ENH 4 Thesis Writing

ENH 4 Thesis Writing

• The vision is is to become a premier academic institution in Southeast Asia for ISCOF
• The mission is to upgrade education, generate jobs, and reduce poverty with academic programs
• Core values are fortitude, integrity, scholarship, humanity, excellence, service
• Goals include quality instruction, relevance and responsiveness, access and equity, human resource development, linkages and infrastructure development
• Objectives are to produce globally competitive and humane graduates, provide trainings for educators, conduct trainings for skills development in instruction, extension, and research, and network with private and government agencies for elementary teacher training
• The Iloilo State College of Fisheries-San Enrique Campus provides quality education and training in academic, professional, and technological fields by using instruction, extension, and research development
• Orientations for the course and the class will include the course outline peer evaluation, a research study tracer tool, and a calendar of activities

Research

• Research involves the study of trends or events using careful collection, presentation, analysis, and interpretation of data or facts
• Research characteristics include being empirical, logical, cyclical, analytical, critical, methodical, and replicable
• Researcher traits are intellectual curiosity, prudence, healthy criticism, intellectual honesty, and intellectual creativity
• Research is valuable because it improves the quality of life, instruction, students' achievement, teacher competence, reduces workload, has a psychological aspect, and responds to economic recovery
• Basic, applied, and developmental research are types of research
• Classifications include library research, field research, and laboratory research
• Types of variables include independent variables (stimulus), dependent variables (observed and measured), moderator variables (secondary independent), control variables (neutral effect), and intervening variables (interfere)

Research Proposal Parts

• Parts include the title, introduction, background of study, statement of problem, hypothesis, theoretical and conceptual frameworks, diagrams, definition of terms, significance of study, and a review of related literature
• Review of related literature includes a literature review of the legal basis, related literature, related studies, and a summary
• Chapter three regards methodology that is research design, respondents, data gathering instruments, validity/ reliability of instrument, data gathering procedure, and statistical tools to be used
• Other parts are references, appendices (letters, questionnaires, curriculum vitae), defense, corrections, hard binding, and graduation

In-text citations

• It is important to create citations when you refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from a source
• An in text citation must have a corresponding reference list entry
• APA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and publication year
• Direct quotations include the page number as well
• Websites and E-books with no page numbers can use a paragraph number

Research Title

• Consider the research topic and not the research problem
• It must be complete and stated in a complete manner
• Research title must be SMART
• The title should describe the topic, method, sample, and results
• Avoid jargon, be concise, meets standards, and be unique and creative

Researchable Problems

• It must exist in the area but no known solution has been found
• Must be answerable by statistical methods/ techniques
• It is likely to have a good solution but hasn't been tested
• Inquiries the occurrence of phenomena requires investigation
• Must address a serious need or problem

Research Problems

• The sources of the topic come from specialization, current and past research, recommendations, and ideas based on existing problems
• Key items on the research agenda are teaching and learning, child protection, inclusive education, peace education, localization, and SDGs

Chapter 1 Introduction

• An introduction should entail:
  • Background of the study
  • Statement of the problem
  • Hypothesis
  • Theoretical framework
  • Conceptual framework
  • Diagram
  • Definition of terms
  • Significance of the study

Background of the Study

• The study helps to explain why these topics are important and chosen
• Important to know what the title is about, a literature review, locale and context, gaps, statistics, significance, and reason
• Introduction introduces the document and its context to the reader in an interesting manner, enticing them to continue to read the document
• Backgrounds synthesize knowledge on the subject matter
• It's goal is to articulate patterns within the literature and to describe unresolved issues or questions, then show how your study fits into the larger body of work in your field
• Research can be organized in chronological order by significant issues or specific studies
• The background of the study explains why the topic is important and essential to the study

How to Structure

• What is know about the broad subject?
• Where are gaps that need to be addressed?
• Significance in addressing these gaps
• Understand rationale and hypothesis
• The background section should provide main ideas on the topic

How to Avoid Bad Writing

• Focus on all details instead of writing too short or too long
• Remove ambiguity
• Highlight gaps in the research or novelty
• Do not be unorganized

Problem Definition

• Includes General Research statement and the Specific research question

Research Problem

• Involves a question or statement that implies solutions and has possibilities to be solved

Problem Statements

• The statement should describe an issue that needs to be addressed
• The statement must be the main point of the research
• The statement should be contained in one sentence or paragraph and elaborated elsewhere.

