Research methodology chapter for a dissertation

The last post of the year begins with a new chapter...Research methodology ( chapter III). Here I am going to give a detailed section on producing a good research methodology chapter. let us look in to the basic elements in a research methodology.

The process of research can be carried out only with the help of data's. there are mainly two type of data such as primary data and secondary data. Primary data is like a fresh fruit grown in your backyard and the secondary data is fruits bought from a shop. I am sure that you can answer any question on how you have grown the fruits in your back yard.  you are most probably in a position to tell me what sort of fertilizers you have used , the age of the tree , variety , when you plucked the fruit , any artificial methods for preservation and so on. This is exactly what we mean by a primary data .

The primary data is collected directly from the research environment, and the researcher will be able to answer questions on various tools and techniques used for the collection of data. This means you should be able to tell me how you collected the data , tools an techniques , nature of data ( quantitative or qualitative) , time period, participants in the process of collecting this data , whether the data is collected using random sampling ( this is important for making statistical inferences) and various other procedures. 

The secondary data is like the fruits that are bought from a shop, some times you can provide certain amount of information on the source and variety , but we get that information from a secondary source such as packaging or the shop keeper. However , we cannot personally guarantee any of these information. Also the quality is also at risk when it is bought without a label or packaging. 

So that is the best idea I can give about the data, but what is research methodology?

The methodology of the research provides a detailed explanation on the structure of research process along with a step by step representation of various tools and techniques used in the research. The methodology of the research is best explained using a research onion. ( Search for a research onion image in Google). There are five layers for a research onion......

Research philosophy .

Research approaches.

Research strategies .

Time horizon.

Data collection methods. 

Once you are finished with the above five layers , we still have some more subsections .....such as 

Reliability .

Validity .

Ethical considerations .

Time scale . 

...........and as I told you in the earlier posts an introduction and conclusion to the chapter ( compulsory for all chapters). 

All the above subsections and detailed explanation of it will  produce a good research methodology chapter. however , the most important part is in integrating the   above methods with the research under consideration. 

Some times the students prefer the qualitative , quantitative approach along with an explanation of the research such as exploratory , explanatory so on . however I prefer this method since you cannot miss out any thing and the methodology is crystal clear to the evaluator. 

I will give detailed explanation on the subsections in later posts....

                               Cheersssssssssss.  ;) 

7 ways to improve the value of a university literature review.

   I hope you all enjoyed the Christmas holidays ...let us come back to our main business. 

Today I am giving you some important tips for improving the value of your literature review and a check list of matter that is expected in every literature review. 

When you write a literature review for your dissertations.....

1. You must concentrate on a very recent literature available in the field of study(3-5 years).

2. In a 5000 words literature review...leave at least 1500 words for questionnaire related literature. for example  employee satisfaction, resistance to change , communication,training on job, work environment so on. 

3. Try to make multiple referencing as and when possible ( Yin , 1999;Saunders,2007), which make it more authentic .

4. Provide sufficient headings ( sub-headings are not compulsory). 

5. Try to write the literature review in the order of research objectives , over all a head , body and tail approach is expected. 

6. Criticisms of every concept , existing in the literature is highly expected and a literature without critical remarks from eminent authors ( not you ...!) will let you down on improving your grade. 

7. summarise the whole literature review sufficiently and provide if possible a conceptual frame work ( popular in 2011-2012). 

In order to keep you remain focused , read through the check list and improve your literature review..... I will come back later with an introduction to the great research methodology.....till then with your permission....

                                               Good bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                               

Still struggling....... with the collected materials for a dissertation???, may be these inputs can help you!??

                                MERRY CHRISTMAS

So I guess you have collected some amount of good articles with the help of sources I have provided. Refer to to the last post.

Hmmmm.... I know it is not easy , pulling your hair on how to classify and analyse?. Hope today's inputs will help your efforts. I will present it like a step by step guide ...should not be that difficult to follow.... 

Step 1. Read other literature reviews published in your area of research. 

