Are you about to embark on a research project for the first time? Unsure which data collection methods are right for your study? Don't know where to start? By presenting the reader with a series of key research management questions, this book introduces the novice researcher to a range of research designs and data collection methods. Building an understanding of these choices and how they can impact on the dissertation itself will lead to a more robust and rigorous dissertation study. This book is designed to direct your research choices with informative text and key questions, advice from "virtual supervisors" and reflections from students. Lists of suggested further reading also help to support you on your journey to developing an organised and successful dissertation project. Researchers seeking support on their journey to a successful dissertation will find this book a valuable resource.

Are you about to embark on a research project for the first time? Unsure which data collection methods are right for your study? Don't know where to start? By presenting the reader with a series of key research management questions, this book introduces the novice researcher to a range of research designs and data collection methods. Building an understanding of these choices and how they can impact on the dissertation itself will lead to a more robust and rigorous dissertation study. This book is designed to direct your research choices with informative text and key questions, advice from "virtual supervisors" and reflections from students. Lists of suggested further reading also help to support you on your journey to developing an organised and successful dissertation project. Researchers seeking support on their journey to a successful dissertation will find this book a valuable resource.

This essential guidebook takes readers step-by-step through the dissertation process, with checklists, illustrations, sample forms, and updated coverage of ethics, technology, and the literature review.

Increasing numbers of adults are enroling in doctoral programmes, but their earlier college lives often do not prepare them for the rules of the academic game. Many have no idea what a dissertation looks like, how it gets that way, or what options are available to them. This book is a practical guide for students who need help in progressing from the decision to write a dissertation to the planning, writing and defending of it. It includes samples of proposals and dissertations that have been accepted and data drawn from a number of sources, including focus groups with doctoral students and graduates and responses to an open-ended questionnaire from doctoral students across the United States.

Practical, comprehensive, and readable, Secrets for a Successful Dissertation is designed for doctoral candidates at or near the beginning of the dissertation stages of their academic programs. Combining humor with actual student stories, Secrets offers the doctoral candidate a poignant and motivational guide to assist in hurtling the perils of each dissertation phase. Each chapter offers a view of the dissertation process that is beyond the academic and addresses the emotional and mental stresses that often accompany the process itself. Secrets for a Successful Dissertation is meant to encourage each doctoral candidate toward beating the overwhelming odds of "ABD-dom." Doctoral candidates will find Secrets a book that provides a sense of reality and a "road map" with helpful hints not often told to students by any faculty.

This co-edited book provides doctoral candidates with a practical, cross-discipline handbook for successfully navigating the doctoral process – from initial program selection to the final dissertation defense and preparing for the faculty interview. Invited chapters from established higher education experts cover topics ranging from university and program selection, preparing for comprehensive exams and dissertation research, self-care and self-management strategies, and recommendations for maintaining personal and professional support systems. Each chapter includes strategies for success and practical tips, including how to create a study guide for the comprehensive examination, how to create a professional support group, how to talk to your family about the doctoral process, how to select and work with a chair and committee, how to identify an appropriate research design, how to navigate the IRB process, and how to master the research and writing process.

This comprehensive manual offers direction for every step of the thesis or dissertation process, from choosing an appropriate topic to adapting the finished work for publication.