the form of tables with
rows and columns but the lines indicating rows and columns should in the end be
extinguished so that they appear as if they are written in a routine text.
5. The title or topic of a thesis or a project should not be repeated on every page. Giving the
title in the beginning is enough for the purpose of a thesis.
6. The pages of the thesis should not be bordered with lines. Nor they should be decorated
with any pictures, figures, logos, engraves, embosses or slogans. The pages should be
clean, white in color and contain only the text of the thesis.
How all the initial pages may be arranged or portrayed in a thesis is shown below by
displaying them in a way of an example, if only to serve as a ready reference for the students.
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF JOB SATISFACTION

LEVEL OF MALE AND FEMALE DOCTORS
Univ. Logo
Mr. abc
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

IQRA UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD CAMPUS, PAKISTAN
September 2015
(When the Thesis Title or Topic has Two Parts, it should be written as shown below)
SALES PROMOTION STRATEGIES AND PROFITABILITY:
A CASE STUDY OF TELENOR
Univ. Logo
Mr. ABC
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

IQRA UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD CAMPUS, PAKISTAN
September 2015

By
Mr. ABC
A Thesis Submitted to IQRA University, Islamabad Campus,

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement of Degree of Master in Business Administration, IQRA
University, Islamabad Campus, Pakistan
September 2015
______________________________________________________________________________
If any student has written a Project, then the statement mentioned immediately above should include the word A
Project in stead of A Thesis.
CERTIFICATE
It is certified that this thesis titled An Economic Analysis of Default Rate in Rural
Credit of Zari Tarraqiati Bank of Pakistan by Mr. ABC, Roll No. xxxxxxxxxx , is approved for
submission to IQRA University, Islamabad Campus, for external evaluation.
________________
Name of Supervisor
______________________________________________________________________________
In case of a project, the above Certificate will read in the following way: It is certified that this Project titled in place
of this thesis titled. Besides, the Certificate will include internal assessment for a project in place of external
assessment, which is meant for a thesis.

By
Mr. ABC
Approved By
__________________________
Name of Supervisor
____________________________
Name of External Examiner
____________________________
Chairman
_____________________________________________________________________________
In the case of a Project, there will be no name of External Examiner because projects are assessed internally by the
faculty members themselves.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Different people write acknowledgements in different ways. However, thanks and
appreciation for the help and cooperation extended by individuals, organizations and friends
should be expressed in simple words. Tall words and flattering statements acknowledging the
cooperation and help given by others should be avoided. In fact, the researcher should express
appreciation for the help and cooperation received from those individuals and organizations, who
were not duty- bound to help the student.
ABSTRACT
How an abstract of a thesis or for that matter any research work should be written is
important to know. It must be realized on the onset that an abstract is a gist of a thesis; it is a
self-contained expression of its essence. As such, every sentence of it should state some hard fact
of the study. Qualifying statements should be avoided and only the crux of the research
conducted should be stated as briefly as possible without loss of its proper sense. More
specifically, the opening sentence should tell directly what the study is about. The beginning
sentence about the nature of the study should be followed by a few lines (2 to 3) concerning the
nature, collection and analysis of the data used in the study. The main portion of the abstract
should be on the important findings of the study. The precise statement of the results should
immediately be followed by the main conclusion(s) or message(s) of the study. After them,
important policy implications of the results obtained may also be mentioned. In the end, the main
but feasible recommendation(s) based of the results of the thesis, if any, may be stated, again in a
very brief manner. The urge of adding such recommendations as are not based on the findings of
the thesis must be totally suppressed. The total length of the abstract should not exceed three
quarters of the standard page recommended for use in theses.
Keywords: One, Two, Three, Four, Five.
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Page
ACKNOWDGEMENT
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF APPENDICES
LIST OF ANEXURES
i
ii
iii
iv
v
vi
vii
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1.
1.2.
1.3.
.
..
CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
10
CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY
33
3.1.
3.2.
.
CHAPTER 4. DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
52
4.1.
4.2.
.. ..
.
CHAPTER 5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
121
REFERENCES
127
APPENDICES
140
ANNEXURES
______________________________________________________________________________
It must be kept in mind that the numbers given here of pages from which different chapters/sections begin are
hypothetical numbers and are mentioned here only as a way of example. Needless to say that these numbers will
differ from thesis to thesis. The same applies to the pages for the lists of tables, figures, appendices and annexure.
This footnote is only to tell the students that the pages given here are arbitrary numbers.
iii
LIST OF TABLES
Table
1.1.
Title
Page
Socio Economic and Demographic Characteristics of Sample

