Dissertation writing experiences: Insights from doctoral researchers in sociology and psychology

Interview -- Doctoral Researchers

Writing a Dissertation

With the objective of achieving a wider perspective in dissertation writing, I have interviewed two doctoral-degree holders about their dissertation experiences. My respondent Jane* holds a doctoral degree in Sociology and for her, choosing the research topic is pivotal in research. Her research project was a quantitative understanding of how religiosity is correlated with belief in the paranormal. She explored two major dimensions of religiosity: i.e. belief system and rituals. Carlos*, on the other hand, worked on migration for his Psychology doctoral degree. His qualitative data was gathered with university undergraduates as respondents.

On Research Topic

According to Jane, "choosing the research topic was one of the harder processes for me because it requires a personal touch on my end. I needed a topic that could sustain my interest for a long while." Carlos believes likewise. Indeed, it is important for the researcher that he works on a topic that is of great interest for him because working on a dissertation could last for a year (or even longer). It requires endless and thoughtful considerations. When choosing the research topic, issues such as research methodology is also of consideration at this stage. A research topic with a more appropriate methodology that a researcher may not be very well-versed in may be problematic. Jane adds, "…that's why I chose my topic because it suits quantitative analysis very well, something I am more inclined in doing."

The Research Proposal

The research proposal stage allows you to fine tune your methodology before you go to field. Somehow, it already gives you numerous ideas on how the research is going to be like. The literature review is a very important component of the proposal as you will anchor almost everything (from methodology to data collection and analysis) on the literature review.

Data Collection and Processing

This seemed to be the most expensive stage of research. In Jane's quantitative work, she had to produce questionnaires and encode each one of them in the statistical software she used. Tokens were also given to respondents. Data collection and processing took a big chunk of her timelines. Carlos, on the other hand, had to spend much time interviewing his respondents because it is a qualitative research. He needed to revisit his respondents multiple times in order to build rapport with the respondents and ensure high quality of data. Data processing was also tedious because Carlos had to devise the usual matrix of answers of the many respondents he had.

Writing the Dissertation

Both Jane and Carlos believe that their dissertation chair was of great help during this state. They helped Jane and Carlos in analyzing their data, advised on which direction they should take, and even provided editorial help. The dissertation chair helped them in polishing their work which would take them to the final stage of the dissertation -- the defense to the dissertation committee.

Recommendations

Plan! Plan! Plan! My respondent believes that planning in every step of the way is important in completing your dissertation. You should be able to have contingent plans ready as well. And most of all enjoy the process, hard as it may sound.

* Names were held confidential as requested by the respondents