Literature Review Chapter Draft for the dissertation topic

Learning Goal: I

‘

m working on a management writing question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn

.

R.1 -: DRAFT – INTRODUCTION AND HEADINGS

In a minimum 5-pages, develop an introduction to your Chapter where you clearly explain the overall research topic, literature gathering process, and the scope and organization of the literature review. The introduction should conclude with a paragraph that describes the sequence of the literature you will include and the literature analysis process. After the introduction, you should incorporate possible headings/subheadings that you plan to cover and include at least 20 scholarly references.

R.2 – RESIDENCY: CHAPTER TWO DRAFT

Develop a draft of Chapter where you clearly provide a well developed introduction and other sections relevant to your topic. This should be your first complete draft of Chapter Two.

Before submitting, you should carefully review Chapter and check the following:

Note: You will need to continually review and update Chapter Two as you work on other areas of the dissertation. Chapters are not complete and final until approved by your committee and you successfully defend.

R.3 – RESIDENCY: POWERPOINT PRESENTATION

Prepare and submit a presentation of your topic and review of literature relevant to your topic.

‘..

I have attached the book for the help

we have to write about chapter 2- literature review which is Chapter 7 in this book. Title
Name
Graduate School
Headings
Summary
Summary
Summary
Summary
Summary
Summary
Summary
References
Writing a
Successful
Thesis or
Dissertation
Fred C. Lunenburg ~ Beverly J. Irby
Irby
Writing a
Successful
Thesis or
Dissertation
Tips and Strategies for
Students in the Social
and Behavioral Sciences
CORWIN PRESS
A SAGE Company
Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
Copyright © 2008 by Corwin Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. When forms and sample documents are included, their use is
authorized only by educators, local school sites, and/or noncommercial or nonprofit
entities that have purchased the book. Except for that usage, no part of this book may be
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
For information:
Corwin Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lunenburg, Fred C.
Writing a successful thesis or dissertation : tips and strategies for students in the social
and behavioral sciences / Fred C. Lunenburg, Beverly J. Irby.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4129-4224-9 (cloth)
ISBN 978-1-4129-4225-6 (pbk.)
1. Dissertations, Academic–Authorship. 2. Academic writing. 3. Social sciences—
Authorship. I. Irby, Beverly J. II. Title.
LB2369.L814 2008
808′.066378—dc22
2007031656
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
07
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Paulette McGee
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Monique Hahn
1
Contents
Preface
xi
Acknowledgments
xv
About the Authors
xvii
PART I. GETTING STARTED
1. Selecting a Suitable Topic
Sources of Topics
Textbooks
Professional Journals
Dissertations
Theories
Current Employment
Existing Database
Criteria for Topic Selection
Interest
Significance
Available Data
Knowledge and Skills
Manageability
Funding
Summary
2
3
4
4
5
6
8
8
10
10
11
11
12
13
13
15
2. Selecting a Chair and Committee
Criteria to Consider in Selecting a Chair
Expertise
Accessibility
Feedback
Success
Personality Styles
Attitudes Toward Methodology
Composition and Role of the Committee
Composition
Role
Research Prospective Committee Members
Your Own Experience
16
17
17
17
18
18
19
19
20
20
21
21
22
Other Students
Dissertations
Web Sites
The Desirable Student
Quality Product
Follow-Through
The Committee’s Time
Personal Integrity
Polished Drafts
Summary
22
22
23
23
23
23
23
24
24
25
PART II. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
3. Quantitative Research Designs
Descriptive Research Design
Instrumentation
Data
Longitudinal Studies
Cross-Sectional Studies
Correlational Research Design
Bivariate Correlation
Regression and Prediction
Multiple Regression
Canonical Correlation
Discriminant Analysis
Factor Analysis
Path Analysis
Cross-Lagged Panel
Other Correlation Coefficients
Advantages and Disadvantages
Causal-Comparative Research Design
Weakness Controlled
Quasi-Experimental Research Design
Nonequivalent Control Group Design
Time Series Design
Experimental Research Design
Factorial Experiment
Theory Development
Summary
28
30
31
32
32
33
35
37
38
39
40
41
42
42
44
45
45
45
46
49
49
52
54
54
59
61
4. Basic Statistics
Descriptive Statistics
Measures of Central Tendency
Measures of Variability
The Normal Curve
Measures of Relative Position
Measures of Relationship
62
63
63
64
65
65
66
Inferential Statistics
The Null Hypothesis
Tests of Statistical Significance
Effect Size
Statistical Analysis
The t Test
One-Way Analysis of Variance
Post Hoc Procedures
Factorial Analysis of Variance
Analysis of Covariance
Multivariate Analysis of Variance
Nonparametric Tests
Chi Square
Other Nonparametric Tests
Multivariate Correlational Statistics
Multiple Regression
Discriminant Analysis
Canonical Correlation
Path Analysis
Factor Analysis
Structural Equation Modeling
Summary
67
68
69
69
70
70
72
73
74
75
76
76
77
78
80
80
83
83
84
85
86
87
5. Qualitative Research Designs
Phenomenological Research Design
Techniques/Approaches/Methods
Case Study Research Design
Ethnographic Research Design
Grounded Theory Research Design
Mixed Methods Research Design
Summary
88
89
90
96
99
102
106
109
PART III. THE DISSERTATION CHAPTERS
6. Writing the Introduction Chapter
Background of the Study
Statement of the Problem
Purpose of the Study
Significance of the Study
Definition of Terms
Theoretical Framework
Models
Research Questions (or Hypotheses)
Types of Research Questions
Specifying Research Hypotheses
Limitations
Delimitations
112
113
114
116
117
118
122
123
126
126
127
133
134
Assumptions
Organization of the Study
Summary
135
135
136
7. Writing the Literature Review Chapter
Searching the Literature
Handbooks and Encyclopedias
Annual Reviews
Review Articles
Abstracting and Indexing Services
Government Documents
Major Public Search Engines
Writing the Literature Review
Organize Your Material in a Funnel
Be Selective
Make an Outline
Write the Introduction
Use Headings
Use Transitions
Write a Summary
Be Careful Not to Plagiarize
Synthesizing the Literature
Historical Context
Gaps in the Literature
Different Approach
Trends and Themes
Reporting Practical Significance
Reconciling Conflicting Theories
Using Tables
Inconsistent Findings
Continuing Line of Inquiry
Summary
137
138
138
138
139
139
140
141
142
143
144
146
147
150
150
152
153
154
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
162
163
164
8. Writing the Methodology Chapter
Introduction
Selection of Participants
Who Participated in the Study?
Sampling Procedures
Selecting a Nonrandom Sample
Sampling in Qualitative Research
How Many Participated in the Study?
Instrumentation
Validity
Reliability
Locating Instruments
Qualitative Instrumentation
165
166
167
167
169
174
176
178
180
181
182
191
192
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Summary
Conclusion
194
200
204
204
9. Writing the Results Chapter
Introduction
Descriptive Statistics
Testing the Research Questions (or Hypotheses)
Assumptions of Statistical Tests
Clarity and Consistency
Tables
Figures
Presenting the Results of Qualitative Research
Additional Analyses
Summary
Conclusion
206
209
210
213
216
217
218
220
221
222
223
224
10. Writing the Discussion Chapter
Introduction
Summary of the Study
Discussion of the Findings
Guidelines to Structure Your Discussion Section
Sampling
Instrumentation
Research Design
Implications for Practice
Recommendations for Further Research
Conclusions
Summary
225
226
226
228
229
230
230
230
236
238
240
242
PART IV. THE DEFENSE AND AFTERWARD
11. The Proposal and Final Oral Defense
Prepare a Well-Written Document
Know the Format
Prepare Your Presentation
Practice Your Presentation
Anticipate Questions
Final Oral Defense
Tips for Avoiding Common Mistakes
Summary
244
245
245
246
248
248
249
251
253
12. Presenting and Publishing Your Dissertation
Presentations
Paper Presentation
Poster Session
Job Interview
254
254
255
260
261
Academic Journals
Select a Suitable Journal
Prepare the Manuscript
Submit the Manuscript
Books
Chapters in Books
Popular Press
Internet Publishing
Desktop Publishing
Planning the Writing Process
Summary
262
263
265
265
266
269
269
269
270
270
272
Appendix A: Initial Letter Soliciting Participation
273
Appendix B: First Follow-Up Letter
274
Appendix C: Second Follow-Up Letter
275
Appendix D: Dissertation Proposal Outline (Correlational)
276
Appendix E: Dissertation Proposal Outline (Analysis of
Variance and Regression)
280
Appendix F: Dissertation Proposal Outline (Multivariate
Analysis of Variance)
284
Appendix G: Dissertation Proposal Outline (Qualitative)
288
Appendix H: Qualitative Research Critique
293
Appendix I: Agreement: Guidelines for Chairing a Dissertation
295
Appendix J: Checklist for Dissertation Quality
299
References
305
Index
321
Preface
PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK
We have written this book to help graduate students write the dissertation
from beginning to end successfully. Each of us has taught courses focused
on writing the dissertation. We have a combined total of more than 40
years of experience supervising doctoral dissertations. Together we have
chaired more than 100 dissertations. In addition, we have been external
examiners of doctoral dissertations for several universities in Australia,
Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and the United States. Thus, we
have written this book to compile the best of our wisdom on how to make
the process of writing the dissertation a less mysterious and more rewarding experience. Our approach is applicable also to writing master’s theses,
which we view as limited-scope dissertations.
From our combined experience, we have found that if the key elements
of each dissertation/thesis chapter are clearly identified with corresponding examples of those elements (or sections), it takes the mystery out of
writing the dissertation. Thus, we have designed this book to explicitly
describe and define the elements (sections) of each dissertation chapter
and provide examples of completed dissertations that illustrate typical
ways to write the sections of each chapter. We have extracted examples
from more than 100 completed dissertations from well-known universities. We present multiple viewpoints that include quantitative, qualitative,
and mixed methods approaches. Our writing style throughout is intentionally conversational, as if we were talking directly to the student.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
Our goal is to provide advice to those learning how to write the major elements (sections) of a dissertation. Thus, in each chapter of the book, we provide specific information about sections commonly found in dissertations,
such as how to write research questions or hypotheses, how to select a sample for the study, how to write descriptions of instruments, how to write
results of data analyses, how to interpret the results, and so forth. Our goal
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Writing a Successful Thesis or Dissertation
is to define and explain the rationale for the common elements (sections) of
each chapter of the dissertation. Then we support our advice with numerous examples to illustrate how previous doctoral students have written
those sections. The model we use is the traditional five-chapter dissertation.
We realize that there are many variations to this model. Students and faculty
who are chairing dissertations should feel free to modify the approach to
reflect advising style, unique subject area, and institutional requirements.
WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK
This book should be of special interest to students in the social and behavioral sciences, including education, psychology, social work, and business.
Its contents should be applicable also to those studying nursing and other
health sciences with a behavioral base, certain aspects of anthropology,
sociology, and criminal justice. Other students will find the book useful as
a dissertation guide. As mentioned previously, our approach is applicable
also to writing master’s theses.
The book can be used as the principal text in courses focused on
writing the dissertation or master’s thesis. It may be used also as a supplementary text in seminars that introduce students to graduate education or