Elements of a Problem Statement

• The statement is the problem and why it is important to study
• Method used is a possible claim or thesis
• Purpose is outlined in the objectives and overall scope of the project.

Qualitative Outline

• A need of study
• The specific research to be done
• The design approach, be exploratory
• A proposed population

Questions Asked

• What interest is current?
• Will it continue?
• Is there more practical use?
• Is there theoretical meaning?
• Affect on population
• Revisions
• Change on best practices
• Support

Research Questions

• Questions should focus on a single issue
• Researchable through source materials
• Able to be answered and feasible
• Should be specific, complex,and relevant to the topic

Writing

• Includes variable and population information
• Not to be answered yes or no
• Must involve descriptive information

Development Steps

• Choose a topic
• Investigate readings
• Narrow down a specific niche
• Identify a practical or theoretical issue

Research Questions Types

• Descriptive to explain items
• Comparative to understand similarities
• Correlational to understand relationship across variables
• Exploratory to understand main factors
• Explanatory how something impacts another item
• Evaluate to test effective or value
• Actionable on how to make improvements

Hypothesis

• Prediction to be examined
• Can be + or --
• Make the prediction simple and clear
• Use variable information as necessary

Frameworks

• Explain important concepts and relationships
• Relevant items that work as road-maps
• Helps support the study and questions

Framework Strength

1. Shows key details
2. Links a researcher to knowledge
3. To provide insights
4. Limit generalizations

Framework Strategies

1. Examine thesis and work
2. Brainstorm facts
3. Identify related support
4. Constructs and key elements
5. Discuss assumptions

Conceptual Framework

• Links the ideas of research for an organized view of a topic
• Derived from concepts not theories

Diagrams

• A depiction of information relationships and concepts
• Can show respondents and dependent variables

How to Make a Framework

1. Choose topic
2. What is to be studied
3. Add references
4. Choose variables
5. Relationship between variables
6. Link connections

The Reason to Use Frameworks

• Also known as rationale
• Helps to communicate why something is and what it is

Literature Review

• Chapter 2 involves review of related papers, information and local references
• Watch out for plagiarism as literature is cited

Review Literature

• It is a high level review of scholarly and research articles to understand the concept covered
• Shows what was covered in research

Important Review

• Giving a new interpretation of material
• Understanding progression
• Evaluate source material to give advice
• Showing literature research gaps

Literature Review Goals

• Placing context of knowledge in the research
• Clarifying the relationship of the ideas to one another
• Revealing gaps
• Solve conflicts of research
• Evaluate for duplicated efforts
• Position future work
• Position the current investigation

Types of Literature

• Argumentative
• Integrative
• Historical
• Methodological
• Systematic

Work Evaluation

• Provenance. What are the authors
• Objectivity
• Is the perspective prejudice?
• What is persuasive?
• Value and findings

Sort Information

• Review using an event time frame
• By topic
• By finding new findings

Writing Reviews

• Use existing evidence
• Be clear
• Select key points
• Use references
• Summarize and synthesize information with review
• Use writing to make it seem relatable

Chapter 3

• Discuss methodology, research design, the respondents, the data gathering method, valid and reliable results in the right procedure
• Provide information so findings are valid
• Mention how data was obtained and what tools you used
• Note how it was achieved.

Goal Methodology

• Provide explanation of work
• Clarify the reason you follow that procedure
• Show if how you measured against objectives
• Discuss challenges
• Let people replicate and test

Finding

• Used in an objective manner
• Used for quantitative study to compare against
• Describe for clarity

Discussion

• Analytic and comphrensive
• Links findings
• Interpret analysis to show information
• Discussion on impact

Conclusion

• Summary and assessment of findings
• Don't include statistical numbers
• Recommendations and policy change