1

A STRUCTURED APPROACH TO PRESENTING THESES:

NOTES FOR STUDENTS AND THEIR SUPERVISORS
by Chad Perry (revised up to 5 July 2010)
A slightly shortened version of this paper has been published as Perry, C 199, !A stru"tured
approa"h for presenting resear"h theses#, Australasian Marketing Journal, vol$ %, no$ 1, pp$ %&'
%$ (his updated, ele"troni" version is available at
http)**+++$s"u$edu$au*s"hools*g",*ar*art*"perry$pdf

Abstract
(his paper addresses the proble,) ho+ should a postgraduate resear"h student in ,ar-eting or a
si,ilar field (and his or her supervisor) present the thesis. (he stru"ture developed provides a
starting point for understanding +hat a thesis should set out to a"hieve, and also provides a basis
for "o,,uni"ation bet+een a student and his or her supervisor$ /irstly, "riteria for 0udging a
Ph1 thesis are revie+ed and 0ustifi"ation for its stru"ture is provided$ (hen +riting style is
"onsidered$ /inally, ea"h of the five !se"tions# or #"hapters# and their sub'se"tions are des"ribed
in so,e detail) introdu"tion, literature revie+, ,ethodology, analysis of data, and "on"lusions
and i,pli"ations$
Acknowled!ents
(hese notes +ere originally based on ideas of 1rs 2eoff 3eredith, 4ert Cunnington and 3i-e
5at-ins and also on 6niversity of 7regon (n$d$)$ 8o+ever, vie+s and errors are the +riter9s
o+n$ 8e has +ritten the paper +ith a beginning postgraduate resear"h student in ,ind, and so
has presented so,e positions as starting points for drafting a thesis rather than as the only
positions that "an be adopted$ 8e than-s 1rs :+a-u Atuahene'2i,a, ;obert 4ro+n, Alan
4uttery, 2ail Cras+ell, 8an- Johnson, 1i <e+is, =stelle Phillips, John ;oberts and John
;ossiter, and 4arry 4ell, 1iana 4est, Claudia 8ope and (ony 5ard for "o,,enting on earlier
drafts, and than-s 4arry 4ell, <en Coote, June 1unleavy, 3arilyn 8ealy, John Ja"-son, 4en
<yttle, Ce" Pederson, (ony 5ard and >i"-y ?"hin-el for ideas for so,e e@a,ples$
Important note
A thesis can actually have more than five chapters, as discussed below, and so the term
chapter is used in this paper in a generic sense; perhaps section could have been used rather
than chapter but doing so may have been confusing because there are also sections within
each chapter.
INTRODUCTION
Adeally, postgraduate resear"h in ,ar-eting or a related field should)
B "over a field +hi"h fas"inates the student suffi"iently for hi, or her to endure +hat "ould
be years of hard and solitary +or-C
B build on the student9s previous studies, for e@a,ple, his or her "ourse +or- in a 3aster9s
degreeC
B be in an area of !+ar,# resear"h a"tivity rather than in a !"old#, over+or-ed area or in a
Dhot9, too'"o,petitive, soon'to'be e@tinguished areaC
B be in an area near the ,ain strea,s of a dis"ipline and not at the ,argins of a dis"ipline or
straddling t+o dis"iplines ' being near the ,ain strea,s ,a-es it easier to find thesis
e@a,iners, to gain a"ade,i" positions, and to get a""eptan"e of 0ournal arti"les about the
resear"hC
2
B be ,anageable, produ"ing interesting results and a thesis in the shortest ti,e possibleC
B have a""essible sour"es of dataC
B open into a progra, of resear"h pro0e"ts after the thesis is "o,pletedC and
B provide s-ills and infor,ation for obtaining a 0ob in a non'resear"h field, if a resear"h or
a"ade,i" 0ob is not available or not desired$
5hatever resear"h the student finally "hooses to do, he or she ,ust re"ord the resear"h in a
thesis$ (his note outlines a stru"ture for a five !se"tion# or !"hapter# Ph1, 14A, 3asters or
honours thesis, and is +ritten for students in ,ar-eting or a related field and their supervisors$
(he stru"ture is su,,arised in /igure 1 and in (able 1$ (Eote that there does not have to be
e@a"tly five !"hapters#, for adding one or t+o "hapters to the five !se"tions# or !"hapters#
presented here "an be 0ustified, as dis"ussed belo+ and sho+n in (able 1$ (hat is, +hen A refer to
!"hapters# belo+, A do so ,erely for easy referen"e, and having t+o "hapters in ?e"tion 2 or t+o
"hapters in ?e"tion &, for e@a,ple, "an be easily 0ustified in a Ph1 or 14A thesis$) 7ther +riters
have provided general pro"edures for the ,any parts of the Ph1 resear"h pro"ess (for e@a,ple,
1avis F Par-er 19G9C Phillips F Pugh 19GC Perry 1990), but these notes "on"entrate on the
thesis itself and do so ,ore "o,prehensively and +ith far ,ore e@a,ples than other +riters (for
e@a,ple, Clar- 19%C Pratt 19HC 5it"her 1990)$ (hat is, this paper addresses the proble,)
ow should postgraduate research students and their supervisors present the thesis"
=ssentially, A argue that a thesis should follo+ "ertain style "onventions and have five se"tions)
introdu"tion, literature revie+, ,ethodology, analysis of data, and "on"lusions and i,pli"ations$
/ollo+ing this stru"ture and using "are about a standard style +ill ,a-e the thesis ,at"h the
e@pe"tations of ,ost e@a,iners and provide training for ,u"h resear"h +or- after+ards.
(his proble, is i,portant for postgraduate resear"h students$ 3any universities provide little
guidan"e to students, pro,pting the "riti"is, that, at one university, !the "onditions for the a+ard
of degrees in the 2raduate ?tudy se"tion of the "alendar give ,ore pre"ise infor,ation on the
siIe of the paper to be used and the ,argins to be left on ea"h side of the sheet than on the
university9s understanding of +hat a thesis is9 (3assingha, 19H, p$ 15)$ 4y using the stru"ture
developed belo+, a student +ill ensure his or her thesis de,onstrates the -ey reJuire,ents of a
Ph1 thesis (3oses 195))
B a distin"t "ontribution to a body of -no+ledge through an original investigation or testing
of ideas, +orthy in part of publi"ation (see Chapter 5 des"ribed belo+) ' this reJuire,ent
is usually the ,ost i,portant one for a Ph1 thesis but ,ay not be so i,portant for a
3aster#s or honours thesis, as 3oses notesC
B "o,peten"e in resear"h pro"esses, in"luding an understanding of, and "o,peten"e in,
appropriate resear"h te"hniJues and an ability to report resear"h (see Chapters & and H,
plus the +hole report for,at)C and
B ,astery of a body of -no+ledge , in"luding an ability to ,a-e "riti"al use of published
+or- and sour"e ,aterials (see Chapter 2) +ith an appre"iation of the relationship of the
spe"ial the,e to the +ider field of -no+ledge (see Chapters 2 and 5)$
(he student should as- to see a "opy of the letter sent to e@a,iners to deter,ine the priorities of
his or her fa"ulty for the three "riteria above and if the fa"ulty has additional "riteria (Eightingale
1992)$ As +ell, a supervisor ,ay be able to produ"e "opies of previous e@a,iners9 reports$
(he foundations for the stru"tured approa"h +ere the +riter9s o+n doing, supervising, e@a,ining
and ad0udi"ating "onfli"ting e@a,iners9 reports of ,any 3aster9s and Ph1 theses in ,ar-eting and
related fields at several Australian universities, and e@a,ining reJuests for transfer fro, 3aster9s
to Ph1 resear"h, together +ith "o,,ents fro, the people listed in the a"-no+ledg,ents se"tion$
3
(he paper has t+o parts$ /irstly, the five !se"tion# or !"hapter# stru"ture is introdu"ed, possible
"hanges to it are 0ustified and +riting style is "onsidered$ A,portantly, there does not have to be
e@a"tly five !"hapters#, for adding one or t+o "hapters to the five presented here "an be 0ustified,
as dis"ussed belo+ and sho+n in (able 1$ (hat is, A so,eti,es refer to the five se"tions or
"hapters as !"hapters# belo+ ,erely for easy referen"e, and having t+o "hapters in ?e"tion 2 or
t+o "hapters in ?e"tion &, for e@a,ple, "an be easily 0ustified in a Ph1 thesis$ An the se"ond part,
ea"h of the five "hapters and their se"tions are des"ribed in so,e detail) introdu"tion, literature
revie+, ,ethodology, analysis of data, and findings and i,pli"ations$
Del#!#tat#ons$ (he stru"tured approa"h ,ay be li,ited to postgraduate theses in ,ar-eting and
related areas su"h as strategi" ,anage,ent that involve si,ilar Juantitative and Jualitative
,ethodologies$ (hat is, the stru"ture ,ay not be appropriate for theses in other areas or for
theses using relatively unusual ,ethodologies su"h as histori"al resear"h designs or grounded
theory$ 3oreover, the stru"ture is a starting point for thin-ing about ho+ to present a thesis
rather than the only stru"ture that "an be adopted, and so it is not ,eant to inhibit the "reativity of
postgraduate resear"hers$
Another deli,itation of the approa"h is that it is restri"ted to presenting the final version of the
thesis$ (his paper does not address the te"hniJues of a"tually +riting a thesis$ 3oreover, the
approa"h in this paper does not refer to the a"tual se!uence of +riting the thesis, nor is it ,eant
to i,ply that the issues of ea"h "hapter have to be addressed by the student in the order sho+n$
/or e@a,ple, the propositions at the end of Chapter 2 are ,eant to appear to be developed as the
"hapter progresses, but the student ,ight have a +ell'developed idea of +hat they +ill be before
he or she starts to +rite the "hapter$ 3oreover, although the ,ethodology of Chapter & ,ust
appear to be been sele"ted be"ause it +as appropriate for the resear"h proble, identified and
"arefully 0ustified in Chapter 1, the student ,ay have a"tually sele"ted a ,ethodology very early
in his or her "andidature and then developed an appropriate resear"h proble, and 0ustified it$
3oreover, after a student has s-et"hed out a draft table of "ontents for ea"h "hapter, he or she
should begin +riting the !easiest parts# of the thesis first as they go along, +hatever those parts
are ' and usually introdu"tions to "hapters are the last to +ritten (Phillips F Pugh 19G, p$ %1)$
4ut bear in ,ind that the resear"h proble,, deli,itations and resear"h gaps in the literature ,ust
be identified and +ritten do+n before other parts of the thesis "an be +ritten, and that ?e"tion 1$1
is one of the last to be +ritten$ Eor is this stru"ture ,eant to be the for,at for a do"toral
"andidate#s resear"h proposal ' one proposal for,at is provided in Par-er and 1avis (19G9)$
Table % Se&'ence o( a str'ct'red t)es#s
(itle page
Abstra"t (+ith -ey+ords)
(able of "ontents
<ist of tables
<ist of figures
Abbreviations
?tate,ent of original authorship
A"-no+ledg,ents
1 Antrodu"tion
1$1 4a"-ground to the resear"h
1$2 ;esear"h proble,, propositions*resear"h issues and "ontributions
1$& Justifi"ation for the resear"h
1$H 3ethodology
1$5 7utline of the report
4
1$% 1efinitions
1$G 1eli,itations of s"ope and -ey assu,ptions, and their 0ustifi"ations
1$ Con"lusion
2 ;esear"h issues (?e"tions 2$& and 2$H ,ight be allotted a "hapter to the,selves in a Ph1 or 14A thesis)
2$1 Antrodu"tion
2$2 (Parent theories and "lassifi"ation ,odels)
2$& (;esear"h proble, theory) analyti"al, theoreti"al fra,e+or-s and related resear"h issues or propositions)
(this se"tion so,eti,es has its o+n "hapter)
2$H Con"lusion
& 3ethodology (there ,ay be separate "hapters for the ,ethodologies of stages one and t+o of a Ph1 or
14A thesis)
&$1 Antrodu"tion
&$2 Justifi"ation for the paradig, and ,ethodology
&$& (;esear"h pro"edures)
&$H =thi"al "onsiderations
&$5 Con"lusion
H Analysis of data (this "hapter usually refers to the analysis of the ,a0or stage of the resear"h pro0e"t)
H$1 Antrodu"tion
H$2 ?ub0e"ts
H$& (Patterns of data for ea"h resear"h issue or hypothesis)
H$H Con"lusion
5 Con"lusions and i,pli"ations
5$1 Antrodu"tion
5$2 Con"lusions about ea"h resear"h issue or proposition
5$& Con"lusions about the resear"h proble,
5$H A,pli"ations for theory
5$5 A,pli"ations for poli"y and pra"ti"e
5$5$1 Private se"tor ,anagers
5$5$2 Publi" se"tor poli"y analysts and ,anagers
5$% <i,itations (if the se"tion is ne"essary)C this se"tion is so,eti,es "o,bined +it the ne@t one
5$G /urther resear"h
4ibliography
Appendi"es
*ASICS OF STRUCTURE AND ST+,E
A five se"tion or "hapter stru"ture "an be used to effe"tively present a thesis, and it is su,,arised
in /igure 1 and (able 1$ ;e,e,ber that a thesis "an a"tually have ,ore than five "hapters, as
dis"ussed above and belo+, and in (able 1$ (hus the ter, !"hapter# is used in this paper in a
generi" senseC perhaps !se"tion# "ould have been used rather than !"hapter# but doing so ,ay have
been "onfusing be"ause there are !se"tions# +ithin ea"h !"hapter#$
/igure 1 -odel o( t)e c)a.ters o( a t)es#s
5
An brief, the thesis should have a unified stru"ture (=asterby'?,ith et al$ 1991)$ /irstly, Chapter 1
introdu"es the "ore resear"h proble, and then Dsets the s"ene9 and outlines the path that the
e@a,iner +ill travel to+ards the thesis9 "on"lusion$ (he resear"h itself is des"ribed in Chapters 2
to 5)
$ the resear"h proble, and propositions*hypotheses arising fro, the body of -no+ledge
developed during previous resear"h (Chapter 2),
$ ,ethods used in this resear"h to "olle"t data about the hypotheses (Chapter &),
$ results of applying those ,ethods in this resear"h (Chapter H), and
$ "on"lusions about the propositions*hypotheses and resear"h proble, based on the results
of Chapter H, in"luding their pla"e in the body of -no+ledge outlined previously in
Chapter 2 (Chapter 5)$
/'st#(#cat#on o( t)e str'ct'red a..roac)$ (his five "hapter stru"ture "an be "ustified$ /irstly,
the stru"ture is unified and fo"ussed on solving the one resear"h proble,$ (hus it addresses the
,a0or fault of postgraduate theses in Eightingales# (19H) survey of 1&9 e@a,iners9 reports, that
is, it "learly addresses those e@a,iners9 diffi"ulty in dis"erning +hat +as the !thesis# of the thesis.
