Has anyone had any success in utilizing an outline following the writing of the first three chapters of their dissertation? In its general form it seems to have highlighted some weaknesses in the organization of the document so far but I was curious if this is a fair common result?
My dissertation involves exploratory sequential mixed methods with a fairly strong Qual component and very minor Quan component. In your opinion, is a exploratory sequential mixed methods type of study potentially consistent if examining the presence of critical thinking skills in both mathematicians as well as students?
Dear Brian Wood,
You are well aware of the three advocated stages in writing: plan, write, and revise. The outlining you are talking about can be really helpful for writing the first draft; however, you must be flexible in that if new types of evidence emerged in your later studies, you could always go back and add the new information to what you already have. As for your mixed method research, you would certainly reap the benefits of hybridizing the two research approaches.
Good luck with your research.
Best regards,
R. Biria
With regard to your mixed methods design, the obvious issue is the goals that the two components are supposed to serve. If there is little work in this area, then an explanatory QUAL certainly makes sense as a beginning point. Then the next question would the role served by your follow-up quant study.
FYI, the name "exploratory sequential" design is usually applied to studies in the form qual --> QUANT, rather than QUAL --> quant (following Greene et al, 1989; Creswell & Plano-Clark, etc.)
What are your chapter titles? I have been advised to write the 'middle' first (lit review, methods, results), then discussion, then introduction (1st ch) and conclusion (last ch) sort of concurrently so they really frame the whole thing. So I was surprised to see you had started at the 'front'.
I have found the work of Pat Thomson and Barbara Kamler very helpful for dissertation writing. They're not on ResearchGate unfortunately, but a quick Google search will find some of their work.
Dear Brian
I like the answer put forward by Katrina McChesney. However, you should be careful that, knowing the problem is the first thing in research. Yet, a problem statement is solidified by the research gap which is developed after conducting a literature review.
Plan ==> Write ==> Review is the best approach.
NOTE: When you write any academic paper, logical flow of ideas is very important. Thus, outlining the topics/subtopics will help you to decide information that are to be included in the chapters.
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