BlumKTeachingStudentsHowtoWriteaChapterFourandFiveofaDissertation.docx

BlumKTeachingStudentsHowtoWriteaChapterFourandFiveofaDissertation.docx

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BlumKTeachingStudentsHowtoWriteaChapterFourandFiveofaDissertation

TeachingStudentsHowtoWriteaChapterFourandFiveofaDissertation

ByDr.KimberlyBlum

（WithinputfromgatheredbyDr.MarilynSimon-

Drs.RaghuKorrapati,Dr.JimGoes,Dr.FrankMorelli,Dr.CarolynSalerno,andDr.

RitaEdwards–thankyou!

）

Copyrighted2006

Theprocessofgettingadissertationproposalapprovedisoftensostressfulandtime-consumingthatthestudenthasahardtimerefocusingonthenextstepofwritingchapterfourandfiveofthedissertation.Insomecases,overwhelmedstudentsdonotunderstandhowdifficultgatheringdatacanbe,despiteextensivenotesbythestudentinyearthreeresidencywherechapterfourandfiveinstructionisgiven.Whentherealityofanalyzingdataandpresentingfindingsinchapterfourandfiveoccurs,studentscanbelost.Agooddissertationmentorwillhelplearnersre-establishanacademicpassionwhengathering,analyzing,andpresentingdatainchapterfive.Agooddissertationmentorwillhelplearnersshowacademicpassionforimplicationsandpracticesofresultsinchapterfive.

Thepurposeofthisarticleistoshareageneraloutlineofhowtoteachstudentstowritechapterfourandfiveofadissertation.Studentswillfindthisoutlinehelpfulwhenbeginningtheprocessofwritingchapterfourandfiveofadissertationaftergatheringdata.Dissertationmentorscansharethisoutlinewithstudentsasageneralguide.AdiscussiononChapterfourandfivetipsandoutlinesofsectionsfollows.Aqualitativemethodoutlineisincludedwithinformationonaquantitativeoutlineforchapterfourandfive.

DefinitionofChapterFourandFive

Chapterfourofadissertationpresentsthefindingsfromthedatagatheredbytheresearcher.Thenatureofthedesigndeterminesthepresentationofthedata.Forexample,onestudent’s“purposeofthisquantitativecorrelationalstudywastodeterminetherelationshipbetweensuperintendenttenureandacademicachievementscores”（Segori,2006,p.73）.Inthisexample,thestudentwouldorganizeresultsbythesignificanceofeachhypothesis;presentfirstanyhypothesisthatclearlyshowedasignificantandhighdegreeofcorrelationinchapterfour.

Sectiontitlesorganizethedatainalogicalmanner.Findingsarepresentedindetail,insufficientmanner（Simon,2006）,anddescribethesystematicapplicationofthemethodology（Simon）.Literaturereviewsforsimilarityarenotpartofchapterfourandaregenerallypartofchapterfive（Creswell,2004）.

Chapterfiveofadissertationisoftenthehardestdissertationchapterforstudentstowrite,butifthelearnerisexcitedaboutthefindingspresentedinchapterfour,aclearacademicpassionisapparentinchapterfive.Chapterfivesummarizespresentedinchapterfour,butwithacaveat–whoandwhywouldleaderscareabouttheresults?

Forexample,onestudentisresearchingifinterventionsenablenursestopassthecertificationthefirsttimetoincreasethenumbersofnursesavailable（Carl,2006）.Thereisalargeshortageofnursesandmanynursingstudentsdonotpassthecertificationonthefirstorsecondtime;thenumberofnursescertifiedlimitsanynationaldisasterwherealargenumberofnursesisneeded（ThePennsylvaniaWorkforceInvestmentBoard,2005）..Theleaderswhocareabouttheresultsofthisstudyarethenation’sleaders,healthleaderswhooperatewithashortageofnurses,andsickoraffectedbycatastrophicemergencieswhowillsufferwhennotenoughnursesareavailabletohelpduringextremetimesofnationalneed（Veenema,2003;WorldHealthOrganization,2006;CenterforDiseaseControl,2006b）.

Chapterfiveshouldreportfindingsinchapterfourreportingaknowledgenotreportedbyanyotherliterature.Whydoeducationalleaderscare?

Reporttheimportance,meaning,andsignificancewithpassioninchapter4（Simon,2006）.

Ingeneral,chapterfiveshouldhavethesamesectiontitlesaspresentedinchapterfourtoensurethattheflowofchapterfivematcheswhattitlesinchapterfour.Acommonstudentmistakeistopresentananalysisinchapterfivethathasnothingtodowithwhatinformationinchapterfoursousingthesamesectiontitleskeepsthestudentontrack.Thementorshouldremindthestudentthatthereaderneedstoseeaclearconnection;thereshouldbeaconnectingthreadbetweenallchapters.Thestudentshouldremindthereaderofthepurposeofthestudyinchapterfourandfiveaspartoftheintroductiontoeachchapter（Creswell,2004）.Theremainingsectionsofchapterfourdependonthemethodologyemployedandisdividedbyqualitativeandquantitativedesignsinthefollowingpartsofthisarticle.