in research methods courses, particularly those in the social and behavioral
sciences.
ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK
This book contains 12 chapters in four major parts and 10 appendixes. In
Chapter 1, we discuss how to go about selecting a suitable topic for a doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis. We suggest that students begin their
search for a suitable topic at the outset of their graduate programs. Good
sources of possible topics include: textbooks, professional journals, dissertations, theories, current employment, and existing databases. The characteristics of a good research topic include: whether it is of personal interest,
significant, feasible in terms of available data, appropriate to knowledge
and skill level, manageable, and attractive for funding.
Chapter 2 includes valuable tips about selecting a chairperson and
other committee members. Issues to consider in the selection process
include: the reputation of the faculty members, their interest and expertise
in the topic, their accessibility, the feedback they provide the student, and
the goodness of fit between the student and the dissertation chair and the
other committee members. The chapter also deals with ways to identify
prospective chairpersons and committee members, including the student’s
own experience with the faculty member, other students’ opinions, and an
examination of completed dissertations and faculty Web sites.
Preface
Chapter 3 contains quantitative research designs, including descriptive
research, correlational research, causal-comparative research, quasi-experimental,
and experimental research. In Chapter 5, we discuss qualitative and mixed methods designs, including case study, ethnography, ethology, ethnomethodology, grounded-theory, phenomenology, symbolic interaction, and
historical research. The overall purpose of these two chapters is to provide
an overview of the two basic approaches to conducting research: quantitative and qualitative. Sandwiched between Chapters 3 and 5 is Chapter 4,
which deals with basic statistical procedures.
The overview of basic statistical procedures in Chapter 4 includes
descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Parametric and nonparametric tests are discussed, as are the statistical procedures commonly used
in social and behavioral science research. The focus is on the application of
the common statistical procedures used in the social and behavioral
sciences for given research designs.
Chapter 6 contains the structure and writing of the introduction
chapter of the dissertation or master’s thesis, including the elements (or
sections) that comprise that chapter. These sections include: background of
the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, significance of
the study, definition of terms, theoretical framework, research questions or
hypotheses, limitations, delimitations, and assumptions. The section organization of the study, concludes the introduction chapter of the dissertation. We follow specific guidance on what to include in each section of the
chapter with examples from completed dissertations.
Chapter 7 is divided into three parts. In the first part of the chapter, we
provide an introduction on how to systematically search and review the
literature. We discuss six sources: handbooks and encyclopedias, annual
reviews, review articles, abstracting and indexing services, government
documents, and public search engines. In the second part of the chapter,
we discuss eight techniques to help the student write a clear and effective
review of the literature chapter. They include: organizing material in a funnel, being specific, making an outline, writing the introduction, using
headings, using transitions, writing a summary, and being careful not to
plagiarize. The chapter concludes with several additional strategies to help
the student critically synthesize the body of literature. We provide
examples from dissertations and published articles throughout the
chapter.
Chapter 8 includes the structure and writing of the methodology
chapter, including the elements (sections) that comprise that chapter.
These sections include: selection of participants, instrumentation, data collection, and data analysis. We provide pertinent information related to
each of the sections of the methodology chapter, as well as numerous
examples of each of these sections from completed dissertations.
Chapter 9 contains information on how to write the results chapter.
Each element (or section) of the chapter is described, followed by
xiii
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Writing a Successful Thesis or Dissertation
examples from completed dissertations. We discuss different methods of
organizing results for both quantitative and qualitative studies: by
research questions or hypotheses, variables, or themes.
Chapter 10 consists of information on how to structure and write the discussion chapter of a dissertation or master’s thesis. We discuss each element
(or section) that should be included in the discussion chapter, and provide
examples of each section of the chapter from completed dissertations.
Chapter 11 contains advice on the steps to be taken to ensure a successful proposal defense and final oral defense of the dissertation. These
steps include: preparing a well-written document, knowing the format of
the defense, preparing the presentation, practicing the presentation, and
anticipating questions. We provide an explanation of how decisions are
made by dissertation committees at the defense, and what students should
do after a decision has been reached.
Chapter 12 includes suggestions on seeking a wider audience for the
completed dissertation. Issues explored include preparing a paper for a
professional conference or job interview, finding a publisher for the manuscript, or converting the dissertation into a journal article, monograph, or
book.
Appendixes A, B, and C are sample letters used in survey research.
Appendix A is the initial letter sent to a prospective participant requesting
participation in a study. Appendixes B and C are follow-up letters
designed to increase response rate of the study sample.
Appendixes D, E, F, and G contain dissertation proposal outlines for
quantitative and qualitative studies. Each dissertation proposal outline
uses a different method of analysis. The dissertation proposal outline is the
first step in writing the dissertation proposal.
Appendix H contains guidelines used to critique a qualitative research
study. Much can be learned from critiquing a qualitative study using the
guidelines provided.
Appendix I is a typical agreement between a doctoral student and a
dissertation chair, which has been used by the authors of this book. Among
other things, it describes guidelines the authors use when agreeing to chair
a dissertation. It has been field tested for the past 10 years.
Appendix J is a detailed checklist used by the student for monitoring
the quality of a dissertation. The checklist is structured for a traditional
five-chapter dissertation and conforms to the elements (or sections) contained within each dissertation chapter.
Acknowledgments
T
his book has been a cooperative effort between scholars of the field
and experienced editors and publishers. We wish to express our
appreciation to the reviewers and others whose suggestions led to
improvements in this book.
We also wish to thank the people at Corwin Press whose contributions
made this a much better book.
We are grateful to our dean, Genevieve Brown, for creating an environment conducive to research and contributing the necessary resources to
complete this book. Special thanks are also extended to Alicia Raley and
Dacey Ellington, who typed portions of this book.
Fred C. Lunenburg
Beverly J. Irby
Corwin Press gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the following
people:
Mary Betsy Brenner, Professor
Gevirtz School of Education
University of California—Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA
Sharon Toomey Clark, Educational Consultant
Clark & Associates
Claremont, CA
Randy L. Joyner, Adjunct Professor
Appalachian State University
Corwin Press Author
Boone, NC
Maria Piantanida, Adjunct Associate Professor
Carlow University and University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA
xv
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Writing a Successful Thesis or Dissertation
Carol Roberts, Professor
University of La Verne
Corwin Press Author
La Verne, CA
Mark H. Rossman, Professor Emeritus
Capella University
Minneapolis, MN
William A. Rouse, Jr., Assistant Professor
Department of Educational Leadership
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC
About the Authors
Fred C. Lunenburg is the Jimmy N. Merchant Professor of Education and
Senior Research Fellow in the Center for Research and Doctoral Studies in
Educational Leadership at Sam Houston State University. Prior to moving
to the university, he served as a teacher, principal, and superintendent of
schools. He has authored or coauthored more than 100 articles and 20
books, including Educational Administration: Concepts and Practices
(Thomson/Wadsworth, 1991, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008), The Principalship:
Vision to Action (Thomson/Wadsworth, 2006), Shaping the Future (Rowman
& Littlefield, 2003), The Changing World of School Administration (with
George Perreault) (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), and High Expectations: An
Action Plan for Implementing Goals 2000 (Corwin Press, 2000).
Beverly J. Irby is Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational
Leadership and Counseling at Sam Houston State University. Previously
Director of Field Experiences, she has been a school psychologist, educational diagnostician, director of special education, elementary school principal, and superintendent of schools. She has authored or coauthored 12
books and more than 150 articles in education. In addition, she has
secured grants totaling more than $25 million and often serves as a consultant to school districts. She is a member of the International Who’s Who
of Women and has received the Texas Council of Women School
Educator’s Outstanding Educator Award, the Renaissance Group
Research Fellow Award, and the AERA Willystine Goodsell Award.
xvii
PART I
Getting Started
1
Selecting a Suitable
Topic
T
he selection of a suitable topic is the first major step in writing a
thesis or dissertation. For some students this is an easy task. They
have known what they wanted to study from the time they entered graduate school and perhaps even before, but for many others, selecting a thesis or dissertation topic is one of the most difficult parts of their graduate
programs. The thought of developing a “completely original” idea for
such a large-scale project may seem overwhelming to them.
The notion that a dissertation must be completely original is a misconception, for no research is completely original. All research is based
on the work of others to some extent. In fact, the most useful kind of
research simply builds on research that has already been done. Some of
the most successful theses and dissertations simply extend the knowledge base one step further in an area by examining a new variable within
a well-established line of inquiry, collecting data on a different sample,
testing a new methodology, or introducing a new statistical technique.
Thus, as you begin to focus progressively on a broad search for a topic,
you gain a more thorough understanding of what has been done in an
area and what needs to be done. Afterwards, originality may cease to be
an issue. The Council of Graduate Schools (2002) clarified the point. The
term original “implies some novel twist, fresh perspective, new hypothesis, or innovative method that makes the dissertation project a distinctive
contribution” (p. 10).
2
Selecting a Suitable Topic
Students often ask when the search for a topic should begin. In some
universities students do not begin to search for a thesis or dissertation
topic until after they have passed the comprehensive examination. We recommend that a serious search for a dissertation topic start as soon as doctoral study begins. By selecting a dissertation topic early in the graduate
experience, you can then use assigned course research papers as a means
of doing preliminary work on your projected research.
As soon as you select a broad area of study, you need to immerse yourself in the literature in that area, with an eye toward the dissertation
(thesis) proposal. Also, you should read and review your university’s doctoral handbook, to see if there are guidelines concerning what goes into the
