1
Introduction

The titles and objectives of the sections of this chapter are the following:

1. 1.1 Introduction; to set the scene and describe the dissertation process
2. 1.2 Terminology and nomenclature; to emphasise the importance of the objective
3. 1.3 Document structure; to provide a template
4. 1.4 Possible subject areas for your dissertation; suggest topic areas and encourage early reading
5. 1.5 Professional bodies and the non-technical or technical dissertation or project; to distinguish between these two different types
   1. 1.5.1 The difference between non-technical and technical
6. 1.6 Qualitative and quantitative analysis; to distinguish between the two analytical schools
7. 1.7 The student/supervisor relationship and time management; to provide templates
8. 1.8 Ethical compliance and risk assessments; to identify ground rules for compliance with codes of practice
   1. 1.8.1 Physical or emotional harm; laboratory risk assessments
   2. 1.8.2 Confidentiality and anonymity
   3. 1.8.3 Generally
9. 1.9 House style or style guide; to promote consistency and provide a template
10. 1.10 Writing style; to identify potential pitfalls
11. 1.11 Proofreading; to encourage it, as a process, using independent help if necessary
12. 1.12 Extra support?; to describe help available from university disability support units
13. 1.13 A research proposal; what to do if you are required by your university to do a proposal
14. 1.14 Viva or viva voce; to describe what it is and how to prepare

1.1 Introduction

In some universities the dissertation or project may carry as much as one quarter weighting towards the final year degree classification. It is the flagship document of your study. It is the document that external examiners will look at with greatest scrutiny. You may want to take it to your employer and/or prospective employers. You will hopefully be proud to show it to members of your family, and it will sit on your bookshelf so that you can show it to your grandchildren. It is a once-in-a-lifetime journey for most; it is to be enjoyed and remembered. Though it does not happen often, with the help of supervisors, some students may develop their research into a publication. That may involve condensing the work into about ten pages for delivery at a conference or even for inclusion as a journal paper. It is one thing to get a degree qualification on your CV; quite another for you to be a published author.

One of the key criteria for the research is that it must have some originality. That is, not to discover something new but perhaps to look at an area that has already been investigated, and to take a different perspective on it or to use a different methodology. It is more than an assignment – the research process must seek the information, analyse it and offer conclusions. Modest objectives are adequate. Better dissertations and projects have robust methods of analysing qualitative data or some basic statistical analysis.

Dissertations and projects have assessment criteria. To achieve marks in the upper echelons (70%+), criteria often require that work should demonstrate ‘substantial evidence of originality and creativity’, ‘very effective integration of theory and practice’, ‘excellent grasp of theoretical, conceptual, analytical and practical elements’, and ‘all information/skills deployed’.

There are two separate strands to your research. The first is that you must develop your knowledge in your chosen topic so that you become ‘expert’. One of the reasons you may have chosen your subject is that you may want to learn more about it. Indeed, it is very important that you do this. The second is that you must conduct a piece of research, employing appropriate research methodology. In your document you must explain and substantiate your methodology; it must stand up to scrutiny. The method that you use must include the collection and analysis of data. The two strands go hand in hand. It is not to say that the weighting is 50:50, or any other percentage, but there must be substantial evidence of both in your dissertation. You must demonstrate that you have produced a piece of research in the true meaning of the word ‘research’; it is not adequate that your document is a ‘mere’ report.

1.2 Terminology; nomenclature

Clarity in research is absolutely critical; the plethora of terminology used by academics can be unhelpful, fuzzy and for some misleading. That is just the way it is. It may be useful for you to employ your own rigid definitions of such terminology, or at the very least be consistent in the language you use in your work.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) a professor of physics at Göttingen University, cited on the Quotations Page (2015), wrote ‘One’s first step in wisdom is to question everything’. Your research should start with a question, from which you will develop an objective in which you will ‘do’ something that will enable you to answer the question. What you will ‘do’ may involve testing a hypothesis. The research question, objective and hypothesis should all match each other, for example:

Research question: How well do UK contractors comply with best practice in health and safety? (note the question mark)

Objective: To determine how well UK contractors comply with best practice in health and safety.

Hypothesis: The compliance of UK contractors with best practice in health and safety is excellent (or in a different context to your research you may write ‘not good enough’).

You need to make it clear in your introduction that you have a research question, objective and hypothesis that match, but when you communicate with people in industry and also when you find the need to repeat yourself in your document it may be best to do so using the term ‘objective’. People in industry are likely to be familiar with the word ‘objective’, but less familiar with research questions and hypotheses. An objective is a statement of what you will ‘do’ in your research.

When describing what a research project will ‘do’, students often express this by using words other than ‘objective’. Some examples are: ‘the focus of the study’, ‘the reason for the study’, ‘the study looks into’, ‘the study tries to’, ‘the study examines’, ‘purpose’, ‘goal’, ‘direction’, ‘intention’ or ‘seeks to’. Perhaps use of these phrases should be discouraged.

It must be recognised that universities and individual academics will have their own preferences, and students must be able to adapt flexibly to work with supervisors, and also to understand the writing of others who use different language. Most supervisors will be comfortable that you ‘hang’ the whole of your study around objectives; put more clearly, objectives, objectives and objectives.

1.3 Document structure

A suggested structure/template for a dissertation or project is:

This is not written in tablets of stone, but is merely a framework around which your structure may be designed. It is for individual researchers to design their structure and to agree it with their supervisor. These may be considered as chapter titles, but they should be ‘flavoured’ by words relevant to your study area, e.g. ‘The development of theory and literature about money as a motivator for construction craftspeople’.

The weight of each chapter, or the number of words, does not necessarily lend itself to one sixth in each. There is an argument for saying that the first two chapters, as the opening to the document, could be about one third weight. The middle two chapters comprising the methodology and analytical framework could be about one third weight. Finally the last two chapters, closing off the document, could be about one third weight. Often it is the last part where students lose marks; they simply run out of time after completing the analysis. The consequence is that documents were heading for really good marks only achieve mid-range marks.

Each chapter should open with an introduction – there should even be an introduction to the introduction chapter – and close with a summary. Students often do not like writing either introductions or summaries, and question their value for the reader. The introduction to each chapter need only be a few paragraphs. It is not for readers to embark on a voyage of discovery as they read each chapter. The ‘introduction to the introduction’ may start with the aim of the study....