This is one way to develop a model for your literature review. Further  you can create a theme for your literature review. 

The most significant point is giving a structure for your literature...means it must have a head , descent body and tail (summary).

you can imagine this structure just like human anatomy...big head , small body and long tail looks funny...scary!...so don't scare the evaluators . Try to be proportional for each section. 

Step 2. Stating the fundamental problem .

 This do not mean you have to desperately support your problem with the help of other authors. Rather you just provide a slanting towards a particular problem . 

Step 3. Rigorous searching in the literature. 

Now once we have taken that particular slant towards the problem, search for authors who are specialist in the topic .

It is as important as to find the authors who support your specialisations , as to find the authors who contradict or criticise this particular problem. 

The best literature review , never take sides , and it is the readers who come to the conclusion on your performance and your presentation of arguments made by others gives good grade. ( Try to be in the winning side.... ;) ) 

Step 4. Evaluation of findings. 

Read....read...reread.... evaluation needs through understanding of what you are doing..keep reading everything again and again

    So try to fix the number of materials to read make note of paragraphs or sentences related to your research , collect it and keep it for later referencing. Our literature revolves around some of the main authors others are like extras in a cinema. They are needed or it is too boring to watch it. 

Step 5. Interpreting the findings and analysis. 

The interpretation of evaluated findings require good understanding of what ever you have analysed so far. different authors use different methods for researching same topic , it is really important to mention this here during the interpretation. If you mention the difference in studies then you can impress the evaluator. ( No short cut for hard work...!!).

Step 6. Recommendations and conclusion. 

Now I really have no confidence in you to provide a good recommendation in the literature review part ( some exceptions do exist ...but I think leave it for academic brains . if you are good in it then you have a good future in academic writing, books, journals , reviews....ALL THE BEST).

So the best performance we can make is by decently summarising the literature review , using all most same sort of language used in the literature review. We have enough opportunity in the recommendation chapter towards the end of dissertation to show our creativity. 

 ............  HOPE THIS HELPS .......

Searching for materials (literature review) to develop a good dissertation ..... some useful links.

                  

Today I prefer to search with you for some good inputs , yes! through internet first.I am sure you have visited your library already ;) and using the on-line library facility in your university frequently. 

The links provided here and the topics are selected randomly with special interest to topics like human resource information system, branding , human resource management  and micro-finance industry. Try to include maximum number of journals in your literature...professors are addicted to it !!! . Remember literature from this century only ( heard that recently ?... all-night all-right) , and give special attention to literature generated after 2005, since we are living in 2011...whoa! time is going so fast . 

General links.

Statistical data analysis  .

The spread sheet page for excel users and developers 

Stock charts if you are watching the stock market 

Links to dissertations in Indian universities

Human resource information systems (HRIS).

 The impact of human resource information systems in the public sector

Human resource information system ; replacing or enhancing HRM

Research and practice in human resource management..... ur going to love me for giving this link

Human resource information system security ... nice one

Very useful site ... enjoy

Let me stop here for now giving you all the links , on request I will try for more. 

Recently I came to know that , some of the universities are demanding 6 chapters for the dissertation ( earlier it was 5) , so please be updated by reading dissertation guidelines you receive from the university. In face this is the most important tool to test the genuineness of your dissertation. I hope you have started with your literature review......let me wait for you and I will give inputs on research methodology .

A very very important tips when doing the literature review.................!!!!

Store your author sources in the MS Word ( Linux.. I don't know) , this is the way you do it .

Step one : Open a word document , save it ;)

Step two: Click home ( I assume you have the latest version)

Step three : Click references.....what do you see ?

Step four: On the third column did you see manage references at the top right hand corner ( I mean right hand ...right...right!!!  :)) ) 

Step five: Click manage resources ....u got a pop up window...click new 

Step 6: O.K. Done choose whether ur using book or a journal , then click ( another very important tip) corporate author , or u cannot place it in the bibliography properly. 

Step seven : Now enter the data as it is given there , and finish it..... u can use this in the later assignments or dissertations too.... this is a professional tip ...FREE...FREE ....FREE .