Eightingale "on"luded that unity and fo"us depend on supervisors e,phasising !throughout
students9 "andida"ies that they are striving in the thesis to "o,,uni"ate one big idea# (Eightingale
19H, p$ 1GH)$ (hat one big idea is the research problem stated on page 1 or 2 of the thesis and
e@pli"itly solved in Chapter 5$ =asterby'?,ith et al$ (1991) also e,phasise the i,portan"e of
"onsisten"y in a Ph1 thesis, Phillips and Pugh (19G, p$ &) "onfir, that a thesis ,ust have a
thesis or a Dposition9, and <indsay (1995, pp$ 10H, 105) insists that !the unifying hypothesis K the
purpose of the thesis ,ust be "lear fro, the very beginning#$
(here are si@ other 0ustifi"ations for the stru"ture, for it)
"arefully addresses ea"h of the &1 reJuire,ents of an Australian Ph1 thesis outlined by the
authoritative 8igher =du"ation ;esear"h and 1evelop,ent ?o"iety of Australia (3oses 195,
pp$ &2'&H) (five of the &1 are not reJuired for 3aster#s or honours theses and they relate to
appre"iation the relationship of the resear"h to the +ider body of -no+ledge and to
originality as sho+n by the topi" resear"hed or the ,ethodology e,ployed)C
6
is e@pli"itly or i,pli"itly follo+ed by ,any +riters of arti"les in top tier a"ade,i" 0ournals
su"h as #he Academy of Management Journal and $trategic Management Journal (for
e@a,ple, 1atta et al$ 1992), and so students learn s-ills reJuired by revie+ers of those
0ournals +hile +riting their thesis, as sho+n ne@tC note that >aradara0an (199%), the =ditor of
the respe"ted Journal of Marketing, offered guidelines for arti"les that are re,ar-ably si,ilar
to those presented belo+$
trains Ph1 students in ho+ to +rite 0ournal arti"les (Carson, 2il,ore F Perry 200%C Perry,
Carson F 2il,ore 200&)) parent theories 1 and 2 in Chapter 2 of the thesis nor,ally go into
paragraphs 2 and & of an arti"leC ?e"tion 1$& of the thesis goes into an arti"le#s paragraph HC
the resear"h proble, theory of the thesis# ?e"tion 2$& goes into the <iterature revie+ se"tion
of the arti"le after the Antrodu"tionC Chapter & of the thesis goes into the arti"le#s
,ethodology se"tionC the thesis# Chapter H goes into the arti"le#s /indings se"tionC the thesis#
"on"lusions in ?e"tions 5$2 and 5$& go into the arti"le#s 1is"ussion se"tionC and the thesis#
?e"tions 5$ H and 5$5 go into the arti"le#s A,pli"ations se"tion$
is based on the established literature about Ph1 resear"h, for e@a,ple, Phillips and Pugh
(199H), and ,y o+n arti"le about it is the ,ost'"ited arti"le ever published in Australia#s top
,ar-eting 0ournal (Perry 199a)$
has been follo+ed by ,any Ph1 and 3asters theses at Australian and overseas universities
+ith no or negligible revisions (in"luding H0 do"toral students of ,y o+n) L indeed, 2oogling
!MChad PerryM thesis# produ"es &&H0 results$
is +hy A have been invited to present se,inars about it at ,ore than ,ore than &0 universities
in Australia, Ee+ Nealand, Areland, =ngland, ?"otland, Eorthern Areland, Austria, Canada,
3alaysia, 8ong :ong, 3a"au, ?ri <an-a and the Philippines$
An brief, the stru"ture provides a ,e"hanis, to shorten the ti,e ta-en to "o,plete a postgraduate
degree li-e a Ph1, an ai, be"o,ing desired in ,any "ountries (Cude 199), by redu"ing ti,e
+asted on unne"essary tas-s or on trying to de,ystify the thesis'+riting pro"essC and so inhibits
ineffi"ient thesis +riting that sJuanders ta@payers# funds, +astes supervisors# ti,e and ris-s the
health, "areers and fa,ilies of students$
/'st#(#ed c)anes to t)e str'ct're$ ?o,e "hanges to the five "hapter stru"ture "ould be
0ustified, as noted above and sho+n in (able 1$ /or e@a,ple, a student ,ay find it "onvenient to
e@pand the nu,ber of "hapters to si@ or seven be"ause of unusual "hara"teristi"s of the analysis in
his or her resear"hC for e@a,ple, a Ph1 ,ight "onsist of t+o stages) so,e Jualitative resear"h
reported in Chapters & and H of the thesis des"ribed belo+, +hi"h is then follo+ed by so,e
Juantitative resear"h to refine the initial findings reported in Chapters 5 and %C the Chapter 5
des"ribed belo+ +ould then be"o,e Chapter G$
An addition, Ph1 theses at universities that allo+ huge theses ,ay have e@tra "hapters added to
"ontain the e@tended revie+s of bodies of -no+ledge in those huge theses$ A a, thin-ing here of
those universities +hi"h allo+ a Ph1 thesis to rise fro, a ,ini,u, length of about 50 000 to %0
000 +ords (Phillips F Pugh 19G), through the G0 000 to 0 000 +ords preferred by ,any
e@a,iners, up to the upper li,it of 100 000 +ords spe"ified by so,e established universities li-e
the 6niversity of Oueensland and /linders 6niversity$ 4y the +ay, a thesis is nor,ally at the
lo+er end of this range, that is, it nor,ally "o,es to about 220 to 250 pages$ An brief, in so,e
theses, the five "hapters ,ay be"o,e five sections +ith one or ,ore "hapters +ithin ea"h of
the,, but the prin"iples of the stru"tured approa"h should re,ain$
As noted above, the five "hapter stru"ture is pri,arily designed for theses in ,ar-eting or related
7
fields using "o,,on ,ethodologies su"h as stru"tural eJuation ,odelling$ 8o+ever, so,e
Jualitative ,ethodologies su"h as "ase studies and a"tion resear"h (Perry F Nuber'?-erritt 1992C
199HC Perry 199) "an fit into the stru"ture$ 1etails of ho+ the "ase study or the a"tion resear"h
pro0e"t are presented in Chapter & and "ase study details or the detailed report of the a"tion
resear"h pro0e"t are pla"ed in appendi"es$ An theses using these relatively Jualitative
,ethodologies of "ase studies or a"tion resear"h, the analysis of data in Chapter H be"o,es a
categorisation of data in the form of words, +ith infor,ation about ea"h resear"h issue "olle"ted
together +ith so,e preli,inary refle"tion about the infor,ation$ (hat is, the thesis still has five
"hapters in total, +ith Chapter H having preli,inary analysis of data and Chapter 5 "ontaining all
the se"tions des"ribed belo+$
Eevertheless, so,e ,ethodologies ,ay be diffi"ult to fit into the stru"ture$ /or e@a,ple,
grounded theory resear"h ,ay not pla"e as ,u"h signifi"an"e on Chapter 2#s revie+ of the
literature and histori"al resear"h ,ay reJuire different stru"tures$
An brief, the five "hapter*se"tion stru"ture has so,e li,itations but it also has ,any benefits for
students learning the basi"s of their resear"h "raft and beginning their resear"h "areer, as +ell as
for a busy supervisor +ho has had little training in resear"h +riting or supervision$ (he stru"ture
provides a starting point for understanding +hat a thesis should set out to a"hieve, and also
provides a basis for "o,,uni"ation bet+een a student and his or her supervisor$ (he stru"ture is
not ,eant to be a straight0a"-et that inhibits a resear"her#s "reativity, for it ,erely provides a
preli,inary fra,e+or- for reporting that resear"h$ Andeed, +ith this tested and proven stru"ture,
students "an fo"us on being "reative in their resear"h and not dissipate their "reative energies$
3oreover, +ith these guidelines for "hapter "ontent and "onstru"tion, it is possible to plan a
postgraduate resear"h pro0e"t$ As a rough rule of thu,b, the five "hapters have these respe"tive
per"entages of the thesis9 +ords) %, &H, 1, 22 and 20 per"ent$ 6sing these appro@i,ate
per"entages, a "andidate "ould plan the appro@i,ate ti,e and pages for any "hapter$ /or
e@a,ple, if a "andidate plans to do a 50 000 or so +ord 14A thesis in 2H ,onths, the planning
pages and ,onths for ea"h "hapter "an be +or-ed out along the lines sho+n in (able 1$ (hese
rule of thu,b per"entages are slightly different if a thesis has two stages of data "olle"tion rather
than 0ust the one stage that "an be neatly des"ribed in a five "hapter thesis$ An this "ir"u,stan"e,
Chapters & and H +ould be devoted to the t+o stages of ,ethodology$ ;ule of thu,b
per"entages for a si@ "hapter thesis are about %, &&, 11, 1G, 20 and 1& per"ent$ /or e@a,ple, a
typi"al, a t+o'stage Ph1 thesis of %5 000 or so +ords done in 2G ,onths ,ight loo- li-e (able
2, and a t+o'stage 14A thesis of 50 000 +ords done in 2G ,onths ,ight loo- li-e (able &$
(hese three tables are ,erely e@a,ples and are not te,plates for every thesis, be"ause ea"h
resear"h pro0e"t ,ust do +hatever is reJuired to solve its o+n, 0ustified resear"h proble,$ (he
tables ,easure pages fro, the start of Chapter 1 to the end of the final "hapter and so they
in"lude tables and figures but do not in"lude the table of "ontents, the list of referen"es or the
appendi"es$ Eote that so,e ,onths have been added to dire"t per"entage durations for the first
and final "hapters, to allo+ for starting and final drafting of the thesis$ A have assu,ed that the
,argins, the font and the line spa"ing are those des"ribed belo+$

(able 1 An a..ro0#!ate .lan (or a 12 222 or so word D*A t)es#s3 co!.leted #n 45 !ont)s
C)a.ter To.#c 6 Paes -ont)s
1 Antrodu"tion % 10 &
2 <it revie+ &H 55 %
8
& 3ethodology 1 &0 H
H 1ata analysis 22 &5 5
5 Con"lusions 20 &0 %
(otal 100 1%0 2H
(able 2 An a..ro0#!ate .lan (or a 71 222 or so word P)D t)es#s w#t) two !et)odolo#es3
co!.leted #n 48 !ont)s
C)a.ter To.#c 6 Paes -ont)s
1 Antrodu"tion % 1H 2
2 <it revie+ && % G
& 3ethodology A 11 2& &
H 3ethodology AA 1G &G 5
5 1ata analysis of
,ethodology AA
20 H1 5
% Con"lusions 1& 2G 5
(otal 100 210 2G
(able & An a..ro0#!ate .lan (or a 12 222 or so word D*A t)es#s w#t) two !et)odolo#es3
co!.leted #n 48 !ont)s
C)a.ter To.#c 6 Paes -ont)s
1 Antrodu"tion % 10 2
2 <it revie+ && 52 G
& 3ethodology A 11 1G &
H 3ethodology AA 1G 2 5
5 1ata analysis of
,ethodology AA
20 &1 5
% Con"lusions 1& 21 5
(otal 100 1%0 2G
,#nks between c)a.ters$ 5ith the overall stru"ture 0ustified above, +e "an turn to ho+ to the
"hapters the,selves and ho+ they are lin-ed$ =a"h "hapter des"ribed belo+ should stand al,ost
alone$ =a"h "hapter (e@"ept the first) should have an introdu"tory se"tion linking the "hapter to
the ,ain idea of the previous "hapter and outlining the aim and the organisation of the "hapter$
/or e@a,ple, the "ore ideas in an introdu"tion to Chapter & ,ight be)
Chapter 2 identified several resear"h issuesC this ne@t "hapter des"ribes the ,ethodology used to
provide data to investigate the,$ An introdu"tion to the ,ethodology +as provided in ?e"tion 1$H
of "hapter 1C this "hapter ai,s to build on that introdu"tion and to provide assuran"e that
appropriate pro"edures +ere follo+ed$ (he "hapter is organised around four ,a0or topi"s) the
study region, the sa,pling pro"edure, no,inal group te"hniJue pro"edures, and data pro"essing$
(he introdu"tory se"tion of Chapter 5 (that is, ?e"tion 5$1) +ill be longer than those of other
"hapters, for it +ill su,,arise all earlier parts of the thesis prior to ,a-ing "on"lusions about the
resear"h des"ribed in those earlier partsC that is, ?e"tion 5$1 +ill repeat the resear"h proble, and
the resear"h issues*propositions$ =a"h "hapter should also have a "on"luding su,,ary se"tion
that outlines ,a0or the,es established in the "hapter, without introducing new material$
9
St9le
As +ell as the stru"ture dis"ussed above, e@a,iners also assess ,atters of style (8ansford F
3a@+ell 199&)$ 5ithin ea"h of the "hapters of the thesis, the spelling, styles and for,ats of $tyle
Manual (Australian 2overn,ent Publishing ?ervi"e 2002) and of Mac!uarie %ictionary should
be follo+ed s"rupulously, so that the student uses "onsistent styles fro, the first draft and
throughout the thesis for pro"esses su"h as using bold type, e,phasising +ith itali"s, indenting
blo"- Juotations, using single and double inverted "o,,as, ,a-ing referen"es, spa"es before and
after side headings and lists, and gender "onventions$ After all, the $tyle Manual +ill be the
standard for later sub,issions to the Australian ;esear"h Coun"il and to ,ost 0ournals published
in Australia$ 3oreover, using the authoritative $tyle Manual provides a defensive shield against
an e@a,iner +ho ,ay "riti"ise the thesis fro, the vie+point of his or her o+n idiosyn"rati" style$
4y the +ay, Peters (1995) ,ay also be useful on style ,atters, for it elaborates on issues that
$tyle Manual is so,eti,es too su""in"t about$ A su,,ary of ,ain points about style and
referen"ing in Australia is in appendi@ A$
An addition to usual style rules su"h as ea"h paragraph having an early topi" senten"e, a thesis has
so,e style rules of its o+n$ /or e@a,ple, Chapter 1 is usually +ritten in the present tense +ith
referen"es to literature in the past tenseC ,ost of the rest of the thesis is +ritten in the past tense
be"ause it "on"erns the resear"h after it has been done$ An ,ore detail, in Chapters 2 and &,
s"hools of thought and pro"edural steps are +ritten about using the present tense, and published
resear"hers and the student9s o+n a"tions are +ritten about using the past tense$ /or e@a,ple)
9(he e"le"ti" s"hool has PpresentQ several strands$ ?,ith (1990) reported PpastQ that$$$9 and D(he
first step in "ontent analysis is PpresentQ to de"ide on "ategories$ (he resear"her sele"ted PpastQ
ten do"u,ents$$$9 8o+ever, in Chapter H, use the present tense for "o,,ents about results
"urrently in front of the reader (!(he in'depth intervie+s +ere ,ore effe"tive, as (able H$2
sho+s $$$#) and for "on"lusions that are ,ore general than the spe"ifi" results (RAn brief, high
po+er distan"e people are ,ore brutal +henK#)# (4e, 2002)$ An Chapter 5, use the present
+hen fitting the "on"lusions into the body of -no+ledge, for e@a,ple, !(his effe"t is a
"ontributionK#C (but use the past tense +hen referring to the findings fro, Chapter H, of "ourse)$
An addition, value 0udge,ents and +ords should not be used in the ob0e"tive pursuit of truth that
a thesis reports$ /or e@a,ple, Dit is unfortunate9, Dit is interesting9, !it is believed#, and !it is
+el"o,e# are inappropriate L they are too sub0e"tive$ Although first person +ords su"h as !A# and
!,y# are no+ a""eptable in a thesis (espe"ially in Chapter & of a thesis +ithin an interpretive
paradig,), their use should be "ontrolled ' the student is a ,ere private in an ar,y pursuing truth
and so should not overrate his or her i,portan"e until their degree has been finally a+arded$ An
other +ords, the student should al+ays "ustify any de"isions +here his or her 0udge,ent +as
reJuired (su"h as the nu,ber and type of industries surveyed and the nu,ber of points on a
<i-ert s"ale), a"-no+ledging the strengths and +ea-nesses of the options "onsidered and al+ays
relying upon as ,any referen"es as possible to support the de"ision ,ade$ (hat is, authorities
should be used to ba"- up any "lai, of the resear"her, if possible$ Af the e@a,iner +anted to read
opinions, he or she "ould read letters to the editor of a ne+spaper$
3oreover, fe+ if any authorities in the field should be "alled !+rong#, at the +orst they ,ight be
"alled !,isleading#C after all, one of these authorities ,ight be an e@a,iner and have spent a
de"ade or ,ore developing his or her positions and so frontal atta"-s on those positions are li-ely
to be easily repulsed$ Andeed, the student should try to agree +ith the supervisor on a panel of
li-ely people fro, +hi"h the university +ill sele"t the thesis e@a,iner so that only appropriate
people are "hosen$ After all, a greengro"er should not e@a,ine ,eat produ"ts and an a"ade,i"
+ith a strong positivist ba"-ground is unli-ely to be an appropriate e@a,iner of a Jualitative
10
thesis, for e@a,ple (=asterby'?,ith et al$ 1991), or an e@a,iner +ho +ill reJuire three resear"h
,ethods is not "hosen for a straightfor+ard thesis +ith only one$ (hat is, do not get involved in
the "rossfire of !religious +ars# of so,e dis"iplines$
3oreover, this early and open "onsideration of e@a,iners allo+s the student to thin- about ho+
his or her ideas +ill be per"eived by li-ely individual e@a,iners and so e@press the ideas in a
satisfa"tory +ay, for e@a,ple, e@plain a line of argu,ent ,ore fully or 0ustify a position ,ore
"o,pletely for an e@a,iner +ho ,ay not have a strong ba"-ground in a parti"ular area$ 7ne
starting point for thin-ing about +ho "ould be an e@a,iner is to "onsider the 0ournals in +hi"h
arti"les about the resear"h ,ay be published during or after the "andidature$ (hen finding out
+ho is the =ditor and +ho is on the =ditorial 4oard of these 0ournals +ill be a starting point for
thin-ing about e@a,iners and their interests, publi"ations and styles$ (1ay (199%) "onfir,s the
i,portan"e of this pro"edure for getting arti"les published in a"ade,i" 0ournals)$ (hat is, in a
student#s thesis, he or she ,ust "o,,uni"ate +ith real'life people in an easily'follo+ed +ay$
(his issue of "o,,uni"ation +ith e@a,iners is "ru"ial$ Consider an e@a,iner$ 8e or she ,ay be
reading the thesis at 11 p, on /riday after a hard day#s +or- on ,ore i,portant things li-e their
o+n resear"h, their o+n students# resear"h or ,orale in their 1epart,ent$ A ,a0or reason for
their agreeing to e@a,ine the thesis is a sense of duty to their dis"ipline$ (hus the student should
try to ,a-e the pro"ess of e@a,ination as ,u"h li-e a 0ourney on !autopilot# as possible, +ith
"hanges in dire"tion "learly ,ar-ed, the tra"- "learly flagged and ea"h step in an argu,ent
e@pli"itly e@plained, as des"ribed belo+$ (he e@a,iner should not have to do any hard "riti"al
thin-ing as he or she follo+s the student#s 0ourney$ An brief, the "andidate should try to neither
,a-e the e@a,iner think too much nor to go to sleepC rather, the e@a,iner ,ay hopefully dro+se
off for a ,inute or t+o, snapping fully a+a-e every no+ and then to "he"- that the thesis is still
!on tra"-# and fulfilling the e@pe"tations set up at the start of ea"h se"tion and sub'se"tion of
,aterial$ An brief, the reader ,ust be guided along a s,ooth, easily'follo+ed path to+ards the
"on"lusions that have e@"ited the "andidate and +ill hopefully e@"ite the e@a,iner into passing
the thesis and perhaps as-ing the "andidate to +or- +ith hi, or her on a resear"h pro0e"t in the
future$
(his easily&followed communication "an be a"hieved by using several prin"iples$ /irstly, have
se"tions and sub'se"tions starting as often as very se"ond or third page, ea"h +ith a des"riptive
heading in bold$ ?e"ondly, start ea"h se"tion or sub'se"tion +ith a phrase or senten"e lin-ing it
+ith +hat has gone before, for e@a,ple, a senten"e ,ight start +ith !2iven the situation
des"ribed in ?e"tion 2$&$H# or !(urning fro, international issues to do,esti" "on"erns, $$$# (he
i,portant issue here is that the e@a,iner is led on fro, old ideas +hi"h he or she has already
digested +ith, to ne+ ideas) +e all need !an opportunity to get S"o,fortableM +ith old ,aterial
before ne+ ,aterial is thro+n at us# (<indsay 1995, p$ 5%)$ (hirdly, briefly des"ribe the argu,ent
or point to be ,ade in the se"tion at its beginning, for e@a,ple, D?even defi"ien"ies in ,odels in
the literature +ill be identified9$ /ourthly, ,a-e ea"h step in the argu,ent easy to identify +ith a
-ey ter, in itali"s or the 0udi"ious use of Dfirstly9, Dse"ondly9, or D,oreover9, Din addition9, Din
"ontrast9 and so on$ /inally, end ea"h se"tion +ith a su,,ary, to establish +hat it has a"hievedC
this su,,ary senten"e or paragraph "ould be flagged by usually beginning it +ith DAn
"on"lusion,$$$9 or DAn brief,$$$9 An brief, follo+ing these five prin"iples +ill ,a-e argu,ents easy to
follo+ and so guide the e@a,iner to+ards agreeing +ith a student9s vie+s$

Another style rule for theses is that the +ord !et"$# is too i,pre"ise to be used in a thesis, and that
the use of ad0e"tives and adverbs should be -ept to bare ,ini,u, to avoid the i,pression of
being i,pre"ise and flo+ery$ /urther,ore, +ords su"h as !this#, !these#, !those# and !it# should
11
not be left dangling ' they should al+ays refer to an ob0e"tC for e@a,ple, !(his rule should be
follo+ed# is preferred to D(his should be follo+ed#$ ?o,e supervisors also suggest that bra"-ets
should rarely be used in a thesis ' if a "o,,ent is i,portant enough to help ans+er the thesis9
resear"h proble,, then it should be added in a straightfor+ard +ay and not be hidden +ithin
bra"-ets as a ,inor "on"ern to distra"t the e@a,iner a+ay fro, the resear"h proble,$
As +ell, definite and indefinite arti"les should be avoided +here possible, espe"ially in headingsC
for e@a,ple, D?upervision of do"toral students9 is ,ore taut and less presu,ptuous than D(he
supervision of do"toral students9$ Paragraphs should be shortC as a rule of thu,b, three to four
paragraphs should start on ea"h page if ,y preferred line spa"ing of 1$5 and (i,es ;o,an 12
point serif font is used, to provide adeJuate stru"ture and "o,ple@ity of thought on ea"h page$ (A
line spa"ing of 2 and ,ore than about three paragraphs per page ,a-e a thesis appear dis0ointed
and Dfla-y9, and a sanserif font is not easy to read$) A final note of style is that ,argins should be
those no,inated by the university or those in $tyle Manual (Australian 2overn,ent Publishing
?ervi"e 2002)C the left hand ,argin is usually set at & or H "enti,etres$
C)'nk#ness$ (he "on"ept of a !"hun-# "an help su,,arise so,e of the dis"ussion above$ As
sho+n at the start of the thesis in ?e"tion 1$2, the +hole thesis is one big "hun- of an idea$ 4ut
ea"h part of the thesis should be a "hun-y part of the +hole thesis, +ith lin-s to other parts$ /or a
start, ea"h chapter should have its o+n role +ithin the thesis su"h as Chapter 2#s identifi"ation of
resear"h issues about +hi"h data is "olle"ted in Chapter &$ =a"h "hapter has section and
subse"tion "hun-s +ith a nu,bering syste, that refle"ts their interrelationships (su"h as &$2,
&$2$1 and &$2$2)$ (hen ea"h subse"tion has "hun-s of paragraphs +ithin it, so,eti,es indi"ated
+ith run'in headings$
Ee@t there are individual paragraphs$ (hese are al,ost al+ays longer than one senten"e and ta-e
up about one third of a page or so$ =a"h paragraph usually have a !lin-er# +ord at the start su"h
as !Ee@t# or !/urther,ore#$ (hese lin-ers at the start of a paragraph lead the e@a,iner fro,
already'digested ideas into a ne+ idea$ =a"h paragraph deals +ith one idea that is introdu"ed and
su,,arised in a the,e senten"e near the start, for the start of a paragraph is a !hot spot# that the
reader +ill nor,ally "on"entrate upon (<indsay 1995)$ /inally, ea"h sentence has one s,all idea,
+ith the ,ost i,portant aspe"t of the senten"e presented at its startC that is, do not +aste the hot
spot at the start of a senten"e on a relatively uni,portant phrase li-e !As sho+n in (able %#,
rather, pla"e these uni,portant phrases at the end of a senten"e after a "o,,a$ ?enten"es also
often have a lin-er +ord at the start su"h as !8o+ever# to guide the reader fro, the -no+n
"ontent of the previous senten"e into the ne+ ,aterial in the senten"e$ Af there is no lin-er, the
reader +ill assu,e the ne+ senten"e leads directly fro, the previous senten"e$ An brief, the thesis
should be a string of "lear "hun-s of ideas$
An e@a,ple +ill illustrate this easily'follo+ed "hun-iness$ Eoti"e in the e@a,ple)
the hierarchy of paragraphs fro, a side heading +ith a nu,ber, through a side heading
+ithout a nu,ber, to a run'on heading that leads into t+o or three paragraphs of te@tC
the headings are Juite long and des"riptive, rather than terse one' or t+o'+ord
announ"e,entsC
some te't follows each heading, for e@a,ple, even though the se"ond side heading "losely
follo+s the first, there is nevertheless so,e te@t bet+een the t+o headingsC
the te't reads as though the headings were not there, that is, the reader "an s-ip the headings
and still not ,iss the argu,entC and
the te't outlines the topics to be covered in each section before going into the details of
12
those topi"s$
8ere is the e@a,ple (adapted fro, 3":insey 199H, p$ H2'H&))
:$% ;)9 so!e <o#nt #n#t#at#=es work and ot)ers do not
5hile there is still ,u"h to learn about 0oint initiatives in Australia, our observations of high'
gro+th fir,s overseas and of Australia#s shipbuilders have provided insights into +hat +or-s and
+hat barriers are still to be over"o,e$
So!e co!!on (eat'res o( s'ccess('l <o#nt #n#t#at#=es
(here appear to be three ne"essary ingredients in su""essful 0oint initiatives) a large and*or
e@panding ,ar-et, and "o,ple,entary interests and s-ill$ Physi"al pro@i,ity ,ay also be
i,portant in 0oint initiatives other than those +ith "usto,ers, suppliers and ;F1 providers$
,are and>or e0.and#n !arket$ (he ,ost su""essful 0oint initiatives a,ong Australia#s high'
gro+th fir,s +ere often in industries +ith large or e@panding ,ar-ets L and for Australia that
,eans e@port ,ar-ets$ A strong e@port orientation "reates a "o,,on fo"us and the sense of a
bigger pie that allo+s partners to +or- together$ (his "o,,on perspe"tive is often absent +hen
fir,s "o,pete for a s,all do,esti" ,ar-et$ (he shipbuilding and do+nstrea, "he,i"al industries
in Australia and abroad provide t+o "ontrasting e@a,ples of this$ Eor+egian shipbuildersK
7n the other hand, the do,esti" fo"us and history of "o,petition a,ong do+nstrea, "he,i"al
fir,s in Australia ,ay help to e@plain their la"- of enthusias, for 0oint initiatives "o,pared +ith
their Eor+egian "ounterpartsK
Co!.le!entar9 #nterests and sk#lls$ Co,ple,entary interests and s-ills see, to be i,portant, if
obvious, ingredients of su""essful 0oint initiatives$ At is not enough to si,ply get together L fir,s
,ust have enough "o,,on ground to be useful to one another$ 8unternet is a good e@a,ple of
ho+ a net+or- of fir,s +ith diverse but "o,ple,entary interests "an be"o,e a for"e for
innovation and gro+thK$
F#nal cons#derat#ons$ (he above "o,,ents about stru"ture and style "orre"tly i,ply that a
thesis +ith its readership of one, t+o or three -no+ledgeable e@a,iners is different fro, a boo-
+hi"h has a very +ide readership a,ong relatively ignorant undergraduate students (1erri"ourt
1992), and fro, shorter "onferen"e papers and 0ournal arti"les +hi"h do not reJuire the burden of
proof and referen"es to broader bodies of -no+ledge reJuired in so,e theses$ ;esear"h students
should be a+are of these differen"es and "ould therefore "onsider "on"entrating on "o,pleting
the thesis before adapting parts of it for other purposes$ 8o+ever, it ,ust be ad,itted that
presenting a paper at a "onferen"e in a "andidature ,ay lead to useful "onta"ts +ith the Dinvisible
"ollege9 (;ogers 19&, p$ 5G) of resear"hers in a field$ As +ell, so,e students have found referees9
"o,,ents on arti"les sub,itted for publi"ation in 0ournals during their "andida"y, have i,proved
the Juality of their thesis9 analysis (and publi"ation has helped the, get a 0ob)$ Eevertheless,
several supervisors suggest that it is preferable to "on"entrate on the spe"ial reJuire,ents of the
thesis and adapt it for publi"ation after the Ph1 has been a+arded or +hile the student has
te,porary thesis D+riter9s blo"-#$
(he thesis +ill have to go through ,any drafts (Nuber'?-erritt F :night 19%)$ (he first draft
+ill be started early in the "andidature, be "rafted after initial ,ind,apping and a tentative table
13
of "ontents of a "hapter and a se"tion, through the Dright9, "reative side of the brain and +ill
e,phasise basi" ideas +ithout ,u"h "on"ern for detail or pre"ise language$ ?upervisors and other
students should be involved in the revie+ of these drafts be"ause resear"h has sho+n that good
resear"hers !reJuire the "ollaboration of others to ,a-e their pro0e"ts +or-, to get the, to
"o,pletion# (/rost F ?tablein 1992, p$ 25&), and that so"ial isolation is the ,ain reason for
+ithdra+ing fro, postgraduate study (Phillips F Conrad 1992)$ 4y the +ay, resear"h has also
sho+n that relying on 0ust one supervisor "an be dangerous (Conrad, Perry F Nuber'?-erritt
1992C Phillips F Conrad 1992)$
Andeed, by fa"ilitating the "reative first drafts of se"tions of a thesis, the relatively visible and
stru"tured !pro"ess# of this paper9s stru"ture allo+s the student to be ,ore "reative and
rigorous +ith the !"ontent# of the thesis than he or she +ould other+ise be$ After the first
rough drafts, later drafts +ill be in"reasingly "rafted through the !left#, analyti"al side of the
brain and e,phasise fine tuning of argu,ents, 0ustifi"ation of positions and further eviden"e
gathering fro, other resear"h literature$
DETAILS OF CHAPTERS AND THEIR SECTIONS
Turning from the general issues of style and structure above to more
recise details of the structure of each section! each chater of a thesis and
its arts are discussed ne"t#

Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Backround to the re!earch
$ection 1#1 outlines the broad %eld of study and then leads into the focus of
the research roblem# This section is short and aims to orient the readers
and gras their attention# &n 'ournal articles! the introduction has four
stages ($)ales 1984*+ establish the overall %eld! summarise revious
research! indicate the research ga! and state the urose of the article
and outline it# ,o)ever! in a thesis! these stages are sread through the
)hole of -hater 1 and arts of -hater 2! rather than in $ection 1#1#
.evertheless! the %rst three stages could be borne in mind )hen
structuring $ection 1#1! )ith the follo)ing $ection 1#2 roviding the fourth
stage# &n grahical form! $ection 1#1 is the triangle sho)n in /igure 2#
0 thesis should be able to reference at least four or %ve )riters in the %rst
one or t)o aragrahs! to demonstrate from the start of the thesis that
care has been ta1en to ac1no)ledge and chart the deth and breadth of
the e"isting body of 1no)ledge# 2ost of the material in $ection 1#1 is
covered in more detail in later sections such as $ection 1#3! and so these
sections )ill have to be referred to and $ection 1#1 is usually only about
one or t)o ages ma"imum# /or this reason! $ection 1#1 is often one of the
last sections of Chapters 1 and 2 to be )ritten#
$ection 1#1 could use either a 3%eld of study4 aroach or a 3historical
revie)4 aroach# /or e"amle! using a %eld of study aroach! $ection 1#1
of a thesis about a %rm5s licensing of technology )ould start )ith
14
comments about international trade and develoment! 0ustralia5s 678! the
role of ne) roduct and rocess develoment in national economic gro)th!
and then have an e"lanation of ho) technology licensing hels a %rm5s
ne) roduct and ne) rocess develoment leading into a sentence about
ho) little research has been done into it#
/igure 2 The trian"e o# Section 1.1 o# Chapter 1
0n alternative to the %eld of study e"amle of the revious aragrah is to
rovide a brief historical revie) of ideas in the %eld! leading u to the
resent# &f this alternative aroach to structuring $ection 1#1 is adoted! it
cannot relace the comrehensive revie) of the literature to be made in
-hater 2! and so numerous references )ill have to be made to -hater 2#
9hile the brief introductory history revie) may be aroriate for a 'ournal
article! $ection 1#1 of a thesis should usually ta1e the %eld of study
aroach illustrated in the aragrah above! to revent reetition of its
oints in -hater 2#
1.$ Re!earch pro%"e&' propo!ition!(re!earch i!!ue! and
contri%ution!
Re!earch pro%"e&. $ection 1#2 outlines the core or one big idea of the
research! starting )ith the research roblem rinted in bold or italics on
age 1 or 2 of the thesis# The research roblem is one or t)o sentences
that cannot be ans)ered 3yes4 or 3no4: it is the broad roblem that the
researcher )ill e"amine more recisely later in the roositions;research
issues;hyotheses and is the roblem romting and lacing a boundary
around the research )ithout secifying )hat 1ind of research is to be done
15
(<mory = -ooer 1991*# 0s >eedy (1989! # 61* notes in his thorough
introduction to )riting research roblems! 3The statement of the research
roblem must imly that! for the resolution of the roblem! thinking on the
part of the researcher )ill be re?uired4# $ometimes there may be sub@
roblems to the ma'or research roblem# <"amles of research roblems in
a master4s thesis )ould be+
,o) and )hy do .e) $outh 9ales and Aueensland rivate sector
managers successfully imlement telemar1eting into their
organisationsB
,o) and )hy do 0ustralian manufacturers select distribution channels
for their e"orts to CaanB
The research roblem in a 8h7 thesis is often more theoretical than the t)o
e"amles from 2aster4s theses above! for a 8h7 research roblem should
not be merely a 3roblem@solving5 one but should 3test out5 the limits of
reviously roosed generalisations (8hillis = 8ugh 1987! # 45*# That is!
DE8h7F research! even )hen narro)ly and tightly de%ned! should be guided
by some e"licit theoretical or concetual frame)or14 and )ithout this! the
thesis becomes a Dmindless ### theoretical )asteland4 (0dams = 9hite 1994!
# 566! 574*# That theoretical frame)or1 )ill be develoed in -hater 2!
but one or t)o of its constructs could be reGected in the research roblem#
<"amles of aroriate 8h7 research roblems are+
# ,o) culturally aroriate is TA2 for 3reconcetualising5 0frican
managementB
# ,o) eHective for strategic mar1eting in the 0ustralian %nance
industry are 8orter5s models of cometition and <uroean models of
net)or1sB
.ote that the constructs referred to in the research roblem are high level
ones and are not the more seci%c constructs develoed for
roositions;research issues at the end of -hater 2 or for hyotheses and
their oerational de%nitions develoed in -hater 3#
9hen formulating the research roblem! its boundaries or delimitations
should be carefully considered! even if these considerations are not made
e"licit in the )ording of the research roblem# &ndeed! it is re?uires
'udgement to decide ho) Ddelimited4 the statement of a research roblem
should be# <"aminers are academics and they )ant academic research to
be diHerent from research done by mere consultants that is very conte"t@
seci%c! for e"amle! develoed for 'ust one %rm# Thus! the research
roblem in a 8h7 thesis that is about the %nance industry in 0ustralia might
be advised to not include D0ustralia4 in the research roblem statement#
The thesis might then simly refer to D0ustralia4 in a sentence after the
research roblem statement! or even leave mention of it to the
delimitations in $ection 1#7# This D'udgement call4 about ho) conte"t@
seci%c the research roblem statement should be! robably deends on
the imortance of the conte"t to the contributions of the thesis# /or
e"amle! if 0ustralia )as merely a research setting in a 8h7 thesis and )as
not e"ected to aHect results much! then it could be left out of the research
roblem statement# ,o)ever! if 7I0 thesis4 contributions )ere based uon
16
its 2alaysian conte"t! then D2alaysia4 should be included in the research
roblem statement# This issue of the conte"t of research is e"lored further
in the discussion of -hater 2 belo)#
&n eHect! the research roblem and the delimitations in the later $ection 1#7
outline the research area! setting boundaries for its generalisability of+
J one broad area of interest! for e"amle! 3telecommunications
mar1eting5! (students might consider ensuring that this area of
interest has its own academic disciline from )hich several
e"aminers could be selected @ a t)o@disciline thesis may roduce
conGicts among e"aminers from diHerent discilines*!
J level of decision ma1ing! for e"amle! directors! managing directors!
senior managers! customers! or ublic olicy analysts!
J rivate or ublic sector organisation!
J industry! for e"amle! transort industry!
J geograhic limits! for e"amle! Aueensland or 0ustralia! and
J time or business cycle limits! for e"amle! in the late 1980s before
the 0ustralian economy entered a recession#
0s1ing the familiar ?uestions of D)ho! D)hat4! D)here4! Dho)4 and D)hy4 (Kin
1989! # 17* may lead the student to)ards lacing these aroriate
boundaries around the research roblem#
0ll the boundaries of the research roblem )ill be e"licit in the research
roblem or in $ection 1#7! ho)ever! all the boundaries should be justifed in
$ection 1#7# &n the e"amle above! restricting the research roblem to
Aueensland and .e) $outh 9ales4 telemar1eting could be based on those
states being more advanced than the rest of 0ustralia# That is! the
boundaries cannot be arbitrary# 9ithin those boundaries! the data and the
conclusions of this 8h7 research should aly: outside those boundaries! it
can be ?uestioned )hether the results )ill aly#
&dentifying the research roblem )ill ta1e some time! and is an e"ercise in
Dgradually reducing uncertainty4 as it is narro)ed and re%ned (8hillis and
8ugh 1987! # 37*# .evertheless! early identi%cation of a reliminary
research roblem focuses research activity and literature searches! and so
is an imortant early art of the 8h7 research ro'ect (Luber@$1erritt =
Mnight 1986*# The &ntroductory .otes on age 1 of these notes outlined
some considerations in choosing a research roblem# 0n e"amle of the
gradual narro)ing of a research roblem is a student5s roblem about the
artners in small 0ustralian architectural ractice )hich initially referred to
3ractice of strategic management5! then to 3designing and imlementing a
strategy5! then to 3imlementing a strategy5 and %nally to 3the rocesses
involved in imlementing a strategy5#
0fter the research roblem is resented! a short aragrah should say ho)
the roblem )ill be solved in the thesis# This ste is necessary because
academic )riting should not be a detective story )ith the solution 1et a
mystery until the end (Iro)n 1995*# 0n e"amle of this aragrah
follo)ing a research roblem statement is (based on ,eide 1994! # 71*+
17
The roblem addressed in this research is+
How can relationships involved in interorganisational governance in
marketing channels be managed?
<ssentially & argue that interorganisational governance is a heterogeneous
henomenon and that diHerent relationshi management strategies are
aroriate under diHerent conditions#
0nother e"amle of a research roblem and its solution in $ection 1#2 is
(based on <isenhardt = Lbarac1i 1992! # 17@18*+
The roblem addressed in this research is+
Which of the three major paradigms best explains strategic decision
making?
& conclude that a strategic decision ma1ers are boundedly rational! that
o)er )ins battles of choice and chance matters# & also roose a ne)
agenda for future research )hich centres on a fe)! 1ey research areas and
oens u research to ne) aradigms#
This oenness right at the beginning of a thesis about the ositions that )ill
be develoed later should also be sho)n in chaters! sections and even in
aragrahs# That is! expectations are created about the intellectual
ositions that )ill be develoed in the chater! section and aragrah (in
the toic sentence of a aragrah*! then those e"ectations are fulflled
and %nally a conclusion confrms that the e"ectations have been met#
Theorie! and i!!ue!(propo!ition!# 0fter the research roblem and a
brief summary of ho) it )ill be solved is resented! $ection 1#2 resents
the ma'or bodies of theory )hich )ill be covered in -hater 2 (in about one
age or so* and then lists the research issues or propositions that )ill be
develoed in -hater 2 to focus later data collection and analysis# The
research roblem above usually refers to decisions: in contrast! the
research issues and roositions usually re?uire information for their
solution# The research issues or roositions are the seci%c ?uestions that
the researcher )ill gather data about in order to satisfactorily solve the
research roblem (<mory = -ooer 1991*#
The research issues or roositions listed after the research roblem in
$ection 1#2 are develoed in -hater 2! so they are little more than merely
listed in $ection 1#2# The section states that they are established in -hater
2 and notes the sections in )hich they aear in that chater#
.ote that early drafts of arts of -haters 1 and 2 are )ritten together
from the start of the candidature! although not necessarily in the order of
their sections (.ightingale 1992*# That is! the ma'or ideas in -haters 1
and 2 should have crystallised in drafts before the research )or1 described
in -hater 3 starts! and the thesis is not left to be 3)ritten u5 after the
research# &t is esecially imortant that -hater 2 is crystallised before the
data collection actually starts! to revent the data collection hase missing
18
imortant data or )asting time on unimortant material# &n other )ords!
the research Dload4 must be identi%ed! sorted out and tied do)n before the
D)agon4 of research methodology begins to roll# 7esite this recaution!
students )ill robably have to continue to re)rite some arts of -haters 1
and 2 to)ards the end of their candidature! as their understanding of the
research area continues to develo#
Contri%ution!. 0s art of the aroach to a thesis not being a detective
story! this $ection 1#2 should also brieGy describe the contributions that
the thesis )ill ma1e in its %nal chater# This descrition should be limited
to less than one or t)o ages# This art could begin )ith D0ns)ering the
research issues rovided contributions that )ill be resented in $ection
5#2# &n summary! this research made seven contributions# /irstly!N4
1.) *u!ti+cation #or the re!earch
<"aminers are concerned that the student has not addressed a trivial
research area# &t is not enough to sho) there are gas in the body of
1no)ledge! they must be important gas (Oaradara'an 1966*# That is! the
research roblem should be imortant on several theoretical and ractical
grounds: for e"amle! a thesis about small businesses could 'ustify its
research roblem through about four oints! starting )ith the theory ga
because that is the ga that most interests an e"aminer before moving on
to demonstrations that the ga is an imortant one (as recommended by
Oaradara'an 1996*+
i relative neglect of the seci%c research roblem by revious
researchers (some of this 'usti%cation )ould refer to -hater 2! for
there is no need to reeat arts of -hater 2 here: ho)ever! -hater
2 deals )ith the nitty gritty of individual research issues )hile this
section should emhasise the whole research roblem and ossibly
conclude )ith some aroriate ?uotes from authorities about the
research roblem*:
ii imortance of small business and;or the imortance of the seci%c
area of the small business disciline being investigated (this
'usti%cation is usually accomanied by a mass of statistical data
sho)ing ho) huge the area of the research roblem is in terms of
constructs such as revenue! emloyment and assets! and often by
authoritative discussions and ?uotations from government
ublications about committees of in?uiry*:
iii relative neglect of the research5s methodologies by revious
researchers ()ith references to -hater 3 being re?uired! )ith an
ac1no)ledgment that the methodology is justifed there and is not
simly used for the sa1e of novelty*: and
iv usefulness of otential alications of the research5s %ndings (this
'usti%cation is based on the researcher5s initial assumtions! in
contrast! $ection 5#4 is a statement of the comleted research5s
usefulness*#
These four sorts of 'usti%cation could also be used to 'ustify a research
roblem in other areas! )ith several aragrahs of $ection 1#3 devoted to
19
each#
1., -ethodo"o.
$ection 1#4 is an introductory overvie) of the methodology! and is laced
here in -hater 1 to satisfy the initial curiosity of the e"aminer# This section
should refer to sections in -haters 2 and 3 )here the methodology is
described and 'usti%ed in far more detail#
That is! this section %rst describes the methodology in general terms!
including a brief! one or t)o aragrah descrition of ma'or statistical
rocesses! for e"amle! of regression# Then the section could refer to
sections in -hater 2 )here methodology is discussed! and ossibly 'ustify
the chosen methodology based uon the urose of the research! and
'ustify not using other techni?ues# /or e"amle! the choice of a mail survey
rather than a telehone survey or case studies should be 'usti%ed#
0lternatively and referably! these 'usti%cations for the methodology used
could be left until the revie) of revious research in -hater 2 and the start
of -hater 3# 7etails of the methodology such the samling frame and the
siPe of the samle are rovided in -hater 3 and not in $ection 1#4#
&n summary! this section merely hels to rovide an overvie) of the
research methodology! and can be erfunctory @ t)o ages )ould be a
ma"imum length# Iecause of the oenness of thesis )riting noted above!
this section should also introduce the data analysis methods as )ell as the
data collection methods and brieGy summarise the %ndings of the data
analysis#
1./ Out"ine o# thi! report
<ach chater is brieGy described in this section# (&ncidentally! the student
must use either Dreort4 or Dthesis4 consistently#*
1.0 De+nition!
7e%nitions adoted by researchers are often not uniform! so 1ey and
controversial terms are de%ned to establish ositions ta1en in the 8h7
research# (The revious sentence could be used to begin this section*# The
term being de%ned should be in italics or in bold! and the format for
resenting each of the de%nitions should be standard# 7e%nitions should
match the underlying assumtions of the research and students may need
to justif some of their de%nitions# The de%nitions )ill underly the data
collection rocedures and so ut boundaries around the %ndings (although
literature using other de%nitions )ill of course be included in the literature
revie)ed in -hater 2*# 0 de%nition of a core construct may be discussed in
deth later at the beginning of -hater 2! and de%ning the construct in this
$ection 1#6 can merely resent the de%nition and refer to the discussion in
-hater 2#
$tudents should try to use de%nitions of authorities )herever ossible! so
that the results of the research can be %tted into the body of literature and
20
so that the thesis can )ithstand attac1s by e"aminers )ith trivial ersonal
references# /or e"amle! <mory and -ooer (1991* could be used as a
standard for research rocedures and terms @ their de%nitions of terms such
as Dconstruct4! Dresearch issue4! Dhyothesis4 and Doerational de%nition4 are
assumed for this aer# 8erhas the student could ma1e some minor
changes to a standard de%nition to ma1e it articularly aroriate to the
thesis: doing this )ill illustrate a critical mind at )or1 )hich is a)are of the
overriding need to solve the research roblem# Custi%cation for some of
these de%nitions might have to refer to the ne"t section about the 'usti%ed
delimitations of the thesis! but do not use de%nitions that restrict the
generalisability of the %ndings too much#
1.1 De"i&itation! o# !cope and ke. a!!u&ption!' 2ith their
3u!ti+cation!
