Research WritingHarry Entebang PhD11/12/2012

Standard Format for a Thesis Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature Review Chapter 3: Research Methods Chapter 4: Findings & Discussions Chapter 5: Conclusions, Limitations & Future Research

Note: Refer to the PhD format to be discussed in the class

Research Writing (publication) Introduction- summary of the whole paper Literature review (including conceptual & theoretical

frameworks) Problem statement Research question Research objectives Research Hypotheses

Research methods (including research design) –population, operationalization of research, instruments, reliability, validity, procedures for data analysis)

Research Findings & Discussions-highlights new discovery Conclusions, limitations & future research

Where to start?

Step 1: Establish the Need for Research:

Why are you interested to undertake the research?

Is there a specific issue or problem you try to solve?

Step 2: Define the Problem (problem statement) This is the most important step Determine the issue/problem Problems may be either specific or general. Problems stem from gaps between what is

supposed to happen and what did happen and gaps between what did happen and what could be happening.

What are the consequences/implications of the problem(s)?

If the problem is incorrectly defined, all else is wasted effort.

The problem statement describes the central issue of the paper and persuades the reader to continue reading the paper.

Formulating a strong, clear problem statement often represents the first step in research.

How to Develop a Problem Statement Step 1: Describe the issue.

For example, if you are studying the effectiveness of audit committee in protecting the interest of shareholders, briefly describe the current corporate governance (fraud)/corporate crime environment and statistics of fraud (internationally and nationally)

Step 2: Clarify why the issue is important.

Using the same topic as an example, explaining information about the current corporate governance (fraud) environment and statistics of corporate crime could clarify why effective audit committee could contribute to safeguarding of shareholder interests. In general, consider issues that affect a large population, have serious impacts on a population/company/nation or extend or challenge existing knowledge. For example, studying the effectiveness of audit committee in protecting the interests of company’s shareholders is more important than ever due to several large corporate scandals (ENRON/WORLDCOM/SATYAM/BARRING BANK). Really need to make sure the reader understands why the issue matters

Step 3: Explain your proposed methodology

Explain how you will conduct or synthesize research (research operationalization). Include or clarify which variables you will study and how you will measure them. For example, an article about corporate fraud might include tracking the frequency of corporate crime etc.

Step 5: Sum up your research project in a concise question that mentions the independent variable (the factor you change) and the dependent variable (the effect you will measure).

For example: “How effective is the audit committee in protecting the interests of the company’s shareholders?

This question can often serve as your title as well.

Example of Problem Statement 1

More people are seeking for diagnostic procedures. In order to provide excellent patient care at a minimal cost, ABC Hospital needs diagnostic procedures that are safe, efficient, and accurate. In addition, the procedures should not be overly painful for the patient. Currently, the hospital's main diagnostic tools are CAT scans and spinal taps. However, the CAT scan fails to make clear diagnoses 60% of the time. When the CAT scan fails, doctors must resort to the spinal taps. While the spinal tabs are accurate, this procedure is very painful and sometimes dangerous for the patient. If ABC Hospital continues to do the two procedures, they will not only be wasting time and money (resources), which jeopardizes their overall efficiency and earning potential. An undue suffering could lead patients to choose another hospital with more advanced facilities. Given this, a new diagnostic technique, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) may surpass the CAT scan in accuracy and reduce the need to resort to the spinal tabs. Hence, there is an urgent need to research the feasibility of establishing an NMR lab at ABC hospital. This research will investigate the accuracy, efficiency, and safety of NMR as well as implementation issues.

In pursuit of socio-economic growth, the Malaysian government has established a number of large government-linked companies (GLCs) since the 1970s especially after the announcement of the New Economic Policy (NEP). Although over the years the growth of GLCs has been phenomenal in terms of investment, production, revenue and range of activities and they constitute a significant part of the economic structure of the nation (Putrajaya Committee on GLC High Performance, 2005), however, based on several reports and publications concerning GLCs by PCG in 2005 and 2006 respectively and a recent study on state-owned enterprises in Malaysia (Entebang, Puah & Abu Mansor, 2006) reveal that most GLCs have not performed well. In view of the present performance of GLCs and their strategic role in nation building (Putrajaya Committee on GLC High Performance, 2006), GLCs need to be more entrepreneurial. In fact, scholars have consistently found that the practice of corporate entrepreneurship and the application of strategic entrepreneurial orientation in established organisations appear to enhance organisational performance. Therefore, this research seeks to investigate the extent to which EO affects CE performance in GLCs and how this relationship will be influenced by internal and external organisational factors.

