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...

Objectives and Alligators

I'm reminded this morning of the objective of this dissertation:  

To research without bias—NOT to prove and support my position on a topic.

I have also posted this on a pptx slide, and it hangs on my wall.  I have to look at it all the time...this is so different than what I'm used to in writing for my work where my bias is wanted.  But really, this is easier (theoretically).  The dissertation process is hard enough as it is without trying to make it a "Magnum Opus."

I just have to remember that my position, my view, my bias are the alligators that will keep me off-track.

"When you're up to your neck in alligators, it's easy to forget you came to drain the swamp."

Proposal Part 2: Purpose of the Study

The Proposal Prep instructions simply say, "One or Two Sentences," under the Purpose of the Study.  Some lovely folks at www.dissertationrecipes.com have put together "Writing a Purpose Statement" which is a "how to" with some examples for purposes statements.

Currently, my purpose statement has two sentences.  The first starts with "The purpose of this quantitative correlational study will be to determine the relationship...".  The second explains the significance of that relationship.  I actually modeled the statement after Example 3 in the document cited above - I very much liked the conciseness of it.

What I've also done is put the Purpose Statement in a pptx slide, printed it out, and have it posted on the wall just above the main monitor in my office.  As this proposal evolves, and the dissertation paper gets written, that slide will keep me on the right track.