This section 3builds a fence5 around the research %ndings )hich are
additional to the limitations and 1ey assumtions established in the
revious section about de%nitions# /or e"amle! the e"licit boundaries of
the research roblem described in $ection 1#2 above should be noted again
in this section and other boundaries should be clearly e"ressed# Qther
delimitations could be the industries chosen! the locations chosen!
environmental factors! and variables that could not be controlled# &n eHect!
the 3oulation4 about )hich %ndings are to be made! is outlined here# Iy
the )ay! by de%nition! Ddelimitations4 are )ithin the control of the
researcher and Dlimitations4 are not# &n most theses! the limitations caused
seci%cally by the methodological methods chosen are laced in -hater 3
or in $ection 5#6 along )ith any other limitations#
&n this section! the researcher is trying to forestall e"aminers5 criticisms! so
justifcations for these delimitations must be rovided in the section# &t
)ould be )ise to not mention that time and;or resources )ere ma'or
inGuences on these delimitations of the research! for an e"aminer may
thin1 that the student should have chosen a research ro'ect that )as more
aroriate for these obvious limitations of any research# /or e"amle! if
the oulation is restricted to one state rather than a nation! erhas
diHerences bet)een states may be said to have caused 'ust one state to be
selected# .o claims for the conclusions beyond these delimitations )ill be
made! although implications of the %ndings beyond the delimitations may
be made#
&ncidentally! Ddelimitations4 are sometimes called Dlimitations4 in theses and
is common in R$ theses# $trictly sea1ing! limitations are beyond the
researcher5s control )hile delimitations are )ithin his or her control# /or
e"amle! a limitation may be that a very good samling frame could not be
found and a delimitation may be that the research )as restricted to
%nancial services industries because of their secial nature that )as
aroriate to the research# The term of delimitation is suggested here as
referring to the lanned! 'usti%ed scope of the study beyond )hich
generalisation of the results )as not intended#
21
$ome students might li1e to describe the unit of analsis here! for e"amle!
%rm or manager# 9hether it is described here or in -hater 3 is not
imortant! 'ust as long as it is identi%ed and 'usti%ed some)here in the
thesis#
1.4 Conc"u!ion
The %nal aragrah of each chater usually summarises the 1ey
achievements of the chater# $o the conclusion of -hater 1 should read
something li1e+
This chater laid the foundations for the reort# &t introduced the research
roblem and research issues# Then the research )as 'usti%ed! de%nitions
)ere resented! the methodology )as brieGy described and 'usti%ed! the
reort )as outlined! and the limitations )ere given# Qn these foundations!
the reort can roceed )ith a detailed descrition of the research#
Chapter $ Re!earch i!!ue!
The second chater aims to build a theoretical foundation uon )hich the
research is based by revie)ing the relevant literature to identify research
issues )hich are )orth researching because they are controversial and
have not been ans)ered by revious researchers# That is! the literature
revie) is not an end in itself! but is a means to the end of identifying the
)orthy research issues that )ill be listed in the chater5s conclusion and
)ere brieGy introduced to the e"aminer in $ection 1#2# &t is this oint about
the chater being a means to an end that romts its title being DSesearch
issues4 rather than 3>iterature revie)5# &ncidentally! the chater is about the
e"tant literature! so the students5 o)n ideas or oinions have no lace in
this chater! e"cet )here they are used to structure the treatment of the
literature and to create the theoretical frame)or1 at the end of the chater!
and are clearly suorted by authorities! evidence or logic#
The survey of the literature in a thesis should not only concentrate on the
area of the research roblem described in $ection 1#2! for as )ell as
including the research problem theor of the research roblem (for
e"amle! emloyee motivation or customer service*! the literature revie)
should also demonstrate a familiarity )ith some parent theories (for
e"amle! emloyee sychology or services mar1eting*# Rniversity of
Qregon (n#d#* called these t)o tyes of Dtheories4 the arent and
immediate discilines# The authorities 8hillis and 8ugh (1987*
descritively named these t)o tyes of theories as bac1ground and focus
theories! resectively# & refer to combine these t)o sources into the
Darent theory4 and the Dresearch roblem theory4 because Darent4
emhasises that the arent must be relevant to resolving the research
roblem and not any mere bac1ground theory! and Dresearch roblem4
emhasises )hy the theory is a focus of -hater 2! that is! and )hy it is
immediate#
22
Selatedly! 8hillis and 8ugh (1987* said that a student4s research should be
Dtesting out4 research! that is! research )hich tests out the limits of
reviously roosed theories# /or e"amle! theory about mar1eting brands
has almost been comletely based on research about goods: 8h7 research
could test out )hether this goods@based theory alies to services# Irands
and services mar1eting )ould be the arent theories and the research
roblem theory )ould consider them together# 0nother e"amle )ould be
to test out )hether the theory about relationshi mar1eting alies to
cybermar1eting# Ket another e"amle )ould be to test )hether traditional
theory about roduct strategy alies in database mar1eting# Thus this
concet of testing out research is valuable for ensuring ostgraduate
research ma1es a contribution and hels the design of -hater 2#
The research roblem theory should referably relate to one academic
disciline from )hich e"aminers )ill be selected! as noted above# ,o)ever!
there may be more than one arent theory: for e"amle! a thesis
e"amining the research roblem of mar1eting orientation might discuss t)o
arent theories of mar1eting theory and strategic management# &n other
)ords! the literature revie) of a thesis tends to e"tend further beyond the
boundaries of the research roblem than it does in most other tyes of
research# .evertheless! the literature revie) should be focussed and should
not contain theories that are not directly relevant to the research roblem
theory @ these indirectly associated discilines should be relegated to
$ection 5#4 of the thesis as areas for )hich the research has imlications# &n
other )ords! only parent theories needed to develo a theoretical
frame)or1 in the research roblem theory are involved! not uncles! aunts!
or other relatives#
The relationshis bet)een several of the concets above are sho)n in
/igure 3# &n that %gure! the literature revie) covers the arent theories and
the research roblem theory# .ote that the research roblem theory is only
about the research roblem# Qf the total! ossible asects of the research
roblem! only some asects are )ithin the delimited scoe described in
$ection 1#7! but the literature revie)ed about the research roblem theory
usually covers all asects of the research roblem# That is! in /igure 3!
some boundaries of the research roblem are made e"licit in $ection 1#2
and all are made e"licit in $ection 1#7: this diHerence is sho)n by some
but not all of the line around the boundaries of the delimited research
roblem in the %gure being the same as the line around the research
roblem area# 0ll boundaries of the research roblem should have been
'usti%ed in $ection 1#7! as noted above#
/igure 3 also sho)s that some of the literature about the research roblem
theory )ill already rovide some ans)ers to arts of the research roblem!
but it is the gaps of unresearched or controversial arts of the research
roblem about )hich the research )ill collect data# That is! the statements
of the research issues or roositions about these gas are the ultimate
goal of -hater 2! and rovide a focus for the data collection and analysis
23
described in the ne"t t)o chaters#
/igure 3 Re"ation!hip! %et2een the parent theorie! and re!earch
pro%"e& theor.' and %et2een the re!earch pro%"e& and the
re!earch i!!ue! or propo!ition!
C"a!!i+cation &ode"! o# the "iterature re5ie2 and ana".tica" &ode"!
o# the theoretica" #ra&e2ork# $ome 'udgement may be re?uired to
balance the need to focus on the research roblem theory! and the need for
a thesis to sho) familiarity )ith the literature of the arent theories# Qne
)ay of balancing these t)o needs is to develo 3mind mas5 such as a ne)
classifcation model of the body of 1no)ledge sho)ing ho) concets can
be groued or clustered together according to schools of thought or
themes! )ithout necessarily considering relationshis bet)een grous
(/igure 3 is an e"amle*# These concets could be the section headings in
the outline of the chater that should recede the )riting of the chater
(Luber@$1erritt = Mnight 1986*# The ne) classi%cation model )ill begin to
sho) that the student5s literature survey is constructively analytical rather
than merely descritive! for the rigour in a thesis should be redominantly
at the uer levels of Iloom and Mratho)l5s (1956* si"@level hierarchy of
educational ob'ectives# >evels 1! 2 and 3 are mere 1no)ledge!
comrehension and alication that every undergraduate should dislay#
>evels 4! 5 and 6 are analysis! synthesis and evaluation @ the higher@order
s1ills )hich academic e"aminers consider a ostgraduate research student
should develo (<asterby@$mith et al# 1991*#
8resenting a classi%cation model of the sections of the )hole chater in a
24
%gure near the beginning of -hater 2 )ill hel the e"aminers follo) the
se?uence of the chater# Seferring brieGy to the %gure as each ne) grou
of concets is begun to be discussed! )ill hel the e"aminer follo) the
intellectual 'ourney of the chater# &n other )ords! the literature revie) is
not a string of ointless! isolated summaries of the )ritings of others along
the lines of Cones said###$mith saidN6reen saidN Sather! the lin1s bet)een
each )riter and others must be brought out! and the lin1s bet)een each
)riter and the research roblem should also be clear# 9hat the student
says about a )riter is more imortant than a descrition of )hat a )riter
says (>eedy 1993*! and this emhasis is heled by using a brac1eted
reference li1e 3(>eedy 1993*5 in the %rst art of this sentence! rather than
leading )ith the )riter by saying 3>eedy (1993* says###4# That is! the thesis
should not be an annotated bibliograhy li1e an undergraduate )ould )rite
(li1e D$mith (2008* saidN4*: rather! it demonstrates )hat the thesis )riter
thin1s about the ideas that the authors have )ritten about and ho) he or
she has incororated those ideas into his or her o)n thin1ing and
arguments! and then merely cites the author within brackets# &n brief! the
literature revie) is not a te"tboo1 that describes the literature for a
reader )ho 1no)s little about a toic! rather! it is an interesting
rearrangement and synthesis of material )ith )hich the e"aminer should
already be familiar#
0fter the classi%cation models of the arent theories are develoed! the
research roblem theory is e"lored to unearth the research issues or
roositions: these should aear to 3gro)5 out of the discussion as gas in
the body of 1no)ledge are discovered# This research roblem theory of the
literature revie) is clearly diHerent from the arent theory arts! for the
student4s own vie)s come to the fore no)! as he or she constructs a ne)
theoretical frame)or1 )hich has not been develoed reviously in the
literature @ this theoretical frame)or1 is used to develo the roositions or
research issues about the reviously une"lored research roblem theory!
about )hich data )ill be collected in later chaters# The arent theories
)ere merely the points of departure for the main 'ourney of the research!
that is! the develoment of the new theoretical frame)or1 that is the
research roblem theory T )ithin this theory! research issues;roositions
from the theoretical frame)or1 )ill be used to focus data collection#
&ndeed! some thesis )riters refer to ut this research roblem theory into
a chater of its o)n! to clearly demonstrate ho) it diHers from the
some)hat less creative literature revie) of the arent theories#
0 second! more analtical model of core constructs and their relationshis
based on this analysis of the research roblem theory! is develoed as the
te"t describing the theoretical frame)or1 that is created# This analytical
model )ill usually e"licitly consider relationships bet)een concets! and
so there )ill be arro)s bet)een the grous of concets (/igure 1 is an
e"amle*# $e1aran (1992! -hater 3* discusses this model building
rocedure for ?uantitative research# This analytical model is a very
imortant art of -hater 2! for it summarises the theoretical frame)or1
from )hich the roositions or research issues Go) at the end of the
25
chater# $ho)ing aroriate section and subsection numbers on these
models (li1e 2#1! 2#2 and so on* )ill hel referencing of them in the body of
the reort# &n other )ords! a theoretical frame)or1 )ith 'usti%ed variables
and their relationshis that rovides an anchor for the develoment of
research issues;roositions to)ards the end of -hater 2! is essential#
E6a&p"e!# &n brief! -hater 2 revie)s the arent and research roblem
theories! )ith the aims of charting the body of 1no)ledge )ith a summary
model or t)o! sho)ing )here the research roblem %ts into that body of
1no)ledge and then identifying research issues or roositions# These )ill
focus the discussion of later chaters on directions )here further research
is re?uired to ans)er the research roblem! that is! having sections in
-hater 3 and 4 e"licitly related to the roositions or research issues
facilitates the Dseamless4 characteristic of an eHective thesis#
Qf course! each student )ill )rite -hater 2 diHerently because it involves
so much ersonal creativity and understanding and so the chater5s
structure may end u being diHerent from that suggested in these notes#
.evertheless! t)o e"amles of -hater 2 based on the structure might be
useful for beginning research students# .ote ho) s1ilfully the students have
lin1ed their revie)s of the arent and research roblem theories#

The %rst e"amle of ho) to structure -hater 2 is rovided in a 8h7 thesis
)hich had a research roblem about in)ard technology licensing# -hater 2
began by develoing a de%nition of in)ard technology licensing! and then
revie)ed the arent theory of ne) roduct develoment# &n a chronological
discussion of ma'or researchers! the revie) sho)ed a familiarity )ith ma'or
concetual issues in the arent theory of ne) roduct develoment such
as+ aroaches to ne) roduct develoment )hich are alternatives to
in)ard technology licensing! the imortance of ne) roduct develoment!
its ris1iness! and its stages )ith their inGuencing factors# The revie)
ac1no)ledged disagreements bet)een authorities )ithout develoing
research issues or roositions! and established that in)ard technology
licensing )as an interesting art of the arent theory to research!
summarised in a table )hich comared in)ard technology licensing )ith
some other methods of ne) roduct develoment on three criteria! using a
high@medium@lo) scale# 0fter %fteen ages of revie)ing the arent theory!
the chater addressed the research roblem theory of in)ards technology
licensing by revie)ing literature in four grous of inGuencing factors!
summarised in a classi%cation model of the theoretical frame)or1 being
constructed# 0s sections of the chater considered each of these grous!
researchers )ere comared )ith each other and some hyotheses )ere
develoed )here controversy or methodological )ea1nesses e"isted or
research 3gas5 in ossibly interesting areas )ere identi%ed# 8articular
concets and the hyothesised directions of relationshis bet)een them
)ere summarised in a detailed analytical model that gre) out of the earlier
classi%cation model used to structure the literature revie)#
The second e"amle of -hater 25s structure is from a 8h7 thesis )ith a
26
research roblem about the mar1eting of suerannuation services# -hater
2 %rst demonstrated a familiarity )ith the arent theory by tracing the
historical develoment of the term 3service5 so as to develo a de%nition of
the term! but this survey became too big for -hater 2! and so it )as
laced in an aendi" and the main oints summarised in $ection 2#2 of
-hater 2 in )ords and a classi%cation model )ith three ma'or grous! each
having four sub@grous# The research roblem theory )as then identi%ed as
falling into one of the sub@grous of the arent theory! its imortance
con%rmed! and roositions )orthy of further research unearthed as the
chater rogressed through the research roblem theory4s o)n
classi%cation model and develoed an analytical model of the theoretical
frame)or1 being constructed# (&ncidentally! some e"aminers may thin1 too
many aendices indicate the student cannot handle data and information
eUciently! so do not expect e"aminers to read aendices to ass the
thesis# They should be used only to rovide evidence that rocedures or
secondary analyses have been carried out#*
Conte6t o# the re!earch. $ome candidates might thin1 that the conte"t
of the research should also be described in the literature revie)# Iut should
itB /or e"amle! should the economy of Thailand be summarised in the
literature revie) if cases )ere to be collected in that country! or should the
%nancial services industry in 0ustralia be described if a survey )as to be
done in that industry in that countryB &n my o)n oinion! including a
descrition of the conte"t in the literature revie) is re?uired only if the
main contribution of the research deends on this conte"t (this issue )as
introduced in the discussion of the research roblem statement in $ection
1#2*# /or e"amle! consider a student )ho is researching ho) internet
mar1eting communication ()hich )as established in the 9est* is done in
Thailand )ith its diHerent tye of economy and diHerent culture ()here the
toic has not been researched by academics*# That student should resent
a bac1ground to Thailand as one of the arent theories# Iut in a second
e"amle! a student )ho )as researching the eHect of internet mar1eting on
relationshis in the %nancial services industries in 0ustralia )ould not need
to include a descrition of the %nancial services industry in -hater 2# The
reason is that internet mar1eting might be done a bit diHerently in 0ustralia
than the )ay it is the Rnited $tates! but that diHerence is not as imortant
to the research4s contributions as the diHerence bet)een internet and non@
internet mar1eting# &n this second e"amle! the arent theories )ould be
internet mar1eting and relationshi mar1eting! and examples from %nancial
services in 0ustralia )ould be used to illustrate the oints being made in
those arent theories and in the research roblem theory of -hater 2# &n
this second e"amle! a brief descrition of the 0ustralian economy and
internet activity )ithin it could be laced in -hater 2 'ust before the
research roblem theory is resented! or in an aendi"#
Detai"! o# Chapter $. ,aving established the overall rocesses of -hater
2! this discussion can no) turn to more detailed considerations# 2ost ieces
of literature should be included in a summary table )hich covers all or most
of the details belo)# The accomanying te"t does not need to be as
27
detailed unless some of the details are articularly relevant! but the te"t
should nevertheless demonstrate that you have read the understood the
role that each reference has layed in the develoment of the body of
1no)ledge! that is! the contribution to the body of 1no)ledge that is
relevant to the research problem ! ho) it comares and contrast )ith the
ositions develoed by other researchers#

The details in a table should cover all or most of+
J toics covered! including the year! the industry! the country and;or
region! and the sub'ects in the research (for e"amle! managing
directors or middle managers*!
J survey and statistical methodologies used!