Respondents
22
1.2.
1.3.
2.1.
2.2.
..
3.1.
3.2
The first digit of the number of a table refers to the number of the chapter of the thesis in which the table is
presented and the second is the number of the table itself. For example, Table 1.3 means the third table in the first
chapter and Table 3.1 means the first table in the third chapter of the thesis. The same applies to figures, graphs and
diagrams. Appendices are indicated by numbers like 1, 2, 3and so on. However, the annexure are represented
by capital letters like A, B, C. and so on. All of them are started from new pages. It applies to a project in situ.
iv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure
1.1.
Title
Page
Contribution of Sectors to Gross Domestic Product of Pakistan
1.2.
..
2.1.
2.2.
.
..
3.1.
30
LIST OF APPENDICITES
Appendix
Title
Page
1.
2.
3.
vi
LIST OF ANNEXURES
Annexure
Title
Page
A.
B.
C.
..
vii
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
The first chapter of a thesis is usually devoted to Introduction. It is in many ways the
most important chapter of a thesis. It identifies and states the research problem of the thesis. It
explains the background with relevant empirical evidence and ferrets out the probable reasons
for the occurrence of the problem/issue selected for research. It highlights the significance of the
problem as well as the outcome of the intended research. In fact, the researcher delves deep into
the circumstances surrounding the issue and articulates the reasons responsible for its occurrence
with a view to verify them with proper analysis to be performed in a systematic manner.
It should be kept in mind that the first basic requirement of a thesis is the identification of
a research problem on which it is to be based. While stating the research problem, the researcher,
on the basis of the theoretical and empirical evidence, argues how it has come to occur and what
is the necessity of its investigation and is its academic and practical policy relevance. In fact, the
researcher on the basis of relevant empirical and research evidence obtainable and reported from
various sources justifies the need of investigating the chosen research problem.
The investigation of the research problem identified may then begin from the point of
view of accomplishing an objective or a set of objectives. It can also be conducted in the manner
of answering certain questions listed for research. Further, the investigation can also proceed on
the pattern of testing a hypothesis or a set of hypotheses adopted for the needed research.
It is also important to keep in mind that unnecessary details regarding, for example, the
organization, policy program/regulations, market structure, trade barriers, financial institution,
labor groups, investment strategies, product groups, etc, to which the chosen research problem
may relate, are not included in this chapter. Only the information with direct bearing on the
research problem of the thesis should be provided. Any additional data, which may support the
argument in some indirect way, may be put in the appendices. If there is a need to elaborate any
point further with some additional point, which if mentioned then and there is likely to obstruct
the smooth flow of the text, may be given in footnote(s).
The other key point worth remembering is that the statement of the research problem
must be based on recent numerical information. To this end, the researcher should consult latest
books; current journal articles, recent proceedings of conferences/seminars/workshops, fresh
research reports and up to date office records. If the study concerns the analysis of trends and
fluctuations of some variables like, for example, prices, production, wages, sales, exports,
imports and investment, etc., it can also use old time-series data over a certain reasonable period
of time. One must, however, be aware of the fact that skipping a good recent source of relevant
data or information may in certain instances jeopardize the statement of the research problem. In
fact, the current expansion in research and research infrastructure is replacing the old literature at
an unprecedented speed and therefore the relevance of recent data and literature in stating the
research problem can hardly be overemphasized.
1
CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The second chapter of a research thesis generally contains review of literature. The main
objective of the review of literature is to know the extent of the previous research work done in
the broad area of the thesis research problem. In the process of reviewing literature, the
researcher tries to ascertain which aspects of a given broad problem area are yet unexplored or
still await investigation. In other words, a review of relevant literature enables a researcher to
identify the aspects or dimensions of the chosen research problem in need of investigation and
thus detects the gaps in the existing knowledge in the given area of research. Briefly, the
researcher learns from the review of literature as to what is the current status of the research
work already done in the area of interest and thus is able to avoid the risk of repetition of the
work already done. Further, the review of literature is also a way to critically assess the earlier
research work in terms of the adequacy of the data set used, appropriateness of the method of its
collection applied, relevance of variables included and the theoretical elegance of the procedure
adopted in the analysis performed. In fact, review of literature is a critique or a commentary of
arguments in favor or against the issue at hand. It also accounts for a critical assessment of the
validity and policy relevance of the results reported in the research work being reviewed
The review of literature is generally attempted in two ways: First, one research study is
reviewed at one time and comments about the relevance of data and methods of collection and
analysis are noted to develop the methodology of ones own thesis and to refer them subsequently
in support or in contradiction of its findings. Second and perhaps more suitable approach is to
refer together studies in agreement or disagreement with any important dimension of the research
problem of the thesis. This is because there may be more than one study on the same or a slightly
different aspect of the chosen research problem and therefore referring them at one place will
suffice. Briefly, the objective is to clearly highlight the views of the other researchers and
thereby to emphasize the need of undertaking the proposed research.
Another key point about the literature review is that it must end with a paragraph
concluding how far the research studies reviewed were or were not able to cover or answer some
important questions about the chosen problem or where gaps existed in the available knowledge
about any vital aspects of the research area or where the data quality was questionable or where
analytical framework applied was defective, if only to justify and to establish the raison detre of
conducting research on the chosen issue of the thesis.
How to report the literature review in a thesis or any research work is equally important
to know. All the reference of literature (research journal articles, books, research reports,
monographs, etc.), empirical information (government documents, reports of private
organizations, books, theses, research papers), quotations and paraphrases are mentioned in the
text by only the last names of the authors and year(s) of publications. Complete information
about the authors i.e. their first and second names, and their research work cited with names of
articles, journals (along with volume, number of issue and year of publication), books (along
with the name of the publisher and the place of publication), research reports, monographs, etc,
is given in the section on References. It must be remembered that all the references cited
any where in the thesis -- chapter/section, appendices and annexure -- are listed in the
section on References alphabetically with last names of the authors first without
following the order of their appearance in the text. The following examples show how a
reference may be cited anywhere in the text including the chapter on Review of Literature.
Sorenson (2002) has found that the existence of strong cooperate cultures in any firm had
improved its performance by facilitating internal behavioral consistency and this relationship
had depended intimately on how they (cultures) had affected organizational learning in response
to internal and external change.
According to Jones and Sasser (1995), customers play a vital role in popularizing the name of a
company name and in building its image in the market. As such, the satisfaction of the customers
with regard to the product or service is very necessary for their repeat purchases and if they have
a negative feeling about the company, they would tend to diminish the company image by telling
others not to buy that product or service.
Jayasuria, Steele and Weerakoon (2005) have stated that a large inflow of funds from abroad
often increases inflation in the recipient countries, which, in turn, leads to reduction in
profitability especially of those industries that do not experience as offsetting increase in their
prices, which then ultimately adversely affect their export performance. The escalation in cost of
production due to increased inflation spills from the industrial sector over to the rest of the
economies with implications detrimental to the welfare of the consumers, and for that matter, the
societies at large.
Boyd and et al (2001) have empirically assessed the impact of rising rate of inflation on the
growth of the banking sector and equity markets. They have found that even predictable
increases in the rate of inflation adversely hamper the ability of the financial sector to allocate
resources efficiently and further negatively affect the overall development of banking sector and
activities of equity markets.
While supporting the results of Grouch (1973), Ahmed and Paul (1998) have stated in their study
that the foreign direct investment has only temporary effect on economic growth of host country
unless foreign capital accumulates at some regular, critical rate. They have further pointed out
that conditions conducive for exerting a sustained favorable effect on economic growth are more
likely to be met in countries where skilled workforce, good policy for industrialization and above
all stable political conditions.
It has been estimated that a one percentage point increase in the foreign direct investment (FDI)
in developing countries has led to the increase of 0.4 to 0.7 percentage point increase in their per
capita GDP and has positively affected their educational attainments over the period from 1971
to 1989 indicating enhancement in their capacity to absorb new technological innovations
(Bornstein, De Gregorio and Lee, 1995).
As mentioned before, the purpose of these citations or sources of documents was to show as
to how and where the names of authors and the years of publication are combined and where
separated with a Comma and they may be viewed in the same sense.
The second approach of reviewing the literature when a group of researchers holds one view
about any issue and another group espouses a different view about it may be seen from the
following example:
The issue of estimation of substitution elasticites, technological bias, and technical
efficiency especially in agriculture has attracted considerable attention over the years. A number
of research studies have estimated them by applying either a trnaslog production function
(Denny and fuss, 1977; Chan and Mountain, 1983: Alderman, 1983 and Capalbo and Denny,
1986) or a trnaslog cost function (Christensen, Jorgensen and Lau, 1971 and 1973; Thrisk, 1974;
Binswanger, 1974; Moroney and Humphrey, 1975; Nghiep, 1979; Ray, 1982; Sharma, 1991) or a
translog profit function( Moroney and Humphrey, 1975; Sindhu and Baanante, 1981; Antle,
1984 and Khumbhakar and Bhattacharyya, 1992). However, some researchers have measured by
applying both the trnaslog cost function and trnaslog cost function (Ali and Parikh. 1992,
Chaudhary, Naqvi and Mufti, 1997; Chaudhary, Khan and Naqvi, 1998 and Chaudhary and
Mufti, 1999). It was found that the researchers applying the translog cost function and the
trnaslog profit functions were able to derive fairly comparable values of elasticities of
substitution between different inputs, technological bias and technical efficiency.
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
This chapter explains the methodology applied in conducting the needed research for a
thesis. From one point of view, the approach of conducting research for a thesis comprises three
specific stages/steps. However, it is possible that in some cases the research approach followed
may have involved some additional steps. In those cases, all those steps should accordingly be
explained. The idea here is not to advocate how many stages/steps of conducting research should
necessarily be there. Instead, the aim here is to explain how the essential requirements of
conducting research may be satisfied. With this in view, this chapter explains those phases,
whose completion is expected to enable a researcher to accomplish the underlying objectives of a
thesis or a project. More specifically, the scheme of conducting research is discussed here with
reference to three broad stages/steps.
Data Collection
The investigation of a chosen research problem begins with the collection of the needed
data. It must be mentioned on the onset that the use of quality data in adequate quantity is a sine
qua non of a standard thesis or a project. It must be remembered that the deficiencies left in data
at the time of collection can not be removed later on by applying any sophisticated techniques of
analysis. Utmost care must, therefore, be exercised in collecting the correct data in adequate
quantities. The quality of data tends to improve if the sampling frame in terms of the size,
composition and location of the sample respondents along with the method of gathering the
needed data are clearly specified before starting the actual collection. Similarly, published data
must be obtained from reliable sources.
There is no need of explanation of the types of data. For example, there is no need of
mentioning that there are two main sources of data: primary and secondary sources. Primary
data are those data which are assembled by the researcher either by conducting a survey or by
running some experiment. Similarly, secondary data are those data, which are obtained from
some published sources. Instead of mentioning the sources of data, the researcher should tell
directly that, for example, the required data were collected by interviewing 150 small-scale
manufacturing enterprises chosen with the stratified sampling technique. The sample enterprises
were located in Rawalpindi and Islamabad and their responses were recorded in a suitably
constructed questionnaire.
Such a statement shows that the required analysis was based on primary data collected
by recording the responses of the sample interviewees in a questionnaire. If the needed data
were collected from certain groups of households or individuals, then one can say that, for
example, 100 males and females in equal proportions in 25-30 year age-group were interviewed
personally from the universities of Quaid-I-Azam University, Federal Urdu University and Pir
Meher Ali Shah Arid University of Agriculture in Islamabad and Rawalpindi and their responses
were recorded in a questionnaire. In certain cases, the questionnaire designed may have been
given to the chosen persons for them to fill them on their own. Further, in certain other cases,
the sample individuals may have been contacted on telephone for responses of questions put in a
questionnaire. Still in some other cases, questionnaires may have been mailed to and sent back
by the chosen individuals or organizations after filling them. All these methods of collecting the
required data should be properly explained. In some special cases, the needed data may have
been generated by running some experiment(s). Here again, the researcher needs to explain in
some detail the whole scheme of running the experiment in terms of the choice of locality, choice
of cases, its layout, its duration and the system of recording the data generated from it1. 3
Like primary data, secondary data are also equally frequently used in theses. Secondary
data are obtainable from books, journals, proceedings, magazines reports, etc. Similarly, varied
official documents of different national and international organizations collect and maintain data
on different aspects of nations production, consumption, investment, trade, finance, markets,
labor, business and industry. Further, national governments regularly publish statistics on
education, healthcare, income, employment, bonds, stocks, exchange rates, foreign investment,
land, water, energy, communication, etc. These statistics are accessible to the interested
individuals and organizations, inter alia, for research. Unpublished research theses and files of
different government departments, agencies, private business firms and non-government
organizations are also a good source of secondary data. In fact, any data, which are collected,
organized, processed and recorded in some usable form account for secondary data. Just as in the
case of primary data, the researcher should explain directly the source, composition and
transformation of the secondary data used for analysis. The researcher can, for example, say that
the required data on annual production of crops, prices, fertilizer intake and annual supply of
irrigation water for the period from 1990 to 2008 were obtained from different issues of Pakistan
Economic Survey. Similarly, one can further say that in measuring the risk involved in the prices
of stocks of various companies, shares traded daily were first aggregated by weeks and then used
to determine the standard deviations to compare the risk involved in their stocks. Briefly, all the
modifications or transformations of data made need to be explained one by one so that one can
understand how the final set of data was prepared for the required analysis.
In certain instances, both the primary and secondary data may have been used in analysis.
Again, both these sets of data where used should be properly explained. Many times, students
use time series data in their theses, which may or may not be complete. There is a need and
researchers do fill the gaps in the time series before using them. In such cases, the process of
filling the gaps in the time series applied should be explained. Further, the expected impact on
the analysis of filling of the gaps also needs to be explained then and there. For example, take the
case of the first example mentioned above. If certain secondary data were also used in analyzing
the behavior of small-scale enterprises, one can say that the primary data were supplemented
with secondary data on annual production, advertising expenditure, sales abroad, etc of the
sample enterprises obtained from their annual reports and from government documents like Year
_____________________________________________________________________________
1.
It may be realized that the required data were mentioned as collected from a sample of firms, households,
university students and skilled workers in certain manufacturing units. As such, there is no need of
describing the nature of population from which the sample was drawn. The survey data based on a sample
implies that, for example, the chosen small-scale enterprises are drawn from the population of all such
enterprises in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Similarly, a sample of 100 students is drawn from all the students
of the named public sector universities and thus all the students of these universities constitute the
population from which the sample was drawn.
Book of Statistics 2008, Annual Exports and Imports of Pakistan 2000-2008 and Pakistan
Economic Surveys 2007-2008. The gaps where existed were filled by using, for example, the
techniques of interpolation and moving averages where relevant.
.Analytical Framework or Procedure of Analysis
The data collected are analyzed to obtain results. The method of analysis may involve the
application of a specific analytical framework or a model. In certain cases, the method of
analysis applied may be very simple. It may, for example, involve the calculations of simple
percentages or proportions of sample responses recorded in a questionnaire or the computation of
certain financial ratios from the balance sheets of companies. Similarly, it may concern only the
finding of a simple frequency distribution of sample households by income or constructing a
frequency distribution of sample students by level of intelligence. The results thus obtained may
then be depicted in suitable tables. In some cases, the specific features of data collected may be
represented by and explained with diagrams/graphs depending upon the objective of the analysis.
It frequently comes across that most of the tables especially small tables embodied in the
thesis are followed by graphs or bar charts or pie charts showing the same results. It may be
necessary in certain cases to depict the results in tables and then also to show them by graphs at
the same place. However, it is not necessary that every table should be accompanied by a graph
showing the same results. Putting a graph after every table showing the same results is just a
repetition of the findings, which should be avoided as far as possible. The best approach perhaps
is to judge and use either a table or a graph whichever is deemed suitable for presenting the
results. In fact, greater attention should be paid to the discussion of results than to adding more
and more tables and graphs in the text. Presentation of findings in tables followed by graphs
without a concomitant discussion does not serve the purpose of research data analysis.
It is also likely that the needed analysis of a thesis was proposed to be performed by
applying some econometric model or some advanced mathematical technique. To this end, the
researcher may have designed a model or proposed a functional relationship(s) among certain
variables on his/her own. It is a popular approach in quantitative schemes of analysis. It is quite
common in research to apply different variations of the frequently applied models for them to
suit the particular situation surrounding the research problem under investigation. It may also be
the case that the researcher has adopted a model developed and applied by some other researcher
in some earlier research work as such or has adapted it to suit the underlying purpose of research.
There is a need in all such cases to properly explain whatever the formulation of new models/
functional relationships and the modifications of old models were made for performing the
intended analysis1. The idea is that the model is explained as lucidly as possible so that its
application is thoroughly understood by others. For example, the analysis of a thesis may relate
to the identification through a regression model of the factors that affect the exports of a product.
_____________________________________________________________________________
1. There are some models, which are very famous and have widely been used by different researchers without any
adaptation. The researcher may only refer to the application of those models without any illustration except for some
explanation about its necessity or relevance for the study at hand. The same holds for those models which are very
lengthy and to explain them in detail will be time-consuming and thus not desirable. However, some important
features of the model being considered for application may be explained in the appendix.
Theoretically, the exports of a product may be expected to be affected by the following factors:
Y=f (P, Po, Et-1, A, Q)
Where,
Y= Annual exports in million tons,
P= Price in the export market in rupees per ton
P0 = Price of the competing product in rupees per ton, Et-1= Volume of exports in previous year
A = Annual advertising expenditure in rupees,
Q = Quality index of the product
This general function may then have been expressed in the following specific regression
function with the chosen independent variables assumed to be linearly related to the overtime
exports, for example, of leather jackets:
Y= b0 + b1P + b2Po + b3 Et-1 + b4A+ b5Q
Estimation of Model
The coefficients of this model i.e. b0, b1, b2, b3, b4, and b5, and, for that matter, those of
any other similar model(s) may be estimated by applying, for example, the ordinary least squares
(OLS) method of regression analysis. The estimation of this model needs time-series data for the
variables included in it. Since time series data often suffer from different econometric problems
like autocorrelation, multicollinearity, etc1. Such data must be pre-tested for the presence of any
such problem. If any econometric problem is detected, it must be removed before estimating
such regression functions. The running of such models without remedying the econometric
problems involved does not give best estimates of their coefficients. The remedies of
commonly occurring econometric problems are embodied in relevant computer packages.
In many instances, the original data, especially published data, may not be in the desired
form. Under such situations, the original data may have been modified in accordance with the
requirements of the model estimated. The modifications made of the original data should be
explicitly stated at the time of defining variables or explaining the data. If the required analysis
is performed by applying the methodology designed by some other researcher, it should be
similarly explained. The universally known models may be used as such by mentioning them
without any explanation.
Estimation and Application of Statistical Concepts
Statistical analysis of data often involves the determination of their means, standard
deviations, coefficients of variation, correlation coefficients or the values of the tests of
significance like Z, t, F, Chi-square, etc. The researcher should know the procedures of deriving
______________________________________________________________________________
1. In economics studies, which are strongly quantitative in nature, data used for analysis are also needed to be
tested for the presence of certain additional econometric problems like the endogeniety, stationarity,
specification bias, aggregation bias, etc. They need to be rectified before estimation of the model. The data
that are susceptible to seasonal variations are to be treated to remove them. If the analytical framework or
model specified for a thesis comprises of more than one equation, then the issue of identification is also
required to be resolved before its estimation.
them but should not write and present the actual procedures of determining them in the thesis. It
is because the methods of their determination are well established. Only the values of the needed
statistical concepts are needed to be reported and discussed with reference to their relevance and
significance for the chosen research problem.
Application and Analysis of Likert Scale Responses
Likert scales are frequently used in measuring the degree of agreement or disagreement
of the chosen respondents with different point of views expressed in different statements with
reference to different questions included in questionnaires. In Likert scale related survey
questionnaires, the given questions have a certain number of post-fixed boxes. These boxes are
assigned numbers 1, 2, and so on either in ascending or in descending order indicating the degree
of agreement or disagreement with the statement about some aspect of the issue at large.
Usually, there are as many boxes as opinions are there. However, there are usually 3 or 5 options
associated with each statement. Each sample respondent is asked to tick a box in consonance
with his/her level of agreement/disagreement with the given statement. The collection of data
is then followed by its processing and analysis. The processing of data relates either to their
arranging or transferring on certain data sheets or to their feeding into a computer for performing
the desired analysis or obtaining results on application of appropriate analytical procedure.
How the sample responses recorded in questionnaires designed on a pattern of Likert scale may
be analyzed is explained below:
It is possible to analyze the responses question by question. However, it is not always
necessary. It should, if at all, be limited only to a few questions. It is because the main objective
of analysis is to find out if there is any regularity in the overall sample responses. On the basis
of such a regularity found in the sample responses, the researcher generalizes about the
attitudes, opinions and reactions of the population from which the interviewees were drawn. To
this end, two approaches may be adopted. First, questions in the questionnaire may be arranged
in categories around the main dimensions of the chosen research problem and the values of the
required statistical concepts calculated for the responses of those questions. Second, all the
responses to all the questions included in the entire questionnaire may be considered together to
calculate the values of the same statistical concepts.
If the researcher has proposed to test a specific hypothesis, then he/she needs first to
calculate what are called the scores of respondents. The calculated scores are then used to find
out the values of the relevant statistical concepts. The scores are calculated, when, for example, a
researcher intends to test the difference in the average performance of two groups of students, in
the degree of job stress of male and female doctors, in the average marks obtained by a class
before and after attending a training program, in the average number of mistakes made by
students of two-age groups in a written test of a subject taught by two different methods and so
on. Similarly, a researcher may also like to test the difference in the proportions of workers of
some enterprise in favor or against some new policy of fixing wages. As mentioned above, the
testing of a hypothesis may proceed in two different ways. The scores of the sample respondents
may be calculated for questions about some important dimensions of the research problem or for
all the questions put together. These scores are then used to find out the values of Z, t, etc, which
enable the researcher to accept or reject the chosen (null) hypothesis (hypotheses). Similarly, if
the researcher is interested in testing statistically the significance of the differences in the
averages or proportions of scores of more than two groups of respondents, then the analysis will
extend to the application of ANOVA and the Chi- square, respectively.
The process involved in the analysis of the Likert scale related data is explained here with
the help of a practical, though hypothetical, example. Suppose a student has proposed to attempt
a thesis on reactions of regular and contract employees to a new incentive package adopted by
their employer named XYZ. Further suppose that the new incentive package was introduced to
improve the efficiency of its workers. The package proposed, for example, has both material and
non-material incentives. The material components relate primarily to higher wages and salaries,
increased overtime payment rates, promotion, annual pay increments, annual bonuses,
reimbursement of medical expenses, provision of subsidized residential accommodation, etc. The
non-material incentives, on the other hand, are sick leave, training opportunities, increased
participation in decision-making process, etc. However, the offer of the new incentive package is
subject to the fulfillment of some additional conditions. Those constrains account for strict
penalties for uninformed absence from duty, weekly progress report, decline in performance,
involvement in labor union activities, progressive tax deduction, reduction in casual leave, etc.
The needed data are proposed to be collected from 50 respondents each from the regular and
contract employees of this company. The selected employees were interviewed and their
responses to 30 Likert scale-related questions were recorded in a questionnaire. Each question
had 5 options showing the level of agreement with the issue referred to in the statement.
Now suppose the questions asked relate to different dimensions of the proposed incentive
package. For example, the main dimensions of the package are the level of emoluments,
opportunities of training and promotion, job security, education and healthcare benefits and
accumulation of valuable occupational experience. Further suppose that the questionnaire is
designed in a way that there are six questions regarding each of these dimensions. As mentioned
above, the sample respondents were advised to tick out of 5 boxes associated with each question,
which was consistent with their level of agreement with the issue reflected in the statement.
As mentioned before, the analysis of the responses thus recorded may first be performed
by some important individual questions. For example, one question related to the enhancement
of salary and overtime payment, which may have been worded as below:
Do you agree that the financial increase announced in the incentive package will improve your
work efficiency?
Each sample respondent was asked to show his/her level of agreement either by
personally ticking or suggesting to the enumerator to tick one particular box as is done below:
Strongly Disagree
1
Disagree
2
Neutral
3
Agree
4
Strongly disagree
5*
*The second row may not be there for every question. It may be mentioned in the instructions that the numbers
increase in an ascending or decrease in a descending order, as the case may be.
The sample responses to this and similar other questions may be analyzed and the results
presented in a table as shown below.
Table1.1. Percentage Distribution of Responses of Contract and Regular Employees
Level of Agreement
Regular Employees
Contract Employees
Strongly Disagree
10
14
Disagree
14
20
Neutral
16
14
Agree
34
30
Strongly Agree
26
22
Source: Derived from the Thesis Survey Data
To test a hypothesis about the difference between the levels of agreement of the two
classes of employees, the over all percentages or the mean scores of the responses of all the
sample respondents should be calculated. Whether or not the difference in the proportions or in
the mean scores thus calculated is significant is tested by applying the tests of Z or t depending
on whether the sample is large (size is 30 or more) or small (sample size less than 30),
respectively.
The process of measuring the scores to test a hypothesis, for example, about the
difference in the means of the levels of agreement involves the addition of the numerical
numbers of the options ticked or suggested by each respondent for each question. This process of
calculating the needed scores of the sample respondents and their means is explained below:
Regular Employees
Respondent
Q1.
Q2
...Qn
Score
.
1
2
3
.
.
50
As mentioned before, suppose each of the main dimensions of the given incentive
package has 8 statements. In line with the above scheme, the score of each respondent from the
responses of 8 statements, which is the sum of the numerical values of the boxes ticked or
suggested, will range from 8 to 40. This range is determined by supposing two hypothetical
scenarios: Suppose if a respondent ticks or suggests, in an extreme case, the first box of all the 8
statements. If the first box is assigned a numerical value of 1, then the sum of the numbers of the
boxes thus ticked or suggested of 8 statements will be 8. If, on the other extreme, we suppose
that a respondent in the other extreme case ticks or suggests the last box of each statement, which
is assigned the numerical value of 5, the sum of the numbers of those boxes will be 40. However,
the individual scores are expected for this hypothetical case to normally lie between 8 and 40.
Such scores calculated for all the sample respondents will form a set of values equal to the
number of the sample employees working as regular employees. A similar set of scores can be
found for the sample contract employees. These two sets of scores can subsequently serve to
work out the mean scores, which are then used to measure the values of Z and t. A comparison of
the calculated values of Z and t with their respective book values will enable the researcher to
reject or accept the (null) hypothesis.
As mentioned above, the same scheme can be extended to calculate the overall scores
for the sample respondents for all the questions included in the questionnaire. Suppose a
questionnaire designed to collect the needed data has, in all, 30 questions written in single
statement each, the sample scores will range from 30 to 150. If there is more than one statement
associated with each question, the range of the score will change accordingly.
CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
This chapter reports the results of the analysis. In fact, this is the place where the
researcher draws upon his/her ability to explain the findings of the research conducted and make
a case in relation to the thesis. For this purpose, the researcher presents the consolidated results
and discusses them as to what they mean, what message they convey, what theoretical and
empirical significance they carry and the last but not the least what policy relevance they have
for the decision-makers.
It needs to be mentioned on the onset that the empirical results of the analysis serve as the
basis to build an argument about the outcome of the analysis. The empirical findings establish
the extent of the role played by different factors in the occurrence of the problem in question. In
general, the analysis of the findings is the discussion of the behavior, performance, efficiency,
motivation, achievements, etc of individuals, social groups, labor, markets, organizations,
decision-makers, etc learnt from the analysis. The aim is to coherently argue about the
significance and policy-relevance of the results. As such, the discussion of the results of analysis
goes beyond their presentation in tables and graphs.
The discussion of the results should explain the message(s) or lesson(s) ascertained
especially from the empirical analysis and the results obtained. The results presented in any
tabular or graphical form should serve to support the argument being put forward about their
possible impact on individuals, organizations, groups, sectors, markets and even the society at
large. A simple literal description of the contents of tables and graphs does not serve the real
purpose of a research thesis. What is required is a proper discussion of results in terms of their
theoretical as well as practical significance and their implications for purposes of formulation of
policies for the area under focus. It has often been seen that the results of analysis are presented
in tables and then they are immediately followed by graphs based on the same results. The
graphical presentation of the same results immediately after the table amounts to a great extent to
their repetition. The ideal approach is to present the results at one place in tables and at another
place by graphs depending on their suitability. The results presented in either form must be
accompanied by their meaningful discussion.
The presentation of empirical results in tables1 is a fairly popular approach followed in
virtually all types of research works including theses. Are there any rules of preparing a table?
There are perhaps no hard and fast rules of preparing tables. However, researchers seem to
tacitly agree to the tabular presentation of the results, which meets the following conditions:
1. Numbering of Tables and Selection of their Heading. Each table must have a Number and
a properly worded Heading. If the table embodies some time-series data, then the relevant
year or the period of time should also be mentioned there in the heading. The heading of a
table must necessarily be written on the top of the table.
______________________________________________________________________________
1.
It is not only the chapter on data analysis, where numerical results are presented in tables. Different tables
containing different sets of data are also included in other sections of a thesis. In certain instances, certain
important data derived from other documents are put in tables to buttress the discussion.
2. Contents of Table. Each table should have only a reasonable quantity of data in its body:
The quantity of data should neither be too small nor too much. Preparing a table with two
to three values of any item may not fully justify it. On the other hand, putting too much
data in a table is not appreciated either because it tends to render it uninteresting and even
incomprehensible
3. Placing of Tables in Text. Efforts should be made to place a table in one page. Splitting
the table in two pages should be avoided as for as possible. Putting a table in a full page
irrespective of its size is also allowed. It is only in research journals where tables are
variously adjusted and parsimoniously accommodated because of serious space
limitations. Since a thesis does not usually have such serious space limitations, tables
should be decently but not unnecessarily decoratively framed and located at suitable
places in the text.
4. Footnotes of Table. Any footnote about the data put in a table should be indicated
through superscripts of small letters like a, b and c and so on and explained at its
bottom.
5. Source of Data. All the source(s) of data put in a table must be clearly documented. In
fact, the sources of all data mentioned any where in the text must be documented
Discussion of Results
How the tabulated results of analysis may be discussed is explained with an example. The
chosen example shows the tabular presentation and discussion of the results obtained from a
study on the estimation of the price and income elasticities of demand of certain consumer items.
Price and Income Elasticities of Household Consumption Products
The price and income elasticities of demand have great policy relevance. On the basis of
the characteristic values of these elasticities, consumer products are classified into different
categories. Specifically, the products with values of the price elasticity of demand less than one
are categorized as necessities and those with greater than one as luxuries of life. Similarly, the
products with smaller values of income elasticities of demand are termed as inferior goods and
those with large values as normal and luxurious products. Similarly, the values of the price
elasticities of demand serve to assess the probable effect on total revenue of producer of changes
in sale prices of commodities produced. Further, knowledge about the nature of the elasticities
is also useful in assessing the impact on government revenue of levying, for example, sales taxes
on consumer goods. The price and income elasticities of consumer demand for common food
commodities are reported in Table 4.5. They are derived with regression analysis of data based
on time-series and Household Income and Expenditure Surveys (HIES).
Elasticities of Meat and Poultry Group
As expected, all the own-price elasticities of beef, mutton, chicken and eggs are
associated with negative signs and have reasonable magnitudes. However, the own-price
elasticity of chicken is not statistically significant. The consumer demand for beef, mutton and
chicken depicts an inelastic pattern while the elasticity of demand for fish and, to some extent,
eggs shows an elastic behavior. More specifically, except for fish, the own-price elasticity of all
items included in this group is less than one, indicating their demand to be inelastic. What does
this signify is important to know for many purposes? For instance, the own-price elasticity of
beef at -0.46 shows that, holding income and prices of other commodities constant, a 10 %
increase in the price of beef leads to only 4.6% decrease in beef demand. A similar increase in
the prices of mutton and eggs reduces their demand by 3.7% and 8.3% respectively. By
comparison the own-price elasticity of fish was found as highly elastic where a 10% increase in
the price of fish reduces fish demand by about 28.5%.
The values of the elasticities of demand for beef, mutton and chicken suggest that sellers
of these products have the leverage to raise prices because doing so will ensure more revenues
for them. Similarly, government can also be tempted to generate more revenue by levying, for
example, sales taxes on these commodities as they are characterized by their inelastic consumer
demand. In practice, however, government policies of taxation should accord precedence to the
welfare of both producers and consumers over the impulses of generating revenues by taxing
household food items.
Meats, except for beef and fish, have relatively higher income elasticities among food
commodities analyzed. A cursory look at their values in the above table will reveal that the
relative magnitudes of the income elasticities of meat and poultry products are consistent with
their relative ranking in consumer preferences. Within the meat group, consumers have a lower
preference for beef than for mutton, chicken and fish. This agrees with earlier research evidence
on the relative values of their elasticities (Burki, 1997). This is also indicated by relatively a
large difference in the price of beef vis--vis other relatively more popular meats considered for
analysis. Thus, the cheapest meat (beef) has lowest income elasticity while mutton and chicken,
which account for relatively more expensive meat, have significantly higher income elaticities.
The results relating to the other food groups mentioned in this table may be discussed in
a similar manner. It may be realized from the above discussion that the results presented in this
table are not repeated in words; only the significance and the message emanating from them are
highlighted. To mention that such and such meats, for example, have such and suchnumerical
values of their income and price elasticities will be just a repetition. It should be avoided.
Analysis of Responses to Dichotomous Questions
Many questionnaires prepared by students for their theses also include certain
dichotomous questions. Responses to such questions are then frequently analyzed again question
by question and their results, which are generally the frequencies of sample respondents ticking
or suggesting a box headed Yes or No, are presented in tables. In such cases, series of small
tables are presented and they are invariably accompanied by bar charts or pie charts based on the
same frequencies or percentages depicted in them. The discussion of these tables has often
culminated in a mere translation of the numerical figures in words. It is suggested that the
discussion should be about the main outcomes and not about the tables as such. One way to do
this may be that the questions may again be grouped into certain categories and each question
may be represented by a suitable word indicative of the theme behind it and the relevant
frequencies or percentages may
Table 4.3. Values of Own-Price and Income Elasticity of Food Commodities
Consumed in Pakistan
Commodity Group
Price Elasticity
t-value
Income Elasticity
Data Source
Meats
Beef
-0.463
-2. 64
0.414
Mutton
-0.371
-1.37
0.919
Chicken
-0.144
-0.62
0.990
Fish
-2.847
-10.99
0.608
Eggs
-0.838
-6.93
0.377
Time Series
HIES
Pulses
Gram
-0.918
-4.02
0.380
Masoor (Lentils)
-2.728
-1.70
0.513
Mong
-2.937
-1.19
0.353
Mash
0.140a
0.16
0.519
Time-Series
Vegetables
Potatoes
-0.240
-1.05
0.357
Onion
-0.241
-2.12
0.324
Tomato
-0.164
-0.74
0.382
Garlic
-0.257
-1.57
0.206
Rice
-0.158
-0.79
0.737
Wheat
-0.477
-1.86
0.553
Maize
-0.169
-0.81
0.693
HIES
Ghee
-0.003
-0.01
0.748
Milk
-0.861
-5.60
0.553
Cereals
Dairy
Time-Series
Tea and Beverages

Tea
-0.107
-0.55
0.721
Beverages
-0.838
-3.43`
0.663
Source: Extracted from Table 3.1 in Chaudhary et al (1999), Income and Price Elasticities of Agricultural, Industrial and Energy
Products by Sector and Income Groups for Pakistan, Research Report prepared for Planning Commission, Government of
Pakistan, Islamabad.
a) This coefficient is invalid but statistically insignificant. Therefore, it is meaningless.
be given in columns with headings of Yes and No. The discussion of these tables should
then relate to the overall message ascertainable from them.
The discussion of the results obtained from the analysis of the responses to dichotomous
questions is shown below with the help again of a hypothetical example of Management
Training Program and Productivity of MNK. It is believed that continuous training of
employees is necessary for any organization because the skills learnt earlier are susceptible to
turn quickly ineffective on the advent of new technologies of production, storage, transportation,
and marketing. In fact, no organization operating under intense competition can afford to ignore
the application of new technologies. The use of new technologies, in turn, necessitates regular
up-gradation of competence of workers. Realizing the necessity of regular improvement in the
competence of employees reinforced by the adoption of new technologies, the above named firm
has been running a regular program of training. However, despite the provision of skill
improvement training opportunities commensurate with the requirements of the new
technologies, the employee efficiency has not improved resulting in stagnation of output. Since
the cost of production has tended to rise with the passage of time because of general inflation and
increased expenses on use of new technologies, the prevalence of work inefficiencies of
employees has tended to erode the competitive position of the firm in question. As such, it has
given rise to a serious concern about the effectiveness of its training program in effect. To know
why the training program in operation has not succeeded in upgrading the skills of the
employees, the executive of MNK has decided to conduct a survey of those who had received
training with a view to identifying the factors that might have thwarted the required improvement
in the competence of employees. Indeed, the remedial measures and sources of actions required
to be undertaken would perhaps be more effective if they are based on prior identification of the
causes of the lack of the needed improvement in the efficiency of the workforce. Analysis of
data gathered in a survey of those who had received training can enable the identification of the
factors that may have frustrated any improvement in the efficiency of the employees of MNK.
Suppose a questionnaire is prepared with a set of dichotomous questions and the sample
respondents have recorded their responses by ticking or suggesting the boxes in consonance with
their views about the factors influencing the effectiveness of the training received. Suppose the
survey questionnaire applied for collecting the needed data contained, inter alia, the following
questions related to those factors/reasons that might have adversely affected the improvement in
skill competence of the employees of MNK.
Questions
1. Was the training based on sound planning?
2. Was the training relevant for your job?
3. Was the methodology of imparting training conducive for improvement?
4. Were the teaching materials relevant for the expected training?
5. Were the training sessions conducted during the prime time of the day?
6. Did the training proceed with any alleviation of work responsibilities?
Yes
No
7. Were the communication skills of the instructors of the right standard?

