This paper investigates the influence of the examination stage of student theses on the completion time of graduate studies at Makerere University, Uganda. The assessment is based on the ...administrative data of 504 Master's degree students in the 2000 to 2008 enrollment cohorts at the School of Education, Makerere University. The total elapsed time from submission of a thesis for evaluation to a viva voce was adopted as a measure of the examination period. Additionally, the period from viva voce to submission of the final thesis was investigated. The analysis included frequency distribution, summary statistics, and a Pearson Chi-square test. A median examination period of 11 months (range, 1-55), in the results, is a lengthy one when compared to the two-year stipulated duration of Master's studies at the University. Subsequently, the fact that about six in every ten students (59.9%) submits a final thesis beyond a months' period after a viva points to further delays in the review process of students' reports. No significant variations in the submission period were observed by student characteristics. In sum, the findings underscore the need to strengthen administrative support systems, particularly aspects related to the review process of student's reports, to ensure students' timely completion of graduate programs. (Contains 3 tables.)
Emotional blackmail widely and constantly occurs in the interpersonal relationships in family, daily life, and the workplace. It means that one party consciously or unconsciously uses direct or ...indirect blackmail to exert subtle violence during his/her interaction with the other party to achieve one's own goal, forcing the other party to sacrifice their own needs and dignity. The objective of this study was to investigate the implications of emotional blackmail and its level of influence on relationships by using meta-analysis method. This study effectively reused the research data generated in previous studies, collating and integrating the empirical quantitative results of journal papers and PhD dissertations and Master's theses focusing on emotional blackmail from 2004 to 2018. The meta-analysis technique proposed by R. Rosenthal was employed. A total of nine dissertations and journal papers that met the in-clusion criteria were collected for a quantitative and objective comparative analysis and evaluation
This guide to writing research proposals for theses, dissertations, and grants contains practical suggestions for the would-be writer and several exemplars that show how effective proposal writing ...can be done. The guide is divided into two parts: Part 1, "Writing the Proposal" and Part 2, "Specimen Proposals." Part 1, the core of the guide, presents information applicable to all research proposals and discusses problems peculiar to the use of proposals in graduate education and funding agencies. Chapter 1 introduces generic elements found in nearly all proposals. Chapter 2 discusses ethical issues confronted in the research process. Chapter 3 addresses the needs of graduate students preparing their first research proposal. Chapters 4 considers the content of the proposal including the literature review and anticipating the analysis. Chapter 5 presents the qualitative paradigm for research. Chapter 6 contains information on the style and form of the proposal. Chapter 7 discusses oral presentation of proposals and research. Chapters 8 and 9 cover submission of proposals to funding agencies. In Part 2, four sample proposals are presented. The first is related to the tasks presented in Chapter 1, and the others are presented with critical evaluations to illuminate their strengths and weaknesses. (Contains 152 references.) (PRW)
A practical guide to conducting and reporting graduate-level research projects outlines each step in the research process and discusses both practical and theoretical considerations. Chapter 1 ...addresses idea and topic development. Chapter 2 discusses the purposes, procedures, and sources for literature reviews and searches. In chapter 3, the distinction is made between qualitative and quantitative research, and the development of research questions and hypotheses is examined in detail. Types of research design and design problem-solving are explained in chapter 4. Chapter 5 discusses issues related to instrumentation, including selection or development of an instrument, reliability and validity, item analysis, special problems, and pilot testing. Sampling techniques and data collection methods are examined in the subsequent chapter, and chapter 7 describes a variety of statistical analyses and briefly discusses issues related to the use of statistics. Chapter 8 focuses on practical use of computers, both microcomputers and mainframes, in conducting research and data analysis. Steps in the process of writing the final report are offered in chapter 9, and in the final chapter, suggestions for the final report presentation are given. Numerous checklists and worksheets are included. The material is designed to be accompanied by a microcomputer diskette, and the book includes a "select-state" personal computer diskette. Each chapter contains separate references. (MSE)
This paper argues that action research is more appropriate than traditional research for improving practice, and professional and organisational learning. Our particular aim is to help postgraduates ...in the social and human sciences to understand and clarify the difference between core action research and thesis action research; that is, between collaborative, participatory action research in the field (aimed at practical improvement in a learning organisation) and independent action research in preparing the thesis (aimed at making an original contribution to knowledge). We present a model to illustrate the distinction and relationship between thesis research, core research and thesis writing.