proposal and how long it is expected to be.
Most universities have very definite requirements for the dissertation
proposal. These requirements can range from a 10- to 20-page description
of your proposed study to the completion of the first three chapters of the
dissertation. In some universities, the dissertation chair (or advisor) is the
only one who has to approve the proposal. Other universities may require
a formal oral defense of the proposal before the entire dissertation committee. The purpose of the proposal is to get agreement on the merits of the
proposed study before the student begins to collect data and makes formal
application to the university’s Human Subjects Committee. Even schools
or colleges within the same institution may have different requirements.
The proposal requirements for master’s theses may be less rigorous than
they are for doctoral dissertations.
Our institution decided that most dissertation proposals should consist of Chapter One, Two, and Three of the dissertation. Typically Chapter
One is titled “Introduction,” Chapter Two, “Review of the Literature,” and
Chapter Three, “Methodology.” However, for some qualitative dissertations, the proposal may appear differently. In most cases, after you collect
and analyze your data, your Chapters One, Two, and Three will require
only minor revisions to be ready for the final dissertation. Even if you
must edit some later, you should be writing the proposal and the dissertation simultaneously. For those of you who are doing a qualitative dissertation, you may have to do some major rewriting of the first three chapters
as your data emerge.
SOURCES OF TOPICS
As mentioned previously, you should begin your topic selection by identifying two or three broad areas in which many different types of research
may be pursued. Examples of what is meant by broad topic areas are: teaching methods, leadership styles, bilingual education, school improvement,
and so forth. Sources of ideas for broad topic areas include: (a) textbooks,
3
4
Getting Started
(b) professional journals, (c) dissertations, (d) theories, (e) current employment, and (f) existing databases.
Textbooks
Textbooks that you are currently using in your courses or that you
have used in previous courses can be a source of ideas for broad topic
areas. Often, the authors of textbooks point out areas of controversy or
gaps in the research on specific topics. For example, in the first chapter
of their textbook Educational Administration: Concepts and Practices,
Lunenburg and Ornstein (2008) identified some current issues in assessment, which include testing minority students and confidentiality of test
data. In a subsequent chapter, they discussed current and emerging issues
in the measurement of disabled children. In another chapter, they shared
problems with the validation of some leadership theories and the use of
majority samples in the development of some of these theories. In each of
these chapters, the authors pointed out several broad areas in need of further research.
Professional Journals
Although reading textbooks will give you a broad overview of topic
ideas for your thesis or dissertation, you need to steep yourself in the literature in your field and related fields. (If you are an education student,
related fields are psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, and
business management.) This will enable you to examine the specifics of
how other scholars have conducted research. These specifics can be found
in reports of original, empirical research (which include both quantitative
and qualitative studies) published in professional journals. Such reports
can be accessed electronically. If you are unfamiliar with conducting such
searches, consult the research librarian at your university. Some electronic
databases provide the full text of research articles; others provide abstracts
only. If an abstract interests you, obtain copies of the full article and carefully read it through.
As you read, pay particular attention to the purposes, research questions, or hypotheses that are stated in the articles. Consider the methods
used to examine the research questions or test the hypotheses, including
participants, instrumentation, data collection, and data analysis the
researcher(s) used, and, of course, the findings. Consider reliability and
validity issues of the studies you review. You should also pay particular
attention to the discussion sections. In their discussions, researchers often
describe implications of their research for theory and practice, discuss limitations of their studies, and suggest possibilities for further research. Such
an examination of the specifics of empirical research will assist you in
developing and refining your own thesis or dissertation proposal.
Selecting a Suitable Topic
Reading professional journals related to your field will help you keep
abreast of research trends in your discipline and enable you to explore
broad topic areas at the same time. Pay particular attention to periodicals
that publish review articles, such as the Review of Educational Research,
Harvard Educational Review, Sociological Review, Annual Review of Psychology,
and Review of Research in Education. Review articles are helpful to you
because they organize a great deal of literature efficiently. A topical review
represents the analytical thinking of some scholar who has examined
existing literature, interpreted it, and pointed out the theoretical issues it
raises. These reviewers are invited to write reviews, because they are considered to be among the best scholars in their fields. A review article also
provides you with an extensive reference list that can form the basis for a
complete review of the literature once you select a topic for your thesis or
dissertation. The review article is also a good model for the dissertation
proposal and the abstract of your dissertation. It is relatively short and
usually includes the purpose, research questions or hypothesis, methods,
results, implications, and limitations.
In some fields, books are published annually that are devoted to the
review of significant recent theoretical and practical research developments. Four such annual publications include the Annual Review of
Anthropology, Annual Review of Psychology, Annual Review of Sociology, and
Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE). Each
yearly volume of the annual reviews contains highly comprehensive and
integrated reviews of numerous research areas in anthropology, psychology, sociology, and education, respectively. Some topics contained in
these volumes are reviewed annually, while others are reviewed every
five years. The researcher should look over the six or seven most recent
volumes to get an idea of topical coverage. Other useful sources of
reviews of research include the Handbook of Research on Teaching,
Handbook of Qualitative Research, Encyclopedia of Educational Research,
Handbook of Research on Educational Administration, and Encyclopedia of
Educational Leadership and Administration. The articles contained in these
documents are written by distinguished scholars in specific content
areas. The topics are selected for their timeliness at the time of writing
and their theoretical or practical value to researchers. Because these
volumes are not published annually, some of the contents may not be as
current as the aforementioned annual reviews, but may be appropriate
for the selection of broad topic areas.
Dissertations
Other completed dissertations can serve as another good source of
topic selection. Be sure to secure exemplary projects to serve as models.
Try to find: (a) award-winning dissertations in your field or related fields,
(b) recent dissertations in the selected field at various universities, (c) good
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recent dissertations suggested by faculty in your department, and (d) the
best dissertations suggested by your dissertation chair.
Examine the titles of these dissertations, as well as titles published in
Dissertation Abstracts International. If a title interests you, read the abstract
of the study. If you are still interested, get a copy of the document and read
specifically the review of the literature and the suggestions for further
research. Dissertations are now online through most university libraries.
There are certain advantages of searching for a topic from completed
dissertations that go far beyond topic selection. For example, a recently
completed dissertation includes a comprehensive review of the literature
up to the point of completion. Updating the most recent studies will be an
easy task. Your study might include a different population, other variable(s), or another methodology. However, other dissertations can help
you in identifying acceptable approaches to: (a) writing research questions
or hypothesis, (b) choosing an appropriate sample size, (c) examining how
data were collected and analyzed, and (d) observing what kinds of conclusions can be drawn from the results, and/or (e) formulating a theory.
These specifics of conducting research can be valuable information learned
from examining completed doctoral dissertations.
Theories
Theories are developed to explain phenomena in a field or to provide
structure or framework to the knowledge base in a field. A new theory
may be developed, or an existing theory may be modified or extended. For
example, Paul Hersey (1976) did a theory dissertation in which he developed with his dissertation chair, Ken Blanchard, a new leadership theory
known as the situational leadership theory (see Hersey & Blanchard, 2007 for
an explanation of the situational leadership theory). One of our doctoral
students, Salvatore Pascarella (1985), did a field test of Hersey and
Blanchard’s situational leadership theory in a school setting using a sample
of elementary school principals (see also, Pascarella & Lunenburg, 1988).
Doris Delaney (2005), another one of our doctoral students, completed a
dissertation that further field-tested Hersey and Blanchard’s situational
leadership theory using a sample of prekindergarten principals.
The development and testing of theory is important work and can
make an important contribution to the field. Many theories have received
only limited empirical testing. In addition, many theories have been tested
using only majority populations. For example, many of the management
theories developed in industrial settings between 1900 and 1960 used only
men as participants.
One of the authors of this book has developed a new gender-inclusive
theory of leadership called the synergistic leadership theory (SLT) (Irby,
Brown, Duffy, & Trautman, 2002). The theory can be applied to any organization. Developed through a qualitative approach, the SLT has been
Selecting a Suitable Topic
validated quantitatively, qualitatively, and with mixed methods designs
nationwide and is currently being validated internationally by our doctoral students, using samples of principals, superintendents, and higher
education leaders. These validation studies have included nonmajority populations (Bamberg, 2004; Hernandez, 2004; Holtkamp, 2001; Schlosberg,
2004; Trautman, 2000; Truslow, 2004). All of the aforementioned dissertations have used quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods designs.
Wanda Bamberg and Teresa Schlosberg validated the theory through qualitative methodology. Rose Hernandez and Leslie Holtkamp used a quantitative methodology. Diane Trautman and Kimberly Truslow used a mixed
methods design. More details on the methodology used in these dissertations are provided in subsequent chapters.
You should not limit yourself to theories within your own discipline.
Many professionals study the same problems educators do, including
anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists, business executives, and
others. Thus, theories from other disciplines provide new ways of examining topics in your discipline. For example, a social psychological theory
such as Bandura’s (1997) self-efficacy theory has been tested in applied
areas of education and has greatly expanded the existing knowledge base.
Woolfolk and Hoy (1990) tested Bandura’s self-efficacy theory in relation
to prospective teachers’ control beliefs. Later, Hoy and Woolfolk (1993)
tested self-efficacy theory in relation to the organizational health of
schools. Tschannen-Moran and others (1998) modified Bandura’s teacher
efficacy scale. Building on the work of Bandura, Hoy, Tschannen, and
Woolfolk, Lauren Black (2003), one of our doctoral students, developed
and validated a new instrument, the principal efficacy scale, which was
