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  • matilda774 11:05 am on July 24, 2017 Permalink | Reply  

    How to write literature review chapter for thesis? 

    I have been searching and collecting references and resources for literature review chapter for past four weeks. My research is all about the stereotyping threats among the people belonging to age group of 20-35 years based in US. I visited the Michigan libraries to find reliable literature but because the topic is less explored, it lacks the adequate information. So, I have around 41 research papers only to study but I do not understand how I should write the review, shall I write the review author-wise or by the date of publication. My chair wants that I provide the research methodologies used by each of the authors I cite so I’m thinking to draft review of literature in tabular form which would keep each methodology or its relevancy sorted out. However, I don’t know if it would be a good idea or not. Help please!

     

    • Yusuf 6:53 am on August 25, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      I guess you should write literature review theoretically as well as in tabular form. Creating only a synthesized table alone would be much confusing because then there is no scope for explaining or criticizing the existing literature if needed. So, for that purpose only, I think you should write the review as per the publication dates as then you can actually describe the evolution of the knowledge or concepts discovered. Here is a good
      resource http://www.lib.uoguelph.ca/get-assistance/writing/specific-types-papers/writing-literature-review. This is a detailed guide using which you can conveniently draft review chapter.

    • Samantha 2:57 am on August 27, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      In my opinion, opt for both tabular as well as theoretical format. It is essential to take note of that your review ought not be just a portrayal of what others have published In the form of summaries, however should appear as a basic exchange, indicating knowledge of varying speculations and methodologies. It should be an amalgamation and analysis of the applicable published work, connected consistently to your own particular purpose and justification.

    • Zishan 11:59 am on August 28, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      According to me you should go for the tabular format. You can include different columns to highlight the pros and cons of the studies done. Reasoning being, it will save time of the reviewer and will give the better understanding about the work done in the past and the current area of study.

    • Ellis 6:02 am on September 1, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      In my suggestion, to make a literature review informative, analytical, it is necessary to identify the areas of controversy and help formulate questions that need further research. The most common method used is in the theoretical format. This goes for both primary research projects and secondary data analysis research projects. A good review is described by the author’s ability to assess and critically analyze the significant work in the field.

  • Laura Betcher 12:12 pm on July 18, 2017 Permalink | Reply  

    How to synthesize research articles? 

    Hi. It has been three weeks now that I’m still trying to write the literature review chapter of my thesis. My research is about the unfavourable impact that technology has on employees at the workplace. And for this, I obtained 61 research articles and papers from libraries and DOA which are really useful. So, the problem is that I reviewed all of them, finalized 20 research papers and prepared detailed notes. But I cannot synthesize the 20 sources which then are troubling me in writing LR. Are there some tools or any easy peasy way to get done with it?

     

    • jamie16917 1:17 am on July 19, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      So are you trying to synthesize all of the 20 articles? I don’t think you will be able to synthesize and you are not supposed to do that. Don’t you think it will be too much for the reader to grasp your intent? Instead, out of those 20, you take out 10-12 research papers which you can actually cite and synthesize them all. Now for writing part, you can explore synthesis matrices. Here is a good template of research synthesis matrix. Referring to this create your synthesis matrix and then bring out the main concepts or ideas of those research papers along with the mentioning the sources. https://danieltedman.com/demo/literature-review/resources/docs/synthesis-matrix.pdf

    • Thomas 8:20 am on July 23, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      What I understand of the problem you are facing is perhaps you are unable to plunge into the articles for understanding the central idea & the developmental structure or organization of the articles. So, first read and review each of those articles and write the main theme of each of them in a synthesis chart or table; whatever you feel like! When you can visualize these, you will automatically see the connecting or the contrasting ideas of multiple sources. And then you can easily write all of these in a coherent manner. You can either begin synthesizing those ideas either source by source or theme by theme. In such way, you can write your focused literature review carefully.

    • tom2331 7:19 am on July 27, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      Watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPKEuWkdcF4 although, the idea is not practically elaborated, still, it will clear of many of your doubts. A month back, I had a similar problem with writing literature review chapter when I found this video. It’s good.

  • Anil. S 11:48 am on July 14, 2017 Permalink | Reply  

    How tough is writing a quantitative methodology chapter of thesis? 

