PhD Problem Identification

Coverage: Justifies inclusion and exclusion of literature from the review Synthesis:

• Distinguishes what has been done in the field from what needs to be done
• Places the topic or problem in the broader scholarly literature
• Places the research in the historical context of the field
• Has a command of key terms and notions, discusses and resolves ambiguities in definitions
• Articulates important variables and phenomena relevant to the topic
• Synthesizes and gains a new perspective on the literature

Methodology:

• identifies main methodologies and research techniques that have been used in the field, their advantages and disadvantages
• Relates ideas and theories in the field to research methodologies

Significance

• Rationalizes the practical significance of the research problem
• Rationalizes the scholarly significance of the research problem

Rhetoric : Writing has a coherent, clear structure that supports the review Reading, summarizing and critiquing previous studies.

• What are the major research questions or hypotheses in the study?
• What were the main findings of the study?
• Why was it important to carry out the research?
• What is the relationship between this study and the your own project?
• What other research studies were conducted in the same area?
• What is the relationship between these studies and your own project?

• What research design was used in the study?
• What were the main Technology, Engineering Domain and Performance variables in the study?
• What Simulation Framework was Developed and how data was collected for the study?
• Describe the System Implementation, System Analysis and population, sample, and selection procedures for the sample
• Describe the Model Development or data collection procedures used in the study
• How were the Performance Variables were Evaluated and data collection procedures developed?
• Were the System Accomplished Expected Results and Achieved issues of reliability and validity considered?

• How was the System developed and resulting data analysed in the study ?
• Were the analytic procedures emperical, quantitative, qualitative or both ?
• Would you be able to re-analyse the developed model and data on the basis of the information provided about the analytic procedures and implementation techniques ?

• What were the main findings of the study?
• How do the findings relate to previous research on the topic?
• What conclusions does the researcher reach on the basis of their findings?
• What are the implications of the findings?
• What recommendations does the researcher make based on the findings?
• What recommendations does the researcher draw from the results of their study?

• Is the research problem clearly stated?
• Are the variables clearly described and defined?
• Is the design of the study appropriate for the particular research question?
• Are the research the instruments appropriate for the particular study?
• Are the data analysis procedures appropriate for the particular study?
• Was the author consistent in the way they analysed their results?
• Are the conclusions, implications, and recommendations warranted by the results?

• Is the article peer reviewed / referred?
• Is the author affiliated to a university?
• Are in-text references used?
• Is there an abstract (for a journal article) and a bibliography?
• Is the bibliography complete
• What does the text look like?
• Is the writing divided into sections such as Introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion and reference list
• Does the writer use the technical language and discuss research that has been done?
• Is the article of reasonable length
• Is the publisher a recognized academic publisher?
• Does the website have an author and/or a date?
• Was the piece of writing recommended by another researcher?

Content:

• Good arguments
• Shows evidence for claims
• Reliable
• Shows Limitations
• Biased
• Strong Content
• Weak content

Context in disciplin:e

• Landmark article
• Useful contribution to field
• Agrees with current thought
• Contradicts current thought
• Good Introduction to field

Methodology:

• Strong reasoning
• Replication possible
• Adequate sample size

Author:

• Good academic standing
• Refers to other authors
• Writing easy to understand

Relevance:

• Recent Publication
• Reliable source
• Same purpose as your own research
• Relevant to your study
• Country where research was conducted relates to your own research

• Group related studies together
• Review brieful any weaker studies or studies that share similar methods. Devote more attention to ground breaking, stronger studies
• Organize studies by findings
• Organize by methodology
• Organize by theory

What criticism does examiners makes while looking at your literature review

• Landmark studies are not included
• Outdated material is given too prominent a place
• Recent literature is not included
• The perspective is not wide enough
• The review is not sufficiently analytical
• The write has not discriminated between relevant and irrelevant material
• There is no coherence
• The literature is not related to the research question or hypothesis
• Sources are not correctly interpreted.

Tense Example Simple present - Stephen (1989) shows that ..................... " Simple past - Stephen (1989) showed that ...................." Present perfect - Research has shown that ....... ..............." Choices of tense and reasons for their use Choice of tense Reason Present simple –

• A generalisation is being made
• A reference is being made to the state of current knowledge
• Previous findings are being presented/are accepted as facts

Simple past

• A reference is being made to a single study
• A specific piece of research and its findings are being referred to

Present perfect

• A general area of investigation or inquiry is being referred to
• A general statement is made about previous research

How to decide your research topic / question?

• Which specific issues have been most often studied?
• Which seem to warrant further research?
• Which authors and which studies are most often cited?
• What instruments are available?
• Which methods are frequently used?

One of the best ways to conduct the broad scan us to concentrate on research reviews. A research review is a scholarly article on a topic that reviews the major research studies about that topic in order to give readers a broad picture of what is known. May be you can look for the term meta-analysis. A Meta analysis is a research review that uses complex statistical processes to determine overall effects of a given intervention.