Chapter II: Literature ReviewThe second chapter should not be confused with the Introduction in Chapter I. The introductionprovides a review of the topic; the Literature Review summarizes what has been said about thetopic. The Literature Review is not a series of book (or journal article) reports. A good literaturereview tells a story about the topic, using scholarly published works to support what is written.The chapter should be organized in such a way as to (a) bring together the most importantwritings about the research question in general, followed by (b) a closer examination of thewritings related to the component parts detailed in the Purpose and Objectives subsection ofChapter I. It is very helpful to the reader if the ideas are presented in the same order throughoutthe thesis.This chapter will contain the greatest number of citations, so it is important that they be donecorrectly. Each citation must have a corresponding listing in the Reference section.The Literature Review should not include data that will be used to answer the research questionor test your research hypotheses. If the project is utilizing an analysis of published research toanswer the research question, the Literature Review should provide the background and take thereader up to the point where those studies begin.
Chapter III: MethodologyIn general, this chapter describes how the data will be collected for your research (i.e. original“bench type”, survey or peer reviewed data from published sources or data collected fromvarious government or other databases) that after analysis WILL ALLOW YOU TO MAKE ACOMPELLING ARGUMENT TO ACCEPT OR REJECT EACH RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS.It is important to utilize appropriate methods of data collection in order to be able to support orreject the research hypotheses. This chapter should begin with a description of the researchmethods used in the research, including a description of the dependent and independentvariables, if any.
Chapter III will most likely include the following subsections:Setting:if important to the research, describe the time and place of data collection.Description of the Subjects: depending on the type of data used in the project, this subsectioncan include either subjects involved in primary data collection, or those described in publishedresearch studies. If the project involves human subjects, it is necessary to first obtain theirconsent in writing.Description of the Research Instrument(s): fully describe all questionnaires and tests, ifappropriate. Include a copy ofquestionnaires in the Appendix.Procedures: describe in full detail how data were collected. If different methods were used, each method must be described. This subsection should also include a description and rationale for any statistical procedures used to support or reject the research hypotheses.
Chapter IV: ResultsThis chapter includes a presentation and analysis of the data. The tone of the chapter is purelyobjective, devoid of assumptions and interpretations.Following a summary of the research data, Chapter IV should be organized in manner consistent with the research hypotheses: first, present data related to thefirst hypotheses; and second, analyze those data to determine whether the firsthypothesis can be supported or rejected. Follow this sequence for each hypothesis.Tables are an effective way to present quantitative data. Qualitative data should be summarized, as opposed to verbatim transcriptions.
Chapter V: Discussion, Conclusions, and RecommendationsThis chapter involves (a) a Discussion of the research thesis hypotheses, including the findings,interpretation of the results, and problems and/or limitations; followed by (b) a Conclusion:what did we find out? what did we learn? and (c) Recommendations for changes in policy orpractice, future research, or anything else that will direct solutions to the problem(s) that werethe focus of the research