THE STRUCTURE OF A DISSERTATION OR THESIS
Dissertation / Thesis submitted by
FULL NAMES SURNAME
Student number: 2013……
to the
Department of Computer Science and Informatics
Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences
University of the Free State, South Africa
Submitted in full/partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
Magister Scientiae / Philosophiae Doctor
3 March 2014
Study Leader: Prof P.J. Blignaut
Co-Study Leader: Prof. T.R. Beelders
FOREWORD
The content and guidelines in this document are not the official guidelines of the University of the
Free State or the Department of Computer Science and Informatics. Neither are they prescriptive.
This has just been an attempt to answer some common questions that students ask. They encompass a
set of “best practice” guidelines that works for me. Other supervisors may, and are most welcome to,
differ on formatting aspects, language use, chapter content, etc.
Pieter Blignaut
March 2014
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ABSTRACT
This document serves as a guideline to master’s and PhD students to structure and format their
dissertations or theses. The contents of a research proposal as well as the typical contents of each
chapter of the dissertation or thesis are discussed. Guidelines with regard to document formatting and
good academic language are given. Guidelines are also given for doing a literature review. Basic
statistical principles and the way in which statistics must be reported, are discussed. The document is
concluded with some hints on rounding off the dissertation or thesis.
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OPSOMMING
Hierdie dokument dien as ’n riglyn aan meesters en PhD studente met betrekking tot die struktuur en
formaat van verhandelings of tesisse. Die inhoud van die navorsingsvoorstel asook die tipiese inhoud
van elke hoofstuk word bespreek. Riglyne met betrekking tot formattering en goeie akademiese
taalgebruik word gegee. Riglyne word ook aangebied vir ’n literatuuroorsig. Basiese statistiese
beginsels en die wyse waarop statistiek gerapporteer behoort te word, word bespreek. Die dokument
word afgesluit met ’n paar wenke omtrent die afronding van die verhandeling of tesis.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank the following for their contributions and support:
My wife, A, for her prayers and moral support
Prof B for his invaluable guidance
Mr C for assistance with the data capturing
Ms D for proofreading and editing of the final document
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. The Research Proposal
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Minimum content 1
1.2.1 Background 1
1.2.2 Problem statement 1
1.2.3 Research question / Focus 1
1.2.4 Additional aspects in the research 2
1.2.5 Hypotheses 2
1.2.6 Research methodology 2
1.2.7 Planned schedule 2
1.2.8 General 3
1.2.9 References 3
1.3 Chapter summary 3
2. Chapter Content and Organisation
2.1 Introduction 4
2.2 Initial material 4
2.3 Sequence of chapters 4
2.3.1 Abstract 4
2.3.2 Chapter 1: Introduction 5
2.3.3 Chapter 2: Theoretical foundation 5
2.3.4 Chapter 3: Research problem theory 5
2.3.5 Chapter 4: Research design and methodology 6
2.3.6 Chapter 5: Research results 6
2.3.7 Chapter 6: Conclusions and implications 7
2.3.8 References 7
2.3.9 Appendices 7
2.4 Be organised 8
2.4.1 Make regular backups 8
2.4.2 Saving and submission 8
2.4.3 Keep record of communication with your supervisor 8
2.5 Chapter summary 8
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3. General Formatting Guidelines
3.1 Introduction 9
3.2 Page numbering 9
3.3 Numbering and naming of chapters 9
3.4 Naming of sections 9
3.5 Numbering of sections 9
3.5.1 Second level headers 10
3.5.2 Stay focused 10
3.5.3 References to sections 10
3.6 Line spacing 10
3.7 Paragraph formatting 11
3.8 Bulleted lists 12
3.9 Font types and sizes 12
3.10 Margins 13
3.11 Formatting of figures 13
3.12 Formatting of tables 14
3.13 Cheating a bit 14
3.14 Reporting statistics 15
3.15 Referencing 15
3.16 Footnotes 17
3.17 Chapter summary 17
4. General Language Guidelines
4.1 Introduction 18
4.2 Grammar and spell checking 18
4.3 Tenses 17
4.4 General language issues 19
4.5 Writing style 19
4.5.1 An exercise 20
4.6 Ground your assertions 21
4.7 Chapter summary 21
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5. The Literature Review
5.1 Introduction 22
5.2 Basic guidelines 22
5.3 Where to search for literature 23
5.4 Organising your literature 23
5.5 How much is enough? 24
5.6 Chapter summary 24
6. Basic Statistics
6.1 Introduction 25
6.2 Descriptive statistics 25
6.2.1 Number of observations 25
6.2.2 Mean (Average) 26
6.2.3 Variance 26
6.2.4 Correlation 26
6.3 Inferential statistics 27
6.3.1 Hypothesis 27
6.3.2 Probabilities 28
6.3.3 Contingency tables and chi square (2) 28
6.3.4 Normality of data and parametric tests 30
6.3.5 Correlation 30
6.3.6 One-sample t-tests 31
6.3.7 Two-sample t-tests 31
6.3.8 One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) 33
6.3.9 Multi-way analysis of variance (MANOVA) 33
6.4 Regression 34
6.5 Analysis of questionnaires 35
6.6 Bibliography 35
6.7 Chapter summary 36
7. Adding the Finishing Touches
7.1 Evaluation of your work is an evaluation of you 37
7.2 Check the basics 37
7.3 Text editing 37
7.4 Chapter summary 38
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8. Conclusions
8.1 Introduction 39
8.2 Overview of the document 39
8.3 Final remarks 39
References 40
Appendices
Appendix A: Assessment of dissertations for master’s degrees 41
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3.1 Paragraph indents and spacing 10
Figure 3.2 Widow / orphan control 11
Figure 3.3 Layout of text around tables 13
Figure 3.4 Formatting of citations in text 15
Figure 4.1 Setting the default language 17
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1 Values per condition and group 13
Table 4.1 Examples of formal and informal language 19
Table 6.1 Pacman scores and percentage in BRS111 per person 25
Table 6.2 Observed frequencies 28
Table 6.3 Expected frequencies 28
Table 6.4 Students’ marks for two tests 30
Table 6.5 Pacman scores and percentages in BRS111 per person 33
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GLOSSARY
Dissertation A dissertation is a long formal piece of writing on a particular subject, especially for a
university degree. A dissertation is usually based on existing research work which
requires the student to add his/her own thoughts to it.
Thesis A thesis is based on a student’s own ideas and research that he or she writes as part of
a university degree, especially a higher degree such as a PhD. A thesis involves
conducting and reporting original research.
(Note that this is the case in Europe and most universities in South Africa follow the same standard.
In the US, it is the other way round: A thesis is on master’s level and a dissertation for PhD).
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CHAPTER 1
THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL
1.1 Introduction
Before attempting a research project you may be expected to hand in a research proposal. This will
enable the department to assess your research plan.
This chapter offers some guidelines on important aspects that should feature in the proposal. Please
use the framework suggested in section 1.2 below and add the information relevant to your proposal.
1.2 Minimum content
1.2.1 Background
Provide sufficient background information. The purpose here is to highlight the context in which the
research question/focus should be seen.
1.2.2 Problem statement
Within the topic that you address, there has to be a problem that you will be investigating. In the
problem statement you need to name and discuss the problem itself. As Hofstee (2004) puts it “What
exactly is the problem? Why is it a problem? What facets are there to it?”.
1.2.3 Research question / Focus
The research should focus on a clearly defined aspect. In other words it is not sufficient to only
indicate a general area of research. It is often possible to combine the problem statement and research
question. If you formulate your problem as a question, the answers must address the problem.
