PhD Research Seminar Series: Writing the Introduction

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PhD Research Seminar SeriesWriting the
Introduction

• Dr. K. A. Korb
• University of Jos

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Outline

• Research Process of identifying something
  unknown and collecting data to make it known.
• Writing the Introduction
• Background
• Statement of Problem
• Purpose, Research Questions, and Hypotheses
• Significance
• Theoretical Framework
• Operational Definitions
• Writing Tips

Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos
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Review

• Choose a research focus.
• Basic Test a theory
• Applied Improve practice
• Extension Repeat a previously conducted study
  with a different sample
• Write the conclusion you want to make.
• Turn the conclusion into your general research
  question.
• Identify IV and DVs
• IV (Independent Variable) Cause
• DV (Dependent Variable) Effect

Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos
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Introductory Advice

• Tell a story.
• Be exhaustive, but dont be extensive.
• Go into great detail on your key variables, but
  do not include distally related topics.

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Example Study

• The Effect of Goal Setting on Academic
  Achievement at the University of Jos
• DV (Effect)
• Academic Achievement
• IV (Cause)
• Goal Setting

Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos
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Background

• Purpose Provide the rationale for your study.
• Include
• Construct definition of your DV
• Build a case for why your DV is important
• Description of why your DV needs to be somehow
  changed
• Basic Why is the theory not quite accurate?
• Applied Why does your DV need to improve?
• Extension Why do you think your sample will be
  different?

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Background Example

• Construct definition of your DV
• Many diverse definitions of academic achievement
• Definition in this paper Knowledge and skills
  developed primarily by formal schooling (Lohman,
  2005).
• Build a case for why your DV is important
• Academic Achievement is related to many future
  variables university performance, job
  performance, etc.
• Description of why your DV needs to be somehow
  changed
• Applied Why should the DV improve?
• Want to improve our society, and academic
  achievement is related to many positive
  variables. Should continue to find ways to
  improve academic achievement.

Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos
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Statement of Problem

• Purpose State the problem you hope to fix.
• Include
• How do you think you can fix the problem?
• Why do you think your solution will work?
• Briefly explain the methods you will use to try
  to fix the problem.

Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos
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Statement of Problem Example

• How do you think you can fix the problem?
• Why do you think your solution will work?
• Goal setting theory states that setting goals
  improves performance. Think can improve academic
  achievement by providing a short seminar on how
  to set goals and providing time for students to
  set goals. Will work because previous studies
  have established relationship between goal
  setting and performance in many other domains.
• Explain methods you will use to fix the problem.
• Have treatment and control groups. Treatment will
  take a seminar on goal setting, during which will
  set goals for the ed psych class. Then compare
  final grades of treatment and control groups.

Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos
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Purpose, Research Questions, and Hypotheses

• Purpose Describe the answers you hope to
  ascertain from your study
• Include
• Direct relationship between each Purpose,
  Research Question, and Hypothesis.
• Purpose Statement of the problem
• Research Question Only for descriptive questions
• Null Hypothesis No significant difference
  between IV groups on DV
• Correlational No significant relationship
  between variables

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Purpose, Research Questions, and Hypotheses
Example
Research Question
Purpose
Hypothesis
There is no significant difference between
students who set goals and those who do not on
academic performance.
Do students have higher academic achievement when
they set goals or when they do not set goals?
Determine whether goal setting improves academic
achievement.
There is no significant difference between
students who do and do not attend a goal setting
seminar on the quality of their goals.
Do students who have a goal setting seminar
set better goals before or after the seminar?
Determine whether a seminar on goal
setting improves the quality of goals that
students set.
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos
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Significance

• Purpose Describe how your study will influence
  theory and practice
• Include
• Summary from your Background of why the DV is
  important
• How practice or theory will change based on the
  results of your study

Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos
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Significance Example

• Summary from Background of why the DV is
  important
• A good way to improve society is to improve
  academic achievement
• How practice or theory will change based on the
  results of your study
• Practically Since academic achievement is
  related to job performance, if improve academic
  achievement, also likely improve future job
  performance
• Theoretically Test goal-setting theory to
  determine whether the theory generalizes to a
  Nigerian context

Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos
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Theoretical Framework

• Purpose Connect your research study to the
  already-existing body of knowledge
• Include
• The theory that you think best describes the
  behavior of your DV
• Basic The theory you want to refute
• Applied The theory that says that your treatment
  will improve your DV
• Extension The theory that says that your sample
  will be different than the original sample

Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos
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Theoretical Framework Example

• The theory that you think best describes the
  behavior of your DV
• Applied The theory that says that your treatment
  will improve your DV
• Theory of Goal-setting by Locke and Latham (2002)
  ? Building a practically useful theory of goal
  setting and task motivation
• Describes how goal setting works and what makes a
  good goal

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Construct vs. Operational Definitions

• Construct Definition Explanation of your
  construct by relating it to other constructs
• Operational Definition Statement of specifically
  how the construct will be measured or implemented
  in your study

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Construct vs. Operational Definitions
WAEC Scores
Final Course Exam
AcademicAchievement
NECO Scores
State Exams
Self-Report on IM Questionnaire
Intrinsic Motivation
Behavioral Observations
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Construct vs. Operational Definitions
Weekly one-hour lessons on number sense for four
months
Teaching Intervention
Bi-weekly one-hour meetings with other bereaved
adults focused on discussing loneliness
Group Counseling
Two morning seminars that introduce key
principles of PowerPoint
Technology Workshop
Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos
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Construct vs. Operational Definitions
Self-Report of Parents Yearly Income
Economic Status
Free/Reduced Lunch Eligibility
Performance on Literacy Test
Illiteracy
Self-Report of Reading Ability
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Construct vs. Operational Definitions
Any person who attends school
Student
Secondary school and above
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Operational Definitions Example

• Dependent Variables
• Academic Achievement Final course grade in
  Educational Psychology course
• Quality of Goal Rating from 1 (Low) to 5 (High)
  by an independent judge on two dimensions
  difficulty and specificity
• Independent Variables
• Goal The outcome that the student hopes to
  accomplish for their course grade in Educational
  Psychology.
• Goal-setting seminar A two hour PowerPoint
  presentation on setting quality goals.

Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos
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Writing Tips

• Give a construct definition for every
  psychological term you use.
• Explicitly state how each theory or concept you
  write about directly relates to your study.
• Be specific!
• Avoid vague words like it, this

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Writing Tips

• Be generous with providing examples
• Examples make an abstract concept more concrete.
• Examples help examiners know that you understand
  what you are writing.
• Even though preschoolers successfully solve
  quantitative tasks that require either the
  exclusive use of verbal counting or nonnumerical
  quantitative skills, they appear incapable of
  solving tasks that require both of these
  abilities at the same time (Resnick, 1989
  Siegler Robinson, 1982). For example,
  preschoolers have difficulty answering the
  question Which is bigger, 9 or 5?

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Writing Tips

• Re-read and Revise
• Re-re-read and Revise
• Re-re-re-read and Revise
• Re-re-re-re-read and Revise
• Re-re-re-re-re-read and Revise
• Re-re-re-re-re-re-read and Revise
• Re-re-re-re-re-re-re-read and Revise
• Re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-read and Revise

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Technical Writing Tips APA Style

• Acronyms University of Jos (UJ)
• Only give the acronym if you will repeat the
  phrase many times throughout your paper.
• If you only use the phrase once, do not give the
  acronym
• If you use the phrase multiple times, explain the
  acronym once. Thereafter, always use the acronym.
• The University of Jos (UJ) is located in Jos,
  Plateau State. Prof. Andzayi is the dean of the
  Faculty of Education at UJ.

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Technical Writing Tips APA Style

• Numbers
• NEVER spell out and give the numeral for a
  number.
• There were ten (10) students.
• Always spell the first number in a sentence.
• Fifteen chickens crossed the road.
• If the sentence contains only numbers below ten,
  spell out all numbers.
• There were nine plates of jollof rice and five
  pieces of chicken.
• If the sentence contains a number greater than
  ten, write the numeral for every number in the
  sentence (except when the first word is a number,
  in which case spell it out).
• Eleven students attended the retreat, as well as
  15 workers and 5 retirees.

Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos