HOW TO DESIGN a graduate level

DISSERTATION
JAYADEVI VENUGOPAL
12/06/2018
 STEP 1: FINDING THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM THAT YOU ARE ADDRESSING THROUGH YOUR RESEARCH?

RESEARCH PROBLEM SHOULD BE:

stated clearly and concisely;

significant i.e. not trivial or a repeat of previous work;

delineated, in order to limit its scope to practical investigation;

possible to obtain the information required to explore the problem;

possible to draw conclusions related to the problem, as the point of research is to find
some answers
 STEP 2: FRAMING THE RESEARCH

What are you going to do? – The subject

Why are you going to do it? – The purpose

How are you going to do it? – The research methods

When are you going to do it? – The time plan
 STEP 2: FRAMING THE RESEARCH

CENTRAL RESEARCH QUESTION: It should directly address the research problem

Example:
Are school exam results a true test of a student’s intelligence?

SUB QUESTIONS: Subquestions are derived from breaking down the central questions
based on different aspects that can be investigated separately
Example:
What constitutes intelligence?
What ways of testing intelligence are there?
What sort of school exams are there and how are they marked?
How do school exam criteria match those of the criteria of other
intelligence tests?
 STEP 2: FRAMING THE RESEARCH

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH YOUR RESEARCH?

CATEGORISE DESCRIBE EXPLAIN EVALUATE COMPARE

CORRELATE PREDICT CONTROL

 STEP 2: FRAMING THE RESEARCH

AIM: Aim can be derived from the central research question

This research aims to evaluate whether school exam results are a true test to the
students intelligence

OBJECTIVES: Objectives are the pointers that are used to achieve the aim of the
research. It can be derived from the sub questions (Usually 3 or 4 only)

Example:
To understand the nature of intelligence
To understand various ways through which intelligence can be measured
To understand the nature of school exams
To correlate the school exams to that of intelligence tests
 STEP 2: FRAMING THE RESEARCH

SCOPE, LIMITATION AND SIGNIFICANCE : Explain to what extent you are exploring
the topic and define its limits. ie, what are you doing (scope) and what are you not
doing (limit). Lastly, explain the significance of your topic. ie, if you complete the
topic, who will benefit from it and in what way.

Example:
The study is contextualised by the city schools of Kochi. However, it will be
conducted only on 10th grade CBSE students. This study will throw light on to the
emerging trends in altered examination techniques.
 STEP 3: LITERATURE REVIEW
Summarise the literature review and discuss the implications from the literature for your
study – the theoretical framework for your study. Here you can make an explicit
statement of the hypotheses, propositions or research questions and how they are
derived from existing theory and literature. Establish from the literature (or gap in the
literature) the need for this study and the likelihood of obtaining meaningful, relevant,
and significant results.

Example from Saranya (2017-18 dissertation)

Ozmen (2011) describes the specialization in each profession brought along some advantages and
disadvantages. The main disadvantage was the alienation of these professions. In time, some architects and
engineers developed a misconception that their responsibilities mutually divided according to each other’s
concerns and sensibilities (Ozmen, 2011). For architects, engineers had no idea about architectural design
but all the technical issues of the structure had to be solved by them (Peters, 1991). Engineers, on the other
hand, began to consider architects as mere artists whose, demands always contradict with the principles of
effective and economic structural design (Peters, 1991).
 STEP 4: METHODOLOGY
How are you going to achieve the objectives of the study and eventually reach the aim?

Data sources and Data types

Explain the source of your data. Details that you followed for conducting the survey, study, photographs, interviews etc. For eg: How many
case studies did you do, on what basis did you choose the case studies. Or, how did you carry out the survey. How many people did you
survey or, How did you choose participants for your interview and how many interviews did you do.

Use tables and explanations about this

.Data collection
Outline the procedure used in your study for collecting and recording data. This could include how, when (in what order) and where the data
was collected.

Data reduction and analysis

Discuss about how the data that you had collected was analysed and categorised.

Ethics
Explain whether you got written permission from your participants or concerned authorities to collect the required data. Explain the measures
taken to avoid plagiarism.
 STEP 4: RESEARCH ETHICS
EXAMPLE FROM Mohsina (2018-17 dissertation)

WRITTEN PERMISSION
FROM PARTICIPANTS

AVOID PLAGIARISM

DO NOT MANIPULATE
COLLECTED DATA

BE HONEST AND
UNBIASED
 STEP 4: RESULTS

What are the findings from the data that was collected as part of the research?

The findings from your primary and secondary data collection in a non-interpretive
neutral format. It should be factual and un-emotional. In the results chapter, there will be
very less reference to other books and articles. One can use tables and figures if
appropriate. Tables and figures should be named as follows:
Example from Saranya (2017-18 dissertation) STEP 4: RESULTS
Example from Hashna (2017-18 dissertation) STEP 4: RESULTS
Example from Mohsina (2017-18 dissertation) STEP 4: RESULTS
Example from Nidween (2017-18 dissertation) STEP 4: RESULTS
 STEP 4: DISCUSSION

Have you answered the central research question?

In the discussion chapter, there will be a lot of references to other books and articles. This is
because you are trying to build the theory that you studied in the literature review in light
of the new data that you have collected.
 STEP 4: CONCLUSION

what is the theory?

Where to from here?
What are the practical implications?
Discussion of where the study may be extended.