J %ndings! and
J limitations and roblems of the research! for e"amle! )as the data
collection or its analysis aroriateB
&n brief! roviding a concise descrition of the research toics and
methodologies underlying %ndings reached by )riters )ill rovide a basis
for the students4 vie) of the value of their %ndings to the body of
1no)ledge! )ill remind the e"aminer of the research involved! and )ill hel
the student to carefully chart the boundaries of the body of 1no)ledge#
(&ncidentally! it is courteous to reference as many ublications as ossible
of li1ely e"aminers#*
Rseful guides to ho) contributions to a body of 1no)ledge can be assessed
and clustered into grous for classi%cation and analytical models are many
articles in each issue of "he #cadem of $anagement %eview! the
literature revie) arts of articles in the initial overvie) section of ma'or
articles in "he #cadem of $anagement &ournal and other restigious
academic 'ournals! and the chairerson5s summing u of various aers
resented at a conference# ,eide (1994* rovides an e"amle of a very
analytical treatment of t)o arent theories and one research roblem
theory! and >eedy (1993! # 88@95* rovides a thorough guide to collecting
sources and )riting a literature revie)# /inally! -ooer (1989* discusses
sources of literature and suggests that 1ey)ords and databases be
identi%ed in the thesis to imrove the validity and reliability of a literature
revie)#
&f a ?uotation from a )riter is being laced in the literature revie) or
else)here in the thesis! the ?uotation should be receded by a brief
descrition of )hat the student erceives the )riter is saying# /or e"amle!
the indirect descrition receding a ?uotation might be+ DLuber@$1erritt and
Mnight (1986! # 93* list three bene%ts of having a research roblem to
guide research activities+N4 $uch an indirect descrition or recis receding
?uotations demonstrate that the student understands the imortance of
the ?uotation and that his or her o)n ideas are in control of the shae of
the revie) of the literature# 2oreover! ?uotations should not be too long!
unless they are esecially valuable: the student is e"ected to precis long
slabs of material in the literature! rather than ?uote them @ after all! the
student is suosed to be )riting the thesis# /or this reason! one suervisor
28
& 1no) insists on students 1eeing ?uotations to less than three )ords#

Seferences in -hater 2 should include some old! relevant references to
sho) that the student is a)are of the develoment of the research area!
but the chater must also include recent )ritings @ having only old
references generally indicates a )orn@out research roblem# Qld references
that have made suggestions )hich have not been subse?uently researched
might be )orth detailed discussion! but )hy have the suggestions not been
researched in the astB
&ncidentally! having numbers in the headings of each section and
subsections of the thesis! as sho)n in Table 1! )ill also hel to ma1e the
large thesis aear organised and facilitate cross@referencing bet)een
sections and subsections# ,o)ever! some suervisors may refer a student
to use headings )ithout numbers! because articles in 'ournals do not have
headings )ith numbers# Iut articles are far shorter than theses! and so &
refer to include an e"licit s1eleton in the form of numbered sections and
subsections to carry the e"tra )eight of a thesis#
E6p"orator.(theor. %ui"din re!earch and re!earch i!!ue!. &f the
research is explorator'theor building and uses a ?ualitative research
rocedure such as case studies or action research! then the literature
revie) in -hater 2 )ill unearth research issues or (uestions that )ill be
the focus of the data collection described in later chaters and ans)ered in
-hater 4# (<ssentially! e"loratory research is ?ualitative and as1s 3)hat
are the variables involvedB5: in contrast! e"lanatory research is
?uantitative and as1s 3 )hat are the recise relationshis bet)een
variablesB5 <asterby@$mith et al# (1991* distinguish bet)een ?ualitative and
?uantitative methodologies in management research! in detail#* Sesearch
issues or ?uestions as1 about 3)hat5! 3)ho5 and 3)here5! for e"amle! and
so are not ans)ered )ith a 3yes5 or a 3no5! but )ith a descrition or
discussion# /or e"amle! a research issue might be stated as+
,o) and )hy are conGicts bet)een o)ners and managers )hich are
resolved in the board of directors of a big business! resolved in a
small rofessional ractice )ithout a board of directorsB
D8ure4 e"loratory research or induction )hich does not use research issues
develoed in -hater 2 to guide data collection! is not aroriate for 8h7
research because a body of 1no)ledge (the core of a 8h7* is not the
foundation for that 1ind of research (8hillis = 8ugh 1994: 8erry = -oote
1994: 8erry 1998b*# &ndeed! 8hillis and 8ugh (1994! # 52* assert that ure
e"loratory research is less li1ely to roduce a contribution to 1no)ledge
than the testing out research recommended in this aer# .evertheless! the
e"loratory research issues suggested above should sulement and not
dislace the sub'ects5 o)n meanings and interretations during the
(ualitative research methodologies often used in e"loratory research# That
is! they rovide an indication of areas of interest but should not be the only
areas discussed during an intervie)# /or e"amle! an intervie) should
begin )ith trying to discover the intervie)ee5s own meanings and
29
sub'ective understandings! and the research issues should only be raised as
robes to)ards the end of the intervie) if their toics have not been
discussed in the earlier unstructured discussion (8erry = -oote 1994: 8erry
1998b: 8atton 1992*#
Iy the )ay! the )ord Dho)4 in an e"loratory research issues does not
mean that an e"eriment is re?uired to establish a direct cause and eHect
lin1 bet)een 0 and I# &n social science research! such lin1s are very hard to
establish and so e"loratory research searches for causal tendencies or
generative mechanism that suggest a causal relationshi only in some
limited conte"ts (8erry! Seige and Iro)n 1998*# 0s )ell! as noted earlier!
the %rst erson may be used in -hater 3 of e"loratory research theses
)hen describing )hat the researcher actually did: similarly! many
?uotations from intervie)ees should be used in -hater 4 to illustrate
%ndings#
E6p"anator.(theor. te!tin re!earch and propo!ition!. Qn the other
hand! if the research is explanator'theor testing and so refers to ?ueries
about 3ho)5 or 3)hy5 and uses some (uantitative research methodology
often used in e"lanatory research such as regression analysis of survey
data! then -hater 2 unearths testable roositions that can be ans)ered
)ith a Dyes4or Dno4 )ith a recise ans)er to ?uestions about Dho) many4 or
D)hat roortion4 (<mory = -ooer 1991*# That is! research issues in
e"loratory;theory building research are oen and re?uire words as data to
ans)er! and roositions in e"lanatory;theory testing research are closed
and re?uire numbers as data to solve# /or e"amle! a roosition might be
resented as a ?uestion that can be ans)ered Dyes4 or 3no5 through
statistical testing of measured constructs such as+
7oes the number of successful telemar1eting calls correlate )ith the
level of secialisation of telemar1eting reresentativesB
<ach construct in the roosition (for e"amle! Dsecialisation of
telemar1eting reresentatives4* must be caable of being measured:
precisel ho) the instruments )ere designed to measure the constructs is
described later in -hater 3# That is! oerational de%nitions of the
constructs develoed for roositions are not divulged until -hater 3! that
is! the statistical form of a hyothesis involving null and alternative
hyotheses about means! distributions or correlation coeUcients! for
e"amle! is not resented until -haters 3 and 4# &ndeed! this distinction
bet)een hyotheses about constructs in -hater 2 and hyotheses about
oulation statistics in -hater 3 can be confusing# Thus )e have chosen to
refer to -hater 25s focii for data collection and analysis as roositions and
restrict the term hpothesis to the associated and similarly numbered
statistical forms develoed in -hater 3) after oerational de%nitions of
constructs identi%ed in -hater 2 have been constructed to allo) the
constructs in the roositions to be ut into the detailed form re?uired for a
hyothesis that can be directly tested statistically )ith survey data# &n
-hater 3! the direct lin1s bet)een the roositions and the hyotheses
should be made e"licit in the te"t and in a table# $ome candidates and
30
their suervisors may refer to not ma1e this distinction bet)een
roositions and hyotheses if the diHerences are small#
&n some 8h7 research! there may be a mi" of ?ualitative research issues
and ?uantitative hyotheses! and a case study methodology can combine
both in either e"loratory and e"lanatory research (Kin 1989*# 6enerally
sea1ing! the total number of research issues and;or roositions should
not e"ceed about four or %ve or so: if there are more! suUcient analysis
may not be done on each )ithin the sace constraints of a 8h7 thesis#
9hether research issues or roositions are used! they should be resented
in the )ay that informed 'udges accet as being most li1ely# /or e"amle!
the roosition that 3smo1ing causes cancer5 is referred to 3smo1ing does
not cause cancer5# The transformation of the roositions into statistical
null and alternate hyotheses ()here the null hyothesis al)ays refers to a
Dno diHerence4 situation! for e"amle! that Dsmo1ing does not cause
cancer4* is left until -hater 3#
The research issues or roositions develoed during -hater 2 could be
develoed in a relationshi theory section to)ards the end of the chater!
or they could be resented throughout the chater as the literature survey
unearths areas that re?uire researching# 9herever they are resented! they
should aear to Dgro) out4 of the revie)! even though the student may
have decided on them long before )hile )riting very early drafts of the
chater# That is! the develoment of the research issues or roositions
should ma1e it clear that ideas from the arent theories have laid the
ground)or1 for their develoment by referring to relevant ideas and gas
in the literatures! and ma1e it clear that they are gas that this research
)ill %ll#
9hen %rst resented in -hater 2! the research issues or roositions
should be numbered and indented in bold or italics# The concluding section
of -hater 2 should have a summary list of the research issues or
roositions develoed earlier in the chater#
/igure 4 summarises the lin1s bet)een the research roblem! the arent
and immediate theories and the research issues;roositions that )ere
develoed above# .ote that the %gure clearly sho)s the lin1 bet)een the
research roblem and the theory that is the focus of its solution#
/igure 4 The "ink %et2een the re!earch pro%"e& and the theoretica"
#ra&e2ork de5e"oped in the re!earch pro%"e& theor. to !o"5e it'
and the parent theorie! and the re!earch i!!ue!(propo!ition!
Sesearch roblem
8arent theory 1 8arent theory 2
31
Sesearch roblem theory )ith the theoretical frame)or1
Sesearch issues;roositions develoed from
the theoretical frame)or1 to focus data collection
&n brief! -hater 2 identi%es and revie)s the concetual;theoretical
dimensions of the literature and discovers research issues or roositions
from a ne) theoretical frame)or1 that are )orth researching in later
chaters#
Chapter ) -ethodo"o.
-hater 3 describes the ma'or methodology used to collect the data )hich
)ill be used to ans)er the hyotheses# &n some theses! several methods
may be used because 3increasingly authors and researchers )ho )or1 in
organisations and )ith managers argue that one should attemt to mi"
methods to some e"tent! because it rovides more ersectives on the
henomena being studied5 (<asterby@$mith 1991! # 31* and the same
osition is recommended in 8h7 theses by 6able (1994*# Iut )ithin the
time and other resource constraints of most theses! & consider that there
)ill usually be only one major methodology )hich suits the research
roblem and associated research gas uncovered in -hater 2# Qther
methodologies )ould be used in a secondar role to hel formulate
research issues (for e"amle! some intervie)s to hel design a survey5s
?uestionnaire could be described in -hater 2 if they hel in formulating
roositions or in -hater 3 if they hel in develoing the oerational
de%nitions of constructs* or to slightly e"tend or generalise the %ndings of
the main method (for e"amle! some intervie)s to con%rm an une"ected
result )hich could be described in -hater 4 or 5*# $o -hater 3 usually
centres on the ma'or methodology of the research! although the same
considerations might be brieGy mentioned )hen discussing any secondary
methodologies#
Le5e" o# detai" in Chapter )# -hater 3 about data collection must be
)ritten so another trained researcher could relicate the research# That is!
there must be enough detail for Da reasonably 1no)ledgeable colleague4 to
reeat the data collection and analysis (>indsay 1995! #14*# Iut there is a
second consideration involved in deciding ho) much detail to ut in the
chater @ the candidate must also sho) the e"aminer that he or she
understands the methodology# The candidate can assume that the
e"aminer has a good undergraduate training in the methodology and t)o
to three years research e"erience (Iro)n 1996! # 49*! but the examiner
cannot assume that about the candidate* Thus students )ill have to
rovide enough detail to sho) the e"aminer that the student also 1no)s
the body of 1no)ledge about the methodology and its rocedures! even if it
is in only a coule of sentences )ith references# &f the techni?ues are
advanced ones li1e structural e?uation modelling )hich are only covered in
32
ostgraduate courses! one or t)o of the e"aminers may have to be
Dbrought u to steam4 on the techni?ue and so more material )ill be
necessary to cover more details of the techni?ue and )hy they )ere used!
than )hen a basic techni?ue is being used#
That is! e"aminers need to be assured that all critical rocedures and
rocesses have been follo)ed# /or e"amle! a thesis using regression as
the rime methodology should include details of the ilot study! handling of
resonse bias and tests for assumtions of regression# 0 thesis using factor
analysis )ould cover reliminary tests such as Iartlett5s and scree tests
and discuss core issues such as the samle siPe and method of rotation# 0
thesis using a survey )ould discuss the usual core stes of oulation!
samling frame! samle design! samle siPe and so on in order (7avis =
-osenPa 1993! # 221*
&n addition to critical rocedures and rocesses! students must sho)
familiarity )ith controversies and ositions ta1en by authorities# That is!
students must sho) familiarity )ith the body of 1no)ledge about the
methodology! 'ust as they did )ith the bodies of 1no)ledge in -hater 2#
&ndeed! 8hillis and 8ugh (1987* e?uate the body of 1no)ledge about the
methodology )ith the body of 1no)ledge about the bac1ground and focal
theories of -hater 2! calling the former the 3data theory5# 0n e"amle of
this familiarity for students using a ?ualitative methodology )ould be an
a)areness of ho) validity and reliability are vie)ed in ?ualitative research!
in a discussion of ho) the ideas in <asterby@$mith et al# (1991! # 40@41*
and >incoln and 6uba (1985! -hater 11* )ere used in the research#
/amiliarity )ith this body of 1no)ledge can often be demonstrated )hen
the methodology is justifed and )hen research rocedures are described
and justifed! rather than in a big section about the body of 1no)ledge on
its o)n# /or e"amle! roviding details of the telehone survey used for the
research is inade?uate! for the advantages and disadvantages of other
tyes of surveys must also be discussed and the choice of a telehone
survey 'usti%ed (7avis = -osenPa 1993! # 287*# 0nother e"amle )ould be
to sho) a)areness of the controversy about )hether a >i1ert scale is
interval or merely ordinal (.e)man 1994! # 153! 167* and 'ustify
adotion of interval scales by reference to authorities li1e a student )ho
said+
0 number of reasons account for this use of >i1ert scales# /irst! these scales
have been found to communicate interval roerties to the resondent! and
therefore roduce data that can be assumed to be intervally scaled (2adsen
1989: $chertPer = Mernan 1985*# $econd! in the mar1eting literature >i1ert
scales are almost al)ays treated as interval scales (for e"amle! Mohli
1989*#
Ket another e"amle )ould be to sho) a)areness of the controversy about
the number of oints in a >i1ert scale by referring to authorities5 discussions
of the issue! li1e 0rmstrong (1985! # 105* and .e)man (1994! # 153*#
33
This issue of ho) much detail and )hat detail to ut into the methodology
chater is not a clear cut one# The student has to steer a %ne line bet)een
giving the e"aminers a Dtutorial4 about the methodology ()hich the
e"aminers de%nitely do not need for the reasons noted above*! and merely
telling the story of )hat )as done to collect the data and analyse it# That is!
the thesis )riter has to demonstrate research training and 'ustify the stes
underta1en but )ithout boring the e"aminer# Qne )ay to steer the %ne line
is to fre?uently reference literature about the methodology and to describe
)hat )as done in the order and using the language of that literature# The
follo)ing e"amle sho)s ho) this could be done# The sentences are )ritten
in the ast tense but clearly demonstrate that the )riter is familiar )ith the
methodology literature that is lavishly referenced+
(he fourth issue about this resear"h design "on"erned sa,ple design$ ?a,ple design involved the
sele"tion of a te"hniJue to "hoose ele,ents fro, the population of interest and involved the "hoi"e
of either probability or non'probability design ( =,ory F Cooper 1991C /raIer F <a+ley 2000)$
1eter,ination of sa,ple design follo+ed five steps synthesised fro, the literature that are
dis"ussed ne@t (3alhotra et al$ 199%C ?,ith 2000C ;ubin 199%)
The student must not only sho) that he or she 1no)s the aroriate body
of 1no)ledge about rocedures as noted above! but must also rovide
some evidence that the rocedures have been follo)ed# /or e"amle! dates
of intervie)s or survey mailings should be rovided# 0endices to the
thesis should contain coies of instruments used and instruments referred
to! and some e"amles of comuter rintouts: ho)ever! )ell constructed
tables of results in -hater 4 should be ade?uate for the reader to
determine correctness of analysis! and so all comuter rintouts do not
need to be in the aendices (although they should be 1et by the student
'ust in case the e"aminer as1s for them*# .ote that aendices should
contain all information to )hich an intensely interested reader needs to
refer: a careful e"aminer should not be e"ected to go to a library or )rite
to the student5s university to chec1 oints#
7etails of the methodology are re?uired )hether a ?ualitative or
?uantitative research methodology is used (Kin 1989*# &ndeed! a ?ualitative
thesis may contain even more details than a ?uantitative one! for a
?ualitative researcher may inGuence sub'ects more @ for e"amle! ho)
sub'ects )ere chosen! ho) they ans)ered! and ho) notes and;or
recordings )ere used# 2oreover! the student should occasionally use D&4 in
the methodology chater )hen a ?ualitative methodology is used in thesis!
to describe )hat he or she actually did in the %eld! so as to reGect an
a)areness that the researcher cannot be indeendent of the %eld data# &n
deed! erhas a ?ualitative researcher could brieGy describe themselves in
the validity and reliability section of this chater! as a )ay of trying to
ma1e themselves and the reader a)are of values that may bias their
%ndings# /or e"amle! one researcher )rote (8ettigre) 1999! # 151*+
At the ti,e of the data "olle"tion, the resear"her +as self'des"ribed as a +hite, Australian, late'
t+enties, ,iddle "lass, non'beer drin-ing, non's,o-ing, tertiary'Jualified, ,arried fe,ale$
Eu,erous pre"on"eptions "a,e along +ith these "hara"teristi"s$
34
&ncidentally! & thin1 that as rough rules of thumb! 8h7 research re?uires at
least 350 resondents in a ?uantitative survey or at least 35 to 45
intervie)s in four to t)elve ?ualitative case studies# ,onours research
re?uires about 50 to 100 resondents in a survey! or at least four to %ve
intervie)s! in four to %ve case studies# 2aster4s research )ill be bet)een
these t)o limits#
A riorou! &ethodo"o.# &n brief! -hater 3 describes the methodology
adoted (for e"amle! a mail survey and a articular need for achievement
instrument*! in a far more detailed )ay than in the introductory descrition
of $ection 1#5# The operational defnitions of constructs used in
?uestionnaires or intervie)s to measure an hyothesised relationshi )ill
be described and 'usti%ed! for e"amle! ho) an interval scale )as devised
for the ?uestionnaire# .ote that some authorities consider that 8h7
research should rarely use a reviously develoed instrument in a ne)
alication )ithout e"tensive 'usti%cation @ they )ould argue that an old
instrument in a ne) alication is merely 2aster5s level )or1 and is not
aroriate for 8h7 )or1# ,o)ever! often parts of the 8h7 instrument
could have been develoed by authorities (for e"amle! a need for
achievement instrument*! but those arts must still be 'usti%ed through
revious studies of reliability and validity and;or be iloted to the 8h7
student5s re?uirements in order to assess their reliability and validity! and
alternatives must be carefully considered and re'ected# 0ny revisions to the
authority5s instrument must be identi%ed and 'usti%ed# 0lternatively! multi@
item measures could be develoed for constructs that have been
reviously measured )ith a single item! to increase reliability and validity# &t
can be argued that an old instrument in a ne) alication )ill be an
original investigation! and so a ne) or artly@ne) instrument is not an
absolute necessity for 8h7 research (8hillis! <# 1992! ers# comm#*#
.evertheless! others recommend some ?ualitative ilot studies before an
old instrument is used @ they )ill con%rm its aroriateness and may
suggest additional ?uestions that hel develo ne) ideas for the thesis!
thus reducing the ris1 that an e"aminer )ill disarove of the thesis#
>et us turn to more recise details of -hater 3# The chater should have
searate sections to cover+
J justifcation for the methodolog in terms of the research roblem
and the literature revie)! for e"amle! a ?ualitative methodology
re?uires a research roblem involving eole5s constructions of
meanings )hich have not reviously been e"lored (,assard 1990* @
Kin (1989! # 17* has a table )hich might hel in )riting about this:
incidentally! recent theses are sho)ing an a)areness of the strengths
and )ea1nesses of the ositivist and henomological paradigms as a
basis for discussing choice of methodology (8hillis = 8ugh 1987! #
55: Qrli1o)s1i = Iaroudi 1991: <asterby@$mith et al# 1991! # 22@32:
8atton 1992! # 1@63: .e)man 1994! -hater 4: 8erry = -oote 1994:
8erry 1998b: 6uba = >incoln 1994*: Table 2 summarises these
considerations:
35
J the unit of analsis and sub'ects or sources of data! for e"amle!
e"licit reference to stes such as deciding the oulation! the
samling frame and the samle! and the samle siPe: for case study
research! these are discussed in 8erry = -oote (1994* and 8erry
(1998b*:
J instruments or rocedures used to collect data! including ho) the
dependent variable )as measured! details of ilot studies and e"licit
concern about seci%c rocedures used to handle internal and
e"ternal validity (as in Kin 1989! # 41: 8ar1he 1993! # 260@261 and @
for ?ualitative research @ >incoln = 6uba 1985! # 290@294*: note
that the boundaries of e"ternal validity )ere implicitl addressed in
$ections 1#2! 1#6 and 1#7:
J administration of instruments or rocedures (for e"amle! )hen!
)here and )ho! non@resonse bias ()hich is a ver imortant issue
and is discussed in 0rmstrong = Qverton (1977**! resonse rates!
dates and rotocols of intervie)s (Kin 1989**! so that the research is
reliable! that is! it could be reeated:
J limitations of the methodology if they )ere not e"licitly discussed in
$ection 1#7! for e"amle! ractical limitations on the samling frame
or siPe of ?uestionnaire in survey research might be clari%ed and
'usti%ed (for e"amle! some tyes of resondents might have been
missed because of their religious beliefs*! and 8ar1he (1993! # 255*
discusses some ossible limitations of the case study methodology
)hich should have been addressed in a thesis:
J any secial or unusual treatments of data before it )as analysed (for
e"amle! secial scoring of ans)ers to a survey ?uestion*:
J evidence that the assumptions of analytical techni?ues )ere met! for
e"amle!
that the samle siPes )ere large enough and assumtions of
normality )ere tested for (,air at al# (1995* clearly discusses these
assumtions for each multivaraite techni?ue*:
validity and reliability issues and ho) they )ere addressed: in
?ualitative research! these issues )ill be discussed in the )ay
formulated in >incoln and 6uba (1986*:
J comuter rograms used to analyse the data! )ith 'usti%cations for
their use (for
e"amle! )hy chis?uare )as used instead of a 9ilco"on test* @ this
may re?uire a brief descrition of the tye of data and some
aroriate references )here similar rocedures had been used in
similar circumstances: and
J ethical issues#
&n addition to the above! -hater 3 should sho) that other variables that
might inGuence results )ere controlled in the research design (and so held
at one or t)o set levels* or roerly measured for later inclusion in
statistical analyses (for e"amle! as a variable in regression analysis*# This
oint is a very imortant consideration for e"aminers#
36
Table 2 A!pect! o# a uni+ed the!i!
Aualitative research Auantitative research
Sesearch roblem+
ho)B )hyB
Sesearch roblem+
)ho (ho) many*B
)hat (ho) much*B
>iterature revie)+
e"loratory @ )hat are the variables
involvedB
constructs are messy
research issues are develoed
>iterature revie)+
e"lanatory @ )hat are the
relationshis bet)een the variables
)hich have been reviously
identi%ed and measuredB
hyotheses are develoed
8aradigm+
critical realism;interretive
8aradigm+
ositivist
2ethodology+
for e"amle! case study research or
action research
2ethodology+
for e"amle! survey or e"eriment
To fully demonstrate cometence in research rocedures! the statistical
forms of hyotheses could be e"licitly develoed and 'usti%ed in a thesis!
even though such recision is often not re?uired in far shorter 'ournal
articles describing similar research# $e1aran (1992! # 79@84* rovides an
introduction to ho) this hyothesis develoment is done# $ome students
are confused bet)een these statistical hyotheses and the more abstract
roositions develoed to)ards the end of a literature revie)# The
roositions are framed in the form with which most experts would agree)
for e"amle! that smo1ing causes cancer# &n contrast! the statistical
hyotheses develoed in -haters 3 or 4 are in a form that is directly ready
for statistical testing and have a format of a formal null hyothesis of +ero
di,erence! for e"amle! that there is no association bet)een smo1ing and
cancer! and an alternative hyothesis of some diHerence# The null and the
37
alternative hyotheses could be either directional or not# 0 directional
hyothesis )ill re?uire diHerent forms of statistical tests of signi%cance than
a non@directional hyothesis: for e"amle! the use of a directional
hyothesis allo)s a one@tailed test of signi%cance#
The enultimate section of -hater 3 should cover ethical considerations of
the research# <mory and -ooer (1991*! <asterby@$mith et al# (1991*!
8atton (1992*! >incoln and 6uba (1986* and .e)man (1994! -hater 18*
describe some issues )hich the student may consider addressing# 0
student may li1e to include in aendices the comleted forms re?uired for
0ustralian Sesearch -ouncil (0S-* grant alications and reorts @ his or her
university5s Sesearch QUce )ill have coies of these# Iy the )ay! it is an
ethical osition of theses that the )riter has veri%ed that a reference does
actually say )hat the thesis says it does# /or e"amle! if a thesis says
$mith (1995* referred to the samle siPe for a multivariate techni?ue! the
student must have read $mith4s article! or at the very least read an
abstract )hich clearly con%rms that $mith did discuss samle siPes in the
)ay the student says $mith did# The %nal section is the conclusion#
&n summary! )riting -hater 3 is analogous to an accountant laying an
Daudit trail4 @ the student should treat the e"aminer as an accountant treats
an auditor! sho)ing he or she 1no)s and can 'ustify the correct rocedures
and roviding evidence that they have been follo)ed#
Chapter , Ana".!i! o# data
-hater 4 resents atterns of results and analyses them for their
relevance to the research issues or roositions;hyotheses# /re?uent
summar tables and %gures of results are essential! so that readers can
easily see atterns in the mass of data resented in this chater# Tables of
statistical data are resented in ?uantitative research and matrices are
used in ?ualitative research (2iles = ,uberman 1985*# Iut note that an
e@a,iner should not have to loo- at tables and figures to be able follo+ your argu,ents$ Af
there is an i,portant point in a table or figure, you have to in"orporate it into your te@t L the
e@a,iner should not have to do your work by ferreting for points in tables and figures$ (hat is,
an e@a,iner should be able to pass a thesis +ithout having to loo- at any of its tables or
figures, if he or she is in a hurry$ ?i,ilarly, tables and figures should be able to be read
so,e+hat independently of the te@t, so ensure the titles of tables and figures are rather long
and self'e@planatory, and any sy,bols in a table are e@plained in a note to the table$ (hat is, a
table should be understood by so,eone +ho has not read the te@t$ 4y the +ay, a table has
ro+s and "olu,ns and a figure does not$
This -hater 4 should be clearly organised# The introduction has the normal
lin1 to the revious chater! chater ob'ective and outline! but often also
has basic! justifed assumtions li1e signi%cance levels used and )hether
one or t)o tailed tests )ere used: for e"amle+
$igni%cance of test results is reorted in the three )ays suggested by
-oolican (1990! # 174*! based on the robability level+
J 3signi%cant5+ 0#05 V W 0#01:
38
J 3highly signi%cant5+ 0#01 V W 0#001: and
J 3very highly signi%cant5+ 0#001 V #
0ll robabilities reorted are based on t)o@tailed tests as each comarison
had t)o ossible directions#
.ote that some statisticians refer to not accept the null hyothesis 'ust
because it is not rejected (because the tye && error involved in accetance
is not 1no)n! although the Tye & error involved in re'ection is*! hence the
practical imlications of a statistical test involving no signi%cant diHerence
bet)een test statistics must be made e"licit from the statistically
e"ressed result! that is! it should not be not confused )ith the statistical
result# 0n e"amle of this searation of statistical and ractical meanings of
statistical test is sho)n belo)#
The introduction of -hater 4 may be diHerent from introductions of other
chaters because it refers to the follo)ing chater as )ell as the receding
chater! for -hater 5 )ill discuss the %ndings of -hater 4 )ithin the
conte"t of the literature# 9ithout this )arning! an e"aminer may )onder
)hy some of the imlications of the results are not dra)n out in -hater 4#
-hater 4 should be restricted to resentation and analysis of the collected
data! )ithout dra)ing general conclusions or comaring results to those of
other researchers )ho )ere discussed in -hater 2# That is! although
-hater 4 may contain references to the literature about methodologies! it
should not contain references to other literature# &f the chater also
includes references to other research! the more comlete discussion of
-hater 5 )ill be undesirably reetitive and confused# &n any case! it is
traditional in science to searate the results from the discussion of their
signi%cance! to reserve ob'ectivity# DTo ?ualify each result! or grou of
results! )ith comments and comarisons gives the strong imression that
you are trying to inGuence the ob'ective 'udgment of the reader#4 (>indsay
1995! # 17*
0fter the introduction! descritive data about the sub'ects is usually
rovided! for e"amle! their gender or industry in survey research! or a
brief descrition of case study organisations in case study research# This
descrition hels to assure the e"aminer that the student has a Dgood feel4
for the data! that is! they 1no) good researchers have to Dhandle their o)n
rats4 (/rost = $tablein 1992! # 271*#
Then the data for each research issue or roosition is usually resented! in
the same order as they )ere resented in -haters 2 and 3 and )ill be in
$ections 5#2 and 5#3# $tructuring the data analysis around the research
issues or roositions; hyotheses )ill ensure the student does not ma1e
the mista1e of falling in love the data (Iro)n 1996* and tell the reader ho)
beautiful all the data is T the data analysis must focus only on solving the
research roblem by loo1ing at each research issue or hyothesis in turn#
$ensitivity analyses of %ndings to ossible errors in data (for e"amle!
ordinal rather than assumed interval scales* should be included# &f
?ualitative research is being done! an additional section could be rovided
39
for data that )as collected that does not %t into the research issue
categories develoed in the literature revie) of -hater 2#
.ote that the -hater 4 structure suggested in the t)o aragrahs above
does not include tests for resonse bias or tests of the assumtions of
regression or similar statistical rocedures# $ome students may li1e to
include them in -hater 4! but they could discussed in -hater 3 for they
refer rimarily to the methodology rather than to the data analysis )hich
)ill be directly used to test research issues or hyotheses#
&n -hater 4! the data should not be merely resented and the examiner
e"ected to analyse it# Qne )ay of ensuring ade?uate analysis is done by
the student is to have interretive )ords describing the data follo)ed by
numbers laced in brac1ets! for e"amle! Dmost survey resondents (69
ercent*N4 /or the same reason! test statistics! degrees of freedom or
samle siPe (to allo) the e"aminer to chec1 test statistics details in tables!
if he or she )ishes* and values should be e"lained in )ords that sho)
the student 1no)s )hat they mean! follo)ed by their values laced in
brac1ets# 0n e"amle of an aroriate analysis is+
Auestion 9 e"lored attitudes to roduct ?uality and resondent5s ans)ers
are summarised in Table 4#6# 2ost resondents (59#2 ercent* agreed that
the roduct ?uality )as imortant! but a siPeable minority (27#8 ercent*
had no vie) about roduct ?uality @ a some)hat surrising %nding )hich )ill
also be discussed )ithin the conte"t of the literature in $ection 5#4#3### 0 t@
test )as used to discern the relationshi bet)een attitudes to roduct
?uality and rice ($ection 4#9*! because both )ere measured )ith an
interval scale# .o signi%cant diHerence bet)een the means of attitudes to
the t)o variables )as found (t X 1#56! dof X 23! 25: X 0#35*# 0 ractical
imlication of this %nding is that the shoers considered roduct ?uality
and rice searately#
2ost researchers in reutable 'ournals do not rovide recise values )hen
reorting the analysis of their data and merely say )hether the test
statistic is signi%cant at a certain level! for e"amle! DW0#054# ,o)ever!
other researchers consider that this rocedure does not rovide all the
information oHered by modern comuter rograms and so refer to reort
the recise value! as )as done in the e"amle above# Qne comromise
bet)een these t)o ositions )ould be to use a articular level in the te"t!
for e"amle! DW0#014! and have the recise levels listed in a table#
The discussion of results above )as based on ?uantitative analysis#
Seorting the analysis of ?ualitative data is slightly diHerent# /irstly! the
overall atterns in the data are resented! )ith reasons for those atterns
occurring included# There is no reference to numbers of resondents or
cases here! because the samle )ill have been chosen in a urosive )ay
and so there can be no claim for statistical reresentativeness (8atton
1992*# Then the reader could be referred to a matri" of the %ndings (2iles
= ,uberman 1994* )here more details can be found to suort the claim
40
that the attern in the data does indeed e"ist# /inally! seci%c e"amles
and ?uotations to further corroborate the e"istence of the attern in the
data! are resented# 0n brief e"amle of this resentation of ?ualitative
%ndings is+
3ost respondents thought shipping +as not i,portant be"ause s"hedules +ere reliable (ro+ 2
of (able H$&)$ !(han- goodness the unions are ta,e# (A2)$# Eo +orries ' +e have good port
agents and shipping lines# (41)$
8resenting analyses of ?ualitative data can be diUcult because patterns if
the )ordy data must be made clear )ithout overloo1ing the particulars in
the data that rovide the indeth strength of ?ualitative data# These
aragrahs from the introduction to a data analysis chater outline these
t)o considerations and ho) they )ere addressed in the chater+
T)o considerations made it diUcult to blend ?ualitative details and
synthesised atterns in the data! )ithin this chater: that is! blend the
D)ood4 and the Dtrees4# The atterns in the data that e"lained )hy and ho)
the )orld oerates is the D)ood4 and )as the rimary concern of this
chater# ,o)ever! details of the Dtrees4 also had to be resented in this
chater to con%rm the trust)orthiness of the atterns described# /irst!
because this research )as an in@deth investigation of a comle" and under@
researched area! this chater had to be ?uite detailed in some arts of its
analysis! for e"amle! there are matrices for each tye of %nding (2iles and
,uberman 1994* that sho) the results for each case# $econdly! the
re?uirement for trust)orthiness in ?ualitative research made it necessary to
rovide detailed ?uotations and other evidence for the atterns found in the
data! together )ith the sources of the ?uotations# &n brief! atterns had to
be synthesised from the data )ithout losing sight of the rich! ?ualitative
sources on )hich they )ere based#
To dra) these considerations together! this chater is clearly structured
around the three research issues and there are fre?uent summaries of the
atterns of data being uncovered! )ith suorting ?uotations# &n articular!
the tables and %gures are critical to follo)ing the atterns being uncovered
in the data! for readers can gain an overall icture of the %ndings from them#
&n articular! /igure 4#9 summarises the %ndings e"amined throughout the
)hole chater and so rovides an overvie) of the )hole chater#
9hether the data is ?ualitative or ?uantitative! all atterns of results in
-hater 4 must be suorted by the evidence unearthed by the rocedures
described in -hater 3# That is! a reader should be able to chec1 %ndings
by loo1ing at tables or %gures# $o each table or %gure should be referred to
in the body of the chater! )ith the reason for its resence# 0s the e"amle
in the revious aragrah sho)ed! a toic should be introduced in )ords
and the main %ndings resented: then the table or %gure referred to and
evidence from it should be introduced in one or t)o sentences: and then
the highlights of the table or %gure should be discussed more fully!
together )ith a brief descrition of )hat the reader )ill loo1 for in the table
or %gure )hen he or she turns to it# &n other )ords! a reader should not be
e"ected to develo the lin1s bet)een the )ords in -hater 4 and a table
41
or %gure by himself or herself# &ndeed! the reader should be able to gras
the meaning by reading either the )ords or the %gures )ithout reference to
the other#
9hen %gures are used! the table of data used to construct the %gure should
be in an aendi"# 0ll tables and %gures should have a number and title at
the to and their source at the bottom! for e"amle! D$ource+ analysis of
survey data#4 &f there no source is listed! the e"aminer )ill assume the
researcher5s mind is the source! but a listing such as D$ource+ develoed for
this research from -hater 24 might reinforce the originality of the student5s
)or1# The title of a table or grah should contain enough information that
its %ndings can be discerned )ithout referring to the te"t! for e"amle!
DSelationshi mar1eting roensity among Qverseas -hinese and
0ustralians+ they are similar desite cultural diHerences4#
Chapter / Conc"u!ion! and i&p"ication!
/.1 Introduction
-hater 5 is the most imortant chater of the thesis! for after ensuring the
methodology and research rocesses are sound! the e"aminers )ill send
much time studying -hater 5# Iut the chater is often mar1ed by fatigue
and 8hillis and 8ugh (1987! # 56* note that 3in our e"erience its
inade?uacy is the single most common reason for re?uiring students to
resubmit their theses after %rst resentation5# $o the student must
discover srings of interest and creativity to ma1e his or her -hater 5
)orthy of the rest of the thesis! and ma1e it clearly sho) that the research
does ma1e a distinct contribution to the body of 1no)ledge# Thus the
research5s contributions to 1no)ledge should be the explicit theme of
$ections 5#2 to 5#4#
0ctually! identifying )hat is a distinct contribution to 1no)ledge can
be)ilder some students! as 8hillis (1992! # 128* found in a survey of
0ustralian academics and students# .evertheless! ma1ing a distinct
contribution to 1no)ledge D)ould not go beyond the goal of stretching the
body of 1no)ledge slightly4 by using a relatively ne) methodology in a
%eld! using a methodology in a country )here it has not been used before!
or ma1ing a synthesis or interretation that has not been made before4# $o
this tas1 should not be too diUcult if the research and the receding
chaters have been carefully designed and e"ecuted as e"lained in these
notes#
9e ma1e it clear to the e"aminer )hat )e mean by a Dcontribution4 by
having a table at the start of the %nal chater )hich lists the seven or so
Dne)4 themes of the thesis for each research issue;roosition and notes
the degree that the e"tant literature had e"licitly addressed them! )ith
)ords li1e Dto some e"tent4! Dto a very small e"tent4! and Dnone4# Then )e
introduce the terms )e )ill use in the %nal chater along the lines of+
?o,e of this resear"h#s findings do "onfir, e@pe"tations fro, the e@tant literature but it
42
is the first ti,e that this has been done for Australian situations$ (hese +ill be "alled
advances on that previous resear"h in this "hapter L they are of interest be"ause they add
a ne+ depth to our understanding of the pheno,enon$ 8o+ever, these advan"es +ill not
be "alled "ontributions in this "hapter be"ause our fo"us +ill be on ,ore i,portant
contributions or additions to -no+ledge arising fro fro, findings about)
dis"onfir,ations of e@pe"tations derived in Chapter 2 fro, the literature, indi"ated by
the the,es +ith a !to so,e e@tent# entry in the tableC
areas about +hi"h there +ere so,e spe"ulations in the literature but no e,piri"al
testing, indi"ated by the the,es +ith a !to a very s,all e@tent# entry in the tableC and
ne+ areas +hi"h had not been raised in the previous literature, indi"ated by the,es
+ith a !none# entry in the table$

0 'igsa) uPPle analogy is useful for understanding )hat -hater 5 is
about# Sesearch begins li1e a 'umbled 'igsa) uPPle about the research
roblem# -hater 24s literature revie) starts utting the ieces together to
try to uncover a icture! but sho)s that some ieces are missing and so the
comlete icture cannot be 1no)n# Then -haters 3 and 4 describe the
hunt for the missing ieces and the matching together of a fe) ne)ly
found ieces# /inally! -hater 5 returns to the uPPle! brieGy summarising
)hat the icture loo1ed li1e at the end of -hater 2 and then e"laining
ho) the ne) and the old ieces %t to ma1e the whole icture clear#
7o remember that the introduction to $ection 5#1 is longer than the
introduction of other chaters! as the section above titled D>in1s bet)een
chaters4 noted#
/.$ Conc"u!ion! a%out re!earch i!!ue! or propo!ition!
/indings for each research issue or roosition are summarised from
-hater 4 and e"lained within the context of this and prior research
examined in Chapter 2: for e"amle! )ith )hich of the researchers
discussed in -hater 2 does this research agree or disagree! and )hyB /or
each research issue;roosition! the agreement or disagreement of the
results of a numbered section in -hater 4 )ith the literature should be
made clear and the reason for disagreement thought through# /or e"amle!
the disagreement might be because some revious research )as done in
0sia and this research )as done in 0ustralia# 7isagreement suggests the
8h7 research is ma1ing a contribution to 1no)ledge and this contribution
of the research should be clearly develoed# <ach research issue or
roosition )ould have its o)n subsection! that is! 5#2#1! 5#2#2 and so on!
and each section )ill have a reference to the aroriate section of -hater
4 so that the e"aminer can clearly see that the conclusions come from the
%ndings in -hater 4# Qf course! each section )ill also have man
references to the )riters discussed in -hater 2 because this chater4s
rimary aim is to sho) ho) the %ndings in the revious chater %t into the
body of 1no)ledge# 0 brief e"amle of one of these discussions is+
The %nal set of factors in the initial concetual frame)or1 of this research
illustrated in /igure 2#10 )as the strategic ob'ectives of the %rm# The
interaction bet)een entry mode choice and strategic ob'ectives has
43
attracted considerable attention in the literature (Cones 1991: 0nderson =
6atignon 1986: ,)ang 1988: ,ill et al! 1990*# /or e"amle! 2inor! 9u and
-hoi (1991* argue that entry mode choice is based on strategic ob'ectives
)hen considered in tandem )ith ###
This research had varied %ndings about these factors# $ection 4#3#55s
%ndings )ere that innovation learning and )hether %rms consider a global
strategy! are unimortant# These %ndings are inconsistent )ith the
literature# The reasons for this inconsistency aear to be the small siPe of
the %rms in this survey and their industry# Cones (1991* surveyed %rms )ith
turnovers above Y1 million in the harmaceutical industry! and ,)ang
(1988* surveyed### &n contrast! 0ustralian small 'e)ellers are### 8resumably!
they are more entrereneurial and have less at sta1e than larger %rms
and ###
/.) Conc"u!ion! a%out the re!earch pro%"e&
Iased on $ection 5#2! imlications of the research for furthering
understanding of the research roblem are e"lored# The section goes
beyond the mere number@crunching of -hater 4 and incorporates
(ualitative fndings about the research problem developed during the
research! including those insights discovered during intervie)s in
?ualitative research )hich had never even been considered in the literature
revie)ed in -hater 2# 0gain the contribution of the research to the body of
1no)ledge should be clearly develoed#
Kou are )arned that e"aminers are careful that conclusions are based on
fndings alone! and )ill disute conclusions not clearly based on the
research results# That is! there is a diHerence bet)een the conclusions of
the research %ndings in $ections 5#2 and 5#3 and implications dra)n from
them later in $ections 5#4 and 5#5# /or e"amle! if a ?ualitative
methodology is used )ith limited claims for statistical generalisability! the
conclusions must refer seci%cally to the eole intervie)ed in the ast T
Dthe ,ong Mong managers laced small value on advertising4 rather than
the resent tense of D,ong Mong managers lace small value on rice5#
This section may sometimes be ?uite small if the roositions or research
issues dealt )ith in the revious sections cover the area of the research
roblem in a comrehensive )ay# .evertheless! the section is usually )orth
including for it rovides a conclusion to the whole research eHort# Thus it is
advisable to try to ut together a %nal conceptual frame)or1 that
encasulates the achievements of the thesis# /or e"amle! a thesis that
used structural e?uation modelling could resent the fnal model chosen
from the rival models in -hater 4! )ithout the coeUcients that cluttered
u the many %gures of the several models in -hater 4#
2oreover! & suggest that this section conclude )ith a summary listing of the
contributions of the research together )ith 'usti%cations for calling them
Dcontributions5! if that is not clear from the discussion in the revious
sections of this chater# 0s noted earlier! the e"aminer is loo1ing for these
contributions and it may ma1e his or her tas1 easier if the student e"licitly
44
lists them after introducing them in earlier arts of this chater#
This section should be esecially imortant for ?ualitative! theor!building
research for it )ill sho) the %nal theory that is develoed and have a
model of it in a %gure! and also develo some roositions )hich later
researchers can use to test the theory# That is! the section must have Da
rigorously develoed concetual frame)or1 )ith clearly de%ned and
measurable variables! emirically testable research roositions4
(Oaradarara'an 1996! # 6*# Seference to these roositions )ill be made in
the later D&mlications for further research4 section#
&n a reort of non@thesis research such as a 'ournal article or a high@level
consulting reort! this section might be the Dconclusion4 of the reort! but a
thesis must also discuss arent and other theories (.ightingale 1984*! as
outlined in the ne"t section#
/., I&p"ication! #or theor.
