• The successful applicant had to take a position

(the thesis), buttress it with logic, and relate it to the

earlier conclusions of respected scholars (the
dissertation) to the point that it could not be refuted.
• For example, in the early fourteenth
century in Bologna, a candidate for the Doctor
of Law degree had to take two examinations—a
private one and, later, a public one in the
cathedal. The private examination was
conducted by the faculty of doctors.
• The Doctor of Philosophy degree, an academic
discipline degree, was first offered in the United
States at Yale University in 1861. Less than three
decades later, in 1890, New York University
initiated a Graduate School of Pedagogy, the first
graduate school of education in this country. It
offered the Doctor of Philosophy plus a Doctor of
Pedagogy degree, the latter credited with being
the first doctoral level degree in the professional
discipline of education awarded in the United
States.
• Thesis and dissertation study is a part of
higher learning intended to identify significant
problems, investigate them, analyze the
findings, relate them to important concepts or
issues, and convey conclusions and
implications to others in clear, objective prose.
• Finally, thesis and dissertation work should
prepare graduates who become faculty
members in colleges and universities to guide
students through the same experiences later
• A realistic time line projection is imperative. It
helps keep the project on course, and it
encourages disciplined use of time. Moreover,
it is a communication tool with the advisor
and committee members.
• Thesis: The thesis is the product of a scholarly
and professional study at the honors or the
master’s degree level. It is usually a
document* in a format and style specified by
the particular university. (Sometimes, “thesis”
is regarded as a synonym for “dissertation.”
That is acceptable, but we elect to link thesis
with honors or master’s degree studies and
dissertation with the doctorate.)
• Dissertation: The dissertation is the product of
student work at the doctoral level,
distinguished from thesis study chiefly by its
deeper, more comprehensive, and more
mature professional and scholarly treatment
of the subject.
• Proposal: A proposal (synonymous with
“overview”) is a written plan for a thesis or for
a dissertation developed by a student for
consideration and possible approval by a T/D
committee.
• originality, individuality, and rigor are 3
important factors.
• Originality means that the research has not
been done before in the same way. It is rare to
find a topic that has not been researched
before to some extent and by some
procedure. So, originality does not mean that
the research questions or hypotheses are
entirely new. Instead, the originality criterion
is met if the student continues to study an
unresolved problem in a way that is
substantially different from prior approaches
and that has a reasonable prospect of adding
to an understanding of the problem.
• Also, replication of prior research meets the
originality criterion if features are added to
the replication that make it possible to check
on the procedures and findings of the earlier
study, thus making the replication more
meritorious research than that replicated.
• Individuality means that the study is
conceived, conducted, and reported primarily
by the student.
• the chief decisions about whether to study the
topic, how to study it, and how to report it
must be made, rationalized, and defended by
the student.
• To attain rigor means to be characterized by strict
accuracy and scrupulous honesty and to insist on
precise distinctions among facts, implications, and
suppositions. Rigor is achieved by sticking to
demonstrable facts when reporting procedures and
results, by building on a foundation of facts when
drawing conclusions, by specifying links to facts
when inferring implications, by always bringing
forward all relevant data, and by being both self
critical and logical in reporting and when projecting
needed research.
• In a thesis or dissertation, it is the integrity
and objectivity of the investigator that count
most.
• If the term research is to be used meaningfully
in the context of T/D study, it must encompass
not only controlled experimentation, but also
many additional forms of planned, thoughtful,
investigative activities.
• Thesis is “Diligent and systematic inquiry or
investigation into a subject in order to
discover or revise facts, theories, applications,
etc.” (Flexner, 1987, p. 1219).
• No one research approach is inherently better
than another. Rather, there are research
methods that match some problems well and
others poorly.
• Researchers need all forms of investigation,
need to respect them equally, and need to
attempt to link each problem to the research
approach that has the best likelihood of
helping to apply human thought to solve it.
 Qualitative research
• Qualitative research encompasses several
forms of the investigation. They all share
this characteristic: The data used do not
accommodate readily to quantification,
specification, objectification, or
classification.
• Because of that, common statistical
procedures cannot be used for data display or
analysis. Typical of such data might be reports
of participant observation or the texts of in-
depth and relatively unstructured interviews.
• In qualitative investigations, the researcher
strives for understanding of the phenomenon
under study.
• The researcher keeps detailed records of
events heard, seen, read, felt, or otherwise
noticed in respect to the topic or situation
under scrutiny. The primary objective is to
gain knowledge (data) from the subject’s
frame of reference.
• Qualitative research relies on deduction. It
reaches conclusions by reasoning or inferring
from general principles to particulars.
• Quantitative research relies on induction,
arriving at generalizations by collecting,
examining, and analyzing specific instances.
• Qualitative research begins with broad
questions or problems and attempts to
narrow them. Quantitative research starts
with narrow or specific phenomena and
attempts to relate them to others as building
blocks to illuminate larger matters
Page 60