Format
Abstract
Acknowledgement
Table of content
Chapter 1 – Introduction (10%)
Chapter 2 – Literature review (25%)
Chapter 3 – Methodology (15%)
Chapter 4 – Result (20%)
Chapter 5 – Discussion and conclusion (20%)
Bibliography
Appendix
–
Writing and presentation (10%)
Dissertation topic or title
A research question of not
more than 15 words that should be clear, concise and focused, that you want
to answer by conducting a research and will be presented in your dissertation.
Abstract
Abstract is not an introduction. Use 100 to 120 words to summarize the whole research including
objective, methodology, result and conclusion. It enables the readers to have
an overall view of the dissertation before start reading.
Introduction (10%)
Include the rationale, context and background of the research (that
is the reasons why you conduct the research).
Literature Review (25%)
Spend at least two weeks’ time to do an extensive reading on
materials relevant to your research topic. The more you read, the more ideas
will be generated and the quicker the research progress will be. All citations
have to be properly referenced and presented in the bibliography by using
Harvard system. Minimum number of articles, or papers to be read is ONE.
Don’t use high sounding terms and words that you don’t understand.
Make sure you understand it before putting into writing. Otherwise, it will
cause more harm than good.
For example, a student wrote “grid management, big data management
and control of dynamic floating population, normalized epidemic prevention,
decentralization of self-media era…………..” None of the above terms and words are
comprehensible and the student didn’t really understand it. The student is only
bluffing and showing off.
Methodology (15%)
Make use of what you have learned in “Social Research Method” class
and tell the readers what method(s) you are going to use, qualitative
(interviews) or quantitative (questionnaire) or both. If you are a practitioner
(police officer or CSD/C&E officer), you are a participant-observer and can
rely on your work experience and observation in the research.
Research Methods
Method
Qualitative
Interview (At least 3)
Quantitative
Questionnaire (At least 70)
Participant-observer
Observation and work experience
If you want to draw a sample of the population, tell the readers
what kind of sampling method you are going to use, e.g. purposive sampling,
random sampling. If you want to interview a number of respondents, keep their
identity anonymous (don’t disclose their name, address or contact telephone
number). Simply say SGT A aged 40, with 20 years’ police experience and now
working in EU KE.
Also, write the advantage and
disadvantage of the methods chosen and its limitation.
There is no limit on the number of respondents to be interviewed or
invited to complete the questionnaire. The rule of thumb is the sample chosen
can give sufficient information for you to complete the research. Officers of
similar rank and experience normally have similar opinion. So interviewing 2
instead of 5 officers of similar rank, posting and experience makes no
difference. It is preferable to choose officers of different rank, posting,
gender and years of service.
Try to establish rapport (mutual trust) with the interviewees before
conducting the interview because no one is willing to disclose his private and
personal feelings to someone whom he didn’t trust. Also, the venue of interview
is very important. Try to find a quiet place free from distraction that the
interviewee feels comfortable. Avoid using a tape recorder without prior
consent of the interviewee or even a note pad and pen for recording purpose.
Regarding questionnaire, it is a good practice to conduct a pilot
study by administering the draft questionnaire to a small sample (one or two
persons is enough). The questionnaire can be refined, corrected and rephrased
based on the pilot study.
Result
Present the result of the research conducted by yourselves, NOT other people’s research results.
Discussion and conclusion
After completing the research, put down your pen and think about the
whole research progress and the salient points that you have discovered. This
is the insight that will help you
gain a lot of marks. Try to answer the research question you had proposed at
the beginning of the research.
Serendipity
Sometimes the research results may not support your hypothesis or
even contradict your initial assumption. Don’t worry, there is no need to
modify or even fabricate the research results in order to fit the hypothesis.
Provided that your research is properly done, the primary data collected is
statistically significant and information is valid, your research result is
still correct. Simply tell the truth and conclude that your research results
contradict the initial hypothesis. This is not infrequent in scientific
researches.
Bibliography
Use Harvard reference system. Don’t use foot notes. Arrange the reading
materials in alphabetical order. Be honest, only include those articles you
have read. Don’t fabricate and make an exceptionally long reading list either
copied from others or you have never read before because it is too good to be
true. This is not a competition of quantity. Don’t have a misconception
that the longer the bibliography the higher marks you will get. Otherwise, you
will be tempted to copy-and-paste other people’s reading list as your own,
which is fatal.
Appendix
This is the “litter bin” where the sample questionnaire, interview
consent letter and other relevant materials are placed.
Academic Offences
UWL applies penalties to students who commit an academic offence,
such as plagiarism, cheating, copying and use of ghost writing services. Be
honest when conducting the research.
Ghost writing is quite prevalent in post-secondary studies all over
the world. Many ghost writing services can be found in the social media.
However, many ghost writers are recruited via the internet, who don’t know
anything about HK. So their writings are solely relied on their imagination and
are out of touch with the situation in HK. If anything goes wrong, there is no
way to hold the ghost writer accountable because you don’t know who he/she is,
who is in other parts of the world.
Writing dissertation is a marathon race that can’t be completed
overnight. You need to start working now and don’t wait until summer holiday,
Christmas, New Year………
Value Free
A good researcher should have no bias, prejudice or preference. He
should be impartial, objective and politically neutral without any political
stance (e.g. pro-Government or anti-Government). Police students and CSD
officers often have a pro-Government stance which is normal as they will be
socialized when they joined the civil service. Try to step back and look at the
whole picture and incorporate the opinions from all sides.
Force Procedure Manual
Chapter 52-17
Application of serving Police Officers for permission to conduct academic
research
If police students intend to use Police Force restricted information or statistics to conduct research,
have to follow the above procedures:-
l
Seek prior approval from CP
before conducting the research,
l
Processing time for approval
normally takes at least 40 days or more.
l
Seek approval from police
officers’ Formation Commanders before interview.
l
Submit completed dissertation
to CP for vetting (to screen out sensitive information) before submission to
UWL for marking.
l
Pay printing fee if any.
l
Send e-copy and printed copy of
dissertation to Force Library afterwards.
No need to follow the order if information (PGO provision,
statistics) is obtained from open source (HK Police Force website) that
ordinary citizens can also have access.
Golden Rules
Rule one – Work hard
Rule two – If in doubt, go back to rule one
