Thesis General Information PDF

**Thesis General Information (Week 2/3/4)** **Process of Writing a thesis** 1. Choosing a thesis topic 2. Framing research objectives and questions 3. Planning research project 4. Literature survey 5. Developing conceptual framework 6. Planning and conducting empirical research 7. Int...

**Thesis General Information (Week 2/3/4)** **Process of Writing a thesis** 1. Choosing a thesis topic 2. Framing research objectives and questions 3. Planning research project 4. Literature survey 5. Developing conceptual framework 6. Planning and conducting empirical research 7. Interpreting research findings 8. Wiring up thesis 9. Checking and correcting **Research Objectives** - Purpose of investigation of thesis topic - Clear and precise statement of aims of the thesis - What do you really want to find out **Research Questions** - What it is that research seeks to achieve - Open -- ended wh questions **Planning Research Project** - Planning process and content of thesis research - Methodology of literature survey - Research methods - Conducting empirical study - Interpretation research findings **Literature Survey** - Search professional sources - Findings books/ academic journal articles that are relevant to thesis and research objectives - Various theories, views, research findings need to be criticized **Developing a conceptual framework** - Kind of a map - Present the topics/ subtopics and concepts of research project relate to one another **Planning and conducting empirical research** - How you want to achieve research objectives by empirical investigation - Maybe quantitative or qualitative methods - Need to be chosen by considering research topic, objectives and questions **Structure of the Thesis** - Cover Sheet - Title Page - Executive Summary - Acknowledgements - Table of contents - List of tables/ figures/ appendices - Introduction - Body of the report (Literature Review/ Empirical Research) - Summary and Conclusion - References - Appendices - Declaration **Week 9: Literature Search and Assessment** To write a literature review - Literature search and assessment are necessary - Literature search should be planned and conducted systematically - Assessment of the sources should be conducted Reviewing the literature - Exploring, reviewing, assessing the publications related to topic Purpose of reviewing the literature - Recognize research opportunities and alternatives - Clarifying the research topic, purposes and questions - Finding appropriate research methodology, perspective - Getting knowledge about theories, views and research findings - Understanding field, topic specific issues and themes - Finding and clarifying a research gap In planning literature research 1. Selecting databases for literature research 2. Collect keywords and terms for finding sources 3. Determine parameters of the search (publications type and date) 4. Criteria to select relevant and useful publications 1. Selecting Databases - E-journal databases with business and economic content \> business source premier/ science direct/ JSTOR - Multidisciplinary database (related to psychology/ social science) - Database including company information (SWOT analysis) / EBSCOhost 2. Collect keywords - Thesis topics/ research purposes/ questions - Reviewing one or two publications in thesis topic 3. Determining parameters of the search - Full text - Document type - Date of publication - Professional field - Language of publication \*In saving file : Author (publishing year) -- Title Online International Database - EBSCOhost - ScienceDirect - JSTOR - SpringerLink - Wiley Online Library - ProQuest Central - Statista Online Scientific and Professional Search - Google Books - Google Scholar - Central and Eastern European Online Library - RFE Methods for Systematic Literature Search 1. Based on library and online catalogues - Using keywords and subjects - Applying keywords combinations - Sorting by relevance 2. Following literature - Following the literature chain - Focusing on citations and reviewing references to find relevant sources - Monographies and review articles 3. According to authors - Follow-up author method - Searching for the publications of certain author Reading Techniques - Skimming \> recognizing main elements of source / reading the first sentence of the paragraph - Scanning \> focusing on valuable parts of the source / introduction section/ conclusion section Assessing Academic Journal Articles - Excellence of the journal (peer-reviewed/ publisher/ rating) - Reading the title and abstract of the article - Reviewing reference list - Authors and date of publishing - Methodology and research methods - Theory and analysis - Research findings to support authors' statement and reasoning - Critical assessment of the content of the article - Author writing style/ tables, figures/ number of citations in literature **Week 10: Literature Review** The purpose is - to explore and present the professional literature of a certain topic - to point out and synthesize the relevant theories, views and research findings / critical analysis - how our research topic and objectives are related to the previous publications and research findings - presenting and evaluating the theories, views, research results and professional debates that are related to our