DPLS 728sp09 Dissertation Scholarship and Conceptual Framework

DPLS 728 - DISSERTATION SCHOLARSHIP and CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK (LITERATURE REVIEW)
Spring 2009 .....................................................................3 Credits

Last update Jan 18, 2009 to add link to the White Book, the DRAFT Template Instructions under Texts for the Course, Available on line. Feb 12, changes in Session 3 March 1, revisions for sessions 5, 6, and addition of assignment for March 20 even though there is not a face-to-face class.

Professor:James Beebe

Friday: 6 p.m.- 10 p.m.
Room: Fuller/Tilford 107
Dates: Jan. 16, 30; Feb. 13, 27; Mar. 6, Apr. 3, 17. NOTE There is no class on Mar 20.

Office: Fuller/Tilford 226
Office Phone: 323 3484
Home Phone: 456 2571
Office hours: 4:30 to 5:30 on class nights and by appointment
E-mail: beebe@gonzaga.edu

COURSE OBJECTIVES

This course is designed to provide a structure for writing the Literature Review of the Dissertation. Students are expected to have identified the general topic for the dissertation and to be familiar with some of the important literature in their field prior to starting the course. Ideally students should have a draft of their literature review by the end of the term. At a minimum students are expected to complete several sections of the their literature review, usually a minimum of 10 pages, and to have an outline for the remaining sections. Since students enrolled in this course are at various places in the literature review process, each student's course specific objectives will be identified in a student contract. Students planning to use the product of DPLS 728 as the petition for DPLS 730, Proposal Seminar, will need to check with their advisor as to what their advisor wants. Usually the minimum is about 5 pages of Chapter I, between 20 and 30 pages of Chapter II, and about 5 pages of Chapter III.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

This class will be conducted in whole group, small, group, e-mail, and individual conferencing format.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

You will be expected to:

1. Create a personalized contract for the course and complete it.

2. Participate in required course meetings and communicate with the instructor and classmates.

3. Describe the role and function of the literature review in research.

4. Describe the role and function of the conceptual framework in research.

5. Identify and locate the research needed for your study's purpose (use of advanced library skills).

6. Develop an appropriate structure for organizing your literature review.

7. Demonstrate an appropriate academic style of writing.

8. Create a reference list based on your database.  (Either EndNote if you are already using it or RefWorks are strongly recommended. You can find the group code for off-campus login to RefWorks as part of a Blackboard document that also includes special instructions for the use of page numbers as part of in text citations). On campus login to RefWorks (see link on left of Foley home page, bookmark the link); RefWorks. Off campus, https://refworks.com/RWSingle/login.asp?WNCLang=falseand enter the group code. Everyone starts by creating an account.

9. Format your literature review using APA and the Department guidelines (Use of the dissertation template is very strongly recommended).

10. Identify personal habits and emotions that accompany the writing process.

TEXTS FOR THE COURSE

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.).Washington, DC: APA.

Becker, H. (1986). Writing for social scientists: How to start and finish your thesis, book, or article. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Hart, C. (1998). Doing a literature review: Releasing the social science research imagination. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Pellegrino, V. C. (1987). A writer's guide to transitional words and expressions. Wailuku, HI: Maui Arthoughts.

Perrin, R. (2007). Pocket guide to APA style (2nd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Rudestam, K. E. &; Newton, R. R. (2001). Surviving your dissertation: A comprehensive guide to content and process.(2nd ed.) Newbury Park, CA: Sage  OR (2007) (3rd ed.)

Available online

Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies (2006). But I've never written a dissertation before: A user-friendly guide for the preparation of the dissertation proposal and dissertation. Spokane, WA: Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies, Gonzaga University. (The Blue Book)

Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies (2006). Guide to Style and Mechanics. Spokane, WA: Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies, Gonzaga University. (The Red Book)

Templae Instructions.  DRAFT Guide for the use of the template (The White Book).  Link Jan 18, 2009.

OPTIONAL (BUT STRONGLY RECOMMENDED)

Any easy to use book on MSWord. Two I have found useful are Teach Yourself Visually Microsoft Word(Wiley) and Easy Microsoft Office Word(Que).

ASSESSMENT AND GRADING

Grading for this course will be satisfactory or unsatisfactory. As is true in all doctoral work, it is expected that your work will reflect the highest quality in both goals sought and means used to achieve those ends.

