The Education Dissertation; A Guide for Practitioner Scholars

by Dan W. Butin

• ISBN13: 9781412960441
• ISBN10: 1412960444
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-11-18
• Publisher: Corwin Pr

Summary

Written for practicing educators, this resource provides a step-by-step process, organizational templates, and tips throughout for completing an academically rigorous dissertation.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Who Should Read This Book and Why	p. xii
Key Features and How to Use Them	p. xiii
Organizational Templates	p. xiv
Synthesis of Research	p. xiv
Key Milestones and Procedures	p. xiv
ôHintsö Along the Way	p. xiv
Relevant Activities	p. xv
Examples of Student Work	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
About the Author	p. xix
Dedication	p. xx
A Guide for Practitioner Scholars	p. 1
Questioning the Doctorate	p. 2
Seeing the Doctoral Process Through Doctoral Students' Eyes	p. 5
This Book as Guidelines and Guardrails	p. 9
Strategies for Success	p. 12
Hint! What Exactly Does a Quality Dissertation Look Like?	p. 14
A Roadmap From Start to Finish	p. 19
The Big Picture: An Outline of the Process	p. 20
The Dissertation Timeline	p. 23
Your Own Timeline and Benchmarks	p. 27
Use This! Dissertation Research Timeline Template	p. 28
Hint! Roles and Responsibilities of Your Dissertation Chair	p. 30
Embracing Technology: The Table of Contents and Reference List	p. 32
Hint! Creating an Automated Table of Contents	p. 33
Use This! Table of Contents Template	p. 34
Structuring Your Life as a Doctoral Student	p. 37
Focusing Your Research	p. 39
Articulating a Topic in ôAcademic-Speakö	p. 42
Try This! Developing Your Academic Word Bank	p. 43
Narrowing Your Topic	p. 45
Hint! Writing Your Other Dissertation Next Time	p. 46
Try This! Disaggregate This!	p. 50
Your First Success at Focusing: Creating a Title and Research Question	p. 50
A Final Thought: Focusing Your Research at a Cocktail Party	p. 55
Structuring Your Research	p. 57
Choosing a Theoretical Framework	p. 58
Doing a Literature Review	p. 63
Hint! Differentiating Between a Reference List and a Bibliography	p. 67
Hint! Knowing When Your Dissertation Idea Is Focused Enough	p. 68
Understanding Research Methodology	p. 69
Try This! ôCan You Operationalize That?ö	p. 70
Choosing a Research Method	p. 71
Empirical Methodologies	p. 74
Linking Research Purpose to Research Method	p. 77
Conducting Your Research	p. 83
Linking Research Methods to Research Tools	p. 83
Quasi-Experimental Research	p. 85
Try This! Understanding Dependent and Independent Variables	p. 88
Analysis of Existing Statistical Data	p. 89
Surveys	p. 91
Interviews	p. 96
Document Analysis	p. 99
Field Observations	p. 100
Institutional Review Board (IRB)	p. 103
Some Final Thoughts Before ôABD-Landö	p. 108
Putting It All Together: Completing Your Dissertation	p. 111
The Dissertation as a ôMachineö	p. 112
Reverse Engineering Your Dissertation	p. 116
What Are the Remaining Key Issues?	p. 120
Triangulating Data	p. 120
Using Your Own Voice	p. 121
Answering Your Research Questions	p. 122
Finding No Finding	p. 122
Remembering the Big Picture	p. 123
Formatting the Dissertation	p. 123
Use This! Key Formatting Guidelines for the Dissertation Final Submission	p. 124
Citation Style	p. 125
Chapter Length	p. 125
Hint! How to Write a Good Abstract	p. 127
Front Matter	p. 127
Defending and Moving On	p. 129
The Dissertation Defense	p. 130
Hint! Key Points About Your Dissertation Defense	p. 131
Hint! How to Handle Conflict and Difficult Situations at Your Dissertation Defense	p. 135
Publish Your Findings	p. 136
Hint! Tips for Academic Journal Publishing	p. 138
Apply Your Research: Impacting K-12 Education	p. 141
Teach the Next Generation: Teaching in Higher Education	p. 143
Hint! Tips for Finding a Full-Time Job in Higher Education	p. 144
The Beginning of Your Journey as a Practitioner Scholar	p. 147
Key Resources by Topic	p. 149
References	p. 151
Index	p. 157
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