    Dear Admin! I have read many threads here. It’s glad that here many people find the solutions to their problems and it is really motivating that PhDs share their stressful (perhaps many aren’t stressed at all) experiences here and somehow finds support with the interaction.
    Anyways, can someone help me to find out why I’m not able to write my methodology chapter! Like seriously! I freak out every time the research methodology chapter lying on my study bench and with a stamp of REJECTED. I have written this petty little paper almost 7 times but still the comments of my supervisor are same- This piece cannot convince me why you chose quantitative approach, why collected the data through interviews and not from the existing documents, why only SAS is used and not SPSS. He needs more! More elaboration, more strong arguments, more peculiarity! But it is just a methodology chapter okay? What more clarity does he need?

     

    • Jeff 12:53 pm on July 17, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      7 times really? It appears to me as if you are making the use of inappropriate writing skills for academic writing. Go through this. http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/studyskills/essentials/writing/academic_english.html

    • Sheri 4:52 am on July 19, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      Your methodology chapter should move from broad to specific! It will have many sections! Discuss paradigms but not too much. Then, write research design which is the heart of your methodology chapters. Here the study type, questions, data collection and analysis all are introduced and justified step by step. Take some time and research about the importance of the methods & instruments you have used in your research. If you are unable to form your own arguments, look for inspiration somewhere else. See how others wrote a good methodology chapter. Read, evaluate and synthesize in own language: thumb rule of every successful writing.

    • Derek 12:51 pm on July 21, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      You must create a value of the chosen methodology particularly and had no other choice but working out with only this methodology. Quote the sources on research methodology and make claims and arguments that you understand why your methodology works in this particular ways to achieve research purpose. Criticize other researches and other methodologies that have been wrongly implemented.

    • Clay 12:54 pm on July 21, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      let it get done by professionals. They handle such problems well because they know what is it that supervisor expects from you. Check http://www.geoffandfrancis.co.uk/. I took SPSS help from them. I’m sure they can help you out with drafting chapter.

  • dara808 12:49 pm on July 11, 2017 Permalink | Reply  

    Qualitative Data Analysis – Nvivo 

    I am pursuing PhD in the field of Psychology. My Research area is anti-social personality disorder. I will obviously go for a qualitative analysis. Currently I have around 37 audio transcriptions of the interviews conducted. One of my seniors suggested that I use NVivo for data analysis. I have never used it before. Should I try using NVivo or should I perform the task manually? Will using a software make any difference? Suggestions please!!

     

    • Sheena 12:50 pm on July 11, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      Hey! You should definitely go for NVivo. They have come up with the latest version NVivo 11 with a special feature called TranscribeMe. You will find it easy to transcribe the audio files with this feature without facing any trouble. Upload your files and get your transcripts. As simple as that. Don’t get into the trouble of manually analyzing data. Go ahead with Nvivo.

    • Channon 4:56 am on July 12, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      I think 37 transcriptions would be too much to handle all alone whether you do a manual analysis or with the help of software. And you seem to be a little inexperienced regarding data analysis. Without experience, analysis can get tricky. Why don’t you get a professional analysis done? It will save a lot of time. And, at the end, it is going to be worth it. Try – https://dissertationpal.com/. Good luck for your research!

    • Tim 4:36 am on July 13, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      Your data is vast. It’s good that you have decided to go for a software rather than employing manual techniques. Everybody has a first time. Not everyone becomes a pro overnight. Nvivo is quite easy to use. In fact, the latest version is quite user-friendly. You just need to upload your audio files and the transcripts get uploaded within 24 to 72 hrs. I recently used it for my study. However, I had only 20 audio transcripts. Saved a lot of time! And the best part is accurate results!

    • Matt 4:37 am on July 14, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      Nvivo comes with a lot of pros. Work is error-free, even verbatim (like hmmm….) gets removed properly. So, overall it’s comprehensible. On the other hand, I feel if you are running tight on a budget, and you don’t intend to use NVivo again in the near future, better not invest in it. Buying a software and using it hardly once or twice makes no sense. Rather get a professional analysis done. Money spent over there would be more worth it. Two years back, I got my data analyzed from http://www.phdstatistics.com/. Their team is co-operative. Results were effective.