the subject of her dissertation. Lauren Black used a mixed methods design
in her dissertation.
Some dissertations are guided by theory. Others are not. Look for
reported research (survey textbooks, research journals, dissertations) that
is grounded in a solid theoretical framework. Such works make a substantial contribution to the knowledge base. An excellent way to justify proposed research to your thesis or doctoral committee is to show that your
research will either test certain aspects of an important theory or has its
foundation in such a theory. Thus, we suggest that you consider whether
your research could be guided by a particular theory and how you can
create empirical ways of testing the theory or theories.
Many quantitative studies are designed to test a theory that has been
developed to explain educational phenomena. Such theory-driven studies
use hypotheses as the starting point for designing the research methodology. Qualitative research studies can be designed so that data are collected
first, and then a theory is derived from those data (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005;
Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2007; Gay, Mills, & Airasian, 2006). Such qualitative studies might be informed by a theoretical or epistemological framework,
but formal hypotheses are not typically used to frame the study
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(Gall et al., 2007). For example, in grounded theory methodology, hypotheses are the outcome of the study rather than the initiators of it (Glaser, 1978).
Current Employment
Another source of dissertation topics can be derived from your current
employment. For example, one of our doctoral students, Vickie Basham
(1988), was able to relate her dissertation topic to her employment (see
also, Basham & Lunenburg, 1989). Vickie worked for the Kentucky
Department of Education as the Director of Assessment. She wanted to
determine the relationships between strategic planning, student achievement, and school district financial and demographic factors. At that time,
the state of Kentucky had just implemented a statewide strategic planning
model. In addition, the state administered annually a standardized
achievement test to all students in grades 3, 5, 7, and 10 in three content
areas: reading, language arts, and mathematics.
The achievement data, as well as the financial and demographic factors
she was studying, were easily accessible to her through the Kentucky
Department of Education’s database. (However, there was no instrument
to measure the use of strategic planning in the state.) The State
Superintendent of Schools was very interested in the study and sent a
letter to all superintendents in the state requesting them to participate in
Vickie’s study. The letter from the top administrator in the state opened
doors for data collection, resulting in a nearly 80% return rate from the
total population of superintendents in the state (her study sample); complete access to the state’s database; and free assistance from state department measurement experts in the statistical analysis of her data, as well as
survey-item construction of the strategic planning instrument. These measurement experts also assisted her with the pilot study needed to validate
the strategic planning scale she developed with her dissertation chair.
Thus, after a careful review of the literature, Vickie developed an acceptable dissertation topic, conceptualized a problem, and completed a literature review, methodology, and supporting evidence that were firmly
grounded in theory.
Existing Database
Drawing on your current employment and having access to an existing
database can be a real advantage in selecting a dissertation topic. Keith
Clark (2002), one of our doctoral students, was chief financial officer (CFO)
for a large, urban school district. Drawing on his work experience in
finance, he examined student achievement, financial and demographic
factors, and property wealth as related to the educational resources in
public school districts. Another one of our doctoral students, Danielle Lutz
(2006), was Director of Grants in another large, urban school district.
Selecting a Suitable Topic
Drawing on her work experience in grants she examined, using a mixed
methods design, the relationship between bilingual federal grant programs and student achievement in public schools. Because the school districts were interested in these students’ studies, they received free clerical
assistance and access to computer services. Moreover, each student could
retrieve a portion of his or her data through the state’s existing database.
Sally Craycraft (1999), another one of our doctoral students, became
intrigued by the availability of a large database at Hermann International
that contained elements from a certified administration of the Herman
Brain Dominance: Thinking Styles Assessment Instrument to 366 school
superintendents and 599 chief executive officers (CEOs). The sample
included individuals from across the United States and included males
and females; different ethnic-racial groups; and urban, suburban, and
rural organizations, equivalent to the national population. Using this existing database, she examined the relationship between brain dominance and
leadership styles of school superintendents and business CEOs by gender,
race, and organization size.
Likewise, one of our international doctoral students, Ying-Chiao Tsai
(2006), used an existing database of Progress in International Reading
Literacy Study (PIRLS) reading achievement for English-language
students in the United States and Singapore. She compared reading
achievement levels for majority and minority language-students by gender for both countries. The federal government provides national databases related to early childhood, special education, longitudinal
household surveys, higher education, the National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP), and the like. Most of these are provided
through the National Clearinghouse of Educational Statistics (NCES).
Three other of our doctoral students, Melinda Wooderson-Perzan
(2000), Darlene Blair (2001), and Heather Thielemann (2004), used an existing database to examine some, but not all, of their study variables.
Melinda and Darlene used an existing database for their student achievement and school district financial and demographic factors. For the other
variables in their studies (leadership styles and instructional leadership/
management tasks profiles) of superintendents and principals, respectively, they used Bass and Avolio’s (1994) Multifactor Leadership
Questionnaire (MLQ) and Lunenburg’s (1982, 2000) Instructional
Leadership/Management Tasks Profile.
Heather collected data on the effectiveness of enrollment management
programs in four-year universities and community colleges in Texas using
an adaptation of Noel-Levitz enrollment management survey. She compared the data collected in Texas colleges and universities with the Noel
Levitz national database of community colleges and four-year universities.
After a careful review of the literature, Keith, Danielle, Sally, Ying-Chaio,
Melinda, Darlene, and Heather developed an acceptable dissertation and
completed their studies.
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We have found quite often that research topics (and their accompanying research questions), including the aforementioned studies, need to be
reworked by the student and dissertation chair (advisor) before they are
approved. In some cases, a research topic may be completely rejected by
the dissertation or master’s thesis chair (advisor) as inappropriate for a
dissertation or master’s thesis.
CRITERIA FOR TOPIC SELECTION
In selecting an appropriate topic for a thesis or dissertation, the following
criteria should be considered as important: (a) interest, (b) significance,
(c) available data, (d) knowledge and skills, (e) manageability, and (f) funding. Let’s examine these criteria to see why they are considered important.
Interest
It is the fortunate dissertation student who investigates a topic that is
both professionally and personally compelling. Writing a dissertation is
hard work. Try to find a topic for which you have substantial curiosity and
perhaps even passion to sustain you though the process. Here is an
example from one of the authors of this book.
When I began my career as a high school teacher and coach, I was
selected to be a member of the school district’s teachers’ collective bargaining team. While serving as a member of that team, I came in contact with
many teachers. In talking with them, it became apparent to me that, in
some schools in the district, teacher morale was high and in other schools
it was low. I was curious why this was so.
At the same time, I was a master’s student in educational administration
at the local university. I began reading about organizational climate. In my
graduate classes at the university, I heard about a new instrument developed a few years earlier for measuring climate called the Organizational
Climate Description Questionnaire (OCDQ) (Halpin & Croft, 1963).
Furthermore, the concept of organizational climate and the OCDQ was
getting a great deal of attention in the professional literature at that time.
There was also some controversy about the eight dimensions of organizational climate and the six climate categories conceptualized through factor
analysis by Halpin and Croft, who originally developed the instrument in
their study of 71 elementary schools chosen from six different regions of
the United States.
The university I attended required a thesis as a requirement for the MA
degree in educational administration. I chose as my MA thesis topic: “A
Validation of the OCDQ in Elementary Schools” (Lunenburg, 1969). I drew
my sample from 35 elementary schools in Newark, New Jersey, a large
urban school district. The school was the unit of analysis. I conducted a
Selecting a Suitable Topic
factor analysis of the OCDQ with my sample of elementary schools and
found seven discrete climate categories instead of six, and eight dimensions
of climate. However, only three dimensions were particularly strong predictors of open and closed organizational climates for my sample of 35 elementary schools: esprit, thrust, and disengagement. My analysis was based
on a description of these schools given by 1,050 teacher respondents and 35
principal respondents. In addition to conducting a factor analysis of the
OCDQ, I examined climate in relation to school size, socioeconomic status
of the community, and differences in perceptions of principals and teachers.
Over the next few years, my interest in organizational climate led to my
doctoral dissertation topic: “Organizational Climate, Dogmatism, and
Pupil Control Ideology” (Lunenburg, 1972; see also, Lunenburg & O’Reilly,
1974). I personally administered three instruments (one of which was the
OCDQ) during regularly scheduled faculty meetings in 55 elementary
schools located in six urban, suburban, and rural school districts in
Ontario, Canada. The analysis was based on a description of these variables by nearly 1,200 respondents. I have continued to work with doctoral
students in the area of school climate using a variety of climate constructs,
other variables, and a variety of research methodologies, including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods designs.
Significance
Most university catalogs and dissertation handbooks suggest that the
dissertation is a test of your preparation to conduct independent research
and make a significant contribution to the field. This is not quite as true for
master’s theses, however. We view master’s theses as limited scope dissertations. Basically, a significant topic has the potential to do at least one of
the following: (a) contribute to the development of a new theory, (b) test
an existing theory, (c) uncover new facts or principles, (d) challenge existing truths or assumptions, (e) suggest relationships between phenomena,
(f) provide new insights into phenomena, (g) suggest new interpretations
of known facts, (h) alter other people’s perceptions about phenomena, and
(i) extend a research methodology or statistical procedure.
Available Data
Earlier in this chapter, we discussed how some of our doctoral students
were able to take advantage of existing databases. However, not all
students will have the opportunity to use existing databases to collect their
data. The ability to collect data needed for your study is a major consideration. Access to data is so important that you might consider identifying