ChapterFour–QualitativeVersion

Chapterfourinqualitativestudiesbythenatureofthedesignistypicallylongerthanaquantitativechapterfourwheredescriptionsaretheresultsofstatisticaltestsinnumericalformat.Ingeneral,thelengthofaqualitativechapterfouris25-35pages（Simon,2006）,dependingonhowmanythemeschapterfourdiscovered.

Followingtheintroductoryparagraphwheretheresearcherremindsthereaderofthepurposestatement.Simon（2006）recommendsthattheresearcherincludeasectiononthedatademographicsexplainingtheage,gender,orrelevantrelatedinformationonthepopulation.Theresearchernarratesasummaryofthedemographicsofthesample,andifthetableisconcise,presentsdemographicsinatableformatafterthenarration.Otherwise,thetableisincludedasanAppendixandreferredtointhenarrativeofchapterfour（AmericanPsychologicalAssociation,2001）.

QualitativeChapterFourFindings

Thenextsectioninchapterfourshouldrelatetothefindingsinthedata.Thereisnosinglewaytopresentthefindingsofadissertationbecausethepresentationdependsonthedesign,butingeneral,aqualitativestudytypicallyanalyzesqualitativedataforpatternsorthemes,andispresentedbasedonthemajorthemesfoundinthedata.Commonmethodstopresentthemesarebasedontheunitofanalysis.Forexample,aunitofqualitativemeasurementcouldbeleadershiptraitsandorganizedintomajorpatterns（Yin,2004）.Ifthedesignishistorical,organizethefindingsbytime（Creswell,2004）.Ifthedesignisasingle-casestudy,theunitofpresentationistheentirecasebeingstudied（Yin,1993）.

Chapterfourshouldnotincludeacomparisonoffindingswithpreviousliteraturestudiesthatispartofchapterfive.Chapterfourshouldpresentthefindings.

EmploySectionTitlesforThemesandSub-Themes.

Regardlessofthemethodoforganizingthefindings,usesectiontitlestoguidethereader.Oneexampleistogroupthedatabymajorthemesfoundinthedataitself,witheachsectiontitleathemeofsignificanceintheresponses.Significanceintheresponsesmeansthatamajorcountorpercentageofthenumberofthepopulationparticipatingintheresearchstudygavethesameorverycloseresponses.Forinstance,iftheresearcherinterviewed25CEOwomenonhowtheybrokethroughtheglassceilingtoobtaintopleadershippositionscommonlyheldbymen,and24outof25womenreportedonemethodwastonetworkonadailybasis,thesesimilarresponseswouldbeamajortheme.Incontrast,ifonlysevenoutof25womenrespondedinasimilarmanner,thislowerpercentagewouldnotbedefinedasasignificantthem.Theresearcherwouldreportthethemeinchapterfourwiththissectiontitle:

ThemeOne:

DailyNetworkingunderthefindingsgeneralheading.

Undereachtheme,ifsub-themesarenoted,groupsub-themesbythenextlevelofsectiontitleheadingsfollowingAPAformattingrules.Forexample,ifunderThemeOne:

DailyNetworking,asub-themeof16outof20womensaidthataccomplishingdailynetworkingmeantpickingupthephone,theseresponseswouldbeasub-theme.Anothersub-themecouldbenetworkingbywalkingaroundtheoffice,andwithexamplesofwhatthewomendidwhilewalkingaroundtheofficepresented.Presentexamplesofwhatthewomensaidonthephoneafterdescribingthesub-themeinchapterfour.

AddOutliers.

Anoutlierisaresponsethatoneorafewoftherespondentsintheresearchstudystated（Sproull,2004）.Forexample,if2outof25womenrespondedthattheydidnothingdifferentfromtheirmailcounterpartstobreaktheCEOglass-ceilingthisshouldbereportedasanoutlierwithexamplesofexactlywhatthewomensaidtobackuptheresponse.

Outlierscanbeanindicationofasignificantthemetheresearcheroftenhasahardtimenoticingbutthedissertationmentorcanhelptheresearcherbecomeawarethattheoppositeresponseofthemajorityoftheresponsescanbesignificant（Yin,1993）.Forexample,iffouroutof20participantsinaresearchstudyabouthowmanyparticipantsintheFBIsaidtheyusedFBIprovidedcomputerstocatchcriminalsthisresultswouldnotbeasignificanttheme.However,thesameresponsemeansthat16outofthe20participantsarenotusingagovernmentissuedcomputerdespitetocatchcriminals.Reporttheseresultsasamajorpatternandnotanoutliner.

Shouldalloutliersbeincludedinchapterfour?

Theanswerdependsonthedesignandthenumberofoutliersincludedoutnumbersthepatterns,thentheresearchershouldchoosethemostsignificanceoutliersthatrelatetotheproblemstatementandpurpose.

SummarizeThemes;AddExamplesandTables,CodeNames.

Undereachthemeandsub-theme,theresearcherdescribesthepatternandaddscountsorpercentagesinanarrativeformat（Creswell,2004）.Afterthepatternisexplained,beingcarefultocodetheparticipantsnamessuchasR1（respondentone）,orW1（womenone）,examplesofsomeoftheresponsesistypicallyincludedafterthepatternsummary.Ifthecountsaren