PRIOR TO THE FIRST SESSION

1. Post to Blackboard a statement on your dissertation topic that begins: "The purpose of my study is to. . .";
(your posting should be a new thread--revisions will be a reply to your posting. Comments on the topics of others will be replies to their posting)
2. Locate at least one dissertation that could serve as a model for your dissertation. Ideally it will have to do with your dissertation topic but it does not have to. Begin with the Doctoral Program List of Dissertation Titles (link from the Doctoral Home Page. Search for dissertations at other universities using the link from the Doctoral Program Dissertation Titles page.) Post to Blackboard (body of message) using correct APA format for dissertations. (You may not be able to use a hanging indent or italics).
3. Reading assignment, Blue Book, But I've Never Written a Dissertation Before (2007), all. (Available on line or hard copy for $10 from the department.
4. Reading assignment. Hart (1998 pp. 1-43)
5. Reading assignment. Rudestam and Newton (2001) stating a topic pp. 9-21, review of the literature pp. 55-73, using a computer 223-253 OR (2007) pp. 9-22, 61-85, 249-265.
6. Optional: Check out the Dead Thesis Society http://http-server.carleton.ca/~felgar/dts/ or http://deadthesissociety.org/ ; the All But the Dissertation Survival Guide (a site provided by a for profit that does coaching) http://www.abdsurvivalguide.com/and the PhinisheD page (see especially the Phorum, the focus of PhinisheD activity and the place for exchanging ideas, information, helpful tips, and advice with your fellow thesis and dissertation travelers) http://www.phinished.org/
7. Optional:Check out Dr. Sunil Kumar's power point presentation, About Your Dissertation; Explicit reference of the relationships of the literature review and the conceptual framework to the rest of the dissertation. NOTE, not everything applies to dissertations at Gonzaga!
8. Optional:Interesting example of Literature Review from Roberta-Anne Kerlin's dissertation. Toward a Theory of Women's Doctoral Persistence, http://kerlins.net/bobbi/research/diss/ch02.htmlNote, APA calls for discussion of previous scholarship to be reported in the past tense.
9. Optional: Starting the dissertation: Experts offer tips on picking a topic, conducting a literature review, and narrowing your focus; From the American Psychological Association http://gradpsych.apags.org/jan05/starting.html

CLASS SESSIONS

Session 1: Jan. 16, Friday 6 pm - 10 pm, Introduction, Purpose Statements, Blue Book, Red Book, Template (White Book), MS Word

1. Introduction to course requirements, course contracts, and review of literature of others.

2. Be prepared to make a 5 minutes or less presentation on your topic and where you are in your literature review.

3. Be prepared to discuss and initiate your learning contract.

The Learning Contract consists of:

1. Your learning goals for the course: (What do you want to accomplish?).

2. A list of the steps you think are necessary to reach your goals and an initial timeline for completion of each step.

3. Identification of any changes in the structure of your life necessary to implement this plan?

4. Identification of support you would like to receive from:

a. Course instructor
b. Fellow classmates
c. Advisor

5. Your goals should either include the following items or alternative items that would be more useful to you.

• Identification of one or two dissertations that might serve as models for your   dissertation.
• A minimum of three pages of Chapter I, including the purpose of your study, research questions, and your interest in the topic.
• A minimum of ten pages of Chapter II, literature review in correct format, with a table of contents.
• Reference list covering all of the items included in the ten pages
• Outline of the other topics that are needed for Chapter II.
• A minimum of three pages that describe your methodology

4. Demonstration of the dissertation template, with special attention to tables of contents, tables of tables, tables of figures, and use of headers. Template can be downloaded from Information for Current Students; Dissertation Templates . . .

5. Discussion of the Blue, Red, (online and available from the Department) and White (draft to be distributed in class) books.

6. Introduction to MS Word short cuts. Discussion on why you need a book on MSWord.

7. Review of what should be in your Chapter I and the relationship of the purpose statement, the research questions, and the literature review.

