Dissertation Topic: The change in Post-Covid Era for Costumes Textiles Supply Chain
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DisserationTempalte.docmDISSERTATION RESEARCH PROSPECTUS
A prospectus helps the dissertation research committee to evaluate the viability of a study before a student devotes a great amount of time working on a particular topic. The research ideas for the prospectus begin in RES 721, are further developed in the research classes, and then finalized in block one of the dissertation process, BUS 900 or BUS 785.
The prospectus is a culmination of the dissertation research leading students through the pre-dissertation preparation processes. The prospectus lays out the plan and the objective for the doctoral dissertation research. Prior to being placed in the first dissertation course, students should have identified their committee members. The prospectus is required in order to be eligible to start developing the dissertation.
Please note that the prospectus does not contain a section under the title “Literature Review”, however, literature review should be conducted and reflected within the prospectus in order to support the content.
Certain activities mentioned in the dissertation prospectus and the dissertation proposal should be referred to in the future tense, since they have not been done yet. Once the dissertation is complete, the tense of these activities should be changed to the past tense.
Always save the dissertation file as macro-enabled Word document.
Please delete this page before submitting your first draft of the dissertation prospectus.
TITLE OF THE DISSERTATION RESEARCH STUDY CENTERED IN UPPERCASE BOLDFACE LETTERS APPEARING AS AN
INVERTED PYRAMID
Dissertation Research Prospectus
Submitted to the Faculty of
Westcliff University
College of Business
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Business Administration
Concentration (delete if no concentration)
By
Doctoral Candidate’s Full Name
Doctoral Research Committee Approval:
First Name Last Name, Terminal degree, Chair Date_______
______________________________________
First Name Last Name, Terminal degree, Member Date_______
______________________________________
First Name Last Name, Terminal degree, Member Date_______
______________________________________
Table of Contents
Theoretical and Conceptual Framework 2
Explication of the Research Methods and the Consistent Alignments 4
The Nature of the Data and the Procedure for Data Collection 4
Data Collection Instrument(s) 4
The Population and the Sample(s) 4
List of Tables
2
You need to include list of tables if you have more than six (6) tables, except Table of Contents, in this document. Otherwise, delete this page.
Problem Background
Any research identifies an existing problem to be resolved, or envisions an opportunity to be exploited. The dissertation prospectus should address the existing problem or opportunity. In this section, introduce the reader to the existing problem, or the opportunity, that is intended to be tackled. Identification of the problem, or the opportunity, should be evidence-based. Identify the gap in the literature relevant to the chosen topic in order to make the readers aware of the potential contribution of the research. Furthermore, explicate how potential findings of the intended research will contribute to the field relevant to the study, or impact professional practice within the domain of the research.
Problem Statement
In this part of the prospectus, the doctoral candidate will identify the unresolved problems of practical or conceptual significance within the field mentioned in the Problem Background section. In your dissertation, you will resolve some of the problems mentioned. But some may be postponed to be resolved in future research, possibly to be recommended in Chapter Five of the dissertation. Among the problems mentioned, identify the problem(s) that you intend to tackle, describe its context, and restate how its resolution will fill the gap in the literature that was mentioned in the previous section.
Please bear in mind that the problems stated in this section, and the Purpose of the Study section that follows subsequently, should be aligned with your program of study (Doctor of Business Administration). As a reminder, there have been situations where a student has spent a substantial amount of time in formulating a research plan and then finding out that the proposed research was not considered to be aligned with the student’s program of study, either by the committee or the Institutional Research Board (IRB).
Hypothetical examples of problem statements are given below. Note that the problem statement section should include discussion besides just stating problems. The roots and the origins that cause the stated problems should be discussed in detail in this section. Keep in mind that the identified problem(s) should be evidence-based, and be supported by citations from relevant literature.
In addition to expanded discussion, restate the problem(s) concisely as exemplified by the following example of a qualitative and quantitative study.
Problem Statement 1: Dependence on oil has created political and economic risks for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Purpose of the Study
In this section, the doctoral candidate states the objective of the dissertation research as resolution of some of the problem(s), identified in the Problem Statement section. The purpose of the study should be in general terms, specific aspects of the purpose will be formulated as the research questions in a section that follows. The statement of the proposed study should start with the phrase, “The purpose of this (specify qualitative or quantitative or mixed) study is…”. If you plan to do qualitative research, use the terms explore, understand, describe, … to explicate your purpose. If you plan to do quantitative research, use the terms examine, analyze, predict, …
Theoretical and Conceptual Framework
In the Theoretical and Conceptual Framework section, describe the theories and/or the concepts that underlie your study. In general, these are theories or postulates that are commonly accepted to be valid. Still, their applicability in the situations pertaining to your research is not verified. The framework should not only be in general terms; therefore, specific example(s) should be included for clarity.
Subsection
Sub-Subsection
Research Questions
In this section, you break your research purpose down into components that cumulatively lead you to achieve the study’s goals. Research questions (RQ’s) should be simple components of the purpose of the research, which cannot be broken down further. A RQ should be stated in a simple interrogative sentence. RQ’s should not be in a composite sentence; neither should they be stated in a hierarchical structure. Each RQ should address one issue at a time. If you want to address several issues, address them separately with several RQ’s. Keep in mind that RQ’s should not be stated in a way that leads to binary answers. If this section contains only RQ’s, it does not look good in the eye of the reader, and is not complete. Therefore, in addition to listing the RQ’s, you need to explain in separate paragraphs how the answers to the RQ’s cumulatively lead you to achieve the purpose of your research. Please number your RQ’s, and state them separately from the paragraphs that describe their significance. The RQ’s should be in alignment with the problem statement.