topic and research objectives - to find connections and differences between research findings - consistent framework and sequences of review topics - logical connection between topics In finding the proper literature review - clearly related to your research goals and questions - most relevant and significant books and journal articles - cover the most relevant and significant theories of famous experts in chosen field - most recent and newest findings Critical Literature Review - Identify the appropriate field of literature - Main themes in the literature that are important for the study - Identify connections and disconnections between theories, views and results in literature - Evaluate and criticize the literature - Create the coherent sequence of arguments Can make the argument - Professional sources - Academic journal / articles - Business and economic data/ information and statistics - Examples and Case studies - Accurate academic writing style In planning the content and structure - Whole literature review - Each main chapter - Each subchapter Structure - Introduction (synthesis) - Discussion (critical analysis) - Conclusion Macro Structure - Classic Funnel - Reverse Funnel - Argument Tree - Timeline - Multidisciplinary approach Citations - Quotations from the original text - Use Synonyms - Rearranging the words / original sentences - Paraphrasing To avoid - Correct citation in the text and bibliographic description - In text citations - Critical evaluation and analysis Harvard Reference System Referencing - Quotation(Word by word citation) can only use for definitions and important statements - At most a few times in a thesis - Chapters should not be started by quotation - Quotation should be interpreted Paraphrasing - Describing theory, view, model, research finding with your own words - Should point out for the main thoughts of theory - Core points of a view Relevant statements - Important research findings - Added value of the publications Verbs to direct citation - Argues/ claims / points out/ underlines/ emphasizes / concludes - Indicates/ purposes/ suggests/ confirms / assumes / criticize In evaluating the literature review - How research purposes and questions are in relation with previous research - Assess the strengths and weaknesses of previous research - Apply and citate the documents that are counter to own opinion - Clearly distinguish facts and opinions - Justify clearly own opinions - Titles/ subchapters should describe the content - From general level to specific topics - Arguments should be coherent and cohesive - Relations of subsections Microstructure - Literature review should be written in paragraph - At least 3 sentences - Should not subdivide a section/ chapter into more than 5 - Each section should start with short introduction - Ends with summary **Week 7: Quantitative Research Methods** What is Quantitative research methods? - Focusing on numerical values / statistics / measurement and calculation - Measuring phenomena in quantities - Research for regularity / prediction - Qualitative aspects behind quantitative findings Quantitative Research Methods - Acquiring data about phenomena based on well-defined purposes - Quantitative analysis of collected data to get answers for research questions - Qualitative information can be coded numerically \> very difficult / somewhat difficult/ not very difficult Using Secondary Data - Data that have already been collected by others - Data collection have been conducted based on other purposes - Raw Data and published summaries - In particular publication/ both secondary and primary data can be applied +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Advantages of Secondary Data | Disadvantages of Secondary Data | +===================================+===================================+ | - Less time/ effort and | - Purpose of data collecting | | financial resources | may differ from research | | | goals | | - Gain and analyze much larger | | | data sets | - Access may be limited | | | | | - Can focus on and spend more | - Only summaries/ aggregated | | time analyzing the data/ | values are published | | interpreting the findings | | | | - Sometimes data quality is | | - Longitudinal studies and | questionable | | comparative research | | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ Secondary Data Sources - World Bank - Brand Finance - Hungarian Central Statistical Office - Statista - Company reports/ documents - Websites of reliable professional organizations - Survey-based secondary data Using Primary Data Research - Collect the data to achieve research purposes and answer the research questions - Research purposes and research questions determine which data to collect - Surveys and observations can be used to collect primary data +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Advantages of Primary Data | Disadvantages of Primary Data | +===================================+===================================+ | - Data collection is conducted | - Time, effort and financial | | based on own research purpose | resources are required | | and questions | | | | - Availability of primary data | | - Reasons/ attitudes and | is often difficult | | motivations can be explored | | | | - Data research need to be | | - Specific issues can be | planned and conducted | | investigated | precisely | | | | | - Can uncover more details | - Unforeseen factors can | | | influence and discourage the | | | data collection | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ Measurement and Scaling for primary data sources - Accuracy of measuring reflects the real value / depends on applied scale significantly Types of Measurement Scales - Nominal Scales: discrete categories by name \> qualitative variables - Ordinal Scales: two or more alternatives \> degree of ordering \> says nothing about the distance of points - Interval Scales: relative strength of relationships between items \> distances as equal quantities - Ratio Scales: True zeros Probability Sampling - Probability of each item being selected from population is known and usually equal for all cases Process of probability sampling - Determine population - Determine items of population - Determine sample size - Determine most appropriate sampling technique Sampling Techniques 1. Simple Radom sampling \> select sample randomly from population 2. Systematic sampling \> select sample based on constant intervals 3. Stratified random sampling \> dividing population into two or more significant strata, select the sample 4. Cluster \> divide population into two or more clusters, sample is selected randomly Non- probability Sampling - Probability of each item being selected from population is not known - Research findings cannot be generalized - The research findings can be useful Non -- probability Sampling Techniques 1. Quota sampling 2. Judgmental: purposive sampling 3. Snowball sampling 4. Self -- selection sampling 5. Convenience Sampling Sample Size - Sample size can be determined based on size of population/ confidence level and interval - Time limit and scare financial resources can influence sample size - Response rate = total number of responses/ sample size - Sample size can be adjusted because of unreachable persons Analyzing Quantitative Data - Consider how you want to analyze acquired data - Descriptive Statistics - Explore, describe and analyze relationships between variables - Tables and Figures - Apply quantitative methods that studied (Statistics/ Quantitative methods/ Finance) **Week 8: Qualitative Research Methods** 1. Observation - Researcher studies what occurs in the field - Systematic process - Communication is not required - Diverse behavior can be observed What can be observed? - Physical action - Verbal behavior - Expressive behavior - Spatial relations and locations - Physical objects - Verbal and pictorial records - Systematic recording of nonverbal behaviors - Complementary method uncovering individuals' true feelings - Number of ethical issues - Content analysis \> studying and analyzing contents/ messages/ ads/ Reports / meeting minutes/ newspaper articles - Mechanical Observation \> video cameras/ traffic counters/ psychological reactions 2. Content Analysis - Qualitative content analysis begins where statistical presentation reaches its limit - Complementary primary method - Analyzing existing documents \> advertisements/ articles/ websites/ brand logos - Especially useful method for international research for comparison In choosing the document for content analysis - Authentic: complete, reliable and unquestioned authorship - Credible: who produced the document/ what information is based on/ error free - Meaning: how documents are interpreted - Representativeness Features of Content analysis - For certain topics - Unit of analysis is critical - Relatively cheap method - Appropriate for individual research - Low risk - Long time period can be analyzed 3. Experiment - Similar to experiments in natural sciences/ related to psychology - Purpose is to investigate causal link - Studying the effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable - Checking the relationship between two variables In doing experiments. - There are usually two groups - Experimental Group: Planned manipulation or intervention - Control Group: No manipulation or intervention - Dependent variable is measured before and after the manipulation or intervention 4. Case Study - Refer to documented history of a certain person/ group/ organization/ event - Implement when doing a critical situation or making important decision - Helps to understand complex situations and phenomena - Relatively cheap method - A complex process including many factors - Combination of various research methods - Qualitative or quantitative techniques - Single/ multiple case - Openness and flexibility - Objects can be individuals/ groups/ organizations/ business and economic events/ relationships - Choosing according to research problem and purpose is important Applying multiple methods 1. Mono Method - Apply a single data collection technique with data analyzing procedures - Quantitative: questionnaire + statistical analysis - Qualitative: observation+ content analysis 2. Multi-methods - Applying more than one data collection technique - Either a qualitative or quantitative - Multi-method quantitative study: Questionnaire and time series data + statistical analysis - Multi-method qualitative study: Focus group and document observation + content analysis 3. Mixed Methods - Applying both quantitative and qualitative research - When only one data collection technique is not enough