Step eight: Now once you have ur data entered , it can be used for inserting in your literature....go to the place where u want to enter it ..click then insert citation.... 

Step nine : Do u see a twinkling author name ...check the right hand side u can convert it in to static text and remove the initials...( We Don't Need Initials... HARVARD REFERENCING ) 

Now keep expanding the author list and go ahead with the literature .... keep me posted on ur doubts ... I am here for you mate ........ 

                                                                                              Cheers mate!!!

         

Literature review ...continued.

 " It is by logic we prove , but by intuition we discover " - Jules Poincare, Great mathematician. 

Let me continue with the literature review ...today I am trying to give some resources , tips for searching , paraphrasing , quoting and some of the links which may be of good use to you. I came across this link for referring books and journals . In fact Google books is a good source ...and there are many other like  Palgrave which give sample reference material and free samples of good journals . Another really really good site from London School of Economics London School of Economics list of free e-journals , which is extremely good. 

While searching in Google use some thing like ' employee branding literature review pdf ' this usually brings up many good articles .... and also go to the scholarly articles were you can get several good pdf articles...

To be frank with you ...try to collect materials first ... then fix your topic and objectives , if you are not strong in statistics go for simple presentations and survey analysis . From my experience I can tell you this works .... provided your analysis is supported by theory ...references... 

Remember! loads of statistics will not give you any extra advantage. So no need to spend money for data analysis..... you can do it.  

( pssssss....or if you are really really out of time , busy with your job, try to piggy back on a good research .... then be a good engineer { re-engineer, :)}........ 

                  Caution !             

Universities do have a software for similarity ...and if ur caught :(( ...ur finished.. plagiarism report will not give a hint on similarity ).So take only the structure of the research and add value to it. 

Now , I told you earlier about categorisation, categorise your main contributors , the main authors .... and fix what you are going to take from those authors. This will give a good start. 

 Move on to specific areas of your topic ...for example employee branding-customer satisfaction,HRIS-efficiency in communication. HRIS-employee satisfaction....Make a note of relevant contributions, then find other authors who made references to this topic. Google should be more than enough. when you are finished with the above links I will give you more or you can just send me a comment about your requirement. 

Appendix::


I came across this information....may be useful to you ....you can do various courses from a world class university without spending a single penny....
Click here

          Let me take a small commercial break...during your search for materials ;) 

  

  

Chapter 2 :: Literature review.

Today we start with the literature review chapter . 

start with a brief introduction, about 300 words( the chapter is expected go up to 5000 words for a 20000 word dissertation). The introduction provides information on what type of literature you are going to review,how you are going to do it , brief description of the sources and if not too inconvenient, main authors listed in the review. 

  Another important point is to specify the time period within which you are selecting the literature review. this depends on the topic you are selecting . It is better to chose last five years , not more than 10 years....and if you can specify why you have chosen this time period the better. 

O.K.... now before starting your review , collect all the materials ...do that first and categorise it . If you can place a table specifying what are the areas you are covering , the main authors listed in those areas and corresponding source with year....... brilliant!!

There are some very standard wordings which you are going to use in a literature review ...let me list it down.

1. According to Obama (2011)....( this form is also used in quotations, however please avoid quotations, paraphrase it ).

Note ; use only the surname and no initials. 

2. Gates (2008) , observes that ......

3. Blair (2009), criticises this view....

4. Cameron (2010), reflects that ....

5. Sarkozy( 2008), support this view and point out that ....

If don't have most of the above stuff...then some how academicians think that this is not a literature review. 

Now use small paragraphs as far as possible, and use headings . Maintain the flow of review starting with the research objective 1 , review topics related to it then move on to research objective 2 , research objective 3 .....

If the evaluator can make out the review of literature for all the research objective then you sure will get more than 60% marks . 

The criteria specified by professors are mostly along this line , however listen to the professor or you may miss out their important inputs.

