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Doing Research thesis – a step by step guide

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NIBM

Department

Business
NIBM Programmes

Campus

Colombo /
NIBM Programmes

Level

Workshops
NIBM

Duration

04 Days

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

  • This is ideally suitable for those who follow a Masters or Bachelors study program in Business Administration, Human Resource Management, Information Systems Management, International Relations, Business Studies, Labor Studies, Environmental Sciences, Social Sciences or any other relevant field, that requires doing a thesis at the end. Participants are expected to be conversant with English.

Commencement

  • Pending

Course structure and modules

  • Introduction and planning
  • What is a research thesis and what it is not: Understand your task before you start
  • Selection of topic: Why change it the mid-way? Do it right from the beginning
  • Length, scope, and depth: Knowing this, in the beginning, will save your time later
  • Selection of the supervisor: What he /she will do and will not do for you
  • Planning and time management: How not to do it the week before submission
  • Proposal, Conceptualization and Literature Review
  • Thesis proposal: How to present your idea and influence people
  • Conceptualization can be tricky: You have to convince someone else
  • Building research questions and hypothesis: Let us practice with examples
  • Literature review: What it is and what it is not
  • Manage references: Introduction to Harvard and APA styles
  • Data Gathering and Analysis (Theory)
  • What is ‘data’ and how you gather them: Stepping stone to evidence-based research
  • Quantitative Research: How to get your numbers correct; strengths and limitations
  • Planning surveys: What best can be done within your time and financial constraints
  • Conducting surveys: Different techniques, traditional and online surveys, sampling, preparing questionnaires, interviews
  • Statistical concepts: Seeing beyond the raw data
  • Analysis with MS-Excel: The best starting point; simple and straightforward
  • Other statistical tools: Introduction to other statistical tools including SPSS
  • Presenting quantitative data: It goes far beyond than inserting a few simple graphs
  • Data Gathering and Analysis (Practical)
  • A Hands-on session up to 4 hours at NIBM computer labs on a pre-prepared case study. Each participant will get a PC to practice
  • what he has learned in Session 3.
  • Compilation of the thesis (Theory)
  • Where to start and end: Why starting from the introduction is not a good idea
  • Academic writing is an art itself: How it differs from newspaper reporting
  • Language editing: How to avoid grammatical and other common language mistakes
  • Presenting qualitative data: Use of case studies, ethnographies, photographs
  • Conclusion: What value I add to the global knowledge base?
  • Compilation of the thesis (contd..) and Preparing for Presentation/Viva
  • Tables, Graphs, Content sheets, Abbreviations, etc: Minor matters, but let us do it right
  • Formatting: Introduction to Harvard and APA styles
  • Preparation for the viva: Typical questions you face from your evaluators (and how to respond)
  • Presentation techniques: It is more than doing a few PowerPoint slides
  • Individual Presentations
  • The participants will get an opportunity to present their work in front of a panel and the rest of the class. This is a simulation of the actual scenario. The participants will learn how best to present themselves confidentially in front of the viva-panel.
  • Sum-up; Revisit the lessons learnt and the next steps
  • Revision: The effective (and efficient) ways of introducing the proposed changes
  • Publishing your thesis: The best options; strengths and constrains of each

Programme Fees

  • Course Fee: LKR LKR 15,000 (Per Day)