Dissertation Research and Writing for Built Environment Students

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
Contents
List of figures
List of tables
List of boxes
Preface
About the fourth edition
Acknowledgements
Part I Preparing the ground and reviewing the literature
Chapter 1 Introduction
The meaning of research
Rationale for conducting a dissertation
Aim of conducting a dissertation
Objectives of the dissertation
Transferable skills of conducting a dissertation
Purpose of the book
Plan of the book
Reference
Chapter 2 Selecting a topic and writing the dissertation proposal
Choosing the topic
The dissertation proposal
The structure of the two titles
References
Chapter 3 Reviewing the literature
Rationale for undertaking a literature review
Knowing the sources of information
Academic research journals (refereed)
Refereed conferences
Understanding how the library works
Knowing the search engines related to the built environment
Collecting existing knowledge on the subject, systematically organising and summarising the literature
Reading and note-taking
Designing the contextual framework of the literature
Writing up and critical appraisal of your literature review
Summary
References
Additional reading
Part II Research design and methodology
Chapter 4 Approaches to data collection
Research strategy
Quantitative research
Qualitative research
Attitudinal research
Exploratory research
Example – explaining or seeking to understand
Comparing quantitative and qualitative research
The concept of a theory and building up your theoretical/conceptual framework
Steps for building up your theoretical framework
Approaches to data collection
Fieldwork research
The survey approach
The case study approach
Problem-solving approach (action research)
The experiment (mainly for civil engineering research)
Secondary data collection
Statistical format
Descriptive documents
Summary
References
Additional reading
Chapter 5 Techniques for data collection
Postal questionnaire
Personal interview
Unstructured interview
Semi-structured interview
Structured interview
Sampling
Random sampling
Selected sampling
Summary
References
Additional reading
Chapter 6 Questionnaire construction
How to construct a questionnaire
Types of questions
Factual questions
Opinion survey questions (subjective measurement)
Criteria for constructing a questionnaire
A pilot study
Covering letter
Summary
References
Additional reading
Part III Analysis and presentation of the results
Chapter 7 Measurements and probability
Level of measurement
Nominal scale
Ordinal scale
Interval scale
Ratio scale
Probability statement
Summary
Additional reading
Chapter 8 Analysis of the results
Exploratory data analysis (open-ended questions)
Coding open-ended questions
Recording the information
The descriptive statistics method
Frequency distribution
Tabulation
Bar charts/histograms
Pie charts
Measurement of central tendency
Measurement of dispersion based on the mean
The inferential statistics method (also known as bivariate statistical analysis)
Data analysis using the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) software
Summary
References
Additional reading
Chapter 9 Structuring and writing the dissertation
Typical dissertation structure
Writing the abstract
Writing the introduction chapter
Section 1 – The research rationale
Section 2 – Research goals
Section 3 – Outline methodology
Section 4 – The research road map
Section 5 – Dissertation structure
Writing the literature chapters of your dissertation
Writing the chapter on questionnaire design and methodology
Section 1 of the methodology chapter: Scope of chapter
Section 2 of the methodology chapter: Statement of research aim
Section 3 of the methodology chapter: The research methodology
Section 4 of the methodology chapter: Rationale of the research questionnaire
Section 5 of the methodology chapter: The research sample
Example 2 – Writing up the research sample section based on interviews
Section 6 of the methodology chapter: Method of analysis
Writing the chapter on analysis of the results
Section 1 of the result chapter: Scope of chapter
Section 2: Analysis of the results, part 1 (the descriptive method)
Presenting postal survey supplemented by interviews (example of writing-up style)
Presenting results based purely on interviews (example of writing-up style)
Section 2: Analysis of the results, part 2 (test of correlation and/or association)
Writing the conclusion chapter
Writing the references/bibliography
What does ‘referencing’ mean?
How many references do I need to make?
What is plagiarism?
How do I incorporate references and quotations into my dissertation?
Compiling the reference list and bibliography
Summary
References
Additional reading
Chapter 10 Dissertation supervision and assessment
Getting started
The role of the supervisor
What is not the role of the supervisor?
Planning your dissertation
Dissertation supervision log
Dissertation assessment: Qualities in assessing at MSc level
Descriptions of qualities
Degree of difficulty
Summary
Reference
Additional reading
Appendix 1 Examples of dissertation proposals
Appendix 2 London South Bank University:Example of a questionnaire
Appendix 3 Statistical tables
Appendix 4 Construction industry employee injury statistics
Appendix 5 Using SPSS
Appendix 6 Example of presenting interviewresults in a tabulated format
Appendix 7 Scoring matrix ofproject performance
Index