8. Did the trainees participate actively in the discussion?
9. Were you too old for the required training?
10. Did you get enough time for the needed practical work?
11. Did you get any raise in salary after completing the training?
12. Were you given any promotion after completing the training?
13. Did you move after training to another better job in the same pay?
14. Did the treatment of your supervisor improve after training?
Now also suppose that the firm has contacted 150 such employees as had attended the
training program for responses of the above questions. The responses tallied for Yes and No
show the number of respondents for or against the reasons cited in the questions. Now the point
is how to present the resultant frequencies or percentages in the form of a table. As mentioned
above, we need to represent each question by a word/concept reflective of the specific theme
behind it. An effort is made to show the themes behind these questions and the resultant
percentages in the following table.
Table 4.6. Factors Affecting Effectiveness of Training Program of MNK1
S. No.
Factor
Yes (%)
1
Sound planning
57
2
Relevance to job
51
3
Impressive methodology
60
4
Material relevance
52
5
Prime time classes
38
Workload Alleviation
44
7
Instructors communication standard
51
8
Class participation
40
9
Age
35
10
Practical work time
47
11
Salary enhancement
20
12
Promotion
15
13
Job shift
5
14
Supervisors attitude
48
No (%)
43
49
40
48
62
56
49
60
65
53
80
85
95
52
Source: Based on Survey Data