Session 2: Jan 30, Friday 6 pm- 10 pm, Purpose Statements and Research Questions, Introduction to Chapter II,

Assignment for Session 2:(a) Post contract to blackboard. (b) Revise purpose statement, bring three copies to class and post to blackboard as a REPLY to your original postings. (c) Download the template, remove the front pages (Copyright, Dedication, etc.) but keep the title page and the table of contents, insert your purpose statement in Chapter I using the Copy and the Paste Special, unformatted text command. Post document with your purpose statement to Blackboard as an attachment. (d) Consider how you will build a support system for yourself, possibility of a buddy, joining a listserve, etc. (e) Read Rudestam and Newton (2001) pp. 61-64 (f) Identify model dissertations and be prepared to bring one to the next class (g) Reread Blue Book, pp. 1-7, 18-46, 79 (h) Read Red Book, ALL

1. Review of learning contracts.

2. Update dissertation topics. Where are you in defining/refining your topic?

3. How far have you moved from last session?

4. Review suggestions in Rudestam and Newton (2001, pp. 61-64). Be prepared to discuss.

5. Discussion of Chapter I, what is required for the petition for 730.

6. Bring at least one dissertation to class; be prepared to share and discuss.

7. Pay close attention to the correct format for references: the hanging indent, though all the examples in the APA manual use a regular paragraph indent.

• Take a look at: http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.htmlfor information on electronic reference formats using APA. Also check out the links on the left side of this page to;APA Style Tips; and & FAQs;
• Become familiar with Perrin (2007) Pocket Guideas supplement to APA Manual

8. Expanded discussion of the contents of Chapter II.

9.Optional:Preparing Scholarly Reviews of the Literature: A Webtorial by Gregg Jackson, Adrianna Kezar, Maria Kozi and Nina de las Alas, The George Washington University. This web site is designed to teach you how to use research literature from the social sciences in a scholarly and professional manner. Some material out of date. Includes information on (a) Searching for Research Literature, (b) Assessing Individual Research Reports, and (c) Integrating Multiple Studies On A Given Topic. http://www.gwu.edu/~litrev/

Session 3: February 13.  Short Review of Purpose Statements and difference between purpose and research goal.  Foley Instructional Lab

Session 3-A: February 13, Advanced Library Research, Use of Data Bases, Library Resources for Doctoral Students, Introduction to RefWorks. Foley Instructional Lab

Session 3-B: February 13, Basics of Scholarly Writing

Assignment: Read Becker (1986) ALL, read Rudestam and Newton (2001), pp. 197-222, look at Pellegrino (1989) especially "Substitutes for Said."  Re-read What is a Sholarly Paper?

Session 4: February 27, Writing at Least 3 Pages of Chapter II, Identifying the Other Parts of Chapter II.

Assignment for Session 5:(a) Prior to class, visit with a reference librarian. (b) Identify at least seven empirical studies relevant to your dissertation. (c) Write at least 3 pages (but not more than 6 pages) of Chapter II based on these empirical studies and incorporate into your Proposal. These do not need to be the first pages of Chapter II. (d) Add the empirical studies to your References using correct APA format. (e) Print out only the pages of Chapter II with the discussion of the empirical studies and not more than 2 pages of your References, bring 3 hard copies to class. To print individual pages from the dissertation template use the File, Print, and then include both page numbers and sections numbers in the Page Range, Pages box. For example, to print pages 5 through 7 in section 3, type p5s3-p7s3. (f) Read Hart (1998) pp. 44-171. (e) Identify the main sections of your literature review (relate to your research questions) and bring e copies to class. (f) Continue to revise and focus your purpose statement and your research question.

1. Discussion of writing up Chapter II. Thinking about a narrative for the Literature Review. Be prepared to report on purpose, research questions, and main sections of literature review. Summarize what you learned from the empirical studies into at two or three statements and be prepared to share.

2. Discussion of the implications of the session on writing. Issues of narrative.

3. Peer editing of the pages of Chapter II dealing with the empirical studies and the References.

4. Discussion of note taking (demonstration of scanning pen), creating of systems for keeping track of what you have found.

5. Discussion on security and saving dissertation drafts.

6. Overview of Conceptual Framework.

Session 5, March 6, Starting Chapter II and Identifying an Appropriate Conceptual Framework

Assignments:  REVISED (A) Write at least 3 pages (but not more than 6 pages) of Chapter II based on empirical studies and incorporate into your Proposal. These do not need to be the first pages of Chapter II.  Print out only the pages of Chapter II with the discussion of the empirical studiesand bring 3 hard copies to class.(B) If you are going to use RefWorks, make sure you have at least two books and two journal articles in your data base.  In class we will go over getting page numbers into the text. (C) Identify a possible conceptual framework afer reading Anfara & Mertz, 2006, pp xiii-xxix (Available as a Blackboard Course Document). This is the Introduction to the book. It may be useful to Identify a conceptual framework from an existing study, likely a dissertation  Be prepared to report on a possible conceptual framework for your study. (d) Draft one or two pages of a conceptual framework and add to your draft. Print out and bring 3 copies to class.

