Most universities offer comprehensive guidelines in their dissertation manuals concerning how to setup and organize the dissertation along with the proposal. Within the Social Sciences, most dissertations are organized into four or five chapters. However, there are many variations across the nature of people chapters, along with the details remain for the discretion within the Dissertation Committee. Within the Social Sciences, the dissertation proposal generally includes the first three chapters (within the five-chapter format) or possibly the first couple of chapters (within the four-chapter format).
Dissertation Outline
This is often a generic outline for almost any five-chapter dissertation. The Following chapter on methodology varies for almost any qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-method design. A four-chapter dissertation incorporates the literature review towards the first chapter.
Chapter 1: Introduction
- Introduction
- Status in the issue
- Statement within the Problem
- Cause of the research
- Research Questions
- Price of the research
- Idea of Terms
- Assumptions, Limitations, and Delimitations
- Conclusion
Chapter 2: Review of the Literature
- Introduction
- Search Description
- Conceptual or Theoretical Framework
- Review of Research (organized by variable or styles)
Chapter 3: Methodology (Qualitative)
- Introduction
- Research Design
- Research Questions
- Setting
- Participants
- Data Collection
- Data Analysis
- Conclusion
Chapter 3: Methodology (Quantitative)
Introduction
Research Design
Research Questions and ideas
Population and Sample
Instrumentation
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Conclusion
Chapter 3: Methodology (Mixed)
- Introduction
- Research Design
- Research Questions and ideas
- Setting and Sample
- Data Collection
- Data Analysis
- Conclusion
Chapter 4: Research Findings
- Introduction
- Findings (organized by Research Questions or Ideas)
- Conclusion
Chapter 5: Conclusions, Discussion, and recommendations for Future Research
- Introduction
- Summary of Findings
- Conclusions (organized by Research Questions or Ideas)
- Discussion
- Techniques for Future Research
- Conclusion