Please note that the mere development of a computer system will not necessarily be regarded as
research. Research entails the design of new techniques and/or the discovering of information that
were previously unknown.
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1.2.4 Additional aspects in the research
Although your research should have a single main focus, the research might produce outputs not
directly contributing to that focus, but nonetheless interesting and may add value to your project.
Please list these outputs and briefly discuss them.
1.2.5 Hypotheses
This section is essential to specify exactly what contributions you aim to make to the body of current
knowledge. A null hypothesis is stated in a negative way, for example “The … does not contribute to
….” or “This treatment has no effect”.
The concept of a null hypothesis is used differently in two approaches to statistical inference. In
the significance testing approach, a null hypothesis is potentially rejected or disproved on the basis of
data that is significant under its assumption, but never accepted or proved. In the hypothesis
testing approach, a null hypothesis is contrasted with an alternative hypothesis. There can be more
than one alternative hypothesis for a null hypothesis. Read about the different types of alternative
hypotheses.
1.2.6 Research Methodology
There are different methods to do research. For example,
empirical research could entail the statistical analysis of feedback (e.g. from users) and the
interpretation thereof,
the researcher might have to design a solution (e.g. a technique or a framework) to an existing
problem and evaluate the solution.
It is important to note that these methods are not necessarily mutually exclusive, i.e. a research project
could encompass several methods. Please describe the research methodology that you plan to follow.
1.2.7 Planned schedule
Give an outline of the schedule that you plan to follow. Try to be realistic. For example, a literature
study on its own could take several months. Use a Gantt chart to convey the idea that some tasks
could be executed in parallel.
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1.2.8 General
Please mention any other aspects that might be relevant to the assessment of your proposal.
1.2.9 References
List all literature (including URLs) that you have referred to in your proposal. Use the APA
referencing style. See later in this document for some guidelines in this regard.
1.3 Chapter summary
Some basic guidelines regarding the research proposal were given in this chapter. The next chapter
will focus on the chapter content and organisation of the actual dissertation or thesis.
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CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER CONTENT AND ORGANISATION
2.1 Introduction
In Europe and other countries, including South Africa, the research report for a master’s degree is
referred to as a dissertation while that of a PhD student is called a thesis.
This document is formatted in the same way as is expected for your dissertation or thesis. You can
save this document under another name and then copy your material into it to make numbering, etc.
easier. You might, however, find that the approach taken in this document is more informal. In a
formal academic document you don’t, for example write “don’t” and neither do you address the reader
directly.
This chapter will focus on the general content of the individual chapters.
2.2 Initial material
Your dissertation / thesis should start with a title page, preferably formatted as in this document. The
Abstract (in Afrikaans and English) and (optional) Acknowledgements should follow – each on a
separate page. The Table of Contents, List of Figures and List of Tables should each start on a new
page.
2.3 Sequence of Chapters
The following sequence is a guideline and can be adapted to your specific needs. It is largely taken
from Du Plessis (2005).
Every chapter should have an introduction and a summary or conclusion(s). The introduction should
follow up on what was discussed in the previous chapter and refer to what the reader can expect in the
chapter. The conclusion summarises the gist of the chapter and must link to the following chapter.
2.3.1 Abstract
The abstract is approximately 600 words or 1½ - 2 pages long. Although it appears at the beginning of
the document, it is written last. It should provide the reader with an overview of the entire dissertation
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or thesis. It should refer to the problem statement, motivation for the research, methodology, results
and conclusions. At the University of the Free State it is expected that the abstract is given in both
English and Afrikaans.
2.3.2 Chapter 1: Introduction
Introduction
Background
Problem statement
Hypotheses / propositions / objectives
Importance of the research
Methodology (Sources, population, sample, measuring instrument, data collection, data analysis)
Demarcation / Scope
Structure of the dissertation or thesis
Conclusion
(Taken from Du Plessis, 2005)
You should write Chapter 1 in its entirety when you embark on the road of a master’s or PhD but then
revisit it once you are done. The initial draft will provide you with a framework of what is to come,
but you will most probably find that some things do not work out as you envisaged. The proposal is
very similar to Chapter 1 and in most instances the proposal can serve as the first draft of Chapter 1. It
is then refined and updated as the study proceeds and finalised last.
2.3.3 Chapter 2: Theoretical foundation
This is a literature study to lay the basis of the subsequent investigations. The reader must be fully
conversant with the terminology and basic theory of the research area. The examiner must also be
convinced that you are up to date with the latest research and findings that are in any way related to
your research area.
You should preferably not use “Literature study” or “Theoretical foundation” as the title of the
chapter, but rather refer to the type of content such as “The Usability of Mobile Devices”. You may
have more than one chapter of theoretical foundation, each addressing a specific aspect of your
problem environment.
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2.3.4 Chapter 3: Research problem theory
This chapter provides the background of your research problem. Describe the environment in which
your study is embedded. Why did you undertake the study? Discuss the theoretical frameworks and
models on which your study will be based. You can also motivate the type of methodology you will
use based on your problem statement and research questions. The motivation is all theoretical – the
concrete methodology will be discussed in the following chapter.
2.3.5 Chapter 4: Experimental design and methodology
Specific details on your methodology must be given here. Some specific aspects include:
Justification for the methodology (if not given in the previous chapter)
Practical aspects such as population, method of data collection, measuring instrument,
operationalisation of variables, qualifying questions, research procedures, including method of
analysis, statistical techniques, etc.
Ethical considerations
Limitations
(Taken from Du Plessis, 2005)
If possible, do not use “Research design” or “Methodology” as title of the chapter but rather refer to a
general description of your methodology such as “Using … to …”.
2.3.6 Chapter 5: Research results
Description of the sample / respondents (indication of representativeness)
Analysis of data (supporting tables / figures / exhibits / diagrams, etc.). Use of statistical analysis
to interpret findings, validity and reliability of the data.
(Taken from Du Plessis, 2005)
You might want to separate the research results and the analysis and discussion thereof into a number
of coherent chapters. This will assist in guiding readers and lessening their burden to remember how
the study was constructed. It will also assist you in writing a sound, well rounded logic analysis of
each unit of the study.
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2.3.7 Chapter 6: Conclusions and implications
Conclusions on each hypothesis / research issue / proposition (based on the results in Chapter 5)
Conclusions on the research problem
Relation to theory
Implications and recommendations (to management, academia / scholars)
Limitations
Recommendations for future research
Final conclusions
(Taken from Du Plessis, 2005)
2.3.8 References
Follow the APA standard (APA, 2010) for references. See (APA, 2010) for a quick overview.
2.3.9 Appendices
Appendices can be any material that could enlighten the text but are not considered to be part of the
leading content of the text. Survey forms or questionnaires, lengthy tables of results, source code of
computer programs, etc. should be attached as appendices.
It is also common practice to attach any papers that were published as part of the research as
appendices. Since published papers were probably peer reviewed, they should convince an examiner
of the academic quality of the research.
In computer science, it often happens that a candidate, as part of the research, developed a tool to
capture data. Since the tool itself cannot be regarded as scientific research, screen shots and perhaps a
user manual can be attached as an appendix.
All material that appears inside an appendix can be referenced in the main body of the text.
Appendices should be listed in the order in which they are referenced in the text, with published
papers (which will not be referenced) listed last.
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2.4 Be organised
2.4.1 Make backups regularly
The importance of this speaks for itself. Regularly backup your work on a separate hard disk or
another computer. Better still, save on the cloud. Your laptop can be replaced when it breaks down or
is stolen, but not your time.