Although evaluation is at the core of many of the practices associated with poetry--including teaching, editing, selecting, judging, and even writing--and although there have been involved ...discussions of the assessment of verse, there has been no empirical investigation of the specific values which, one supposes, lie at the heart of such judgments. Aiming to extend the conversation about the omnipresent but largely ignored issue of evaluation in contemporary American poetry, this study examines how one group of poets valued twelve poems. In pursuit of this axiological insight, the authors developed a method by which seven poets would discuss and reveal evaluative criteria that usually remain unknown and hidden, even to themselves. Once that discussion took place, the authors conducted a systematic analysis to illuminate its evaluative dynamics. The study revealed two very different models by which poems were valued as texts, and it uncovered the powerful role that context plays in assessments. The authors learned some of the unrecognized, multiple, and even contradictory ways in which poems are valued. Although such findings are intrinsically useful, the authors believe that this study is most promising insofar as it presents a technique for further such analyses, an approach that can be used by any group of people--poets, teachers, editors--interested in finding what they value in any kind of poetry. (Contains 2 notes.)
Background: From 2007 to 2008, serial researches were conducted on the Student Learning Experiences, Student Learning Outcomes and Assessment Practices of an MBA degree program offered by the Asia ...International Open University (Macau) in collaboration with the higher institutions of the Mainland. Aims: This paper reports the findings of a research on the assessment practices of the subject program. Sample: This research involved six internal examiners, nine external examiners and two registrars of the university offering the subject program. It also involved 331 MBA candidates from 20 higher institutions of mainland China who completed the subject program. Method: Qualitative data from Technical and Non-Technical Literature was processed by Grounded Theory while quantitative data was analyzed with the aid of One Way ANOVA, Dunnett's tD Test, S-N-K Test and Tukey Test. Results: Qualitative and quantitative data analysis disclosed that variances of a common assessment task subsisted in the subject program. The less favorable Student Learning Experiences of the sampled candidates were partially attributed to the marking variances of the thesis supervisors and the examiners. Conclusion: The thesis supervisors regarded the assessment task of marking the thesis as a Norm-Referenced Assessment while the examiners regarded it as a Criteria-Referenced or an Objective-Referenced Assessment. This area of Assessment Practices is worth further study. (Contains 3 footnotes.)
Higher-degree thesis assessment has recently been receiving a fair amount of attention from the education research community, examiners’ reports being the starting point for many of the inquiries. ...Most discourse focuses on PhD dissertations and tends to neglect less advanced academic works such as Honours’ theses, Master’s theses and Master’s minor theses. Writing at these levels is, however, of vital importance considering the fact that many students go through it not only to lay the foundation for their early research experiences but also to produce the good results that allow students to get accepted and proceed into PhD programs. This research article presents a systematic evaluation and analysis of 47 reports from examiners of students’ M.Ed. minor theses written by graduate students at Monash University in Australia. Employing thesis examination reports as data, the project investigates the strengths and weaknesses of the Masters’ minor theses written. Among different criteria on which a thesis is judged, choice of suitable topic and overall quality of presentation have been addressed relatively well, while data analysis, interpretation and literature review appeared to be the most difficult. Lack of critical thinking was identified as a common weakness, and writing quality played a significant role in deciding the outcome. There was generally a good level of consistency in assessment practices across different reports, with the exception of minor rules and guidelines. Certain influence was also exerted on the evaluation process by examiner’s background and level of engagement with the topic.
Thesis defense presentation slides (TDPS) are a significant and unique genre in the final ritual of master's students' learning journey. However, few studies have explored this genre, especially its ...rhetorical structure, so students have scant knowledge of it. This study investigates the moves and steps of this genre focusing on their Introduction section. A move analysis was conducted of 20 TDPS introductions produced by Chinese master's students in Applied Linguistics. Adopting Chen and Kuo's (2012) framework, interviews with the TDPS authors were then conducted. This study confirms that the framework for M.A. theses, i.e., the source genre of TDPS, is applicable to the exploration of the TDPS rhetorical structure. Only Move 3 "Occupying the niche" was found to be obligatory. No obligatory step was identified, and just three steps were found to be conventional. This study provides insights into how Chinese students produce this underexplored genre and argues for more attention to be paid to studies of its rhetorical structure. The findings could raise students' awareness of genre when attempting to produce effective and acceptable presentation slides to better communicate with their target audience.
In developing countries, the quality of the publication in reputable international journals is continuously being improved. However, many writers struggle to be able to write a qualified article for ...such journal. Based on the observation and interview, it was found out that though the writers already knew about the rhetorical structures in the finding and discussion section, still their articles were not considered eligible to be published. The objective of this paper was to discuss the problems faced by writers in writing an article to be published in a reputable international journal. The data was gathered using a questionnaire given to students studying in the graduate school in University of Bengkulu majoring in Language Education. The findings reveal that the writing problems are related to the four aspects of behavior suggested by Adnan (2017): 1) lecturers' behavior in the thesis consultation, 2) behavior aspect outside the learning, 3) cognitive aspect, and 4) psychomotor aspect. A number of recommendations have been made regarding these findings: A continuous and proper training on formal writing genre should be started from middle school. In the university, students should be widely exposed to the scientific articles published in reputable international journals, especially in subjects like Academic Writing and English Language.
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