your research participants first and then seek to select a topic.
Sternberg (1981) provided an excellent example of a problem with
access to data. The key question Sternberg posed is whether a researcher
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can gain admission to topic-loaded samples or groups. He uses as an
example a topic in social psychology to make his point. According to
Sternberg, an apparently worthwhile and relevant dissertation topic
would be “The National Security Council as a Small Group: A Test of
Bales’s Interaction Process Matrix.” “Bales and his associates, watching,
recording, and videotaping Harvard undergraduates for decades through
one-way mirrors have constructed a set of ‘laws’ about how members will
behave, which they assert are generalizable to all small ‘task-oriented’
groups” (p. 48). However, it is not likely that a doctoral student would get
a chance to set up shop in a room adjacent to the National Security Council
conference room. Therefore, such a topic would have to be eliminated.
Furthermore, you need to be certain the data for your dissertation will
be available and accessible when you come to the collection phase of your
dissertation. The timing of the data collection is just as important as the
topic itself in the calculation of its researchability. If your topic-loaded
sample or group will disappear in six months or a year; or if personnel
who granted you access change, resulting in new personnel not willing to
honor their predecessors’ offer of entry, you must drop the topic. These
reversals do happen. We recommend that you get your commitments to
data access in writing.
Knowledge and Skills
Selecting a topic consistent with your knowledge and skills is also
important. First, you will save time, because you will be dealing with a
familiar topic. Second, you can talk knowledgeably about your topic. Third,
you are more likely to get support from your dissertation chair and committee for a topic about which you have some knowledge. Recall that the
doctoral dissertation of one of the authors of this book was a spin off of his
master’s thesis. Even though master’s theses are being phased out of many
master’s programs, you may have already done research papers and taken
courses in a particular subject area. Thus, you may find that you have a considerable amount of work already completed regarding the literature
search. Another example of a useful knowledge base, also akin to an experiential base, is observed in a recent dissertation proposal by Yu Fen Lin Li.
She is an ordained Presbyterian minister and has a master’s degree in theology. Her PhD dissertation in counseling is qualitative and is based on her
knowledge of the Bible and feminism, and her experience as a female pastor in a patriarchal culture. Her topic is the development of a feminist therapy for Taiwanese female pastors in the Presbyterian Church.
In addition, selecting a topic that matches your skills is also important.
For example, if you undertake a historical study, you must have some
familiarity with documentary research techniques. Courses in historiography are helpful. Similarly, qualitative dissertations will demand knowledge of specialized qualitative research techniques, such as interviewing,
Selecting a Suitable Topic
observing, document analysis, textual analysis, focus groups, visual methods, autoethnography, data management methods, computer-assisted
analysis, and applied ethnography (see Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). Choosing
a quantitative dissertation may not be a deterrent, for many individuals
are available to help with statistical analysis. Many areas will require a
combination of skills; all demand literary proficiency.
Manageability
Most doctoral students, and master’s students as well, begin with a
topic that is too broad. Examples that illustrate what is meant by broad
topic areas include the following: teaching methods, leadership styles,
school improvement, bilingual education, or counseling theories. Your dissertation chair cannot provide useful advice until you get it clear in your
own mind exactly what it is that you want to study. By narrowing your
topic, you make the purpose of your research clear to yourself and others.
Sufficiently narrowing your topic helps you organize your literature
review and produce a specific problem statement with an accompanying
theoretical framework. Part of this narrowing process is writing meaningful research questions. A further discussion of writing research questions
can be found in Chapter 6.
In addition, we recommend that you try to assess the amount of time
you will need to complete the thesis or dissertation early in the selection
process. From our experience, although you may have been working on
your topic since you began the doctoral program, the average amount of
time required for the final completion of dissertations is from one year to 18
months. The time may be longer if you work full time. The average master’s
student requires from four to nine months to complete the master’s thesis.
We suggest that you select a dissertation topic that you can complete within
a year or so. An example of a topic that does not meet the completion time
criterion we suggested is a dissertation topic that proposes to study the
development of high school students from freshman to senior years. This is
a longitudinal study, which would have to extend over four or more years
and, therefore, would not meet the one-year completion time criterion.
Funding
Most thesis and dissertation research is not funded, so you incur all of
the expenses associated with the project. These financial constraints
greatly limit the scope of the research you can undertake. You may check
with your department, college, or university for internal funding opportunities. Many federal agencies and some private foundations offer grants
for graduate students to pursue degrees and write dissertations. Grants
are usually not available for writing master’s theses. Topics that are current and have some unique approach are usually more likely to receive
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funding. We provide a sampling of grant opportunities related to education and psychology (see Table 1.1). These grants are extremely competitive. Therefore, when considering specific grant applications, you should
seek assistance from grant specialists in your university or elsewhere to
help you prepare the application.
Table 1.1
Grant Opportunities
Dissertation Fellowship Program
Agency: Spencer Foundation
Deadlines: October 7
Amount: $20,000
Guidelines: http://www.spencer.org/programs/fellows/dissertation.htm
Dissertation Fellowships
Agency: American Association of University Women (AAUW)
Amount: $20,000 (51 awards)
Guidelines: http://www.aauw.org/3000/fdnfelgra/american.html
AERA/OERI Dissertation Grants Program
Agency: American Educational Research Association and the U.S. Department
of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement
Deadlines: October 15, April 15
Amount: $15,000 for 1-year projects: $25,000 for 2-year projects (four awards
per year)
Guidelines: http://www.aera.net/anews/announce/af01-002.htm
Dissertation Grants Program
Agency: American Educational Research Association
Deadlines: September 5, January 10, and March 20
Amount: $15,000
Guidelines: http://www.aera.net/programs/
Dissertation Fellowship Program
Agency: Association for Institutional Research (AIR)
Deadlines: January 15
Amount: $15,000
Guidelines: http://www.airweb.org/page.asp/page=40
Grants for Improving Doctoral Dissertation Research—Human Cognition and
Perception
Agency: National Science Foundation
Deadline: Continuous
Amount: $8,000 North America; $12,000 other areas
Guidelines: http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub/nsf0111
Selecting a Suitable Topic
SUMMARY
In this chapter, we presented guidelines for selecting a suitable topic for a
thesis or dissertation. We recommend that you begin looking for a topic as
soon as your graduate program commences.
Begin by identifying two or three broad topic areas that interest you.
By searching the literature, narrow these broad areas down to one or two
specific topics that you might wish to research. Good sources of possible
topics include textbooks, professional journals, dissertations, theories, current employment, and existing databases.
The topic you finally select should be interesting to you, significant,
feasible in terms of available data, appropriate to your knowledge and
skills, manageable, and attractive for funding. In the next chapter, we
describe how you select a dissertation/thesis chair and committee.
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Selecting a Chair
and Committee
S
electing your committee is a very important step in the process of
preparing your dissertation or master’s thesis. The chairperson of the
committee usually has broad power and influence throughout the process
of completing the dissertation or master’s thesis. Therefore, the selection of
a chairperson for your project is a very important decision. In collaboration
with your chair and committee, you will delimit your topic, develop your
proposal, conduct your research, and write your dissertation or
master’s thesis. Ultimately, your committee will judge the quality of your
project. In this chapter, we present some suggestions that might help you in
selecting your dissertation or thesis chair and other committee members.
Before choosing a faculty member as your chairperson, consider the
chair’s role. As mentioned previously, your chair will have broad power and
influence over the dissertation or thesis process. While the specifics of this
role vary from institution to institution, from department to department,
and from chairperson to chairperson, some general functions of the chair are
relatively universal. First, the chairperson will approve your dissertation or
thesis topic. Second, the chairperson will approve, in consultation with you,
the other committee members. Third, the chairperson will approve every
line, section, and chapter of the dissertation. Fourth, the chairperson will
determine how committee members will be involved in the dissertation or
thesis process. Fifth, the chairperson will decide when you are ready to
defend your dissertation or master’s thesis. And, ultimately, the chairperson
will determine whether you will be granted the degree.
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Selecting a Chair and Committee
Most departments have rules concerning who may and who may not
serve as dissertation or thesis chairpersons. Some universities allow only
those individuals who are on the graduate faculty to serve as dissertation
chairs; that is, faculty who have adequate, recent publication records and
who teach graduate classes. These rules are based on the rationale that faculty who do not have active programs of research will lack the necessary
skills to guide a doctoral research project. Rules regarding who may chair
master’s theses may not be as stringent as those concerning doctoral dissertations. Because practice varies on who may and who may not serve as
dissertation chairs, we recommend that you learn your institution’s rules
as soon as possible. Knowing your institution’s local ground rules will
help you avoid considering a potential chairperson who is not eligible to
chair a dissertation or thesis.
CRITERIA TO CONSIDER IN SELECTING A CHAIR
You must consider the following factors in choosing a chair: (a) expertise,
(b) accessibility, (c) feedback, (d) success, (e) personality style, and (f) attitudes
toward methodology. The importance of each one will be discussed in turn.
Expertise
Ideally, it is in your best interest to find a chair with expertise in your
topic area. You may want to read some of your potential chair’s publications. In our opinion, following this advice generally will produce a better
product. Obviously, the closer your chair’s area of expertise is to your
topic, the more competent he or she will be to (a) identify difficulties you
may encounter as your proceed with your study, (b) direct you toward literature sources pertinent to your topic, and (c) guide your choice of methods for collecting and analyzing data. Furthermore, a chair who has an
interest and competence in your topic area is likely to be more invested in
your project; that is, think through the project more fully and keep a vigilant eye on your progress than one who is not knowledgeable about your
topic area, and, therefore, may lack interest in it as well.
Accessibility
Another important factor to consider in selecting a chair is accessibility. Several things can interfere with a chair being consistently accessible to