2.4.2 Saving and submission
While working on individual chapters, save every chapter as a separate document. Enter the name of
the chapter and the latest date of revision in the file name when you submit it to your supervisor for
feedback, for example “Chapter 2 (26 February 2014).docx”. Your supervisor will probably use track
changes and insert electronic comments. When you receive the document from your supervisor, do a
“Save as…” with a different date and work through all the comments and suggestions, accepting or
rejecting or commenting on comments. Do not simply ACCEPT ALL as you should view the
feedback as a learning process. Next time your supervisor gets a document from you, he/she will be
able to compare it with a previous version to see how you reacted on his/her comments.
2.4.3 Keep record of communication with your supervisor
You and your supervisor are human. You will forget what was decided at a previous meeting. Take
notes and/or record the conversation. Send an e-mail to your supervisor immediately after a meeting
with a brief summary to have a record of what was discussed and decided.
2.5 Chapter Summary
This chapter focused on the general content of the individual chapters. General formatting guidelines
will be discussed in Chapter 3.
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CHAPTER 3
GENERAL FORMATTING GUIDELINES
3.1 Introduction
The previous chapter focused on the general content of the individual chapters of a dissertation or
thesis. This chapter will address some general formatting guidelines such as page numbering, line
spacing, font sizes, numbering and layout of figures and tables, etc.
3.2 Page numbering
Number pages in the centre of the bottom margin. The title page should not be numbered. The pages
of the initial material (all material after the title page prior to the first chapter) should be numbered
with Roman numerals. Use section breaks to start numbering the initial material from i and the
chapters from 1.
3.3 Numbering and naming of chapters
Each chapter should have a number and a title as above. Centre the chapter number and title across
the page. Use all capitals or initial capital with small caps. Use a larger font than for the rest of the
text. Start every chapter on a new page.
References to chapters from within the text should be with capitals, e.g. “The general content of
individual chapters was discussed in Chapter 1.”
3.4 Naming of sections
You can decide if you want to use title case or not. Whatever you do, be consistent. For title case, all
verbs, nouns, adverbs and adjectives are written with a capital letter. Prepositions and conjunctions
are written in lower case.
3.5 Numbering of sections
Sections should be numbered starting with the number of the chapter. Set a tab at 1 cm for the
beginning of the section title. First level headers should be boldfaced. All headers should be preceded
and followed by an empty line.
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3.5.1 Second level headers
Second level headers should be numbered as in this document, for example 2.4.1. Set a tab at 1.25 cm
to start the title of a second level header. Second level headers can be italicised. You should
preferably not have more than two levels.
3.5.2 Stay focused
You should always keep the reader informed about the topic of the current page. A section should
preferably not be longer than one page but definitely not longer than two pages. Any section that runs
over more than two pages should be broken up into separate sections – each with a specific and topical
section header. This will also force you to focus while writing.
3.5.3 References to sections
References to sections from within the text should be done with capitals, e.g. “See Section 2.4.2
for ..”.
3.6 Line spacing
Use 1.5 spacing throughout. You should not have any automatic spaces before or after paragraphs.
See Figure 3.1 for the correct settings in MS Word.
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Figure 3.1 Paragraph indents and spacing bla bla _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ bla
bla bla _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ bla bla _ _.
3.7 Paragraph formatting
Paragraphs should be justified without any indents. Leave an empty line between paragraphs (press
Enter twice to start a new paragraph). You should not justify the References section.
Never use Enter to start a specific section or paragraph on a new page! Use Ctrl-Enter (page break)
instead.
Make sure that you do not have widow or orphan paragraphs (Figure 3.2). In other words, you should
never have a single line at the bottom or top of a page. It is also totally unacceptable to have a figure
or table on one page and its caption or part thereof on another. Also avoid having a section header on
the bottom of one page with its content starting on the next page.
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Figure 3.2 Widow/Orphan control
3.8 Bulleted lists
The line spacing of bulleted lists is also 1.5 lines. The list must be preceded by and followed with a
blank line. The bullets are left aligned with normal paragraphs but multi-line items are indented as
indicated in the list below. A bulleted list should preferably start and end on the same page. If it is not
possible, the list must have more than one item on the bottom or top of a page.
Item 1
Item 2 … bla bla _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ bla bla _
_ _
Item 3
3.9 Font types and sizes
Normal text: Times New Roman 11 pt or 12 pt
Figure and Table headers: Times New Roman 11 pt or 12 pt, Italics
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Chapter headers: Times New Roman 14 pt, Bold
Text in tables: Arial 10 pt. You can use smaller fonts in tables if you struggle to fit all text.
References to menu items within the text: Arial Narrow, 10 pt, Bold, for example “Press F1 to
obtain help.”
Code fragments: Consolas 10 pt (Consolas is a non-proportional spaced font that looks like Arial.)
3.10 Margins
Set margins to be 2.5 cm from all edges.
3.11 Formatting of figures
Please note the following general guidelines regarding the formatting of figures and captions:
Figures should be preceded by one open line after the preceding text.
Figures should be placed as near as possible to the first reference thereof.
Figures should be centred across the page. Ensure that there are no tabs or indents in the line of the
figure. In other words, the figure must visually appear in the centre of the line.
Layout of figures: Right-click on figure, select Wrap Text / In Line with Text. See Figure 3.3.
Figure captions should be numbered on two levels: Chapter number followed by figure number
within the chapter. For example, the fourth figure in Chapter 3 will be numbered as Figure 3.4.
Write out the word “Figure” followed by the number, followed by two spaces, followed by the
caption of the figure.
If the figure number and caption fits in one line, centre the figure number and caption below the
figure. If the figure number and caption run over more than one line, left-align (not centred) the
figure number and caption with a 1.5 cm tab from the left and a right-indent of 1.5 cm. The second
line of the caption should be indented to be left aligned with the start of the caption (not with the
word “Figure”). See Figure 3.1 above for an example.
The figure number and caption must be in Italics.
Add an extra line below the figure before you start with the text again.
All figures must be referenced at least once in the text. Use a capital “F”, for example “See Figure
2.1 for an example of …”.
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Figure 3.3 Layout of text around figures
3.12 Formatting of tables
Tables and table captions are formatted very similar to figures with the difference that table captions
are aligned to the left edge of the table and placed above the table. The table caption should convey a
brief explanation of the contents of the table. Use single line spacing for table content (not 1.5 as for
normal paragraph text). The entire table should be centred across the page and column headers must
be centred within a column. Row and column headers may be boldfaced. You may use a smaller font
and even revert to Arial Narrow if there are too many columns to fit the page width. Numerical
values are aligned with respect to the decimal point. See the example in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1 Values per condition and groupGroup A Group B Group C Group D
Condition A 0.34 0.56 1.3 0.78Condition B 1.2 1.7 1.5 1.91Condition C 0.068 0.005 0.26 0.45
3.13 Cheating a bit
It is sometimes difficult to fit text, figures or bulleted lists on a page while abiding by all the above
rules. If you have, for example, an orphan line at the top of a page, you may change the line spacing
of a paragraph to 1.4 instead of 1.5. This will not be visible to the naked eye but will enable you to fit
a paragraph on a page that would not fit otherwise.
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Of course, you should postpone this until you are sure that you are done with the contents of a chapter.
If you do it prematurely, you will find that all your hard work in spacing the content may be undone
when you edit a paragraph somewhere in a chapter.
3.14 Reporting statistics
Consider the following example conclusions:
There is a significant difference ( = .01) in skill level between male and female players of
Pacman (²=10.04, df=2).
Test 2 is significantly (=.01) more difficult than test 1 (t=3.45, df=6).
Home language is a significant contributor (=.05) to the number of errors made
(FLanguage(3,104)=9.8, p<.001) but gender not (FGender(1,104)=0.83, p=.36). The interaction
between gender and home language is significant (F(3,104)=7.23, p<.001).