The wording of the RQ’s reflects the nature of the data to be collected and analyzed. Examples of RQ’s are provided below. Please note that at least three (3) RQ’s in precise terms, and in alignment with the purpose of the study, are required for dissertations. Please see the following two examples of the format of the RQ’s, aligned with the problem statements mentioned before. However, you are required to provide a minimum of three research questions in alignment with purpose of the study as derived from your problem statement.
RQ 1: To what extent does the economy of UAE relate to the price of oil? (Quantitative)
RQ 2: What would be other investment option for UAE to reduce the risk of dependence on oil and gas? (Qualitative)
Nature of the Study
This section should include the following subsections and any other additional subsections if deemed to be appropriate.
Explication of the Research Methods and the Consistent Alignments
This subsection starts with the statement explaining whether the study is quantitative, qualitative, or mixed. The general explication of the implementation of the research plan will then be provided. In addition, the alignment of the research plan with the purpose of the study should be evident per content of this section, and be justified.
The Nature of the Data and the Procedure for Data Collection
This subsection starts with describing the data needed for the research, and how the researcher will access the data. Accessibility of the data by the researcher is of crucial importance, as inaccessibility of the data makes the research to be impossible. Evidence of accessibility of the needed data should also be included in this subsection.
Data Collection Instrument(s)
Description of the data collection instrument(s) planned to be used in the research, and the pilot study if needed (e.g., if the instrument is to be designed by the researcher).
The Population and the Sample(s)
In this subsection the doctoral candidate identifies the underlying population, the unit of analysis, and the relevant variables in the research. The researcher then explicates the sampling procedure(s), including the sampling method (random, convenient, …), and the sample size.
Research Analytics
The content of this subsection depends on the type of the proposed research. If the research is qualitative, then its type has to be clarified and justified. The nature of the qualitative data coding that conforms with the proposed research has to be elucidated. If the research is quantitative, then the nature of the incorporated variables has to be clearly delineated. The quantitative methodology which is consistent with the nature of the research needs to be addressed.
Significance of the Study
Significance of the Study describes why the study is important, and identifies its potential for bringing about a change in the existing practice within the field relevant to the research. In addition, this section describes in scholarly and unbiased language the study’s potential contribution to the existing body of knowledge in the relevant field. To complete this section, justify the expected significance of the proposed study, and elaborate on its implications for professional practice, as well as its social impact.
Note: The doctoral candidate should use non-confirmatory language, such as: The potential findings of the study might lead to a better understanding of outsourcing; The evaluation of employee attitudes could help improve productivity.
The references list contains all the scholarly sources such as articles, books, or any other source, that you have cited while you were writing the prospectus. There should be one-to-one correspondence between the citations in the main text and the entries in the references list. Please prepare the references list according to the format on the next page.
Remember, that you are required to use Microsoft Word (MS Word) tools, including automated features, to generate a document containing in-text citations and the references list, which should be in the latest version of the APA style. If the tools in the MS Word version that you use do not automatically generate citations and entries in the latest version of the APA style, you can make adjustments by minor manual corrections.
Table of Contents, List of Figures, List of Tables, and List of Appendices, whichever required, should be created by using the automated features. Generating the list of References manually is not acceptable in all research and dissertation courses.
Please note the following sample citations and the references generated by the automated feature. Please note that Microsoft Word version that you use may not generate the references in the latest version of APA. Conversion to the latest version can be done by minor corrections on the entries generated by the automated feature.
According to Gitman & Zutter (2015) …
As stated by Baxter (1967) …
Please delete this page and sample references given on the next page before submitting your document for review
References Baxter, N. D. (1967, September). Leverage, Risk of Ruin, and Cost of Capital. The Journal of Finance, 22(3), 395-403. doi:10.2307/2978892 Gitman, L. J., & Zutter, C. J. (2015). Principles of Managerial Finance. Prentice Hall.
Some of the Dissertation Formatting Aspects
1. The only accepted font is the Times New Roman 12-point with the following exceptions: contents of tables or figures should not less than 9-point size; notes to tables and figures should not be less than 10-point size. Table and Figure titles should be 12-point size.
2. Use of seriation must follow requirements specified in the latest version of the APA Manual at the time of you started your first dissertation course.
3. Any Table or Figure should not be divided between two pages. If the Table requires more than one page, then divide the Table so that all its portions on separate pages share the common caption, and designation “cont.” should be included in the caption, starting from the second portion. Place the Table after it is cited in the text, and close as possible to where it is cited.
4. Avoid unnecessary blank space throughout the document.
5. Margin requirements are 1 inch for all margins, and for all pages of the document.
6. Entries in the Table of Contents should not be bolded nor italicized.
7. The opening pages (The Title, Signature, Acknowledgment, Dedication, Abstract, Table of Contents, List of Tables, and List of Appendices pages) should be numbered by Roman numerals. The pages in the main body of all dissertation documents should be numbered by Arabic numerals.
8. Students should use the latest APA Manual for guidance with placement and formatting of the headings. An example of different headings in the 7th APA version follows:
CHAPTER TITLES ARE ALL CAPS AND BOLDFACE (Heading 1)
Titles of List of Tables, List of Appendices, List of Figures, References (Heading 2)
Sections (Heading 3)
Subsections (Heading 4)
Sub-Subsections (Heading 5)
In-line Sub-Sub-Subsection.
In-line Sub-Sub-Sub-Subsection.
Please delete this page before submitting your prospectus.
