Organization and Structure of Good Doctoral Theses in Education
Keywords:
Doctoral studies, Social sciences, Writing, Editing, Education
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Abstract
This research aims to determine the structure and organization of good theses in Education in Spain to provide clear, concrete and useful information to those who begin the preparation of their doctoral theses. To do so, we analysed all the theses in monograph mode that have obtained the extraordinary award between 2018 and 2022 in the discipline of Education in Spanish public universities and that were available in full text at the time of data collection. In total, 71 theses from 25 universities were studied. Among other results, it was found that the theses with an extraordinary award have an average length of 405.4 pages, excluding annexes. The internal distribution is as follows: Introduction, with an average of 12.0 pages (3.0% of the total); Theoretical Framework, with 108.9 (26.9%); Methods, with 49.1 pages (12.1%); Results, with 134.1 (33.1%); Discussion and Conclusions, with 33.2 (8.2%); and finally, References, which occupy 33.3 pages (8.2% of the total), which represents an average of 394.7 references. All of this provides a large amount of data for people who begin their theses and for those who supervise them, which can help to prepare better research work.
Downloads
References
Ali, A. y Kohun, F. (2006). Dealing with isolation feelings in IS doctoral programs. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 1, 21-34. https://doi.org/10.28945/58
Berelson, B. (1952). Content analysis in communication research. Free Press.
Birch, J. W. (1983). Guide to the successful thesis and dissertation: Conception to publication: a handbook for students and faculty. Marcel Dekker.
Bolker, J. (1998). Writing your dissertation in fifteen minutes a day: A guide to starting, revising, and finishing your doctoral thesis. Holt Paperbacks.
Brailsford, I. P. (2016, 29 de mayo). How many chapters and pages are there in a doctoral thesis? [Blog] DoctoralWriting. https://doctoralwriting.wordpress.com/2018/05/29/how-many-chapters-and-pages-are-there-in-a-doctoral-thesis/
Brailsford, I. P., Sowden, E. y Orioli Figueira, B. (2016). Are doctoral theses changing over time? [Póster]. Meeting of Quality in Postgraduate Research. Adelaide, Australia.
Brennan, N. M. (2019). 100 PhD rules of the game to successfully complete a doctoral dissertation. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 32(1), 364-376. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-01-2019-030
Carter, S., Guerin, C. y Aitchison, C. (2020). Doctoral writing. Practices, processes and pleasures. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1808-9
Carter, S., Kelly, F. y Brailsford, I. (2012). Structuring your research thesis. Palgrave MacMillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-00936-4
Castelló, M., Pardo, M., Sala-Bubaré, A. y Suñe-Soler, N. (2017). Why do students consider dropping out of doctoral degrees? Institutional and personal factors. Higher Education, 74, 1053-1068. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0106-9
Coe, K. y Scacco, J. M. (2017). Quantitative content analysis. En J. Matthes (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of communication research methods (pp. 346-356). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118901731.iecrm0045
Davis, G. B. y Parker, C. A. y Straub, D. W. (1997). Writing the doctoral dissertation: A systematic approach. Barron's Educational Series
De Miguel Díaz, M. (2010). Evaluación y mejora de los estudios de doctorado. Revista de Educación, 352, 569-581.
Duke, N. y Beck, S. (1999). Education should consider alternative formats for the dissertation. Educational Researcher, 28, 31-36. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X028003031
Dunleavy, P. (2003). Authoring a PhD: How to plan, draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or dissertation. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Eco, U. (2001). Como se hace una tesis. técnicas y procedimientos de estudio, investigación y escritura. Gedisa.
Evans, D., Gruba, P. y Zobel, J. (2011). How to write a better thesis. Melbourne Univ. Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04286-2
Franzosi, R. P. (2024). Content analysis. En M. Hardy y A. Bryman (Eds.), Handbook of data analysis (pp. 447-565). Sage.
Gardner, S. (2008). Fitting the mold of graduate school: A qualitative study of socialization in doctoral education. Innovative Higher Education, 33, 125-128. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-008-9068-x
Gill, P. y Burnard, P. (2008). The student-supervisor relationship in the PhD/Doctoral process. British Journal of Nursing, 17(10), 668-671. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2008.17.10.29484
González-Ocampo, G. y Castelló, M. (2019). How do doctoral students experience supervision?. Studies in Continuing Education, 41(3), 293-307. https://doi.org/10.1080/0158037X.2018.1520208
Jegede, F. (2021). Doing a PhD in the social sciences: A student’s guide to post-graduate research and writing. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003055761
Kember, D. y Corbett, M. (2016). Structuring the thesis. Springer.