The full icture of the research5s %ndings )ithin the body of 1no)ledge is
rovided in $ection 5#4! that is! it rovides the theoretical imlications of
the research# This section aims to convince e"aminers that the 8h7
research has not only made a signi%cant contribution to 1no)ledge in its
research roblem theory as outlined in $ections 5#2 and 5#3! but also has
imlications for the )ider body of 1no)ledge! including the arent theories
of -hater 2 but also other related theories or disciline that )ere not
even mentioned among the fe) arent theories of -hater 2# The arent
theories are those that are the direct bac1ground to the theoretical
frame)or1 develoed at the end of -hater 2! but there may be other
theories that could bene%t from the %ndings of this research: the broad
range of discilines mentioned in $ection 1#1 might suggest some of these
related theories# /or e"amle! in a 8h7 thesis )ith a research roblem
involving customer service! $ection 5#4 might refer not only to the arent
theories of services mar1eting but also to consumer behaviour! ersonality
characteristics and sychological motivations# &n a 8h7 thesis about
international education! $ection 5#4 might refer to international mar1eting
and services mar1eting#
&f one or more of the models develoed in -hater 2 have to be modi%ed
because of the research %ndings! then the modi%ed model should be
develoed in $ection 5#3 or 5#4! )ith the modi%cations clearly mar1ed in
bold on the %gure# &ndeed! develoment of a modi%ed model of the
classi%cation or analytical models develoed in -hater 2 is an e"cellent
summary of ho) the research has added to the body of 1no)ledge! and is
strongly recommended#
&n brief! $ections 5#3 and 5#4 are the 3conclusion4 to the )hole thesis
(8hillis = 8ugh 1987* and are the student4s comlete ans)er to the
research roblem#
/./ I&p"ication! #or po"ic. and practice
45
8ractical imlications for rivate sector managers are covered in $ection
5#5#1 and imlications for ublic sector analysts and managers are covered
in $ection 5#5#2# .eeds for training or ne) government olicies are often
raised here# <"aminers may be imressed if this section develos a
chec1list of rocedures for managers )hich incororates the research
%ndings! and this may hel to ful%ll 'usti%cation iv of $ection 1#3#
/.0 Li&itation!
$ection 1#7 has reviously outlined ma'or delimitations of the research that
)ere a deliberate art of the research (for e"amle! industry boundaries to
the research roblem*# This section discusses other limitations that
became aarent during the rogress of the research! for e"amle!
?uestionnaire results may indicate that age of resondents is a limitation#
$ometimes this section is unnecessary# &ndeed! do not ma1e too much of
any limitations! for too much discussion here )ill ma1e the e"aminer thin1
the research )as oorly designed and any conclusions are not )orth
a)arding a degree for#
This section should end )ith a sentence stating that that the limitations are
ac1no)ledge but they do not detract from the signi%cance of the %ndings#
&ndeed! the section could begin )ith a brief statement of the strengths of
the research! for e"amle! the siPe of the samle and the unusual
methodology# Then the section could discuss some limitations li1e the use
of ercetions in data collection rather than %gures! the use of a
convenience samle and the use of cross@sectional rather than longitudinal
data# /inally! the section could end )ith a aragrah that the strengths of
the study remain for the limitations o not detract from them but merely
rovide latforms for future research ()hich are addressed in the ne"t
section*#
/.1 I&p"ication! #or &ethodo"o.
This section is otional and has the )riter4s reGections on the methodology
used# /or e"amle! it could discuss )hat arts )ere esecially successful
and )hat arts )ere esecially diUcult! )hat rocedures had to be
develoed that )ere not reviously described in the literature about the
methodology! and if any of that literature )as esecially useful or
misleading# The section normally ta1es u only about half a age or so#
/.1 I&p"ication! #or #urther re!earch
This %nal section is )ritten to hel students and other researchers in
selection and design of future research# /urther research could refer to both
toics and to methodologies or to both# 0 case study methodology thesis
should mention the need for ositivist survey research to generalise the
%ndings# Semoving some delimitations mentioned and 'usti%ed in $ection
1#7 usually rovides oortunities for further research! for e"amle! similar
research could be done diHerent regions or countries! diHerent industries
and diHerent levels of management# This section is enhanced by the
develoment of the actual roositions or research issues that a follo) u
researcher could use to start his or her research design stage#
46
0 %nal sentence or short aragrah could summarise and tie the )hole
thesis together# /or e"amle! a thesis might end )ith DThe literature
suggests that the mar1eting;entrereneurshi interface is direct and similar
to the mar1eting;organisation interface of large %rms# This theory@building
research sho)ed the mar1eting;entrereneurshi interface is more comle"
than the literature suggests and set a foundation for further research about
the interface#4
Re#erence!
0dams! 6I# = 9hite! C7 1994! 37issertation research in ublic
administration
and cognate %elds+ an assessment of methods and ?uality5! -ublic
#dministration %eview) vol# 54! no# 6! # 565@576#
0ustralian 6overnment 8ublishing $ervice 2002! .tle $anual! 068$!
-anberra#
0rmstrong! C$ = Qverton! T$ 1977! 3<stimating nonresonse bias in mail
surveys5! &ournal of $arketing %esearch! vol# 14! # 396@402#
Iem! 7C 2002! D9riting the emirical 'ournal article4 in 7arley! C2! Lanna!
28 Soediger &&&! ,> (eds*! "he Compleat #cademic/ # Career 0uide!
0merican 8sychological 0ssociation! 9ashington# 0t
htt+;;com9#sych#cornell#edu;dbem;)ritingZarticle#html[9riting\20it
Iloom! I$ = Mratho)l! 7S 1956! "axonom of 1ducational 2bjectives!
2cMay = -o#! .e) Kor1#
Iro)n! S 1995! 3The ]big icture] about managing the )riting rocess5! in
3ualit
in -ostgraduate 1ducation ! 4ssues and -rocesses! ed# Q# Luber@$1erritt!
Mogan 8age! $ydney#
Iro)n! S 1996! 5e .kills for -ublishing %esearch #rticles) 9rite 9ay
-onsulting! Irisbane#
Carson, 1, 2il,ore, A, F Perry C 200%, 9A"ade,i" publishing) 4est pra"ti"e for editors,
authors and revie+ers9, (uropean )usiness *eview, spe"ial issue on a"ade,i" publishing and
a"ade,i" 0ournals, vol$1, no$ %, pp$ H%'HG$
-lar1! . 1986! 39riting@u the doctoral thesis5! 0raduate $anagement
%esearch!
0utumn! # 25@31#
-onrad! >! 8erry! - = Luber@$1erritt! Q 1992! 30lternatives to traditional
47
ostgraduate suervision in the social sciences5! in Luber@$1erritt! Q# (ed*!
.tarting %esearch ! .upervision and "raining) Tertiary <ducation &nstitiute!
Rniversity of Aueensland! Irisbane#
-oolican! , 1990! %esearch $ethods and .tatistics in -scholog! ,odder
and $toughton! >ondon#
-ooer! ,2 1989! 4ntegrating %esearch a 0uide for 6iterature %eviews!
$age! .e)bury 8ar1#
-ude! 9 1989! 36raduate education is in trouble5! Challenge! $etember@
Qctober! # 59@62#
7atta! 7M! 8inches! 6< = .arayanan! OM 1992! 3/actors inGuencing )ealth
creation from mergers and ac?uisitions+ a meta@analysis5! .trategic
$anagement &ournal! vol# 13! # 67@84#
7avis! 7 = -osenPa! S2 1994! Iusiness Sesearch for 7ecision 2a1ing!
9ads)orth! Ielmont! -alifornia!
7avis! 6I = 8ar1er! -0 1979! Writing the 7octoral 7issertation! 9oodbury!
Iarron5s <ducational $eries#
7ay! 0 1996! How "o 0et %esearch -ublished in &ournals! 6o)er! 0ldershot
7erricourt! S 1992! 37iligent thesis to high@Gying boo1+ an unli1ely
metamorhosis5! #ustralian Campus %eview Weekl! 27 /ebruary @ 4 2arch!
# 13#
<asterby@$mith! 2 ! Thore! S = >o)e! 0 1991! $anagement %esearch/ an
4ntroduction) $age! >ondon#
<isenhardt! M 2 = Lbarac1i! 2 C 1992! 3$trategic decision ma1ing5!
.trategic
$anagement &ournal! vol# 13! # 17@37#
<mory! -9 = -ooer! 7S 1991! 8usiness %esearch $ethods! &r)in!
,ome)ood#
/rost! 8 = $tablein! S 1992! 7oing 1xemplar %esearch! $age! .e)bury
8ar1#
6able! 66 1994! 3&ntegrating case study and survey research methods+ an
e"amle
in information systems5! 1uropean &ournal of 4nformation .stems! vol# 3!
no# 2! # 112@126#
6uba! <6 = >incoln! K$ 1994! 3-ometing aradigms in ?ualitative
research5!
48
in Handbook of 3ualitative %esearch! eds .M 7enPin = K$ >incoln! $age!
Thousand Qa1s#
,air! C/! 0nderson! S<! Tatham! S> = Ilac1! 9- 1995! $ultivariate 7ata
#nalsis with %eadings) 8rentice ,all! <ngle)ood -liHs#
,ansford! I- = 2a")ell! T9 1993! 30 master5s degree rogram+ structural
comonents and e"aminers5 comments5! Higher 1ducation %esearch and
7evelopment! vol# 12! no# 2! # 171@187#
,assard! C 1990! 32ultile aradigms and organisational analysis+ a case
study5!
2rganisational .tudies! vol# 12! issue 2! # 275@299#
,eide! CI 1994! 3&nterorganisational governance in mar1eting channels5!
&ournal of $arketing! vol# 58! # 71@85#
Mrath)ohl! 7S 1977! How to -repare a %esearch -roposal!
Rniversity of $yracuse! $yracuse#
Mohli! 0 1989! 37eterminants of inGuence in organisational buying+
a contingency aroach5! &ournal of $arketing! vol# 53! Culy! # 319@332#
>eedy! 8 1989! -ractical %esearch) 2acmillan! .e) Kor1#
>incoln! K$ = 6uba! 6 1986! 9aturalistic 4n(uir) $age! >ondon#
>indsay! 7 1995! # 0uide to .cientifc Writing) >ongman! 2elbourne#
2adsen! TM 1989! 3$uccessful e"orting management+ some emirical
evidence5!
4nternational $arketing %eview! vol# 6! no# 4! # 41@57#
2assingham! MS 1984! 38itfalls along the thesis aroach to a higher
degree5!
"he #ustralian! 25 Culy! # 15! ?uoted in .ightingale! 8! 3<"amination of
research theses5! Higher 1ducation %esearch and 7evelopment! vol# 3! no#
2! # 137@150#
2cMinsey and -o# 1994! "he Wealth of 4deas! 0ustralian 2anufacturing
-ouncil! 2elbourne#
2iles! 2I = ,uberman! 02 1985! 3ualitative 7ata #nalsis! $age! .e)
Kor1#
2oses! & 1985! .upervising -ostgraduates! ,<S7$0! $ydney#
.e)man! 9> 1994! .ocial %esearch $ethods) 0llyn and Iacon! Ioston#
49
.ightingale! 8 1984! 3<"amination of research theses5! Higher 1ducation
%esearch and 7evelopment) vol# 3! no# 2! # 137@152#
.ightingale! 8 1992! 3&nitiation into research through )riting5! in Luber@
$1erritt! Q (ed* 1992! .tarting %esearch ! .upervision and "raining! Tertiary
<ducation &nstitute! Rniversity of Aueensland! Irisbane#
Qrli1o)s1i! 9C = Iaroudi! CC 1991! 3$tudying information technology in
organisations+ research aroaches and assumtions5! 4nformation .stems
research# vol# 2! no# 1! # 1@2#
8ar1he! 0 1993! 3]2essy] research! methodological redisositions! and
theory
develoment in international 'oint ventures5! #cadem of $anagement
%eview) vol# 18! no# 2! # 227@268#
8atton! 2A 1992! 3ualitative 1valuation and %esearch $ethods! $age!
.e)bury 8ar1#
8erry! -! -arson! 7 = 6ilmore! 0 (2003*! DCoining a conversation+ )riting for
<C24s editors! revie)ers and readers re?uires lanning! care and
ersistence4! <uroean Cournal of 2ar1eting! vol# 37! iss# 6;7! 652@667#
8erry! -! Seige! 0 and Iro)n! > 1998! DSealism rules QM+ scienti%c
aradigms in mar1eting research about net)or1s4! cometitive aer!
0ustralia and .e) Lealand 2ar1eting 0cademy -onference (0.L20-98*!
Rniversity of Qtago! 7unedin! .e) Lealand! 7ecember#
8erry! - 1990! 32atching the minimum time re?uirement+ notes for small
business 8h7 candidates5! -roceedings of the :ifth 9ational .mall 8usiness
Conference! Cune 28@30! Rniversity -ollege of $outhern Aueensland!
Too)ooomba#
8erry! - = Luber@$1erritt! Q 1992! 30ction research in graduate
management
research rograms5! Higher 1ducation! vol# 23! 2arch! # 195@208#
8erry! - = Luber@$1erritt! Q 1994! 37octorates by action research for senior
racticing managers5! $anagement 6earning! vol# 1! no# 1! 2arch#
8erry! - = -oote! > 1994! 38rocesses of a cases study research
methodology+
tool for management develomentB5! 0ustralia and .e) Lealand
0ssociation
for 2anagement 0nnual -onference! Oictoria Rniversity of 9ellington! .e)
Lealand# ( 0
later version of this aer is 8erry (1998b*#*
8erry! - 1998a! D0 structured aroach for resenting theses4! #ustralasian
50
$arketing &ournal! vol# 6! no#1! # 63@85#
8erry! - 1998b! D8rocesses of a case study methodology for ostgraduate
research in mar1eting4! 1uropean &ournal of $arketing ! vol# 32! issue 9;10!
# 785@802#
8eters! 8 1995! "he Cambridge #ustralian 1nglish .tle 0uide! -ambridge
Rniversity 8ress! -ambridge#
8ettigre)! $1999! -ulture and consumtion a study of beer consumtion in
0ustralia! 8h7 thesis! Rniversity of 9estern 0ustralia#
8hillis! <2 = -onrad! > 1992! 3-reating a suortive environment for
ostgraduate study5! in Luber@$1erritt! Q (ed*! $anual for conducting
Workshops on -ostgraduate .upervision) Tertiary <ducation &nstitute!
Rniversity of Aueensland! Irisbane! # 153@163#
8hillis! <2 1992! 3The 8h7 @ assessing ?uality at diHerent stages of
its develoment5! in Luber@$1erritt! Q (ed*! .tarting %esearch ! .upervision
and "raining! Tertiary <ducation &nstitute! Rniversity of Aueensland!
Irisbane#
8hillis! <2 = 8ugh! 7$ 1987! How to 0et a -h7! Qen Rniversity 8ress!
2ilton Meynes#
8oole! 2< 1993! 3Sevie)ing for research e"cellence+ e"ectations!
rocedures
and outcomes5! #ustralian &ournal of 1ducation) vol# 37! no# 3! # 219@230#
8ratt! C2 1984! 39riting your thesis5! Chemistr in 8ritain! 7ecember! #
1114@1115#
Sogers! <2 1983! 7i,usion of 4nnovation! The /ree 8ress! .e) Kor1#
$chertPer! -I = Merman! CI 1985! 32ore on the robustness of resonse
scales5
&ournal of $arketing %esearch .ociet! vol# 8! no# 4! # 261@282#
$e1aran! R 1992! %esearch $ethods for 8usiness/ a .kill!8uilding #pproach!
9iley! .e) Kor1#
$)ales! C 1984! 3Sesearch into the structure of introductions to 'ournal
articles and its alication to the teaching of academic )riting5! in 9illiams!
S = $)ales! C (eds*! Common 0round/ .hared interests in 1.- and
Communication .tudies! 8ergamon! Q"ford#
Rniversity of Qregon n#d#! 0eneral 0uidelines for %esearch Writing! Qregon
6raduate $chool!Rniversity of Qregon! Qregon! based on an original
document by the -ollege of ,ealth! 8hysical <ducation and Secreation!
51
8ennsylvania $tate Rniversity#
Oaradara'an! 8S 1996! D/rom the <ditor+ reGections on research and
ublishing4! &ournal of $arketing) vol# 60! Qctober! # 3@6#
9itcher! I 1990! 39hat should a 8h7 loo1 li1eB5! 0raduate $anagement
%esearch! vol# 5! no# 1! # 29@36#
Kin! SM 1989! Case .tud %esearch 7esign and $ethods! $age! >ondon#
Luber@$1erritt! Q = Mnight! . 1986! 38roblem de%nition and thesis )riting5!
Higher 1ducation! vol# 15! no# 1@2! # 89@103#
Luber@$1erritt! Q (ed#* 1992! .tarting %esearch ! .upervision and "raining!