  • sierra4328 1:52 am on July 7, 2017 Permalink | Reply  

    How to create a demographic questionnaire? 

    I need to develop a demographic questionnaire for measuring the difference between “before” & “after” situation of marginalized women in Africa after women rights law section 9 entitled as Equality had been passed. For this, my target audience would be the poor and the subjugated women living in the outskirts of Congo. Can someone help me out, like what could be some good demographic questions?

     

    • joseph664 5:58 am on July 9, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      But you are researching upon the marginalised or oppressed women so to say, how would you manage to let them fill those? They might not be able to reveal their identity and respond justifiably. Isn’t is so?

    • sierra4328 12:01 pm on July 10, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      Hmm. I know your concern! I would be sending the questionnaire through post to maintain the anonymity. This is one of the biggest challenges for collecting data, especially from a remote and small community. But right now, I’m only concerned about the formulation of research questions. May be I can visit them personally and collect data. In research reports, I will keep their identity and credentials hidden so that they would not be any facing issues due to me.

    • sarah2784 5:57 am on July 11, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      In a demographic questionnaire, the basic details like gender, age, language spoken, race would be inclusive. While some other could be: what is their profession? Are they engaged in agricultural production, or providing domestic work services, or are they only household wives? Why they chose occupation like they are doing the job currently? Are there any opportunities for women in the service sector? How much is their contribution to the total income of household? How their experience as housewives or working women is like? What do they think they lack in comparison to men? Do they feel discriminated because of their race and gender? Something like that. I don’t know your specific objective, but yes I do feel like your research must be revolving in and around these questions.

    • terry498 3:03 am on July 12, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      It is not that easy. You cannot formulate the questions for the sake of creating a questionnaire. You need to be very careful while doing that. It sounds difficult. Anyhow, Here is this good resource that I found that will guide you for demographic questionnaire. http://www.satest.arizona.edu/assessment/documents/ExamplesOfDemographicQuestions.pdf

  • Louisa 7:22 am on July 5, 2017 Permalink | Reply  

    What are credible and non-credible sources for a research paper? 

    Can someone brief me about the sources we can trust for citing in our research paper? Is it necessary that everything in print is reliable and trusted resource and everything online (such as blog posts, social media posts) is fraud or untrue? It is just a thought that many times occurred to me that if such social media posts, articles or e-journal articles are non-credible then why APA, MLA Handouts recommend the citation formats for them?

     

    • Derek 1:28 am on July 6, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      Oh well, who told you blog posts and online articles are frauds? Okay well, some of them are but not all of them. The reason being that there are many undisciplined people out there who mean to spread negativity, conflicts, and other ideologies harmful to the society. They take false identity and then keep on creating ideological conflicts. Such resources are not verified and are temporarily available most of the times which can result in the less authoritative research paper. Also, APA & MLA define the referencing styles for those social media posts or online resources that are verified and have credibility.

    • Tony 10:33 am on July 7, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      Print vs. electronic resources: the debate is never ending !! I advise all my students to never fully trust and rely on the everything they find online. Unless, no conclusion no technique or no commandment from the university is released, it is wiser to avoid citing online sources. And for the print also, the recent publications or the publications by the anonymous author must be avoided.

    • seoreviewin 6:32 am on July 8, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      Now I’m feeling good to know that there are other people too who think the same way as I do. Even I thought of it before. After investing 3 hours in finding the answer to this question, I came to a realize that you may encounter frauds in published as well as unpublished material. So you must determine the credibility and reliability of the sources you get yourself only. Many times, we only prefer the websites which have .edu or org as their domain names. Instead, we must look up for the means for verifying the authorship and authority of the resources. I’m currently studying to derive the ways through which any user can identify the various credible resources online. Once my project gets completed, I would share it with you here only.

    • wilson349 2:30 am on July 10, 2017 Permalink | Reply

      You can trust the content published on the websites or blogs of respected and well-known authors, university and government websites. Because such websites and blogs only publish quality and authentic content. Here is good article published on a university website https://writingcenter.appstate.edu/sites/writingcenter.appstate.edu/files/Credible%20v%20Non-Credible%20Sources13.pdf. See you can trust and cite such material available online.

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