Note the following:
Use italics for p, t, F, df, etc.
Do not precede with 0 if the value cannot be larger than 1 or less than -1. In other words =.05
and not =0.05.
It is not necessary to report p. Rather report the appropriate statistic, e.g. F or t along with .
The word “significantly” must always be associated with a value for .
Note the way in which the degrees of freedom is communicated.
See Chapter 6 for more examples of how statistics should be reported.
3.15 Referencing
Follow the APA standard for citations (APA, 2010).
3.15.1 Citing references in text
In the text we refer to the author’s surname followed by the date of publication.
NB: Please study slides 13-25 in APA (2014) in detail.
Please do not use the facility from MS Word to insert references. It is extremely difficult to
get it formatted correctly. Since the APA format differs for references with one, two, three to
five, and six or more authors (see slide 15 of APA (2014)), it is much easier to do it manually.
15
You may use a third-party tool, such as Zotero, to insert references if you are sure that the format
complies with that of the APA.
See the examples below. Also see Allison and Race (2004), (Chapter 20), Cornell University Library
(n.d.) and Purdue University (n.d.).
As mentioned by Duchowski (2007), saccades range in duration from 10 ms to 100 ms.
Saccades range in duration from 10 ms to 100 ms (Duchowski, 2007).
- Note the position of the period after the citation.
According to Duchowski (2007:57) the “Purkinje image is relatively stable whereas the eyeball,
and hence the pupil, rotates in its orbit”.
- Use quotation marks and indicate the exact page number when quoting directly from a source.
According to Holmqvist et al. (2011) still images are the most prevalent of stimulus type for eye
tracking studies.
- Use et al. (not in italics) to refer to a source with 6 or more authors. See Figure 3.4 for
variances depending on the number of authors.
- Note the position of the period in “et al.”.
Figure 3.4 Formatting of citations in text (Taken directly from APA (2014))
3.15.2 List of references
Eventually, references are listed at the end of the thesis or dissertation, but it might be convenient to
have a References section at the end of every chapter while you are still writing. When you are done
with a chapter and your supervisor has approved it, you can move the references to the References
16
section at the end of the thesis or dissertation. Look at the References section at the end of this
document for examples of proper formatting of the references. Only works you have cited should
appear in the reference list.
It is standard practice to use title case for the titles of articles/books/papers in the list of
references. Make sure that you are consistent even if the original reference does not use title
case.
Remove the hyperlink facility of MS Word so that the URLS are not displayed as blue underlines
text.
Please don’t justify the list of entries. This often causes awkward-looking long spaces as in
Turner, S. (2001). Livelihoods in Lesotho.
http://sarpn.octoplus.co.za/documents/d0000204/P211_Livelihoods_Lesoto_April%2001.pdf Last
accessed 12 February 2014.
3.15.3 References to websites
Citing content from websites is problematic.
First priority is to find an author as in Blain (2014).
If you can’t find author, cite the organisation as in Purdue University (n.d.) or Cornell University
(2014).
If you can’t find an organisation you can use the first few words of the title as a last resort, as for
example in APA (n.d.).
Although mentioned as an option (http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/cite-website.aspx, 8 March
2014), we prefer that you do not cite the entire website in the text.
3.16 Footnotes
Try to avoid footnotes1. When used, they must be numbered sequentially in Arabic numbers on the
page on which they appear. Footnotes are printed in a smaller font than the normal text. Three line
spaces should be left between the bottom line of the text and the first line of footnotes.
3.17 Chapter summary
This chapter focused on general formatting principles. The next chapter will discuss a number of
language aspects and the writing style in a formal academic document.
1 This is a footnote.
17
CHAPTER 4
GENERAL LANGUAGE GUIDELINES
4.1 Introduction
The previous chapter focused on some general formatting guidelines such as page numbers, line
spacing, font sizes, numbering and layout of figures and tables, etc. This chapter will discuss a few
language aspects and the writing style in a formal academic document.
4.2 Grammar and spell checking
It is very important to set your document to UK or South African English and use the spelling and
grammar checkers. I found that the easiest way to set the language is to press Shift-F1, then Ctrl-A, then
click on Language in the Formatting window on the right of the screen. See Figure 4.1 for an example
of the dialog that will then appear.
Figure 4.1 Setting the default language
18
4.3 Tenses
Reference to discussions in the thesis: Present tense or future tense when it comes after the
current section/chapter. Past tense when it was before the current section/chapter.
Reference to experiments that was done, e.g. surveys or eye tracking sessions with participants:
Always past tense.
Reference to generally applicable facts that always hold: Present tense.
You may, therefore even have two tenses in the same sentence.
Examples:
- In Chapter 3: “The questionnaire that learners had to complete is available in Appendix A.”
- In Chapter 2: “The protocol that was followed during the eye tracking assessments, will be
discussed in Chapter 4.”
- In Chapter 6: “The protocol that was followed during the eye tracking assessments, was
discussed in Chapter 4.”
4.4 General language issues
Know the difference between nouns and verbs with similar pronunciation, e.g. practice and
practise.
Note that South African and British English prefer “-ise” for verbs instead of “-ize”, e.g. organise,
customise, socialise, etc. Since the z is also acceptable in UK and SA English, the spell checker
will not underline instances where the z is used. Please take note of the issue and concentrate –
don’t rely on the spell checker.
Other words that occur regularly are “centre” (not “center”) and colour (not “color”).
Use the South African date format, e.g. 12 February 2014 or 12/02/2014 or 2014/02/12. Note that
02/12/2014 or February 12, 2014 is the American format and should not be used.
Use a 24-hour time format with a : between the hour and minutes, e.g. 15:00 and not 15h00 or 3
pm.
When working with currency, use a decimal point (not comma) with a comma or space as
thousand separator, R 1,230.50 or R 1 230.50 and not R 1 230,50.
Whatever you do, be consistent. If you decide to write “eye tracking” (two words) then stick to
it.
Numbers are followed by a space before the unit, for example 10 cm and not 10cm. The only
exceptions are the percentage sign, for example 10% and currency indicators, for example (45c).
19
Numbers less than twenty, round numbers and numbers at the beginning of sentences are written
out in full. See Allison & Race (2004), p75, for examples.
See Allison & Race (2004), p74, for a list of common abbreviations.
The following words are commonly used incorrectly:
- “regards” means “convey my greetings to”. Use “with regard to” (no “s”) or “regarding”.
4.5 Writing style
Most of the examples in this section are credited to Monash (2014).
Write in the third person. In other words avoid words such as “I”, “we”, “us”, “my”.
Do not address the reader as “you”.
Wrong: “You can find support for this proposition in several studies.”
Rather use: “Support for this proposition can be found in several studies.”
Phrases such as “In my opinion …” or “I found that …” is taboo. Instead, use the passive voice,
for example “It was found that …”
Avoid informal language.
Wrong: “Lots of people said that …”
Rather say: “The majority of respondents asserted that …”.
Limit the use of direct questions.
Avoid: “What are the indications of a robust trading strategy?”
Rather: “The indications of a robust trading strategy are …”
Or: “It is important/useful to consider what the indications of a robust trading strategy are.”
Don’t () use “don’t” or “won’t” or “wouldn’t”. Write out “do not”, would not”.
Limit the use of “and so forth”, “etc.”. etc., but rather add a phrase such as “and other techniques”
as in the example below:
Wrong: “Analysis involves using summaries, coding, etc. to select, focus and simplify data.”
Rather write “Analysis involves using summaries, coding and other techniques to select, focus
and simplify data.”