Example of Problem Statement 2

Step 3: Establish the research question The research question is an organizing element for the

topic under study. It focuses your investigation into a narrow topic area and guides every aspect of the research project, including the literature search, the design of the study, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of results, and even the direction of the discussion.

  The research question responds to the inquiry What do I

want to know about by my topic?

A research question can also help identify the study's methodology as qualitative or quantitative

Example of research question

Given the existing internal organisational and external environmental factors in GLCs as well as the present performance of GLCs in Malaysia, the central question of the thesis is: (1) to what extent does the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of GLCs contributes to their entrepreneurial/CE performance i.e. innovation, strategic renewal, and corporate venturing activities and, (2) the extent to which this relationship will be moderated by organisational internal and external factors.

 

Step 4: Establish Objectives Research objectives, when achieved,

provide the information necessary to solve the problem identified in step 3.

Research objectives state what the researchers must do (undertake).

Example of research objectives

Based on the proposed research question of the thesis, the primary goal is to investigate the unique relationships between entrepreneurial orientation and corporate entrepreneurship performance as well as to determine the moderating impact of organisational internal and external factors on this relationship in GLCs. In particular, this research attempts:

 

1. to review and analyse the research on corporate entrepreneurship and its related fields as well as the theoretical approaches applicable to the study

2. to conceptualise the specific elements of organisational entrepreneurial orientation, corporate entrepreneurship activities and organisational internal and external factors

3. to generate a set of empirically testable hypothesis linking existing organisational factors, environmental factors, entrepreneurial orientation, and entrepreneurial activities in GLCs

4. to conceptualise, determine and develop the theoretical constructs, designing the research instrument, identifying a suitable sample, designing and carrying out the data collection and developing a new conceptual framework for corporate entrepreneurship within the business environment of GLCs

5. to examine and determine the extent to which EO of an organisation is associated with its entrepreneurial activities in GLCs using quantitative methods to statistically test the proposed hypotheses. This is further supplemented by the results/findings obtained from the semi-structured interview

6. to assess the extent to which the internal and external organisational factors moderate the relationship between the EO and CE performance

7. to present conclusions regarding the significance, reliability, and validity of the results of the study, to discuss the theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of the findings, and to present suggestions for future research

Research HypothesesIn order to achieve the proposed objectives of this research, the following hypotheses are developed for testing;

H1 That EO will be positively associated with innovation performance in GLCs H2 That EO will be positively associated with strategic renewal performance in GLCsH3 That EO will be positively associated with corporate venturing performance in GLCsH4 That internal CE factors will moderate the relationship between EO and innovation performance in GLCs H5 That internal CE factors will moderate the relationship between EO and strategic renewal

performance in GLCs H6 That internal CE factors will moderate the relationship between EO and corporate venturing performance in GLCs  H7 That external CE factors will moderate the relationship between EO and innovation performance in GLCs.  H8 That external CE factors will moderate the relationship between EO and strategic renewal

performance in GLCs H9 That external CE factors will moderate the relationship between EO and corporate venturing performance in GLCs 

Step 5: Determine Research Design Exploratory Research: collecting

information in an unstructured and informal manner.

Descriptive Research refers to a set of methods and procedures describing research variables.

Causal Research (experiments): allows isolation of causes and effects.

Step 6: Identify Information Types and SourcesPrimary information: information

collected specifically for the problem at hand

Secondary information: information already collected

Step 7: Determine Methods of Accessing Data Secondary data is relatively easy to

access; primary data is more complex.

Methods of accessing data vary around the globe

Step 7: Determine Methods of Accessing Data Three main choices for primary data:

Have a person ask questionsUse computer-assisted or

direct questioningAllow respondents to answer

questions themselves without computer assistance

Step 8: Design Data Collection FormsQuestionnaire must be

worded objectively, clearly, and without bias in order to communicate with respondents.

Step 9: Determine Sample Plan and Size Sample plan refers to the process used

to select units from the population to be included in the sample. Gives you representativeness!

Sample size refers to determining how many elements of the population should be included in the sample. Gives you accuracy!

Step 10: Collect Data Data collection is very important because,

regardless of the data analysis methods used, data analysis cannot fix bad data.

Nonsampling errors may occur during data collection.

Data collection errors may be attributed to field workers or respondents.

Researchers must know the sources of these errors and the controls to minimize them.

Step 11: Analyze Data Data analysis involves entering data

into computer files, inspecting data for errors, and running tabulations and various statistical tests.

Data cleaning is a process by which raw data are checked to verify that the data have been correctly inputted from the data collection form to the computer software program.

Step 12: Prepare and Present the Final Research Report

The last step is one of the most important phases of any research.

Check the format used Check the reference style