- Clearly Define Research Objectives: Ensure your research questions or objectives are specific, clear, and aligned with the overall aim of your dissertation.
- Select an Appropriate Research Design: Choose a research design (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods) that best suits your research questions and objectives.
- Justify Your Methodological Choices: Provide a rationale for why you selected a particular research design, methods, and approaches over others available in the field.
- Conduct a Comprehensive Literature Review: Ensure your literature review is thorough and up-to-date, providing a theoretical foundation for your research method and demonstrating gaps your study aims to address.
- Define and Justify Sampling Methods: Clearly define your target population and sampling strategy (random, stratified, convenience, etc.) and justify why it’s appropriate for your study.
- Ensure Validity and Reliability: Discuss how you will ensure the validity (accuracy and soundness of findings) and reliability (consistency of results) of your research method.
- Detail Data Collection Procedures: Describe how you will collect data (interviews, surveys, observations, etc.) and ensure methods are appropriate to capture the information needed to address your research questions.
- Ethical Considerations: Address ethical issues related to your research, including participant consent, confidentiality, and any potential risks, ensuring compliance with ethical guidelines.
- Pilot Testing: Conduct a pilot study to test your research methods and instruments, identifying and addressing any practical or methodological issues before full-scale implementation.
- Data Analysis Plan: Outline your data analysis methods (qualitative coding, statistical analysis, etc.) and how they align with your research questions and objectives.
- Triangulation: Consider using multiple data sources or methods (data triangulation) to enhance the robustness and credibility of your findings.
- Peer Review and Feedback: Seek feedback from peers, advisors, or colleagues on your research method to identify strengths and areas for improvement.
- Reflect on Limitations: Acknowledge and discuss the limitations of your research method and potential impact on the validity and generalizability of your findings.
- Continuous Reflexivity: Reflect on your own role and biases throughout the research process, demonstrating reflexivity in how these may influence data collection and interpretation.
- Conclude with Methodological Reflection: Summarize how your chosen research method aligns with your research questions, objectives, and theoretical framework, emphasizing its contribution to knowledge in your field.