Table 4.1 Examples of informal and formal language
Informal Formallook into investigatework out determine, calculatecome up with Develop / proposemake up constituteget rid of eliminateshockingly very, extremelyheavyweights leading specialistsdon’t, wouldn’t do not, would notnot … any no
20
The subjects didn’t experience anynegative effects from the procedure.
The subjects experienced no side effects as a result of the procedure.
not … much“There hasn’t been much researchon this topic.”
little“There has been little researchon this topic.”
not … many“This line of research has notproduced much results.”
few“This line of research has produced limited results.”
done conduct / conducted
4.5.1 An exercise
Comment on the structures in the following paragraph and rewrite it in formal academic language:
“Take a sales person who is really churning out the sales. They have surpassed their all-time best
results, and are riding the wave of success. Watch them operate. They don't stop to fool around.
They grab that phone and make one more call. Everything they touch turns to success. They can't
seem to do a thing wrong.”
“Take” and “Watch” address the reader directly, as though giving instructions.
“really” and “all-time” are often used in informal spoken language making another words sound
stronger (“really churning out”, “all-time best”).
“don’t” contractions are used in informal writing.
“churning out”, “fool around” and “grab” are slang expressions.
“riding the wave”, “Everything they touch turns to success” and “They can’t seem to do a thing
wrong” are idiomatic expressions.
Now, have a look at the following version:
“When observing the behaviour of staff who achieves a high volume of sales, it is clear that they do not
waste time, but seize every opportunity to make contact with potential customers. All their efforts seem to
be rewarded with success.”
4.6 Ground your assertions
Every assertion is based on one of three grounds:
It is common sense. It is assumed that even a reader who is ignorant about your research area
knows it.
Someone else said so and you have a credible scientific reference for it.
21
It flows from your results or argumentation.
4.7 Chapter summary
This chapter highlighted some general language guidelines. The next chapter will discuss a few
guidelines with regard to writing a sound literature study.
22
CHAPTER 5
THE LITERATURE REVIEW
5.1 Introduction
The previous chapter focused on some general language guidelines. This chapter will guide you
towards a sound literature study.
“A good literature review is comprehensive, critical and contextualised.” (Hofstee, 2006:91). The art
of writing lies in the ability to say as much as possible in as few words as possible. In other words,
while being comprehensive, it is important to write as compact as possible.
5.2 Basic guidelines
Focus, focus, focus . Do not write long sections addressing several topics without sub-headings.
Use sub-headers whenever you address a new topic.
Sections should appear in a coherent order. The first section of a chapter should be broad to lay
the foundation of what is to follow. Later sections can be narrowed to what is of particular
relevance to the study.
The same applies to content with a section. Every section or sub-section should start broad,
giving some background on what is to follow and then narrow down to the details.
Always apply the content to your study. Whatever you say has to be relevant to what you are
doing. Every section or sub-section should be concluded with “In this study …” (or something
similar).
Integrate the references to a specific topic. The biggest mistake that you can make is to take a
single reference and discuss it in detail, then take the next one, etc. Stay on a topic and discuss
the views of all your references on that topic. A golden rule is that you should have at least five
references on every topic that you discuss. Critically compare the references and tell the reader
which ones are most relevant to your study and, importantly, why you say so.
23
We want to hear your own voice. Discuss. Compare. Evaluate.
5.3 Where to search for literature
www.academia.edu
ACM Digital Library. dl.acm .org . Ask for a user name and password to log in.
www.freefullpdf.com
scholar.google.com
Scopus. http://library.ufs.ac.za/.
Follow the links: Electronic resources, Databases, Off/On campus users, Log in (not required if
you are on campus), Scopus, Off/On campus.
Tips:
Try all combinations of compound principles, e.g. “eye-tracking”, “eye tracking”.
Enter the words “full text”
Enter the authors followed by the title or part thereof in quotes, for example
If you have a reference, but cannot find the full text from one of the links above, search for the
authors – you might find the full text on their personal websites.
If you still did not find the full text, send an e-mail to the author to request the full text. Authors
normally appreciate it if somebody approaches them in this regard.
5.4 Organising your literature
No one can remember everything that he/she is supposed to read for a thesis or dissertation. You can
dedicate two months to find and read literature only to discover thereafter that you do not have
anything to write.
Some tips:
Write down a summary of every article while (not afterward) you are reading it. Short, cursory,
sentences. This is never to appear in this format in your final document, but spell correctly or you
will have difficulty afterwards finding the material with Ctrl-F.
Enter the full reference (for easy copy and paste later) with the summary.
In a separate document, copy, paste and reorganise all the material under specific topics. You are
now starting to integrate the material.
You are a computer person – you are organised and you like structure, but moreover: you know
SQL. I found that it works well to keep a database in Access or a similar DBMS. Create a table
24
“Holmqvist” and “An adaptive algorithm” and “full text”
with fields for authors, keywords, the full reference and a summary (memo). As you read, enter
the data in your database. (By the way, I prefer not to use Excel as it is difficult to manage long
summaries.)
When you start writing your actual literature review, use Ctrl-F or an SQL query to find the
relevant material. Copy and paste this material to the appropriate place.
5.5 How much is enough?
The literature review should be about one third of your entire thesis or dissertation. In other words, for
a master’s dissertation of 150 pages, it should be about 50 pages. For a PhD thesis of 250 pages, it
should be about 80 pages. For a master’s it may be slightly more than one third. For a PhD it may be
less than one third since the bulk of your thesis must contribute to new knowledge.
The literature study is not limited to one or more dedicated chapters. There will also be a short
literature review in the first chapter and again in the very last one. References to literature may also be
interspersed throughout the thesis or dissertation where applicable, for example, in motivating a
specific aspect of your methodology.
5.6 Chapter summary
This chapter provided some guidance towards writing a good literature review. Of course, there are
many more aspects that could be addressed and you are welcome to share other tips that you found
useful. The next chapter will focus on basic statistical principles and how to communicate statistics in
your dissertation or thesis.
25
CHAPTER 6
BASIC STATISTICS
6.1 Introduction
There are two approaches to research: qualitative and quantitative. For quantitative studies we do
experiments, obtain results and compare scenarios. Without a proper knowledge and understanding of
statistics, you will not be able to read quantitative scientific papers or analyse and report your own
results.
This chapter is, of course, not an attempt to be a complete statistical reference. We only focus on
those tests that are used most often during quantitative research.
A trained statistician knows the formulas for each test. He will also know how to deduct the formulas.
We, as users of statistics, are not interested in the formulas or where they come from. For our purpose
it is necessary only to know when to implement which test and how to interpret the results.
When using statistics in research, it is common practice to report the raw data (or just a representative
extract thereof), the final statistical results and the interpretations thereof. We never show the details
of the calculation. Therefore, we may use tools to do the calculations, e.g. Statistica, XLSTAT, SAS,
or others. You can even get quite far with the basic statistical functions that are available in Excel and
the Data Analysis Add-In of Excel. (To activate: Click on Tools/Add-Ins, select Analysis ToolPak,
press OK).
6.2 Descriptive statistics
Descriptive statistics are used to describe a sample or population. Be careful when comparing two
samples/populations based on descriptive statistics only.
6.2.1 Number of observations
N = size of population
n = size of sample
26
6.2.2 Mean (Average)
Mean of population:μx=
∑ j=1
NX j
N
Mean of sample:X̄=
∑ j=1
nX j
n
6.2.3 Variance
Measure of distribution around the mean.