Krueger, C. H. (2018). Quantitative content analysis of Virginia doctoral dissertations 2007-2017: Trends in degree types and methodologies. Liberty University.
Lewis, C. W., Ginsberg, R., Davies, T. y Smith, K. (2004). The experiences of African American Ph.D. students at a predominantly white Carnegie I-research institution. College Student Journal, 38(2), 231-245.
Lovitts, B. E. (2001). Leaving the ivory tower: The causes and consequences of departure from doctoral study. Rowman & Littlefield.
Madsen, D. (1992). Successful dissertations and theses: A guide to graduate student research from proposal to completion. Jossey-Bass.
Mauch, J. E. y Birch, J. W. (1998). Guide to the successful thesis and dissertation. Conception to publication. A handbook for students and faculty. Marcel Dekker Inc.
Moradiellos, E. (2017). La tesis doctoral en ciencias humanas y sociales: Una guía práctica. Ediciones Akal.
Murillo, F. J., Martínez-Garrido, C. y Belavi, G. (2017). Sugerencias para escribir un buen artículo científico en educación. REICE. Revista Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación, 15(3), 5-34. https://doi.org/10.15366/reice2017.15.3.001
Neuendorf, K. A. (2002). The content analysis guidebook. Sage.
Paltridge, B. (2002). Thesis and dissertation writing: An examination of published advice and actual practice. English for Specific Purposes, 21(2), 125-143. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(00)00025-9
Parker-Jenkins, M. (2018). Mind the gap: Developing the roles, expectations and boundaries in the doctoral supervisor-supervisee relationship. Studies in Higher Education, 43(1), 57-71. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2016.1153622
Phillips, E. y Pugh, D. (2010). How to get a PhD: A handbook for students and their supervisors. McGraw-Hill Education.
Pyrczak, F. (2021). Completing your thesis or dissertation: Professors share their techniques & strategies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315266718
Randolph, J. J., Gaiek, L. S., White, T. A., Slappey, L. A., Chastain, A., Prejean-Harris, R. y Hansard, C. (2012). A quantitative content analysis of Mercer University theses. Georgia Educational Researcher, 9(1), 81. https://doi.org/10.20429/ger.2012.090106
Randolph, J., DeWeese, S., Manuel, A. K., Baugher, G., Tessmer, K., Westbrook, A., Shoats, S., Balloun, J. y Crawford, L. (2014). Page length and methodological characteristics of recently published doctoral dissertations in education. Georgia Educational Researcher, 11(2), 46-68. https://doi.org/10.20429/ger.2014.110202
Rigby, J. y Jones, B. (2020). Bringing the doctoral thesis by published papers to the social sciences and the humanities: A quantitative easing? A small study of doctoral thesis submission rules and practice in two disciplines in the UK. Scientometrics, 124, 1387-1409. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-020-03483-9
Rourke, L. y Anderson, T. (2004). Validity in quantitative content analysis. Educational Technology Research and Development, 52(1), 5-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02504769
Satinsky, E. N., Kimura, T., Kiang, M. V., Abebe, R., Cunningham, S., Lee, H. y Tsai, A. C. (2021). Systematic review and meta-analysis of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among Ph. D. students. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 14370. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93687-7
Schmidt, M. y Hansson, E. (2018). Doctoral students’ well-being: A literature review. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 13(1), 1508171. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2018.1508171
Single, P. B. y Reis, R. M. (2023). Demystifying dissertation writing: A streamlined process from choice of topic to final text. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003444053
Sternberg, D. (2014). How to complete and survive a doctoral dissertation. St. Martin’s Griffin.
Sverdlik, A., Hall, N. C., McAlpine, L. y Hubbard, K. (2018). The PhD experience: A review of the factors influencing doctoral students’ completion, achievement, and well-being. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 13, 361-388. https://doi.org/10.28945/4113
Williams, K. y Reid, M. (2023). Planning your dissertation. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Zhang, F., Litson, K. y Feldon, D. F. (2022). Social predictors of doctoral student mental health and well-being. PLoS ONE, 17(9), e0274273. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274273