1. The percentages depicted in this table are hypothetical figures presented only for the sake of explanation.
The objective of this explanation is to show how the responses to different questions may be
combined in as few tables as possible. Representing the resultant percentages of each question by
each separate table is not desirable. It may be clear from the figures of the above table that
combining the resultant percentages in one good table can enable us to understand what could on
the whole be the reasons for the lack of improvement in the competence of employees of MNK.
The above questions can also be divided into, for example, two groups and their percentages can
thus be represented in two tables, if the researchers so wishes.
The researcher should not now repeat the percentages depicted in the table in words. Instead,
he/she should explain the main outcome (s) of the tabulated results. One may start the needed
explanation of the results in somewhat the following manner: A close reflection of Table 4.6
reveals that more or less a majority of the respondents considered the training program as
properly designed and planned. It is supported by the fact that the contents and the methodology
of the training program followed in conducting it as well as the standard of communication,
though to a somewhat lesser extent, were regarded as satisfactory by the participants of the
training program. Similarly, the usefulness of the training program examined has also been
established on its relevance to the jobs of the trainees. However, it seems that it has not improved
the work efficiency of certain employees primarily, if not exclusively, because of no relationship
of successful completion of training with any financial incentives or performance related
rewards. The extent of learning new techniques of performing the old jobs seems to have been
restricted by inadequate participation in class discussions, insufficient relief in office work and
holding of training sessions on non-prime time of the day. It transpires from the overall analysis
that the effectiveness of the training can improve considerably if a care is exercised in selecting
the relevant training material, employees of right age i.e. employees of younger age groups and
instructors with adequate, if not brilliant, communication skills. Its effectiveness will further
improve if reasonable incentives are provided to those who complete training with high
performance. Further, supervisors positive reinforcements for work for those who have
completed training can serve as catalysts for improvement in their efficiency.
It may be realized that an effort has been made here not to repeat the percentages in words.
The discussion has centered on what is being highlighted by the relative magnitudes of the
percentages in favor or against different aspects of the training program. Any researcher, who
has reviewed earlier research works on the topic and collected the needed data in the right
quantity and has personally analyzed it, will be in a very good position to provide an excellent
commentary of the results obtained. He/she must be able to critically examine the relationships
existing among the relevant variables, which are the ultimate objectives of conducting research
especially for a thesis. The approach adopted above can be followed in discussing other results
of analysis performed for a thesis.
CHAPTER 5
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This is the last chapter of a thesis. It recapitulates its entire research work. Specifically, it
describes very briefly the research problem, data, method of collection and technique of analysis.
It summarizes the analysis and reports its significant results. This is also the place where the
main conclusions of the analysis are discussed briefly with an emphasis on their implications and
policy relevance.
While summarizing the thesis, this chapter also provides certain suggestions for further
research in the area, if any. Any limitations that may characterize the study are also listed here in
a very brief form. Another requirement of this chapter in to give certain recommendations for
resolving the issue pointed out in the thesis. It must necessarily be kept in mind that the
recommendations advanced must be based on the findings of the analysis performed. No
recommendation however good should be given, which is not supported by the analysis
performed in the thesis. It is also perhaps desirable that only those recommendations should be
given which are feasible. It is useless to give any recommendation which is hard to implement
due to the scarcity of resources.
REFERENCES
All the sources of literature in terms of books, research articles, monographs, research
reports, news papers, theses, magazines, brochures and data books from which the researcher
may have directly used any material, extracted any material, derived any idea, paraphrased any
part, gathered any theoretical or empirical evidence cited in the thesis are included in the list of
references. However, those books, magazines, articles, reports, government documents and
office files, which are read as such but are not actually cited in the text, are not included in this
list. The list of reference is placed in the last chapter of the thesis.
As mentioned before, there are three different methods or systems of reporting references
or documenting sources of literature cited in research works. These systems have a number of
similarities and differences among them. Similarly, every method has its own merits and
demerits. One outstanding requirement agreed in all the systems of listing references is that all
the sources cited in the text must be written by arranging them alphabetically with last name or
surname of the author first. It is also unanimously agreed that all the sources must also be
cited in the text with only the last name(s) of the author(s) and the citation sources and entries
in the reference list must be identical in names and years. The remaining requirements of
documenting sources are somewhat specific to each method. In my view, the best approach is to
follow only one system throughout the entire thesis to avoid inconsistencies and ambiguities.
With this in view, some examples of documenting sources of literature in a thesis are given
below, which are closer, though not identical, to the APA system of referring sources:
1. Reference of a Single Author Research Article Published in Some Periodical.
How such a reference may appear in the reference entry list may be seen with reference to
the following example. Suppose Muhammad Ali Chaudhary wrote an article on A Quantitative
Analysis of Procurement Price Policy, which was published in Pakistan Economic and Social
Review in 1979. If a student has cited it in his/her thesis, it may appear in the list of references in
the following style:
Chaudhary, Muhammad Ali (1979), A Quantitative Analysis of Procurement Price Policy
Pakistan Economic and Social Review, Vol. XVII (3-4), PP. 63-80.
In many cases, the first and second names of authors are written in abbreviated forms. In
such cases, the reference will be documented as shown below:
Chaudhary, M. A. (1979), A Quantitative Analysis of Procurement Price Policy, Pakistan
Economic and Social Review, Vol. XVII (3-4), PP. 63-80.
Jones, L. P. (1985), Public Enterprises for whom: Perverse Distributional Consequences of
Public Operational Decisions, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol.33,
PP. 333-347.
In some cases, the name of the periodical in which a certain article is published is written in
italics. Then the above reference will appear in the following form:
Chaudhary, Muhammad Ali (1979), A Quantitative Analysis of Procurement Price Policy,