Variance in population: ² =
∑ j=1
N( X j−μ)2
N
Variance in sample: s² =
∑ j=1
n( X j− X̄ )2
n
Std. dev. of population: σ=√σ2
Std. dev. of sample: s=√s2
6.2.4 Correlation (Pearson’s correlation coefficient)
For the population:
For a sample: r
1: Two variables in a population correlate perfectly
0: No correlation
-1: Perfect negative correlation
Example: Determine the correlation between the scores that a group of users can obtain with Pacman
and their performances in a computer literacy course (Table 6.1):
Table 6.1 Pacman scores and percentage in BRS111 per person
A B C1 User Score in
Pacman% in
BRS1112 Koos 40 303 Jan 50 404 Gert 60 555 Sannie 70 656 Sarel 80 607 Average 60 50
St.dev. 15.8 14.6r 0.922
27
The correlation above has been calculated with the Excel function:
r = PEARSON(B2:B6, C2:C6) (The shaded regions)
The correlation gives an indication of the degree of correspondence between the two sets of data. The
correlation itself is not particularly meaningful. All that we can deduct is that there is a positive
correlation, but whether this is accidental or meaningful cannot be determined without inferential
statistics (see below).
6.3 Inferential statistics
Because it is often impractical to describe populations, we have to use representative samples of the
populations.
Consider the following problem statement: Determine if males are better than females in playing
Pacman.
Of course it is impossible to test all males and all females and get the average scores of the two
populations. Therefore, we select a representative sample of males (M) and females (F) and get the
average scores of the samples. It is, however, not necessarily true that males are on average better
than females if M̄ >F̄ . It could be true for the specific selected samples only and for two other
samples we could haveM̄ <F̄ .
Inferential statistics are used to compare some variable of a population with some constant or to
compare two or more populations with each other based on a sample of each and make a conclusion
with a certain amount of certainty.
6.3.1 Hypothesis
The purpose of hypothesis testing is to try to reject a null-hypothesis. Although possible, you should
avoid trying to prove that a hypothesis holds.
A null-hypothesis can be formulated to express equality of the population mean of some variable with
some constant, e.g.
28
H0: = 50 (e.g. the mean score of males in Pacman is 50.)
An alternative hypothesis is anything else, e.g.
H1: < 50
H2: > 50
Above-mentioned is a two-tailed test. A one-tailed test would be
H0: 50 (e.g. the mean score of males in Pacman is 50 or more.)
H1: < 50
When comparing two populations, the null-hypothesis relates to the mean score of each population,
e.g.
There is no difference between the mean scores of males and females when playing Pacman (two-
tailed, i.e. alternatively males are better than females or females are better than males), or
Males are at least as good as females (one-tailed)
A null hypothesis is always stated as a hypothesis of no difference.
6.3.2 Probabilities
It is possible to wrongly reject a hypothesis (type I error). You can also fail to reject a hypothesis
which should have been rejected (type II error). Statistics helps us to determine the probability of
making an error. If this probability is less than .05, we say that we are 95% sure of our conclusion.
We refer to this as a level of significance (). Another common level of significance is = .01.
6.3.3 Contingency tables and chi-square (²)
Contingency tables are used when we do not have a mean score of samples to compare or the series of
mean scores is not normal (see normality later). Instead, we have the number of observations in each
of a few categories of data.
Let’s say that we have three categories of Pacman skills: Novice (score < 50), Intermediate (50
score < 100) and Expert (score 100).
Null-hypothesis: There is no difference in skill level between male and female players of Pacman.
29
Instead of using the scores itself, we place the number of observations in each category in a
contingency table (Table 6.2):
Table 6.2 Observed frequencies
A B C D E1 Novice Intermediate Expert2 Males 40 50 30 1203 Female 60 30 40 1304 100 80 70 250
A table of expected frequencies (Table 6.3) can be produced by multiplying row and column totals for
each cell and dividing the answer by the total number of observations:
Table 6.3 Expected frequencies
A B C D11 Novice Intermediate Expert12 Males 100120/250=48 80120/250=38.4 70120/250=33.613 Female 100130/250=52 80130/250=41.6 70130/250=36.4
The Excel function CHITEST can calculate the probability of wrongly rejecting the null-hypothesis:
p = CHITEST(B2:D3, B12:D13) (Shaded regions)
= .007
For statistical completeness, the ² statistic must be reported as well:
² = CHIINV(p, df) (df = degrees of freedom = (rows-1) (columns-1) )
= CHIINV(0.007,2)
= 10.04
Because p is less than the threshold value of .05, we can reject the hypothesis with a 95% certainty.
The correct way of communicating the results and conclusion would be as follows: There is a
significant difference ( = .01) in skill level between male and female players of Pacman (²=10.04,
df=2).
Note the mentioning of the level of significance () and not the exact value of p. Note also that we
can at most conclude that there is a difference between males and females and not that males are better
or worse than females.
30
Note: There is an important prerequisite before you may use a chi-square test: None of the individual
frequencies in the table of observed frequencies may be less than 5.
6.3.4 Normality of data and parametric tests
Many of the useful tests in inferential statistics are dependent on the fact that the data should be
normally distributed. In Excel, you may use the Data analysis Add-in of Histogram to have a quick
view of your data. It is usually easy to see if the data is definitely not normal. In order to be sure that
you may use parametric tests, it is a good idea to test for normality before you start. Unfortunately,
there are no normality tests in Excel.
If the data is not normal, we have two options:
Apply a non-parametrical test
Transform the data into a normal format beforehand.
Warning: Data sets containing a time variable are often not normal and one should be wary to apply
parametric tests on time variables.
Consider, for example, the following experiment: Ask a number of computer users to execute a
specific task with a specific computer program. Measure the time it takes to complete the task in
seconds and calculate the average time for all users. Then change the user interface and repeat the
experiment. Use statistics to determine if interface B allows users to be more productive than
interface A.
This experiment is subjective to invalid results if the data is not handled with care. You should
transform the results to 1/t and test for normality before commencing the analysis.
6.3.5 Correlation
For the example in 4.2.4 above we could postulate the following null-hypothesis:
There is no correlation between the score that a person obtains with Pacman and his/her
performance in a computer literacy course.
In order to determine whether the observed correlation is significant, we first have to calculate the t-
statistic:
31
t=r×√n−2
√1−r2
=0. 922×√5−2
√1−0. 9222
=4 . 123From this we can use the Excel function TDIST to calculate the probability of wrongly rejecting the
null-hypothesis:
p = TDIST(t, n-2, tails)
= TDIST(4.123,3,2)
= .026
Since p is less than =.05, we can reject the null-hypothesis with 95% accuracy. In other words, we
conclude that the observed correlation is significant (=.05). That means that we are 95% sure that
there is indeed a correlation between the score that a person get for Pacman and his performance in
BRS111.
6.3.6 One-sample t-tests
One-sample t-tests are used in cases where the null-hypothesis expresses equality of the population
mean of some variable with some constant, e.g.
H0: 50 (e.g. the mean score of males in Pacman is 50 or more.)
H1: < 50
See Berenson & Levene (1996, p 425) for details.
6.3.7 Two-sample t-tests
The Student’s t-test can be used to determine if the means of two samples differ significantly.
Consider the marks that a group of students got for two tests:
Table 6.4 Students’ marks for two tests
A B C1 Student Test 1 Test 22 John 34 233 Michael 56 504 Joseph 60 555 Sarah 88 75
32
6 Mary 76 787 Julian 54 468 Peter 65 619 Average 61.9 55.4
10 Std. dev. 17.2 18.7
The question is whether it is justified to say that the second test was more difficult than the first one.
A look at the average indicates that it might be the case, but who says it was not accidental? Mary got
more for the second test!
A rule of thumb (not for formal use!): The difference in means is significant if the standard
deviation is larger than the difference in means.
Null-hypothesis: Test 2 is not more difficult than test 1.