to gain required data - Can gain additional valuable information - Need to apply various research techniques to achieve different research purposes - Can explore different parts of issue - Can give better or sophisticated answers **Week 5: Qualitative Research Method** When is qualitative research methods? - Apply when research objective is less specific - Exploratory research - Focus on discovering true thoughts and insights - Deeper understanding of motivations, attitudes, opinions, behaviors What is qualitative research method? - No numerical values - Emphasis on verbal descriptions/ phrasing/ phenomena - Research should listen, observe, interpret - Researcher is involved in investigation - Subjective role of researcher - Small samples Common Techniques used in qualitative research 1. Focus group interviews 2. In depth interviews 3. Projective techniques 4. Analyzing qualitative data Focus Group interviews - Widely used method - An excellent tool for spotting problems with ideas - Unstructured, free flowing interview with small group of people - Led by trained moderator - Homogeneous groups work the best +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Advantages | Disadvantages | +===================================+===================================+ | - Relatively fast | - Requires an objective/ | | | effective moderator | | - Easy to execute | | | | - Participants may dominate | | - One respondent stimulates | group | | though among others | | | | - Not appropriate for | | - Provide multiple perspectives | discussing sensitive topics | | | | | - Flexibility as multiple | | | topics can be discussed | | | | | | - High degree of scrutiny | | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ In-depth Interviews - Respondent can be a potential consumer, employee, expert and manager - Interviewer role in critical - Interviewer encourages respondent to talk freely - Time- consuming - Open ended questions - Minutes are required - The purpose is to understand others' thoughts, opinions, attitudes, motivations and experiences - Apply with other methods - Importance of individual's role Interviewer's role - Makes the decisions during the interview process - Influences the explored content and its interpretation and analysis - Active listening and remain silent are relevant on part of the interviewer - Interviewer should take the lead in conversation Planning In-depth Interview - Research object and purpose - Who will be the respondents? - How can we reach them and make contact with them? - How should we process collected data, information and content? - How can we analyze and interpret them? - Do the pretest -- testing proposed interview process - Personal vs online - Respondent is an acquaintance vs unknown person - Easy availability for relatives/ friends/ colleagues Planning In-depth Interview - High involvement for self- appointed respondents - Snowball sampling: reaching a respondent through another respondent - Group of respondents represents the population - Saturating information: interviewer does not get new information Projective Techniques - Indirect research techniques that help to understand people's attitudes/ thoughts/ feelings - People's motives and attitudes are implicit, and they are often not able to express them - Uncovering respondent' thoughts or memory - Help to overcome communication barriers - Used when direct questions are often not appropriate - Help to understand respondents' inner world Features of Projective Techniques - Projective techniques apply uncertain, ambiguous and unstructured stimuli - Respondents put their attitudes, opinions and personality into their reactions - Can uncover unconscious feelings and wants of respondents - There are no good or wrong answers - Respondents usually express feelings and thoughts they have not told others before - Extremely wide range of answers - Projective techniques apply verbal or visual stimuli - Unstructured techniques as the researcher does not limit the answers Types of projective techniques 1. Word association test: interviewer say words and respondent mention first thing that comes to his mind / both neutral and expressive words 2. Sentence and story completion tests: respondents' complete sentences by their own words 3. Cartoon tests: respondent fills in dialogue of one or two characters in a cartoon 4. Photo sorts: respondent sorts of photos of different types of people 5. Drawings: respondents draw what they are feeling 6. Third person technique: interviewer learns about respondents' feelings by asking them to answer for a third party +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Advantages | Disadvantages | +===================================+===================================+ | - Wide range of deeper | - Only experienced researchers | | information | can analyze and uncover | | | answers and thoughts | | - Uncovering thoughts, | | | attitudes | - Asking indirect way | | | | | - Respondents do not know what | - Socially expected answers can | | are appropriate or expected | be eliminated | | answers | | | | - Can uncover emotional | | - Respondents can easily answer | background of experience | | | | | - Eliminate superficial answers | | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ Analyzing Qualitative Data - Understand collected