Pakistan Economic and Social Review, Vol. XVII (3-4), PP. 63-80.
It may be realized that in reference the last name when written first is
separated from the first and the second names by a comma. It should also be clear that
each reference has a year of its publication mentioned along with it. If any author has more than
one article published in the same year and are referred in the same thesis, then the article
published first will be indicated by putting small letter a after the year and then b with the
same year for the second publication like, for example, (2008a), (2008b) and so on. This holds
even when two, three or more authors have jointly published more than one article and is cited
in a thesis. The following example will explain it.
Chaudhary, M. A. (1987a), An Analysis of Price and Income Elasticities of Food Grains,
Pakistan Economic and Social Review, Vol. XXII (1), PP. 21-38.
Chaudhary, M. A. (1987b), An Economic Analysis of Interrelationships in Consumer Demand
for Food Grains, Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, PARC, Vol. 1(2), PP. 184-202.
2. Reference of a Double Author Research Article Published in a Journal
Chaudhary, M. A. and Ishfaq, M. (2004), Credit Worthiness of Rural Borrowers of Pakistan,
Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 20, PP. 116-134.
Weatherspoon, D. D. and Reardon, T. (2003), The Rise of Supermarkets in Africa: Implications
for Agri-food Systems and the Rural Poor, Development Policy Review, Vol. 21, PP. 333-356.
2. Reference of a Triple Author Research Articles Published in a Research Journal
If an article is published jointly by three authors, the names of all of them should appear
in the same manner as for two authors. In fact, it is a simple extension of a two author reference.
Chaudhary, M. A., Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed and Naqvi, Kaukab Hassan (1998), Estimation of
Farm Output Supply and Input Demand Elasticities: Translog Profit Function Approach,
Pakistan Development Review, Vol. 37 (4), PP. 1031-1048.
Christenson, L. R., Jorgenson, D. W. and Lau, L. J. (1976), Transcendental Logarithmic
Production Function, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 55, PP. 28-45.
4. Reference of Research Article Published by more than Three Authors
The alphabetized name of the first author is followed by a symbol of et al with et and al
parts separated by one space as shown below:
Amel. D. and et al (2004), Consolidation and Efficiency in the Financial Sector: A Review of
the International Evidence, Journal of Banking and Finance, Vol. 28, PP. 2493-519.
Flood, Patrick C. and et al. (1997), Top Management Teams and Pioneering: Resource-Based
View, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 8 (3), PP. 291-306.
5. References of Working Papers and Reports of Research Project.
The name(s) of the author(s) of working papers and research reports .will appear in the same
manner as shown above in the context of research articles. After the title of the working paper,
the name of the author and the agency for which it was written are mentioned. Further, the
number of pages of the report and paper may also be mentioned followed by PP as shown below:
Choudhri, Ehsan U. and Hakura, Dalia S. (2001), Exchange Rate Pass-Through to Domestic
Prices: Does the Inflationary Environment Matter? IMF Working Paper No. 1, 194 PP.
Chaudhary, M. A., Azim, Parvez and Abid, A. A. (1989), Skill Generation and Entrepreneurship
Development under Ostad-Shagird System, Research Project, Manpower Commission of
Pakistan and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 152 PP.
6. Reference of a Book
The names of authors whether one, two, three or more will appear in the same manner as
shown in the cases of research articles. However, the name of the book is to be followed by the
name of the publisher and place of publication as shown below:
Robbins, Stephen P. (2006), Organizational Behavior, Eleventh Edition, Prentice-Hall,
New York
Certo, Samuel C. (1986), Principles of Modern Management: Functions and Systems, Brown
Publishers, New York.
Salvatore, Dominick (1998), Managerial Economics in a Global Economy, Third Edition,
McGraw-Hill, Inc. New York.
If a citation refers to a source of a revised edition of a book, then add after the title of
the book in brackets (Rev. ed).
If a person has edited a book, its entry in the list of references should appear in the
following form:
Stiglitz, J. and Mathewson, G. F. (Eds) (1986), New Developments in the Analysis of Market
Structure, Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press, 1986.
7. Reference of a Work/Article discussed in some other work
Chaudhary, M. A., Naqvi, Kaukab H. and Mufti, S. S.,(1997), Dynamics of Agricultural
Technology, Wage Structure and Employment as discussed in Chaudhary, M.A.(1998-200),
Land Use, Technology Diffusion and Rural Employment, Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences,
Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, Vol. XXIV, PP. 1-17.
8. Reference of Article in Edited Books
Calvo, G. (1983), Staggered Contracts and Exchange Rate Policy, in J. A. Frankel (Ed).
Exchange Rates and International Macroeconomics, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Salop, J. K. (1974), Devaluation and Balance of Trade under Flexible Wages, in G. Horwich and
P.A. Samuelson (Eds), Trade, Stability and Macroeconomics, New York, New York Academic
Press.
9. Reference of papers presented in Conferences, Seminars, Workshops and Symposia
Longford, N. T. (1988), A Quasi-Likelihood Adaptation for Variance Component Analysis,
proceedings of Section of Computational Analysis, American Statistical Association,
Washington, USA.
Li, Y. C. and et al (2005), The Critical Factors Affecting Hospital Adoption of Mobile Nursing
Technologies, proceedings of 38th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences IEEE.
Chaudhary, M. A. and Chaudhry, M. Aslam (1994), Agricultural and Rural Development in
Pakistan: A Case Study, presented at the Seminar organized at Islamabad, Pakistan, by Islamic
Research and Training Institute (IRTI), Islamic Development Bank
10. References of Unpublished Theses.
Himytullah, (1994), Economic Analysis of Post-Harvest Farm Level Wheat Losses in North
Western Frontier Province of Pakistan, Unpublished Ph. D. Thesis, Department of Economics,
Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. .
11. References of Mimeographs
Linder, Robert K. (1980), Farm Size and Time Lag to Adoption of a Scale Neutral Innovation,
Mimeographed Adelaide, University of Adelaide.
12. References of Documents/Reports of Departments/ Ministries/ Organizations
Government of Pakistan (2007-2008), Pakistan Economic Survey 2007-2008, Finance Division,
Economic Advisors Wing, Islamabad.
UNDP (2005), Human Development Report, New York, USA.
World Bank (1996), The Agha Khan Rural Support Program: A Third Evaluation, XIX.
13. References of Internet

