Dissertations
Dissertations can be defined as a long piece of academic writing, split by headings or chapters, which demonstrates detailed research in your subject area. A dissertation provides you with the opportunity to study an area you are interested in in depth. They demonstrate your ability to research, your subject knowledge, organisational and project management skills, as well as independent working.
Research Title
What interests you? Start with an area of interest because you will be working on it for possibly up to a year.
Is there a gap, problem or issue? Finding a gap in research or an ongoing issue makes the research current. Find the gap by widely reading the subject area.
Are you developing a hypothesis or a research question? Do you believe something to be true and would like to prove or disprove it, or are you posing a more open question to find out the answer?
Research Methods/ Methodology
How you approach your dissertations is dependent on the type of research you choose to complete, but primary research and literature reviews are the most common types of dissertation. There are advantages and disadvantages to any approach, the final decision may be made due to what resources are available.
Primary Research
Primary research involves collecting data from primary (original) sources. For example, your study may involve questioning participants through a questionnaire or interview, or it may analyse company or government documents, or study the impact of one variable on another. The advantages of conducting primary research are that it is current, as you have collected up-to-date data, and is accurate to your topic, as it should directly answer your research question. The disadvantages are that it can be time-consuming to collect and analyse the information and to plan and organise the research (so you have to be extra organised).
Qualitative
Qualitative research is usually chosen when conducting research which is related to the social sciences (Wisker, 2009). It includes methods such as interviews, focus groups, and observations. These may come under terms such as ethnography, phenomenology or grounded theory.
Quantitative
Quantitative research is analysed objectively, it assumes there are facts which can be gathered (Whisker, 2009), usually using numbers or statistics. Don't be put off by the word statistics, this can simply mean in percentages or pie charts (and we've all used them at some point). Using a quantitative method allows a researcher to gather a large amount of data. It includes methods such as questionnaires, surveys, and observations.
Mixed Methods
A mixed methods study may include both a qualitative and quantitative approach. For example, someone might want to collect quantitative data from a questionnaire, whilst also conducting interviews to gain the depth of understanding from qualitative results.
Literature Reviews
Every dissertation should include a literature review, but a dissertation as a whole can be a literature review. Literature reviews involve collecting information from literature that is already available, similar to a long essay. It is a written argument that builds a case from previous research (Machi and McEvoy, 2012). The advantages of conducting a literature review include accessibility, deeper understanding of your chosen topic, identifying experts and current research within that area, and answering key questions about current research. The disadvantages might include not providing new information on the subject and, depending on the subject area, you may have to include information that is out of date.
Research Proposal
After you have decided on your topic and your approach, you will then look at writing your research proposal. A research proposal is a brief document that outlines the rationale and plan for your research project. In some subjects you might be asked to submit a research proposal before your dissertation. The proposal will show that you have planned the your project based on research and thought carefully about the timing.
Research Ethics
Research ethics are a set of principles that govern how you conduct your research, to make sure that moral guidelines are followed. Readers usually expect to see ethics in a research proposal, or mentioned in your writing, even if there doesn't appear to be any problematic ethical issues to be addressed. Setting ethical guidelines ensures there are set standards for conducting research to ensure the research will not harm people physically or emotionally.
If you are studying on a taught programme (undergraduate or taught postgraduate) then your module or programme leader will let you know what steps you need to take to make sure your research meets the necessary ethical standards. If you are a postgraduate research student then your supervisory team will be able to give you guidance on submitting a research ethics application.
Results
The purpose of a results section is to clearly present your findings. In most dissertations the results section will include facts, tables, figures, transcript summaries and descriptions of the most important, or noteworthy, findings (Rudestam and Newton, 2014), but not why the results are important. This advice may differ for some qualitative studies, as they can be discussed as the results are announced.
How do I do it?
Firstly, describe the structure of the results chapter. Then describe your sample, or the characteristics of the object of study. Next, organise your results into a logical order for example: examination of the research question, then examination of any additional questions created from earlier analysis (this may be in themes if you are delivering qualitative results).
What you are expected to include in your results can vary depending on the topic you have undertaken, or the data you have collected. Your supervisors may be able to help you understand the approach you might take.
Discussion
A discussion shows how you interpret your findings and how they fit with other research in that subject area. In the same order that you structured your results, you will relate your findings back to your literature review and any literature, thinking about how it compares to established theories and ideas. Are there any generalisations you can make? Have any theories developed as you have analysed your results (grounded theory approach) and how did they develop? Finally, at the end of your discussion section, you may want to comment on the appropriateness of your method to the study. After conducting the research, what were the limitations of your methods?