data and information - Classifying, compressing and organizing collected data - Interpreting - Drawing conclusions In analyzing qualitative data - Text/ oral answer has to be simplified - Useful and valuable data have to be pointed out - Concept- mapping - Classifying / finding similarities - Comparing - Contrasting - Finding outliners - Finding critical cases **Week 6: Survey Research** What is Survey Research? - Collecting primary data for certain research objectives - Collected from respondents like consumers/ employees/ managers/ wholesalers - For quantitative findings and aspects - Advantages are quick, efficient, flexible, accurate gathering of data Survey Research Methods 1. Cross-sectional studies - Collected from different groups - Compared different groups at one time 2. Longitudinal studies - Collected from same consumer group at different ages - Group of respondents do not change over time - Consumer panels Error in survey research 1. Random Sampling error 2. Respondent error \> no response error/ refusals/ self- selection bias 3. Response error \> unconscious misrepresentation/ interviewer bias/ extremity bias 4. Administrative error \> data-processing error/ sample selection error/ interviewer error **Personal Interviews** 1. **Face to face interviews** Advantages are - Opportunity for feedback and clarification - Probing complex answers - Completeness of questionnaire - Visual aid - High participation Disadvantages are - Interviewer influence - Lack of anonymity - Expensive 2. **Telephone Interviews** Characteristics are - Speed - Cost - Absence of face-to-face contact - Cooperation - Callbacks - Limited duration - Lack of visual medium 3. **Self- Administered Questionaries** - Printed from: in organization/ by mail/ anonymity of respondent/ length of questionnaire - Online: getting it by e-mail/ finding it on a website/ online survey tool - Mail questionaries: geographic flexibility/ cost/ respondent convenience 4. **Online self-administered Questionaries** - Advantages are data automatically recorded/ eliminate data recording errors - Outlook of questionnaire can be planned and structured - Regional flexibility - Quick and easy distribution of questionaries - Low cost / saving printing, travelling costs - Direct exporting of answers to suitable software - Conformity of respondents - Higher response rate due to higher anonymity on part of respondents - Disadvantages are - Not sure whether respondents are appropriate respondent - Not all social groups can be reached - Representatives cannot be assured - Cannot ask complex questions - Few open-ended questions can be integrated - Cannot view the whole questionnaire before filling - Radom filling / not real and honest - Time of concentration decreases - Becomes more and more boring for the respondents 5. Pre-testing and revising - Pre-testing is making first draft on small group to uncover potential problem of questionnaire - Modify the questionnaire according to feedbacks - Often not conducted because of time pressure Steps in describing survey research - Describe research topic and purposes - Research questions/ hypothesis - Describe research method \> sampling/ sample size/ significant findings/ analysis/ conclusions/ recommendations - Result tables and figures - Questionnaire Possible ethical issues - Concerning for the topic - Data collecting and protection - Relation among respondents, stakeholders - Respondent's cooperation in voluntary - Personal rights Questionnaire Design In Planning the questionnaire 1. What should be asked 2. How should the questions be phrased? 3. In what sequences should be arranged the questions 4. What kind of layout should be the best? 5. How should the questionnaire be pretested? Structure of Questionnaire - Introduction - Warm-up questions - Questions of the main topic - Demographical questions Sequence of Questionnaire - Funnel Technique \> general questions and questions about larger topics should come before specific questions - Filter Technique \> select the respondent who are incompetent in answering questions - Behavioral questions before asking attitudes Open -- ended questions - Wh questions - Answer by respondents' own words - Useful in exploratory research - More expensive - Danger of not grasping the details (interviewer shortcuts) Close -- ended questions - Given specific, limited-alternative responses - Takes less time - Easier to answer - Comparable answers - Selecting one out of two alternatives - Choosing one out of several alternatives - Frequency -- determination questions - Attitude rating scale In phrasing questions and answers - Taking account the respondent's background information - Avoiding questions that test respondent's memory, perceptibility - Avoiding complexity - Avoiding leading and loaded questions - Avoiding ambiguity - Avoiding double- barreled items - Avoiding making assumptions Cover letter for questionnaire - Why research is conducted - Who is doing the survey - How long it takes to complete questionnaire - Data protection - Ensuring respondents' anonymity - Deadline to fill the questionnaire Gamification - Apply the features of games into questionnaire - Making the questions more playful - Features can be competitive spirit in questions - Feedback mechanism - Provide alternatives with pictures instead of words