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%)
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%)
. All citations have to be properly referenced and presented in the bibliography by using Harvard system.
Don’t use high sounding terms and words that you don’t understand. Make sure you understand it before putting into writing.
Methodology (15%)
use“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 ，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
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.
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.
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.