you during the life of your project. When considering someone as a possible chair, you should think about these things. Nationally known scholars
may be too busy with their own research activity to give you the time you
need. Other faculty may have active clinical practices or be away from
campus frequently due to consulting commitments. Faculty members who
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have nine-month contracts with the university may not be available during the summer. Faculty who are planning a sabbatical leave may potentially interrupt your progress. Another faculty member may be planning to
take a position in another university and, therefore, may not be available
during the progress of your project. One of the authors of this book had
her chair go on sabbatical leave during the final semester of her dissertation work; therefore, a new chair had to be appointed. Popular chairs may
have an excessive number of dissertations or theses to monitor, because
they are in high demand.
Then there is the issue of tenure. Whereas nontenured faculty contracts
may not be renewed, tenured faculty members are likely to be more stable.
You will need to consider the relative accessibility and stability of potential
chairs, along with your own time constraints and projections for completion.
Feedback
Typically, the chair provides the first line of quality control for the dissertation or thesis. And usually the chair will approve the proposal and
final version of the project before you will be permitted to forward chapters of the dissertation or thesis to other committee members. Therefore,
look for a chair with a reputation for reading, critiquing, and returning
written drafts promptly.
What is a good turnaround time? A good rule of thumb is to allow two
weeks for a response. After that, a tactful inquiry may be appropriate.
Obviously, students should recognize that it might take longer during very
busy periods (e.g., end of grading periods, holidays, and before graduation deadlines when all students want to finish their projects).
You should balance timeliness of response with the thoroughness with
which the potential chairperson reads submitted material. Some chairs
provide vague feedback (e.g., rewrite this section), while others may provide detailed comments (e.g., “You need to identify the three main factors
and then evaluate them in light of the theories you have discussed.”).
Waiting longer for a chapter to be returned by a chair may have some positive consequences. First, if you satisfy a chair who provides a thorough
critique of your work, you are less likely to encounter serious problems
with other committee members. Second, you will be better prepared for
your proposal defense and final oral defense of your dissertation or thesis.
Third, once you have satisfied your chair’s standards, he or she is more
likely to support you if one of your other committee members becomes
overly or unreasonably critical of your work.
Success
Success at bringing students to graduation is an important factor to consider when selecting a chair. Because you are concerned with completing
your degree, count how many successful students your potential chair has;
Selecting a Chair and Committee
that is, what percentage of the chair’s students finish their degrees. Consider
this criterion cautiously, because some faculty members may not have had
the opportunity to chair doctoral dissertations or master’s theses.
Personality Styles
Personality styles matter to some people. Writing a dissertation or thesis is a collaborative process between you and your chairperson.
Obviously, you want a chair with whom you can work reasonably well.
You will need to assess the match between what you expect from your
chair and your chair’s notion of the best way to perform his or her role.
Chairpersons vary greatly in how they work with students on dissertations and theses. Those at one end of the continuum closely monitor each
phase of the students’ work, in some cases stipulating exactly what is to be
done at every step, and then require the student to submit each section of
material for critique. Chairs at the other end of the continuum tell students
to progress on their own and to finish a complete draft of the project before
submitting it for evaluation. Most chairs will probably fall somewhere
between these two extremes.
Chairpersons also differ in the way they provide criticism. Some are
blunt and even derisive. Others are direct and kindly in critiquing
students’ work. Still others are so cautious of students’ feelings when
pointing out weaknesses that they fail to guide their students in correcting
deficiencies. In the latter case, someone else on the committee will have to
step up and perform that duty; for the role of the chair and committee is
to ensure that the candidate has met the university, college, and department standards.
Students also have personal preferences with whom they want to work,
in general. For example, some students prefer to work with female faculty
members, while others prefer to work with male faculty. Some students
prefer to work with older people, while others prefer younger faculty.
Attitudes Toward Methodology
Faculty members often differ concerning their preferences for a particular research method. A research method comprises the strategy followed in
collecting and analyzing data. The major distinction in classifying research
by method is the distinction between quantitative and qualitative research
(Gay, Mills, & Airasian, 2006). Quantitative and qualitative research can be
broken down further into several distinct types, each designed to answer
a different kind of research question. Quantitative research involves the
collection and analysis of numerical data, which are usually rendered in
the form of statistics. Advocates of quantitative studies tend to prefer
such research types as descriptive (or survey), correlational, causalcomparative, and experimental research. Proponents of such studies claim
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Getting Started
that their work is done from within a value-free framework (Denzin &
Lincoln, 2005).
Qualitative research involves mostly nonnumerical data, such as
extensive notes taken at a research site, interview data, videotape and
audiotape recordings, and other nonnumerical artifacts. Qualitative
researchers stress the socially constructed nature of reality, the intimate
relationship between the researcher and the participant, and the situational constraints that shape inquiry. Qualitative researchers emphasize
the value-laden nature of inquiry (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). Proponents of
qualitative studies tend to favor such research approaches as case study,
ethnography, ethology, ethnomethodology, grounded theory, phenomenology, symbolic interaction, and historical research.
You need to examine the match between your preference and your
potential chair’s preference for a research method. Many faculty members
accept both quantitative and qualitative research methods, including the
authors of this text. We believe that the issue is not which method is better,
but rather which method (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods)
will best answer the particular research question or direction of inquiry.
COMPOSITION AND ROLE OF THE COMMITTEE
Dissertation and thesis committees vary in size, composition, and role
depending on the institution’s rules and the degree awarded. The committee usually consists of the chair and an additional number of faculty
members. Typically, the thesis committee has three members, and the dissertation committee has between three and five members.
Sometimes there is a requirement that at least one of the committee
members be from a department other than the student’s major department. Some universities require that the majority of the committee be
members of the graduate faculty. Institutions usually require that the committee chair be a member of the graduate faculty. The committee usually
serves through the proposal stage to the satisfactory completion of the
dissertation or master’s thesis.
Composition
The composition of committee members can be very important to the
quality of the completed thesis or dissertation. We recommend that you
start at the top. First, select your committee chair. Then, working in collaboration with your chair, you can complete the selection of the other
committee members. Your chair will be in the best position to help you.
You may offer some suggestions of your own, but you should allow your
chair to guide you in the decision. Your chair likely will know what expertise respective committee members can contribute to your project. And
your chair may work better with certain colleagues than with others.
Selecting a Chair and Committee
Ideally, committee members should supplement your chair’s expertise.
If your study requires complex statistical procedures and your chair is not a
statistician, you may want to add to your committee a faculty member who
teaches your department’s statistics courses. We call this person a resident
statistician. At our institution, we include the resident statistician on all committees that involve complex statistical procedures. If your study is qualitative, and your chair is not strong in qualitative research techniques, adding
a qualitative researcher to your committee may be useful. Aim for balance
on your committee. A well-balanced committee might include a faculty
member who is strong in theory, someone who is knowledgeable about the
literature in your field, and another person who is a careful editor.
Role
Although specific duties of committee members vary depending on
the institution, general roles include the following: (a) the committee provides consultation to the student throughout the process of the research;
(b) committee members establish the direction of study by approving the
proposal and assisting the chairperson in providing direction for the
study; (c) they offer additional assurances to the university, college, and
department that the dissertation or thesis standards have been met;
(d) they examine the student and approve the final oral defense; and
(e) they make judgments about the student’s written work, including substance, style, and usage.
In a specific sense, however, the role of committee members can vary
greatly by institution or department. In some departments, committee
members read the dissertation or thesis proposal and final written document only after the chair has approved these documents. Approval follows extensive work between the student and the chair concerning the
research questions/hypotheses, design of the study, and other details of
the project. Committee members offer suggestions and criticisms, and
participate in the proposal and final oral defense meetings. In other
departments, each committee member will actively contribute expertise
at each stage of the dissertation (thesis) process. Chapters will be submitted simultaneously to all committee members, after the chair’s
approval. In most cases, the specific model used will probably fall somewhere between the two extremes.
RESEARCH PROSPECTIVE
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Researching the pool of prospective chairpersons and committee members
is essential. There are four main sources of information to explore: (a) your
own experience, (b) other students, (c) dissertations, and (d) Web sites.
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Getting Started
Your Own Experience
The first source of information to explore is your own experience with
the potential chairperson or committee member. You may have taken a
class from a particular faculty member. Some questions you might ask
yourself include: What kind of relationship did I have with Professor X in
class? Do I have confidence that Professor X can guide me through the
research process? Am I ready to accept direction and criticism from
Professor X? Be open-minded in your exploration. Sometimes faculty
members are different in one-to-one relationships than they are in classes.
The relationship between you and your chair and other committee
members is collaborative. Ideally, you want to create an equal relationship,
but in reality this is rarely the case (Brause, 2004). The student usually conforms to the styles of the professors. Some negotiation of procedures for
progressing through the research process may be possible; however, professors usually set the rules. And each professor has idiosyncrasies, to
which doctoral (master’s) students eventually learn to adapt, or they