The terms conceptual frameworks and theoretical frameworks are often use to describe the same thing.There is not agreement on what they are, how to prepare them, or where they fit in a dissertation. Flexibility is needed!

Antonio and Gumport (2001) discussed conceptual frameworks in their syllabus for Introduction to Research Design: Educational Administration and Policy Analysis, Stanford University. www.stanford.edu/~gumport/courses/ED423aSyllabus2001_02.pdf)

• identifies the relevant concepts and theoretical perspectives.
• makes explicit the proposed linkages between concepts (e.g., correlational, causal) and justifies those proposed linkages using knowledge from prior research or practice.
• shows the connection between the research question and data.

Dissertation Guidelines, Oregon Health and Science University, School of Nursing (2004) identified a review of the literature and a conceptual/theoretical framework as parts of Chapter II. (from http://www.ohsu.edu/son/policyandprocedures/policy/20-04.11d.pdf

Review of the Literature
This section should begin with an introduction that outlines what literature is going to be reviewed. A comprehensive review and critical analysis of the pertinent literature, including recent as well as classic works, should be included. The primary research relevant to the study should be critiqued. The review of literature should build a logical framework for the research, justify the study by conceptualizing gaps in the literature, and demonstrate how the study will contribute to knowledge development. A summary which briefly synthesizes the review should complete this section.
Conceptual/Theoretical Framework
This portion of the dissertation provides the conceptual link between the problem, the literature, and the methods selected. A conceptual framework may be an elaborate statement of the relationship between several concepts and/or theories, or more simply, a statement of the relationships between the known facts and concepts surrounding the problem area. When appropriate, a drawing of the model is included, showing the relationships between concepts or variables to be studied. This section ends with the statement of the assumptions of the study, the hypotheses to be tested or research questions to be addressed, and perhaps the operational definitions of the variables or terms to be used in the study.

Anfara and Mertz (2006) pp xiii-xxix (Available as a Blackboard Course Document and on reserve at Foley) RECOMMENDED, the entire book.

Reread Blue Book, pp. 34-41.

REVISED

1. In-class editing of pages of Chapter II

2. Discussion of Conceptual Frameworks based on the readings and examples from the class.

3. Demonstration of the use of page numbers in text using RefWorks

4. Introduction to the contents of Chapter III

NOTE No class on March 20. Your opportunity to work on Chapter II

REVISED Blackboard assignment.  Post to blackboard at least 10 pages of Chapter II.

Session 6. April 4, Further Expansion of Chapter II, Additional Discussion on the Narrative Aspect of Chapter II, Additional Discussion on Conceptual Frameworks and Identification of Conceptual Frameworks for Proposed Research, Review of Chapter III needed for the DPLS730 Petition.

Assignments: (a) Expand Chapter II to about 20 pages. Pay close attention to transitions and narrative. Check against your research questions. Post to Blackboard. Print out only the new pages and bring 3 copies to class. (b) If you have not done so already, expand your conceptual framework to about 4 pages. (c) Print out and bring to class 3-4 pages (only) of your References

1. Bring questions for Kelly Jenks on the use of RefWorks

2. In-class editing chapter II and III

3. Further discussion on Conceptual Frameworks.

4. Discussion of the contents of Chapter III and implications for Chapter II.

Session 7: April 17, Friday 6 PM - 10 PM, Last class session. Potluck. Review of draft petitions for 730.

Assignments:(a) Petition for DPLS 730 including about 5 pages of Chapter I, a minimum of 10 pages of Chapter II (with outline of the rest of the chapter in the form of headers), a minimum of about 5 pages of Chapter III, Reference List. Post to Blackboard and bring 3 copies for the class. (b) Download the DRAFT petition of one of your classmates, indicated as a REPLY which one you have selected, use track changes to make suggestions and edits and repost to Blackboard. (c) Fill in and post to Blackboard the timeline on pages 80-81 of Blue Book. (d) Post a sentence or two on where you are relative to your contract for the course as a to your contract as a REPLY to your contract. (e) Download the Dissertation Rubric Information for Current Students > Dissertation Templates.

Class will be at my house. Pot Luck. 1249 S. Wall Street. South Hill. Home phone 456-2571. Best direction, south on Monroe to 14th. Turn left for one block. Turn left on Wall St. Very short block. House is gray with almond trim, hedges, and metal gates. Anyone needing transportation, please contact the instructor.

1. Peer editing of petitions.

2. Discussion of next steps.