The paired t-test is used in cases where we have two sets of values that are paired for the same
members of the population. We use it, for example, to determine if experience with a computer
program makes a significant difference in efficiency. That is, measure the performance of users prior
to experience and then test the same users again after they have gained more experience.
Another way to determine if experience makes a difference is to test an experienced and an
inexperienced group of users. Then apply the standard (unpaired) t-test for two samples (assuming
equal variances).
Use the Excel function to calculate the probability of wrongly rejecting the hypothesis:
p = TTEST(Range 1, Range 2, Tails, Type)
= TTEST(B2:B8, C2:C8, 1, 1) (Tails = 1 because of the directional implication in the
null-hypothesis; Type = 1 for paired test, 2 for unpaired
test)
= .0068
Use the Excel function to calculate the t-statistic:
t = TINV((2-tails)*p, df) (df = n – 1)
= TINV(2*0.00681, 6)
= 3.45
33
A correct formulation of the conclusion would be: The null-hypothesis can be rejected. Thus, test 2 is
significantly (=.01) more difficult than test 1 (t=3.45, df=6).
The Data Analysis tool, t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means, can also be used.
6.3.8 One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)
One-way ANOVA is exactly the same as an unpaired t-test with the difference that it makes provision
for more than two groups. That is, when using one-way ANOVA with two groups you should get the
same results as with an unpaired t-test.
Consider an experiment to test the number of errors made by users of different home languages:
Afrikaans, English, Sesotho/Tswana, Xhosa/Zulu.
Null-hypothesis: Home language does not have an influence on the number of errors made.
The Data Analysis tool, Anova: Single Factor, can be used to analyse the data (see Statistics.xls,
sheet Anova (Excel)). An F value is calculated that is similar to the t value in a t-test. The p value
of .0014 is less than the .05 threshold and therefore we can reject the null-hypothesis. We can
conclude that language is a significant factor (=.05) of errors made (F(3,77)=5.71).
Note the way in which the degrees of freedom is communicated.
Note that we cannot make any conclusion regarding which one or more than one of the languages
is responsible for the effect, although the averages can give an indication. For a more detailed
analysis, we need a post-hoc test (which Excel cannot do).
Tukey’s test for the honestly significant difference (HSD) returns probability values for each possible
combination of group means. For example, consider the null-hypothesis: There is no difference in the
number of errors between Sotho-speaking and Afrikaans speaking users. The p value of .118 indicates
that we have no justification to reject the null-hypothesis on the .05 level of significance.
6.3.9 Multi-way analysis of variance (MANOVA)
Multi-way ANOVA makes provision for more than one factor, each having two or more groups of
independent variables.
Consider an experiment to test the number of errors made by users of different genders (Male, Female)
and home languages (Afrikaans, English, Sesotho/Tswana, Xhosa/Zulu).
Null-hypotheses:
34
H0,1: Gender has no effect on the number of errors made
H0,2: Home language has no effect on the number or errors made.
H0,12: The interaction between gender and home language has no effect on the number of errors
made.
The Data Analysis tool, Anova: Two-Factor WITH Replication, can be used to analyse the data (see
Statistics.xls, sheet Manova (Excel)). A series of three F values and corresponding p values are
calculated, one for each factor and for the overall effect. From these we can conclude that we may not
reject the first null-hypothesis above (FGender(1,104)=0.83, p=.36) but we may reject the second null-
hypothesis (FLanguage(3,104)=9.8, p<.001). In other words, home language is a significant contributor
(=.05) to the number of errors made but not gender. The combined contribution of gender and home
language is also significant (F(3,104)=7.23, p<.001).
Note that we can once again not make any conclusions regarding which one or more than one of
the languages are responsible for the effect although the averages can give an indication. For a
more detailed analysis, we need a post-hoc test.
Once again, XLSTAT provides much more detailed results (see Statistics.xls, sheet Manova
(XLSTAT)). The graphs of the interaction between the factors are especially valuable. Also, the
post-hoc tests provide detailed feedback about which of the individual differences between the group
means are significant.
6.4 Regression
Regression analysis is used primarily for the purpose of prediction. The goal is to be able to predict
the values of a dependent variable based upon the values of at least one independent variable.
Consider again the example of 4.2.4: We want to be able to predict a student’s outcome in BRS111
based on his skill level in Pacman.
Table 6.5 Pacman scores and percentages in BRS111 per person
A B C1 User Score in
Pacman% in
BRS1112 Koos 40 303 Jan 50 404 Gert 60 555 Sannie 70 656 Sarel 80 607 Average 60 50
St.dev. 15.8 14.6r 0.922
35
The easiest way to do it is to draw an X-Y scatter plot of the data in Excel and then add a trend line.
Select the most appropriate type of trend line and check the options to display the equation and R2 on
the chart. R2 gives us an indication of the goodness of fit – the higher R2 the better the fit. Normally a
value of .8 and higher is acceptable.
The Data Analysis add-in has regression tools, but for two-dimensional regression (only one
independent variable) it does not do anything that cannot be done by adding a trend line with Excel. It
is invaluable, however, when we have more than one independent variable.
Categorical independent variable
If the independent variables are not continuous but categorical, e.g. gender, home language, etc. we
need to do the regression with dummy variables. (You can read about that when you need it.)
6.5 Analysis of questionnaires
The following tests are appropriate when analysing questionnaires. Google for details if necessary.
Cronbach Alpha
Factor analysis
Correspondence analysis
6.6 Bibliography
The following sources may be useful for further reference:
Abran, A., Suryn, W., Khelifi, A., Rilling, J., Ahmed, Seffah, A. Consolidating the ISO Usability
Models.
Berenson, M.L. & Levine, D.M. Basic Business Statistics: Concepts and Applications. Prentice
Hall, 6th edition, 1996.
Olivier, M.S. Information Technology Research: A practical guide for Computer Science and
Informatics. Van Schaik, 2nd edition, 2004.
Ott, L. & Hildebrand, D.K. Statistical Thinking for Managers. Duxbury Press, Boston, 1983.
Runyan, R.P. & Haber, A. Fundamentals of Behavioural Statistics. Addison-Wesley, 3rd edition,
1976.
http://www.wadsworth.com/psychology_d/templates/student_resources/workshops/
stat_workshp/chose_stat/chose_stat_04.html
http://phoenix.phys.clemson.edu/tutorials/excel/index.html
36
http://faculty.vassar.edu/lowry/webtext.html
http://metriscient.com/linreg.htm
37
6.7 Chapter summary
This chapter was dedicated to basic principles of descriptive and inferential statistics. Of significant
importance are the guidelines to communicate your statistics in a formal academic document.
38
CHAPTER 7
ADDING THE FINISHING TOUCHES
7.1 Evaluation of your work is an evaluation of you
Your dissertation or thesis says something about yourself. You had to eat, sleep and drink this thing
for two or three years or more – your personality will show. Whatever you do, be consistent and make
sure that the final document appears neat. Carelessness, untidy formatting and bad/non-scientific
language will negatively influence the examiner to the extent that he/she will be negatively inclined
towards your work even before he/she has read the academic content. See Appendix A for the
guidelines that are sent to the external examiners regarding a master’s dissertation.
7.2 Check the basics
Make sure that all citations in the text appear in the list of references and vice versa.
Check once again that the spell checker is switched on and set to South African English for the
entire document. Press Ctrl-A and then Shift-F1.
Make sure that sections are numbered correctly. MS Word can create havoc with auto-
numbering.
Make sure that all figures and tables are numbered correctly and agree with references in the text.
Make sure that the page numbers in the Table of Contents agree with the actual page numbers.
Make sure that page numbers in the List of Figures and the List of Tables agree with the actual
page numbers.
