First Submission - Sort of...

I continue to struggle with finding an Introduction that I'm happy with. I am on my NINTH revision.

So as not to delay any further, I sent to Dr. Z a partial introduction (includes significance and justification of the study, the limitations, and the definitions of key operational terms), all of the Methodology chapter (chapter 3) and all of the results (chapter 4). It also has an appendix attached to it.

I'll wait for Dr. Z's comments before I start the conclusions/implications chapter (chapter 5).  For now, I've got about 25,000 words and 104 pages.  Need more...

Justification of the Study...again

Going back almost four months now (my, this is taking a while), I review my March 31 post on Justification of the Study.  Dr. S told me that I really needed to beef this up.  Naturally, I see that the proposal assignment requires a full page of text for this justification (and I didn't take this to heart the first time around why?) - I only wrote about three paragraphs in version 1.  

Dr. S explained that this is the "so what?" of the research proposal.  Leedy and Ormrod, page 57 (2005) ask "Of what use is it? What practical value does the study have?"  From How to Write a Research Proposal (cited in the 31 March post), I get the following:

• Concise and clear outline of the objectives I want to achieve through the dissertation.
• Show why the intended research is important.
• Show why the research justifies the search effort.
• Outline the significance/relevance of the topic.  The justification can be either:

1. empirical in nature, i.e., what I hope to add to an existing body of knowledge, or
2. theoretical in nature, i.e., what I hope to make easier to understand by giving more information on contentious areas in a body of knowledge or provide new conceptual insights into that knowledge.

"All research is part of a larger scholarly enterprise."  I "should be able to argue for the value and positioning of [my] work."  

In The Importance of Research by a group called "Unite for Sight" (a global health delivery organization that supports eye clinics worldwide) - with my adaptations in black:

The purpose of research is to inform action.  Thus, my study should seek to contextualize its findings within the larger body of research.  Research must always be high quality in order to produce knowledge that is applicable outside of the research setting with implications that go beyond the group/sample that I targeted in my research.  Furthermore, the results of my study should have implications for policy and project implementation.  

The Process is Working...

Got a note from Dr. S this morning.  He found a recently published article from McKinsey & Company on my topic.  So, he really understands what I've proposed.

Better news is that though consultants and professionals are thinking about what I'm thinking about, the academics are remaining silent...that means that my dissertation will appropriately add to the body of knowledge on the topic (what a dissertation is supposed to do).  It also means that the business world is leaning in the direction I think it should.  So, good dissertation topic.  The process is working.

Proposal Part 6 - Justification of Study

My assignment says:  "Theoretical and practical justifications of topic suitability for research (around one page)."  I'm a little foggy today; I need more than that to figure out what to write.  I found this article "How to write a research proposal" that has a good explanation, IMHO.

Scrolling down to the section entitled, "Objective of the research project," I find:

Give a concise and clear outline of the academic (possibly also non-academic, e.g. social and political) objectives that you want to achieve through your project. Your proposal needs to show why the intended research is important and justifies the search effort. Here you outline the significance (theoretical or practical) or relevance of the topic.

Such justification may either be of an empirical nature (you hope to add to, or extend an existing body of knowledge) or of a theoretical nature (you hope to elucidate contentious areas in a body of knowledge or to provide new conceptual insights into such knowledge). All research is part of a larger scholarly enterprise and candidates should be able to argue for the value and positioning of their work.

That explains it nicely.  I'll have to remember this article...it has a lot of other good stuff in it.