Now please make sure that you have clearly connected all the research objectives and the literature review part is the reflection of your effort .... which is the main parameter for grades if all other sections being descent. 

just a suggestion....if you can place a diagram..if and only if you can do it properly ...place it to indicate the structure of your literature review. But if you are not confident forget about it , it can add more harm , if you do it in the wrong way.

Bit busy these days .... so I am stopping here may be u can expect another post today. 

            

   

Some reflections .....may be useful !

Friends , I am happy to know that you like this attempt , your feed backs can really improve the content . I am almost done with first chapter . 


A word of caution for UK students trying for PSW . Rush your work and try to submit it as early as possible , the PSW ,with the latest information , ends on March 31 ( you are already aware... I know ... :0 ). Also , recently I heard that  the professors are not suppose to view the final copy... to avoid bias during evaluation...!!  Is it true ? . I think they control us using the form for remarks and feed backs, which in fact can be seen by the evaluator . So try to be good ...punctual ....and avoid being too smart with them. 

A good news to share with you ... Ad-sense accepted my account and you are highly honoured to see a lot of other information in this site ;).Any way at least those guys know that I am spending my valuable time on this one. 

I am planning to make few posts on Harvard referencing soon. So look out for this important lesson. you are literally doing your dissertation just to learn how to reference it!! . 

In fact it is a serious offence in a country like UK , using information from other sources without permission. Many students I know have got terminated due to repeated high level of plagiarism. Also adding to the informations there are confirmed reports about students getting caught for doing their dissertations with professional help. ( I wonder how all those websites offering dissertations for sky high prices survive ...not sure whether it is right!). 

it is easy to do it using MS word and related tools. I will also give you a lot of information soon on making table of contents , bibliography and other automated documentations .  

             

More about the introduction chapter

Today , I am planning to talk more about the introduction chapter and its related components. 

Organisation profile .

when giving details about the organisation , please be careful not to make it a narration of the history of the organisation. Instead , provide information regarding the attributes of the organisation related to the current phenomenon under study . For example , if the research is about human resource management , provide more details about he existing human resource management model and related future plans, which is usually found in their annual report( So......... find a descent company for research, at least one with an annual report :) ) 

Make it brief , normally an introduction chapter have a word limit of 2000-3000 , for a 20000 word dissertation , so limit the organisation profile to 300-500 . 

you can relate your research and organisation more in the research rationale.

The research rationale.

In this section you have the responsibility to explain the choice of current topic and its significance to the organisation. 

For example ....  

if you have chosen the .......Human resource information system.....then talk about its   operational, managerial and strategic roles and the relevance for the organisation in implementing the system in one of the above three roles . 

A small tip in referencing the organisation profile.....you can make a standard referencing by giving ( Annual report , 2011, ABCD corporation) ..... (Website ,ABCD corporation) ....like that not the on-line link to their site. This is a very common mistake though corrected by good professors. 

Googly :

Google taught me few lessons about the referencing ....I took some images and accepted that it was from Google (referenced) still Google is not happy... :(  ... so I removed it . 

...and the most important tip never ever copy paste an image in your dissertation from the internet, it will give high plagiarism.... Please draw all the figures ....and don't forget to explain it .....which is very very important otherwise you will unnecessarily lose valuable marks . If you can find an explanation for it do not draw that ...in reality the figures are used to explain the theory not the other way around ....so if the explanation is missing the figures cannot stand alone. 

Another point , give a good source for the figure (the evaluators are not highly intelligent enough to think that you can make such complex figures) ..and provide a very recent reference.  

        

Let us finish off the first chapter…!!

               

    

O.K.…… Most of the students start with an abstract for their dissertation… !!!!!!  A habit carried on from doing the assignments. Let me tell you the abstract should be written only when you have finished the whole project. 

The abstract talks about the whole research-it is the summary of the dissertation you are doing , such as introduction, methods used , outcomes and future expectations.

So….. please leave that part for the time being. Let us finish the chapter 1. You must have already received guidelines on doing a dissertation. Still let me give you a bird’s eye view of the overall dissertation.

