The final step a student needs to take to acquire a doctoral degree is to finish his or her dissertation. The dissertation, however, is lengthier and more difficult than anything the student has done up to this point. This is because a dissertation must be accurate and precise, and it must offer new information on the subject or field. And this last part—offering new information to the subject or field— is especially difficult.
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The dissertation itself is broken down into numerous parts, and each of these parts must be accepted and approved if the student is to obtain his or her doctoral degree. One of these parts is the dissertation methodology. The dissertation methodology is essentially the part of the dissertation that lays out the entire dissertation. In other words the dissertation methodology is a chapter of the dissertation that describes the methods that the researcher will use to approach his or her topic of study. The dissertation methodology, then, must be detailed and accurate because the dissertation methodology will allow others to see what is to be done in order to come up with the results.
Oftentimes, the dissertation methodology takes a student more time than it should. Granted, the dissertation methodology should take a long time to complete—for it is the detailed explanation of what is to be done and how it is to be done—but it should not delay students as much as it sometimes does. In other words, oftentimes the dissertation methodology chapter of the dissertation is where students spend an unproductive amount of time wondering what to do with their dissertation methodology and what to put in their dissertation methodology chapter.
Because methodology can be defined as “a body of practices, procedures, and rules used by those who work in a discipline or engage in an inquiry” (Dictionary.com) the dissertation methodology chapter should be specific, precise and accurate. Thus, in order for a dissertation methodology to be accepted, the dissertation methodology must do several things. First, the dissertation methodology should outline the problem that is to be studied. This is an obvious part of the dissertation methodology because without the problem that is to be studied, the dissertation methodology would be nonexistent. In other words, you need a problem to study in order to have a way to study it! Second, the dissertation methodology must outline the plans that the researcher intends on using to solve this problem. This is where the specifics come into play, and this is where the dissertation methodology must be precise. In this part of the dissertation methodology, the researcher should say what tests will be used and why such tests should be used. Because there are an abundant number of tests, procedures, and guidelines while conducting research and performing statistics, this part of the dissertation methodology is one of the trickiest parts to complete. The dissertation methodology, then, must make the method of study clear so that the people reading the dissertation methodology can see exactly what is to be done in order to gather the proper data and information. Finally, the dissertation methodology must then identify some of the various hurdles or difficulties that the researcher may experience while solving the problem or question. This is an important part of the dissertation methodology as it will provide more context into what, exactly, needs to be done and why it needs to be done. The combination of all three of these will lead to a detailed dissertation methodology section and a dissertation methodology section that is acceptable (providing that the dissertation methodology is also accurate and precise).
Because dissertations must follow dissertation formats, there is a specific format for the dissertation methodology section as well. There is some variance here, however, as different advisors can tweak this section to their liking. This tweaking, however, is by no means justification to do a dissertation methodology section anyway a student wants to. On the contrary, the dissertation methodology must follow certain guidelines and must be laid out according to a format that includes an introductory paragraph, an outline of the general dissertation methodology, and a type of conclusion.
It is, of course, essential that the dissertation methodology chapter is completed with much attention to detail. And while it is time consuming to complete the dissertation methodology, a student should get help on the dissertation methodology if he/she is spending too long on that one section of the dissertation. A proper, accurate and detailed dissertation methodology will help ensure success on the overall dissertation. Thus, one should not hesitate to seek help in completing the dissertation methodology.