Skim your document for obvious formatting problems, specifically
- paragraphs that are not justified,
- widow/orphan paragraphs or bulleted lists,
- separation of figures/tables and their captions over two separate pages,
- an unnecessary white space at the bottom of a page,
- words underlined by the spell checker,
- inconsistent indenting of headers and paragraphs,
- inconsistent use of title case in headers.
7.3 Text editing
Having a professional read your dissertation or thesis prior to submission is expensive but will prove
to be worthwhile. Even if English is your mother tongue, you are an IT person and not a language
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specialist. Although you might consider your language use to be good, an unbiased reader might
differ from you. Employ somebody who is willing to make electronic track changes to your document
so that you have the opportunity afterwards to accept or reject the recommendations, or ask a second
opinion on some issues. You should budget about 30c per word, which is approximately R100 for a
page that does not contain figures or tables. This may amount to R20,000 for a 200 page dissertation.
If you have a bursary, spend the money on what it was intended for – support to finish off your show-
piece.
7.4 Chapter summary
This chapter covered some basic principles regarding the final editing of your dissertation or thesis so
that you can submit a professionally looking document.
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CHAPTER 8
CONCLUSIONS
8.1 Introduction
This document was dedicated to guide a master’s or PhD student towards writing a well formatted
dissertation or thesis.
8.2 Overview of the document
Chapter 1 focused on the research proposal and its contents. Chapter 2 provided an overview of the
document and indicated the typical content of each chapter of a dissertation or thesis. The topic of
Chapter 3 was general formatting guidelines. Aspects such as page numbering, font sizes, paragraph
alignment and spacing, formatting of figures and tables and captions, the communication of statistics
and referencing were addressed. Chapter 4 focused on general language guidelines. The importance
of a spell and grammar checker as well as some typical errors that students make was highlighted.
Examples of unacceptable writing style were provided. Chapter 5 was aimed at providing guidelines
towards writing a comprehensive, yet compact and integrated literature review. Chapter 6 was
devoted to the basic principles of descriptive and inferential statistics and how to communicate results
in a formal academic document. Chapter 7 provided a few hints to ensure that your dissertation or
thesis has a professional appearance.
8.3 Final remarks
This document is not intended to provide an exhaustive guideline towards academic writing. It was
merely an attempt to assist students who are confused about what is expected of them. There are
many good sources available on thesis writing, for example Allison and Race (2004), Hofstee (2006)
and Mouton (2004).
41
REFERENCES
Allison, B., Race, P. 2004. The Student’s Guide to Preparing Dissertations and Theses. 2nd
edition. RoutledgeFalmer, London and New York. ISBN 0-203-41642-2.
American Psychology Association (APA). 2010. Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association. Sixth Edition. Retrieved on 9 February 2014 from
http://www.apastyle.org/.
American Psychology Association (APA). 2014. Basics of APA Style Tutorial. Retrieved on 9
February 2014 from http://flash1r.apa.org/apastyle/basics/index.htm.
American Psychology Association (APA). n.d. How do you reference a web page that lists no
author? Retrieved from http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/web-page-no-author.aspx on 8 March
2014.
Berenson, M.L. & Levine, D.M. Basic Business Statistics: Concepts and Applications. Prentice
Hall, 6th edition, 1996.
Blain, L. 2014. Spritz reader: Getting words into your brain faster. Retrieved from
www.gizmag.com/spritz-speed-reading-galaxy-s5/31063/ on 8 March 2014.
Cornell University Library. n.d. Citation Management. Retrieved on 8 March 2014 from
https://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/apa.
Du Plessis, F. 2005. Proposed Structure of a Master Dissertation and Doctoral Thesis.
Department of Marketing and Communication Management, University of Pretoria.
Hofstee, E. 2006. Constructing a good dissertation: A practical guide to finishing a masters’,
MBA or PhD on schedule. EPE, South Africa.
Monash University. n.d. Learning support for Higher Degree Students. Retrieved on 18
February 2014 from http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/hdr/build/3.5.1.2.html.
Mouton, J. 2014. How to succeed in your Masters and doctoral studies. JL van Schaik, Pretoria.
Seventh impression.
Purdue University. Online Writing Lab. n.d. Reference List: Electronic Sources (Web
Publications). Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/ on 8 March
2014.
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APPENDIX A
ASSESSMENT OF DISSERTATIONS FOR MASTER'S DEGREES
GENERAL INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS TO ASSESSORS FOR ASSESSMENT OF DISSERTATIONS FOR MASTER'S DEGREE
1. Candidates' dissertations are written under the guidance of supervisors (joint supervisors) and the dissertation must prove that the candidates are able to do scientific research and report on such research in an academic manner.
2. For assessment purposes the candidates may submit either a properly bound copy of their dissertation or a final copy that is provisionally bound or joined together.
3. Assessors may keep the copy of the dissertation sent to them for assessment unless the dissertation is rejected or compulsory amendments are required, in which case it must be returned to the Registrar: Student Academic Services as soon as possible. When the recommended amendments have been accepted the amended copy will be given to the assessors and they may then keep it. In the case of a dissertation that is provisionally bound or joined together a properly bound copy will be presented to the assessors when the degree is conferred and they may then keep such copy.
4. The names of assessors as well as the assessment reports are treated confidentially. Only technical details may be given to the candidate by the supervisor without consulting the assessors.
5. Acceptance to the role of assessor does not mean that the assessor is obliged to give any guidance to the candidate.
6. If the assessors require further details in connection with the dissertation or experiences problems with it, they should contact the supervisor directly.
7. It is expected of the assessor to examine the dissertation professionally and to submit a complete report on it.
8. The report should cover the following aspects:
8.1 Subject/Investigation
Whether the candidates proved their understanding of and insight into the nature and purpose of the investigation, and whether they circumscribed the subject significantly and appropriately on master's degree level.
8.2 Research
The candidate's knowledge of related literature and other scientific sources. The utilisation of such literature and other research sources. The candidate's understanding and knowledge of scientific research methods and techniques.
8.3 Contents
Scientific processing of the contents, taking into consideration the handling of appropriate research methods and/or techniques such as experimenting, systematising, interpreting, justifying of statements, etc.
Clear formulations. Presentation of a logically justified structure.
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Critical approach and independent insight. Ability to evaluate and interpret findings/results. The relative meaning of the study summarised concisely.
8.4 Technical editing
Index. Chapter grouping and balance. Bibliography. Abstract. A consistent and self-explanatory reference technique in accordance with the requirements of the
specific field of study. Typing, illustrations and/or graphic representations.
8.5 Language and style
Attention to all facets of language usage and style.
8.6 Recommendation in summary form.
9. When a dissertation is evaluated, a mark is awarded. The pass mark is at least 50 % and a pass with distinction at least 75 %. The recommendation must be made in accordance with one of the following:
Accepted unconditionally – that the dissertation is accepted in fulfilment/partial fulfilment of the relevant requirements of the degree.
Accepted with corrections of the contents – that the dissertation is accepted on condition that corrections of the contents be made as stipulated in respect of technical corrections and/or language and/or contents to the satisfaction of the head of the department.
Rejected – that the dissertation is rejected.
10. An assessor must also mention whether the dissertation:
Is recommended for a pass only; Is recommended for a pass with distinction.
11. If there is a difference of opinion in the recommendations of assessors the University reserves the right to nominate additional assessors. The final decision rests with the University in any event.
12. The attached form must be completed and sent with the written report to:
Registrar: Student Academic Services For attention: Miss B. HiscockUniversity of the Free StateP.O. Box 339BLOEMFONTEIN9300ORMiss. B. HiscockGeorge du Toit Administration BuildingRoom 144University of the Free StateBLOEMFONTEIN9301
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