It consist of 5 chapters;

Chapter 1 :: Introduction.

{…..  Introduction to what it is about , what you are trying to do … and a glimpse of the whole work should be provided here. The risk factor is in maintaining the information given in this chapter. Do not use some other method in research when you have specified one in this chapter. Also given is a brief description of the phenomenon, organisation, a pointer to previous researches ….how you got excited about this particular stuff….}.

Ohhhh….forgot to tell you…all the chapters must have an introduction and conclusion part…even the introduction chapter is having an introduction chapter. So let me give you a descent structure for your first chapter.

Introduction.

Industry profile(optional).

Organisation profile.

Research rational.

Research aim. ( Usually the main heading)

Scope of the research. ( why the hell it should be conducted?...what is the advantage?...I am not asking the organisation is asking  J)

Research objectives.(usually 4 to 5… don’t drag it )

Research hypothesis ( questions) ( make 2 to 3 hypothesis to be on the safer side…remember you have to test it so don’t be adamant about it ).

Research  limitation.

Conclusion.

( If I have missed something let me know …or if I remember I will add it later )

The conclusion also provides a glimpse of the next chapter, the literature review.

O.K. let me give all the other main headings….

Chapter I :: introduction.

Chapter II :: Literature review.

Chapter III :: Research methodology.

Chapter IV :: Data analysis.

Chapter V :: Data interpretation ,  recommendations ( please be aware the conclusion comes first recommendations last).


Recently universities are asking for extending the conclusion  section...


So................... create the sixth chapter...


Chapter VI:: Conclusions. 

Now if you have already started your dissertation you may have your doubt about the great referencing.

You are familiar with the following statement I hope…LOL

‘NO HARVARD REFERENCING, NO PASS   YOU ARE ALL WARNED ‘

Whenever I see this I feel like warning signs on army enclosures….’Trespassers will be shot ( no prosecution!!!)’ ……

I will give a detailed chapter on that later ……  I feel that the dissertations are made only to be referenced not to reflect our thinking. We are making those people some sort of legends and you will be able to remember their name better than your friends name. so make friends with them.

Got to go ….. that is it for the time being ….I am expecting more questions….. so that this effort can be more fruitful ….

The objectives------ Caution slippery area.

                   

Once you have decided on your topic, now it is time to move on to your objective.

(The first visit to your professor requires clarity on topic and objectives)

Even though different professors ask for different format for your objectives, there is a general format with which you can escape from meeting the professor again for approval.

The first objective is expected to cover the theoretical aspects of your phenomenon under study. It is compulsory to give a specific dimension to your research which means start with an international (general) discussion on the topic, move on to a national dimension and finishes it off with company specific angle.

For example , if you have chosen implementation of a human resource information system in Lloyds Tsb ( risky topic ..it is only for your understanding) , start with the following objective.

Research objective 1.

A critical analysis of (detailed discussion of, exploration of etc) theoretical aspects related to the implementation of human resource information system in a business organisation.

Now move on to give industry specific dimension to your study.

Research objective 2.

To make an evaluation of implementing a HRIS in the banking sector in United Kingdom (Since Lloyds you have chosen is in United Kingdom).

It is time to make a study on the company you have chosen.

Research objective3.

To make analysis of implementing HRIS in Lloyds Tsb in Oxford main branch , Oxford , United Kingdom.

Since you are definitely going to make recommendations the fourth objectives may be chosen as follows.

Research objective4.

To make recommendations for implementing a HRIS in Lloyds Tsb , provided to the management

Now if you have any idea about HRIS you will definitely ask , how we can only implement the HRIS in a particular branch rather than considering the network of branches or the whole institution?

You are right, however we are considering the branch as only a sample for our study and generalise the outcomes.

 Don’t worry Lloyds Tsb will not take your recommendations right away , they will make further enquiries before appointing you as the advisor to the bank on HRIS implementation  ;) .

Once you get a go ahead with this let us also make some research questions , scope of the project , rationales, research limitations and finish the first chapter.