Kabir, Rezaul and Goldberg, Lawrence G. (2001), The Stock Market Performance of the
Central Banks of Belgium and Japan, Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=267068.
Khawaja, A. and Mian, A. (2004),Unchecked Intermediaries: Price Manipulation in an
Emerging Stock Market, BREAD Working Paper No. 6. Available at
http://www.cid.harvard.edu/bread/papers/061.pdf
14. References of Magazines and Dailies
Goldberg, L. G., (2007, September 7), Terrorism in Kashmir, Time, 120, PP. 30.
Chaudhary, A. A. (2008, December 22), Obstruction in Kala Bag Construction, The Pakistan
Times.
15. Reference of Article in Press
Chaudhary, F. A. (In press), Gender Disparities in Access to Leadership Opportunities.
16. Reference of Anonymous Research Articles/Works
Anonymous, (2008), Analysis of Employee Absenteeism from Office.
17. Reference of an Abstract of a Thesis
Mufti, S. S., (1995), Estimation of Cost Function in Pakistans Agriculture (Abstract), M. Phil.
Thesis, Department of Economics, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. .
18. Quotations and Paraphrases
In general, quotations especially when they are long are given in the following manner:
In highlighting the management of cultural diversity among workers, Robbins (2005) remarked:
Cultural diversity seems to be an asset for tasks that call for a variety of views.
But culturally heterogeneous teams have more difficulty in learning to work with
each other and in solving problems. The good news is that these difficulties seem
to dissipate with team (P.281).
Paraphrasing is attempted in about the following way:

Baumol (1982) holds that even if an industry has a single firm (monopoly) or only a few firms, it
will still operate like a perfectly competitive firm if entry of new firms is absolutely frees (p. 5)

Research Thesis Pattern

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Research Thesis Pattern

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A PATTERN OF ORGANIZING RESEARCH PROJECT/THESIS

A PATTERN OF ORGANIZING RESEARCH THESIS

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF JOB SATISFACTION

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF JOB SATISFACTION

A Thesis Submitted to IQRA University, Islamabad Campus,

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF JOB SATISFACTION

CHAPTER 4. DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Socio Economic and Demographic Characteristics of Sample

Contribution of Sectors to Gross Domestic Product of Pakistan

Source: Derived from the Thesis Survey Data

Tea and Beverages

7. Were the communication skills of the instructors of the right standard?

Source: Based on Survey Data

Chaudhary, Muhammad Ali (1979), A Quantitative Analysis of Procurement Price Policy,

13. References of Internet

Paraphrasing is attempted in about the following way:

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