Category: Dissertation

In class today, John Bean explained the structure of a quantitative dissertation and he reframed the first two chapters in an interesting way.  The way I’ve thought of them and the way they’ve been explained to me in the past is that the first chapter is the introduction and argument for the importance of the… Continue reading Dissertation Journal: Reframing the First Two Chapters

A few weeks ago, I wrote a brief synopsis of my current dissertation topic.  With the help of some of my wonderful friends, I have continued to revise this synopsis.  Here is the current version, the version I am sending to my advisor for him to use in writing my second-day question on my qualifying… Continue reading Dissertation Journal: Dissertation Synopsis

The current draft of my lit review has two major constructs: survey non-response bias and the digital divide (which includes the participation gap as a sub-construct). I need to add socio-technical systems as another construct as it’s the fundamental lens through which I am viewing and approaching this work. I intended to add this to… Continue reading Dissertation Journal: One More Construct

In the past week, I’ve met with my chair-to-be and the project manager for one of the surveys on which I will be piggybacking my (first?) survey instrument.  Things are still looking good but I need to get working on my survey instrument.  I need to create the instrument, send it off to some experts… Continue reading Dissertation Journal: Lots of Work To Do

This post will serve two purposes.  First, it will be useful to have one post that explains the basic, big ideas of my dissertation.  Second, our qualifying exam is structured such that our advisor writes the second question and my advisor has asked me to summarize my dissertation ideas and thoughts so he can use… Continue reading Dissertation Journal: The Basic Idea

I’m going to start keeping a public dissertation journal.  In addition to some of the obvious benefits (publicly associated my name with my ideas, obtaining early feedback, etc.), I hope that this will add some element of accountability if I take public stances on ideas and deadlines.  I’ll append “Dissertation Journal:” to the title of… Continue reading Dissertation Journal: First Entry