choose to work with other faculty members. That is to say that faculty
members have a history of collaborating in different ways. It is important
that you understand the rules for working collaboratively with faculty. It
may require you to utilize a different set of interaction skills than you used
when taking classes.
Other Students
A second source of information comes from students who have
worked with the prospective chair or committee member. Interview several students to get an adequate sample. Listen carefully to students. Ask
for opinions. Ask such questions as: Who selected the topic—you or the
chair? Did the chair help you improve the proposal? How many substantive changes were made to the proposal once submitted? Was the chair
available on a regular basis? How many drafts of each section or chapter
did you write? (We think it not unusual for a student to write several
drafts of each section or chapter.) What kind of feedback did the faculty
member provide—vague, detailed, useful, or not useful? How did the
chair respond to issues the committee raised? What issues did the committee raise? Did individual committee members cause any problems during the research process? What were they? Questions such as these ask
about specific faculty behavior and not merely subjective opinions.
Dissertations
A third source of information comes from reviewing recent dissertations completed in your department. Data you will gather from reading
dissertations will answer questions such as: What method of research
(quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods) do Professor X’s students
do? Are all dissertations related to a single topic area? Are the dissertations
Selecting a Chair and Committee
similar in format? What kind of populations and samples were used in
the studies? How many pages do the dissertations contain? Who were the
committee members? Who were the students? In most universities, the
student can download dissertations from their own institution by author,
title, or chair. Dissertations can be obtained from University Microfilms
International, and through interlibrary loan.
Web Sites
A final source of information comes from department Web sites. Many
departments now have Web sites on which faculty research interests are
provided. Spending some time researching Web sites may help you locate
potential chairpersons and committee members both inside and outside of
the department. At this point, you may have a potential list of chairpersons and committee members.
THE DESIRABLE STUDENT
Thus far, we have described desirable qualities of the chair and committee
members. What are some desirable qualities of a doctoral or master’s
student from the standpoint of the chairperson and committee members?
In general, they want: (a) a student who will produce a quality dissertation
or master’s thesis in a reasonable amount of time, (b) a student who
accepts guidance and follows through on suggestions and criticisms from
the committee, (c) a student who uses the committee’s time effectively,
(d) a student who has personal integrity, and (e) a student who resists the
impulse to give the chair or committee members rough copy or first drafts.
Quality Product
Completed dissertations are archived in Dissertation Abstracts
International. The names of both the chair and the student, as well as the
names of all committee members appear on the signature page of the dissertation. Faculty members with national reputations will be careful about
the quality of work with which their name is associated. Chairing or serving on a dissertation committee is something most faculty take seriously.
Faculty members will be much more willing to chair or serve on a committee if the student demonstrates that a quality dissertation will result.
Follow-Through
You are likely to write multiple drafts of your dissertation or thesis,
with each draft reflecting a more refined understanding of the important
issues of your research. As you are writing these drafts, you are learning
the genre of scholarly writing acceptable at your institution and as it
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Getting Started
conforms to the style of writing acceptable in professional journals in your
field. Moreover, you need to learn to accept the suggestions and criticisms
of your chair and committee members graciously and follow through on
them. Nothing is more frustrating for a chair or committee member than
to see an error in a final document that was corrected by a chair or committee member previously; that is, the student failed to follow through on
committee suggestions. In our combined experience of chairing more than
100 dissertations, we have seen this happen quite frequently.
The Committee’s Time
You need to look at the dissertation or thesis process from the chairperson’s and committee member’s viewpoints. A good chair will provide
expertise in your topic area, timely feedback on your drafts, and general
support. Assuming you made a good choice, your committee members
will be interested in your dissertation (thesis) and will provide competence
that supplements your chair’s expertise. However, dissertation chairs and
committee members also teach classes; do their own research; write journal articles and books; provide service to the department, college, and university; and attend professional conferences. You are one small part of
their professional lives. The student who is organized and who exemplifies the stated purpose of a doctorate, one who has the ability to do independent research, will more likely demonstrate that the time demands on
committee members will be reasonable.
Personal Integrity
The student with personal integrity will take the writing of the dissertation (thesis) seriously. The focus will be toward producing a highquality product. The student who lacks personal integrity approaches the
task of writing the dissertation (or thesis) as simply “getting the thing
done,” without investing the time required to produce a good dissertation.
A student who accepts guidance and follows through on suggestions
and criticism, is organized and uses the committee’s time effectively, and
produces a quality product has personal integrity.
Polished Drafts
Some students give their chair and committee members rough copy or
first drafts. This will give the impression that you are not really serious
about your work. Always submit pages on which you have expended serious time and effort. Use the following rule of thumb: Be 100 percent satisfied that your pages, which you are prepared to submit, are the very best
work that you can do. Any dissertation or master’s thesis may need to go
through several drafts. If possible, have someone—preferably an expert in
Selecting a Chair and Committee
your field—review the chapter after you have written what you consider
to be your final draft.
SUMMARY
The composition of your dissertation or thesis committee can be very
important to the quality of the finished product. The chairperson of the
committee has broad power and influence throughout the process of
preparing the dissertation or thesis. Therefore, we recommend that you
start at the top. Select the chair of your committee first. Then, working
with your chair, select the other members of your committee. Ideally, committee members should supplement your chair’s expertise. Collecting
reliable information about potential chairpersons is essential. You want a
chairperson with whom you can work reasonably well. You will need to
assess the match between what you expect from your chair and your
chair’s notion of the best way to perform his or her role. You will want
committee members who can work well together and with your chair.
The next chapter begins Part II, “What You Need to Know.” Chapter 3
contains valuable information on quantitative research designs. This
chapter is followed by a chapter on basic statistics. Part II is concluded
with a chapter on qualitative research designs.
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PART II
What You Need to Know
3
Quantitative
Research Designs
I
n this chapter, we share with you an important component of the dissertation process—determining the type of inquiry and research design
you will use for your study. This actually will not be a specific chapter in
your dissertation, but is all important in developing your proposal and carrying out your research. The inquiry techniques and/or methods presented
in this chapter all have their beginnings in basic human observation and
curiosity. We are describing science in the broadest sense of the word—a
way of reflecting on our world. Just as children experience science via attitudes, processes, and products, we do also as adult researchers.
Your attitude as a researcher is critical. First, you must think of yourself as a researcher and writer, and not just as a graduate or doctoral
student. Your attitude will carry you far as a budding scientist. It will
encourage you further in your own curiosity of your topic and of others’
topics; it will provide you with perseverance for the task of conducting the
research; it will pick you up when you fail and help you learn from your
mistakes; and it will aid your open-mindedness and assist you in cooperation with others. Furthermore, a positive attitude toward the research will
provide you with a desire to seek reliable and valid sources of information;
a desire to provide and to tolerate alternative viewpoints; an avoidance of
overgeneralizations; a restraint to make a judgment until all evidence is
examined or evaluated, or to make claims without having proof or
descriptors; and an open mind toward questions related to your own
research.
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Quantitative Research Designs
Processes of research will aid you in working through your study in a
critical and creative way. In the simplest terms, processes may include
observing, classifying, contrasting, communicating, measuring, estimating, predicting, and inferring. You also will use the processes of identifying and controlling variables, operationalizing definitions, hypothesizing,
questioning, experimenting, investigating, interpreting data, or forming
theories or models.
The product of your research, your dissertation, provides your chosen
field with a greater knowledge base; therefore, because knowledge is considered power, you also carry with you during your research much
responsibility as you plan your study, choose your method of inquiry, and
conduct your research. You have an ethical obligation to do the very best
research that can be produced. You ask: even at the dissertation stage? The
answer is yes, at the dissertation stage of your research career. Though you
may be questioned on your study, you also know that much of science
changes over time and that knowledge is challenged as it is produced.
Remember this about your research, as Slavin (1992) said, “the best
research design is one that will add to knowledge, no matter what the
results are” (p. 3). Your research product, whether you find a small or large
effect size along with significance, may be interpreted or used differently
by different audiences, depending on their circumstances and experiences.
Your dissertation, as a product, may take the form of a hierarchy, such
as basic factual or uniconceptual research, principles of research that relate
to multiple concepts, or theories, the highest level of research. This hierarchy can be observed in Figure 3.1. The closer the products of the research
are to the top point of the pyramid, the more complex the study. In the
development of theory, we note that the complexity may involve dual
methodologies, both quantitative and qualitative.
A couple of important questions should be considered as you determine your method of inquiry. First, you must ask yourself: what is my
intent or purpose of the research? Second: what are my research questions?
These initial components will drive the method you select. You may determine that a quantitative analysis will suffice in answering your research
question or will respond to your purpose. On the other hand, you may
conclude that it is qualitative, the deeper understanding of the topic, that
responds to your purpose, or ultimately, you may decide that a mixed
methods approach, using both quantitative and qualitative analyses, is the
best method of inquiry for your dissertation.
In this chapter, we provide you with an overview of each of the data
analysis techniques or inquiry methods you could use if your questions or
hypotheses necessitated a quantitative approach. Certainly, this chapter is not
all inclusive, and we know that you will want to “dig deeper” on your own
once you settle on a specific method of inquiry. For example, you will need to
consult statistics and research methods textbooks and review your proposed
method with your dissertation advisor. You must be thoroughly familiar with
your method of inquiry and the assumptions for the statistical procedures.
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What You Need to Know
Theories
(Quantitative)
Principles (Correlational,
Causal-Comparative,
Quasi-Experimental, Experimental)
Factual or Uniconceptual
(Descriptive-Quantitative)
Figure 3.1
Hierarchy of Products of Research
Your research design or method of inquiry for quantitative research
will fall into one of four categories of research (a) descriptive research,
(b) correlational research, (c) causal-comparative research, and (d) quasiexperimental and experimental research. In addition to providing you
with a brief overview of each category, we also provide examples of
research purposes or questions that would justify a specific type of quantitative research design or method of inquiry.
DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH DESIGN
Descriptive research is one of the most basic forms of research. It lies at the
bottom of the hierarchy as depicted in Figure 3.1. Even though descriptive
research is at the base of the pyramid, it does not mean it is unimportant,
unscientific, or unworthy. This type of research involves the description of
phenomena in our world. In this type of inquiry, the phenomena described
are basic information, actions, behaviors, and changes of phenomena, but
always the description is about what the phenomena look like from the
perspective of the researcher or the participants in the research; it is not
about how the phenomena function. Prior to beginning the research, you
will need to have established from theory or from prior research what it is
about the phenomenon you will study; from this perspective, descriptive
research is theory or research driven.
Quantitative Research Designs
Descriptive research studies are important to the public and to educators. For example, many reports produced by the federal government are
good examples of necessary descriptive research (the U.S. Census Report
or the many reports from the National Center for Education Statistics).
Such reports provide the impetus for many other research studies.
Descriptive research tends to answer basic informational questions as
indicated in the following examples. What leadership behaviors do superintendents who serve rural, suburban, and urban school districts exhibit?
What pedagogies can be observed in teachers who teach in bilingual education classrooms? What types of technology are implemented by teachers
who have had technology classes at the university level? Which leadership
and/or organizational textbooks used in educational or business administration courses include gender-inclusive leadership theory? Such questions in descriptive research will generally ask the question of who, what,
when, where, how, or which.
When conclusions are drawn from descriptive research, there is a
reporting of the facts, but there should also be researcher-based conclusions connecting the data to theory or prior research.
. . . illustrating the importance of how a phenomenon is conceptualized in descriptive research, Thurstone, Guilford, and others promoted
a different conception of intelligence that emphasized instead the specific nature of human abilities. Thurstone, using a somewhat different
mathematical model of factor analysis than had the previous
researchers emphasizing general intelligence (Gould, 1981), found,
instead of general intelligence, several distinct dimensions of intelligence that he termed “primary mental abilities.” Subsequently,
Guilford developed and described a complex “structure of intellect”
model that first posited 120 separate factors, theoretically derived
(Guilford,1967), and later 150 (Guilford, 1977). Notice that the strategy
was theory driven: Guilford’s complex conceptual model of intelligence, for example, largely based on logically derived theory, provided
a basis for designating the specific tasks he then used to measure each
specific dimension of intelligence as described in his model. (Anastas,
1999, pp. 128–129)
Guilford used prior research and theory to build his structure of the intellect model that has been used many times in developing curriculum and
in research related to gifted children.
Instrumentation
Instrumentation is critical to descriptive research. If you are using
archived data, you will likely use an instrument that measures achievement among students or classrooms or schools. Perhaps you are asking the
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What You Need to Know
question: What is the achievement among various groups of students
based in the state academic achievement test? You define the various
groups of students as ethnicities, gender, and special-needs students. You
would, of course, need to describe the instrument in detail, along with its
norm reports on validity and reliability, particularly as it relates to the various groups of students. Because the research question is based in a standardized achievement test, the results of the study will only be as good as
the instrument. Other standardized instruments may include personality
inventories, intelligence measures, or attitudinal scales.
In most descriptive research studies, instruments must be developed
by the researcher due to the fact that the study is related to a specific phenomenon. You will need to pay special attention to your instrument development and describe all the specifics of (a) how you developed your
instrument, (b) where you obtained information to include in your instrument, (c) how you ensured validity and reliability, and (d) if others assisted
you in your development. Surveys are some of the most common instruments you will use in descriptive research studies. In fact, sometimes
descriptive research is even called survey research.
Data
Descriptive research reports data as measures of central tendency,
which include mean, median, and mode, and as measures of dispersion,
which include deviance from the mean, variation, range, and quartile. It is
usually conducted as indicated previously through surveys, or it may be
conducted via observation, interviews, portfolios, or cases. Polls, surveys,
or questionnaires are typical examples of descriptive research studies.
However, antiquities that are archived, film, video, Internet, and e-mail,
may also be used for gathering data for descriptive research studies.
Longitudinal Studies
In descriptive studies, there may be more than one variable, but usually descriptive research includes only one variable. This variable may be
measured at one point in time, but it also may be measured across time.
The latter is considered as a longitudinal descriptive study, or it could be
noted as a descriptive trend study. An example of such descriptive studies
would be the reports on the National Assessment of Educational Progress
(NAEP) or the Longitudinal Early Childhood Studies (for U.S. Department
of Education reports see http://www.ed.gov). In longitudinal descriptive
studies, data are taken from the same group or sample over varying points
in time. In a trend descriptive study, data are gathered from a different
group at various points in time, but within a population that changes as
well. The NAEP study is an example of this type because students are
assessed every year on reading and mathematics in specific grade levels.
Quantitative Research Designs
In other words, the population for all fourth grade students changes from
year to year. Trends are established on a measure over time with changing
populations.
Another type of descriptive study is a descriptive cluster study. In the
cluster study, data are taken on measures from samples within the same
population at various points in time. For example, all children beginning
kindergarten in 2006 in a large urban school district or in a state would be
considered the population. Those children would be followed throughout
their school career; however, each year or at each point when data are
taken, a cluster would be sampled within the same population of students
who began their school careers in 2006.
Cross-Sectional Studies
A simulated longitudinal descriptive study can be completed by collecting data obtained at a point in time from samples of individuals who
represent a cross section of the population. This is typically called a crosssectional descriptive study. You may survey parents of students at grades
K through 5 in a large urban district on their perceptions of teacher attitudes toward their children or on some variable of interest. You may
administer a test to a sample of students from grades K through 12 at a
point in time to gather data on a particular phenomenon. Mobility of
students and attrition are not accounted for in this type of research and are
considered limitations.
Several dissertation abstract examples follow that demonstrate effective
use of descriptive research design. (See Examples 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3.) Following
is an example of a dissertation dealing with a training program for school
psychologists completed by Bridgewater (2006). (See Example 3.1.)
Example 3.1
Abstract
Despite the need for early identification and intensive intervention for
social emotional concerns in young children, there exists a shortage of
personnel trained to provide mental health services with early childhood
populations (Klien & Gilkerson, 2000). The purpose of this study was to
examine, through descriptive research, the current status of preservice
school psychology training in relation to the assessment of social-emotional
development in preschool children. Specifically, this study sought to
explore the training school psychology programs offer, in preparing preservice school psychologists to provide mental health services for
preschool populations, and evaluate the perceptions of trainers and
students regarding the coursework, competencies, and instruments necessary for preparing school psychologists to provide social-emotional
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What You Need to Know
assessment and mental health services in early childhood settings.
Participants in this study included 108 program directors (trainers) of
school psychology training programs within the United States, as well as
4 advanced level students from each program, randomly selected from
the master’s/specialists (n = 151) and doctoral level (n = 74) of study in
each program; a total of 225 students. Two corresponding forms of the
“Preschool Social-Emotional Assessment Training” questionnaire were developed for this study. Each questionnaire was worded appropriately for the
different groups of respondents. The questionnaire items were developed
based upon two previous studies conducted by Boyer (1996) and
Gettinger, Stoiber, Goetz, and Caspe (1999), and the current literature concerning the preparation of school psychologists and related service personnel in the delivery of early childhood metal health assessment and
intervention services. (Bridgewater, 2006, p. ii)
The second abstract example is a dissertation that reports parental regulations on television viewing (Salvato, 2006). (See Example 3.2.)
Example 3.2
Abstract
Childhood obesity is the most prevalent chronic disease among North
American children and has reached epidemic proportions. Increased television viewing has been shown to increase the chances of a child becoming
obese. The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the amount
of media children are using and the parental practices being used to regulate television viewing among elementary school students. The sampling
frame consisted of parents of children attending an elementary school in
Connecticut. A questionnaire was adapted to determine the parental regulations being used to monitor children’s television viewing. Parents selfreported their child’s height and weight so that a correlation could be made
between regulations and childhood obesity. The results of this study have
increased the data on parental regulations regarding the use of television,
and revealed that many parents are not aware of the effects that excessive
television use can have on their child’s BMI. (Salvato, 2006, p. iii)
The third dissertation example relates to a higher education study on
writing centers and the questions that are asked by the tutors. This dissertation was completed by Cook (2006). (See Example 3.3.)
Example 3.3
Abstract
This dissertation examines two…