By drawing a new concept from the research subject literature and giving new conclusions can a researcher complete a dissertation? Is it going to be grounded theory or archival research or ...? What kind is it going to be by means of research strategies. Can these literature resources (like books or essays) be assumed as correct data for PhD research? can they be assumed as primary data? Can research be done correctly by secondary data?
This sounds like archival research to me. I have never seen a grounded theory that did not involve either interviewing or participant observation.
David L Morgan
Thanks for your answer. So, in a dissertation if someone have to choose archival strategies is it ok to just have the Main Data comes from books, essays and achieves of the research subject and problem? I mean in this kind of dissertation there is no questionnaire or interview or as you said any participant observation or even any alive participant. Is it still a valid and scientific one? I always thought the Main Data for a dissertation by somehow should be newly produced by researcher, even in archival research.
The classic criterion for a dissertation is that it should "contribute to knowledge." If your committee agrees that your work will do so, that is all you need.
Yes, it can be, if you are able to develop a new model or framework based on the reviewed literature. You need to fill a gap in the literature, and it will be considered as your theoretical contribution.
I have seen systematic reviews as master’s degree theses, especially in the health science. So, yes, you can undertake a systematic review research on published works. However, at the PhD level, such a study must contribute substantial knowledge and not merely summarizes the existing evidence. The study must fill a gap (i.e., methodological, theoretical, or empirical).
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Linguistics
- Composition Studies
- Publication