Tertiary
<ducation &nstitute! Rniversity of Aueensland! Irisbane#
52
APPENDI? A CITING3 REFERENCING AND OTHER ST+,E ISSUES IN
AUSTRA,IA
+%eveloped by ,had -erry and colleagues, revised on ./.01.02 and 3..2.045
,onsistently using a !house style# li-e $tyle Manual (2002) in your assign,ents and other
reports +ill prote"t you fro, the "riti"is,s of idiosyn"rati" and pedanti" e@a,iners$ (here are
t+o or three style ,anuals to "hoose fro, but A re"o,,end $tyle Manual be"ause it is used in
all "o,,uni"ations +ith the Australian govern,ent, for e@a,ple, in proposals for "onsulting
pro0e"ts, and is used by ,ost publishers of boo-s and 0ournals in Australia$
Af you are using 3i"rosoft#s =ndnote (at a "ost for students of about T115 on the +eb), loo- at
ho+ to get =ndnote to use the $tyle Manual output style at this site)
http)**nursing$flinders$edu$au*do"u,ents*/ile*students*6OU=ndnoteUstyles$pdf Af you "annot
,a-e the pro"edures at that site +or- in your version of =ndnote, use =ndnote#s 8arvard
output style or perhaps use the ,hicago $tyle Manual for,at of the prestigious Journal of
Marketing until the $tyle Manual for,at is provided in =ndnote$ Af you "annot afford
=ndnote, ,ore ine@pensive bibliographi" soft+are are)
the free, very basi" *#bl#oe0.ress soft+are (the introdu"tory version is do+nloadable at
http)**+++$biblios"ape$"o,*biblioe@press$ht, ' the full version "alled 4iblios"ope "osts T6? 1&9
or T6? 99 +ith the edu"ation dis"ount)$ A suggest you use its APA option for referen"ing$
Sc)olar@s A#d 5 AE is another, si,ilarly "heap and possibly better bibliographi" soft+are
available fro, http)**s"holarsaid$"o,*inde@$ht,l
7r you "an try the free share+are bibliographi" soft+are running on /irefo@ 2$0 "alled Iotero L
you "an sear"h for this using 2oogle or yahoo sear"hC or you "an find other free soft+are by
sear"hing for !free bibliographi" soft+are# using 2oogle or yahoo sear"h$
C#tat#ons$ An the te0t of your +or-, the "itations of authors are presented in the 8arvard
style$ /or e@a,ple, if an idea "a,e fro, ?,ith, you +rite the idea and then +rite in bra"-ets
the na,e and year of publi"ation as in (?,ith 199)$ Af you Juote fro, ?,ith, you have to
give the page nu,ber too, so give the Juotation and then +rite in bra"-ets (?,ith 199, p$ &)$
Eote that there is no comma between the name and the year, but there is a comma after the
date if a !uotation necessitates the page number being added$ Provide "o,plete details of all
your "itations in the referen"es at the end of your assign,ent, as sho+n belo+$
Consider these "iting pra"ti"es in ,ore detail$ Vou ,ust a"-no+ledge the sour"es of #deas in
an assign,ent by referen"ing the author or organisation and the date, but without the page
number; for e@a,ple, you "ould refer to a te@tboo- as (?her,an 1999)$ ?o,eti,es you "ould
+rite the na,e outside bra"-ets as in !?,ith (1999) foundK# (hese ideas are not "opied +ord
for +ord fro, your te@tboo- or another sour"e, but are e@pressed in your own words$
5hen you are copying word&for&word fro, your te@tboo- or fro, another sour"e, you ,ust
a"-no+ledge +here those senten"es, paragraphs or e@tra"ts "a,e fro,$ (o do this
a"-no+ledg,ent, you ,ust do t+o things)
put Juotation ,ar-s around the Juote fro, your sour"e
"ite in bra"-ets +hat the source is and the page numberC that is, after the Juotation ,ar-s,
"ite a referen"e in the 8arvard style, for e@a,ple, (?,ith 199, p$ &) ' note that there is no
"o,,a bet+een the na,e and the year, but there is a "o,,a after the year$
53
Consider this "iting in ,ore detail$ Vou ,ust a"-no+ledge the sour"es of #deas in an
assign,ent by referen"ing the author or organisation and the date, but without the page
number; for e@a,ple, you "ould refer to a te@tboo- as (?her,an 1999)$ (hese ideas are not
"opied +ord for +ord fro, your te@tboo- or another sour"e, but are e@pressed in your own
words$
5hen you are copying word&for&word fro, your te@tboo- or fro, another sour"e, you ,ust
a"-no+ledge +here those senten"es, paragraphs or e@tra"ts "a,e fro,$ (o do this
a"-no+ledg,ent, you ,ust do three things)
put !uotation marks around the Juote fro, your sour"e
"ite in bra"-ets +hat the source is and the page number; after the Juotation ,ar-s, "ite a
referen"e in the 8arvard style, for e@a,ple, (?,ith 199, p$ &) ' note that there is no
"o,,a bet+een the na,e and the year, but there is a "o,,a after the year, and
provide "o,plete details of the referen"e at the end of your assign,ent$
Af there is no author to "ite, "ite the na,e of the sponsoring organisation or the title of the
boo- or arti"le, for e@a,ple, Australian 2overn,ent publishing ?ervi"e (199H) or $tyle
Manual (199H) or (!8ere and there# 2001)$ Af there is no date, put n$d$, for e@a,ple, ?,ith
(n$d$)$
(he above prin"iples of referen"ing are also used for internet sources$ (hat is, the author or
the title of the arti"le or the sponsoring organisation is "ited in the te@t, for e@a,ple, ?,ith
(199%, p$ 2) and (#he 6orld in ,yberspace 1999C !8ello and goodbye# 2000C 5orld 8ealth
7rganisation 2000)$
Re(erenc#n$ Vou should provide a "o,plete re(erence l#st at the end of your
ans+ers*assign,ents$ (he list is in alphabetical orderC and if you have ,ore than one
referen"e fro, one author, pla"e the, in chronological order$ =@a,ples are (Abel 1999C
4a-er 1990) and ?,ith (2000, 2001)$ /or ,ultiple "itations in the sa,e year use a, b, "$$$
i,,ediately follo+ing the year of publi"ation, for e@a,ple, (/o@ 199Ga, 199Gb)$
=@a,ples follo+ of ho+ to provide the details of a book, a 0ournal article, an 7nternet source
and an unpublished source li-e your sub0e"ts# learning ,aterials$ Eote that)
a "o,,a follo+s the family name but does not "o,e before the date
boo- and 0ournal titles are in itali"s
article names have single Juotation ,ar-s around the,
the publisher and its location are in that order, and
you have put the vie+ing date into internet references$
*ooks
4radley, / 1991, 7nternational Marketing $trategy, Prenti"e 8all, <ondon$
$tyle Manual for Authors, (ditors and -rinters 2002, %th edn, Australian 2overn,ent
Publishing ?ervi"e, Canberra$
(horelli, 84 F Cavusgil, ?( (eds) 1990, 7nternational Marketing $trategy, Hth edn,
Perga,on Press, 7@ford$
54
Art#cles
3inor, 3, 5u, 5V F Choi, 3: 1991, !A proposition'based approa"h to international entry
strategy "ontingen"ies#, Journal of 8lobal Marketing, vol$ H, no$ &, pp$ %9'G$
Internet re(erences
<ee, 3( 199%, 8uidelines for ,iting *eferences and (lectronic $ources of 7nformation
6nited Eations, >ienna, vie+ed 12 3ay 1999, Whttp)**+++$eliI$tased$edu$au*refs$ht,X$
8uides to ,iting (lectronic 7nformation n$d$, vie+ed % 3ay 2000,
Whttp)**+++$uv,$edu*Yn"rane*estyles*apa$ht,lX$
Un.'bl#s)ed so'rces l#ke 9o'r s'b<ect@s learn#n !ater#als or a co!.an9 doc'!ent
Present the author and date as above, then the title of the do"u,ent in single Juotation ,ar-s,
and then the sour"e of the do"u,ent in"luding the lo"ation$ Af you "annot provide the initial
lo"ation of the do"u,ent, 0ust say +here it is no+, for e@a,ple, !in possession of 3A Ada,s,
Adelaide# or !in possession of the /isher <ibrary, ?ydney#$ Af it is a C1 or a si,ilar sort of non'
do"u,ent, say so$ /or e@a,ple,
=uler, ( 200G, !?trategi" ,anage,ent learning ,aterials#, 2ibaran 4usiness ?"hool, Adelaide$
?,ith, J 200%, !8o+ to sell real estate notes#, C1, ;eal =state Anstitute of Australia, Adelaide$
8udson, 1= 19G, !;e"olle"tions of the ;a0#, in possession of the author, 3elbourne$
Tables and (#'res$ Eote that an e@a,iner should not have to loo- at tables and figures to be
able follo+ your argu,ents$ Af there is an i,portant point in a table or figure, you have to
in"orporate it into your te@t L the e@a,iner should not have to do your +or- by ferreting for
points in tables and figures$ (hat is, an e@a,iner should be able to pass your +or- +ithout
having to loo- at any of its tables or figures, if he or she is in a hurry$ ?i,ilarly, tables and
figures should be able to be read so,e+hat independently of the te@t, so ensure the titles of
tables and figures are rather long and self'e@planatory, and any sy,bols in a table are e@plained
in a note to the table$ (hat is, so,eone +ho has not read the te@t should understand a table$
4y the +ay, a table has ro+s and "olu,ns and a figure does not$
(he title or a table or figure should be reasonably self'e@planatory that is, it should not be too
short, and it sour"e should be at the botto,$ A table or figure should be referred to in the te@t
of your +or- by its nu,ber, not as !above# or !belo+#$
A have tried to develop so,e rules of thu,b for +riters using soft+are li-e 3i"rosoft 5ord
that are as "lose as possible to $tyle Manual#s standards, and e@a,ples of figures# and tables#
titles, notes and sour"es follo+ on the ne@t page)
titles at the top of a table or figure (+ith bold for the na,e but not for the nu,ber, and no
full stop, in 12 point font), and
notes and sour"es at the botto, of a table or figure (+ith a full stop at the end of the,,
and they are in that order, in 11 or 10 point font)$
55
(able H$1 T9.es o( !arket entr9 #nto T)a#land
/igure H$1 T9.e o( c)annel str'ct're 'sed #n eac) !arket
Eote) /igures are for "ivilians +hose fa,ily status "ould not be deter,ined$
?our"e) 2ibbs (1999)$
?our"e) developed for this resear"h$
?our"e) analysis of field data$
/igure 1$2 O'tl#ne o( t)#s t)es#s3 w#t) c)a.ter n'!bers and t)e#r #nterrelat#ons)#.s
Eote) 1ashed line highlights the ,ethodology "hapters in t+o stages$
?our"e) developed for this resear"h based on (Perry 2002)$
Re(erence
$tyle Manual for Authors, (ditors and -rinters 2002, %th edn, Australian 2overn,ent
Publishing ?ervi"e, Canberra$
Appendi@ A So!e !ore .o#nts abo't st9le #n A'stral#a
6se a "apital letter only at the start of a heading or the title of a figure and table, and then
use lo+er "ase for all the other +ords$ 3ore advi"e on presenting tables and figures is
provided above$ 8ave at least one side heading or run'in heading per pageC ,ore
parti"ularly, have about one run'in heading every 2'H paragraphs and one side heading
every 2'& pages$ (ry to have so,e te@t bet+een ea"h heading$ 3a-e sure the ,eaning of
the first senten"e after a heading "an be understood +ithout referring ba"- to the senten"e$
6se a "apital for one particular unit but all lo+er "ase for many, generic units, for
e@a,ple, !,y 6niversity# and !,any universities#$
5rite out nu,bers fro, one to nine in words, and larger nu,bers as numbers, for
e@a,ple, !nine# and !10#$ 8o+ever, if you are "o,paring a nu,ber above 10 +ith a
Chapter
1Introduction
Chapter 4 Stage
two: case
research
Chapter 5 Case
research data
analysis
Chapter 3 Stage one:
focus groups
Chapter 2 Literature
review
Chapter 6 Conclusions and
implications
56
nu,ber belo+ 10, present both of the, as nu,ber, for e@a,ple, !G out of the 15 people
+ere blind#$
8o+ever, never use nu,bers at the start of a sentence$ /or e@a,ple, do not start +ith
!199 +asK# or #GG per"ent +asK#C instead, start +ith !(he year 199 +asK# or !As
,u"h as GG per"entK#
Eevertheless, use nu,bers rather than +ords for parts of a document, and present the,
+ith a "apital +hen referring to a parti"ular part of the do"u,ent, for e@a,ple, !Chapter 2#
and !/igure %$1#$
Present a title of a boo- or 0ournal in itali"s, for e@a,ple, #om #humb$ (he title of an
arti"le in 0ournal has single Juotation ,ar-s, for e@a,ple, !8o+ to +rite arti"les#$
1o not pla"e full stops bet+een the letters in established abbreviations li-e !6?# or
!A?=AE#$
6se country na,es and abbreviations li-e this) !6nited ?tates# is a noun or an ad0e"tive
and !6?# is only an ad0e"tive$
(here is a differen"e in the use of a full stop at the end of an abbreviation and a
"ontra"tion$ /or e@a,ple, !1r# and !7"t$# are different be"ause the !r# in 1r is the last
letter in the full +ord but !t# is not the last letter in 7"tober$
6se single Juotation ,ar-s rather than double Juotation ,ar-s, e@"ept +hen you have a
Juotation +ithin a Juotation +hen double Juotation ,ar-s should be used$ 8ere is an
e@a,ple) 8e said, !4ill shouted at ,e, S2o a+ayZM A "ould not believe it$#
8o+ever, if your Juotation is ,ore than &0 +ords, present it as an indented paragraph
without Juotation ,ar-s and +ith a one line spa"e before and after the indented paragraph$
As +ell, the font should be one point less than nor,al, that is, 11 point font in a thesis that
follo+s the usual 12 point font$ (his font siIe differen"e does not apply for Juotations less
than &0 +ords$ /or e@a,ple, he said)
A a, going to spea- ,ore than &0 +ords$ A a, going to spea- ,ore than &0
+ords$ A a, going to spea- ,ore than &0 +ords$ A a, going to spea- ,ore than
&0 +ords$
Eote that all Juotations should be pre"eded by a pre"is in your own words of +hat is in the
Juotation L you "annot hide behind so,eone else#s +ords 0ust be"ause you do not have the
brains to e@press the idea in your o+n +ords$ At is your tas- to read the literature and
synthesise its ideas into a pattern for your thesis$ Vou should not for"e the e@a,iner to do
this by 0ust plopping in a Juotation for hi, or her to read$ An brief, use short Juotations that
you have first e@pressed in your o+n +ords, and use the, sparingly$
Af you use your o+n, unusual +ords or slang +ords, present the, +ith Juotation ,ar-s
the first ti,e you use the, but not +hen you use the +ords after thatC for e@a,ple, !Juasi'
probabilisti"# and !"onfir,atory*dis"onfir,atory test# have a Juotation ,ar- +hen first
used but not after+ards$
7""asionally use !A# or !+e# +hen des"ribing +hat you a"tually did, but do not use the, to
present your o+n value 0udge,ents in phrases li-e !A feel# or !A "onsider#$
1o not use slangy "ontra"tions li-e !don#t# or !"an#t#C instead, +rite !do not# or !"annot#$
Please do not use ad0e"tives and adverbs be"ause +hat they are essentially 0ust value
"udgements and if the e@a,iner +anted to -no+ about value 0udg,ents he or she
+ould loo- at the letters to the =ditor of a ne+spaper$
6se italics for e,phasis very sparingly L as a usual ,a@i,u,, itali"ise only one or t+o
+ords per one or t+o pages$ 6sing itali"s too often +ill ,a-e the, lose their i,pa"t$
57
((his is not a thesis, so A have used itali"s here ,ore often than A +ould in a thesis$)
A date is +ritten as 12 3ay 2002, in that order and +ithout a "o,,a$ (he ter,s !p,# and
!a,# are +ritten +ithout full stops, for e@a,ple, 12$15 a,$ /or nu,bers, thousands do
not need a "o,,a but larger nu,bers should be presented +ith spa"es instead of
"o,,as, for e@a,ple, 5000 and 50 000 000$
,onsistently using a !house style# li-e $tyle Manual (2002) in your assign,ents and other
reports +ill prote"t you fro, the "riti"is,s of idiosyn"rati" and pedanti" e@a,iners$ (here are
t+o or three style ,anuals to "hoose fro, but A re"o,,end $tyle Manual be"ause it is used in
all "o,,uni"ations +ith the Australian govern,ent, for e@a,ple, in proposals for "onsulting
pro0e"ts, and is used by ,ost publishers of boo-s and 0ournals in Australia$
Af you are using 3i"rosoft#s =ndnote, you "ould perhaps use the ,hicago $tyle Manual for,at
of the prestigious Journal of Marketing until the $tyle Manual for,at is provided in =ndnote$
3ore ine@pensive bibliographi" soft+are are)
the free, very basic Biblioexpress software (the introductory version is
downloadable at http:www.biblioscape.co!biblioe"press.ht! # the full
version called $iblioscope costs %&' 13( or %&' (( with the education
discount). * su++est you use its ,-, option for referencin+.
Scholars Aid A! is another, si!ilarly cheap and possibly better
biblio+raphic software available fro! http:scholarsaid.co!inde".ht!l
.r you can try the free shareware biblio+raphic software runnin+ on
/irefo" 2.0 called 1otero 2 you can search for this usin+ 3oo+le or
yahoo search4 or you can find other free software by searchin+ for 5free
biblio+raphic software6 usin+ 3oo+le or yahoo search.
(his note sho+s ho+ to present citations to referen"es in the te@t of your thesis, and ho+ to
present a list of references at the end of a thesis$ 8o+ to present tables and (#'res is
sho+n$ /inally, so,e other style issues are presented$ (his note is based pri,arily on the 2002
edition of $tyle Manual (2002), and on Peters (1995) and ?,ith and ?u,,ers (1999)$
4y the +ay, spelling in Australia should follo+ e#t)er the Mac!uarie %ictionary or #he
Australian 9'ford %ictionary and follo+ its first preferen"es "onsistently$ 7ne a""eptable +ay
of doing this is to set up (ools*<anguage*?et <anguage*=nglish (Australian)*7: in your
3i"rosoft 5ord soft+are$
Pla#ar#s!$ 4efore +e pro"eed, +e should "o,,ent on plagiaris,$ Plagiaris, is presenting in
your assign,ent !senten"es, +hole paragraphs, or substantial e@tra"ts fro, boo-s, arti"le, and
other published or unpublished +or- +ithout a"-no+ledging their sour"es# (=AA 2002, p$ H)$
(hat is, +hen you are co.9#n word (or word fro, your te@tboo- or fro, another sour"e,
you ,ust a"-no+ledge +here those senten"es, paragraphs or e@tra"ts "a,e fro,$ (hat is, you
,ust do 0ust +hat A did in the previous senten"e L you ,ust do two t)#ns)
put !uotation marks around the Juote fro, your sour"e, and
"ite +hat the source is and its page number$
(he sour"e is "ited as the author or the organisation that +rote the sour"e, and then the full
referen"e is given at the end of the assign,ent$ 4y the +ay, please do not use Juotations that are
longer than about &0 +ords$ Anstead, put the ideas in the Juotation into your own words to sho+
the e@a,iner that you have understood +hat the author +as saying$ 5e dis"uss ho+ to do that
ne@t$
As +ell as "iting and referen"ing all &'otat#ons as sho+n above, you ,ust a"-no+ledge the
58
sour"es of #deas in an assign,ent by "iting the author or organisation and the date, +ithout the
page nu,ber (for e@a,ple, you "ould refer to the te@tboo- as (?her,an 1999))$ (hese ideas are
not "opied +ord for +ord fro, your te@tboo- or another sour"e, but are e@pressed in your own
words$ (hat is, even if the ideas are e@pressed in your o+n +ords, you should say +here the idea
first "a,e fro, before you e@pressed it in your o+n +ords$ #here is nothing wrong with
e'pressing other peoples idea in your own words, as long as you say where the idea came from
in the first place. Andeed, you should have several referen"es li-e this in your assign,ent, to sho+
that you have read and understood the te@tboo- and other sour"es$
PRESENTING REFERENCES IN THE TE?T OF +OUR ASSIGN-NET
An the te0t of your assign,ent, the "itations of authors are presented in the 8arvard style, for
e@a,ple, ?,ith (199), (?,ith 199), ?,ith (199, p$ &) and (?,ith 199, p$ &)$ Eote that
there is no "o,,a bet+een the na,e and the year, but there is a "o,,a after the date if a
Juotation ne"essitates the page nu,ber being added$ Vou have to put in the page nu,ber if
you are referring to a Juotation or to figures*data produ"ed in a resear"h pro0e"t$
Af there is no author to "ite, "ite the na,e of the sponsoring organisation or the title of the
boo- or arti"le, for e@a,ple, Australian 2overn,ent publishing ?ervi"e (199H) or $tyle
Manual (199H) or (!8ere and there# 2001)$ Af there is no date, put n$d$, for e@a,ple, ?,ith
(n$d$)$
Af you are referring to more than one reference, pla"e the, in alphabetical orderC and if you
have ,ore than one referen"e fro, one author, pla"e the, in chronological order$ =@a,ples
are (Abel 1999C 4a-er 1990) and ?,ith (2000, 2001)$ /or ,ultiple "itations in the sa,e year
use a, b, "$$$ i,,ediately follo+ing the year of publi"ation, for e@a,ple, (/o@ 199Ga, 199Gb)
6se the a,persand sy,bol (F) only +ithin bra"-ets and in the list of referen"es at the end of
the assign,entC in "ontrast, use !and# +hen the na,es of the authors are being in"orporated in
the te@t outside of brackets$ =@a,ples are) (<arsen, ?,ith F 2reen 19G) and <arsen, ?,ith
and 2reen (19G)$
5hen referring to a +or- that has four or more authors, use only the first author and add !et
al$#, for e@a,ple, (Carson et al$ 2001) and Carson et al$ (2001)$ An "ontrast, all authors have to
be na,ed every ti,e if there are one, t+o or three of the,$
(he above prin"iples of referen"ing are also used for internet sources$ (hat is, the author or
the title of the arti"le or the sponsoring organisation is pla"ed in the te@t, for e@a,ple, ?,ith
(199%, p$ 2) and (#he 6orld in ,yberspace 1999C !8ello and goodbye# 2000C 5orld 8ealth
7rganisation 2000)$
?o,eti,es newspapers or magazine arti"les need to be "ited$ Af the author of the arti"le is
-no+n, then the pro"edures above are used (for e@a,ple, :eating 1999)$ Af the author is not
-no+n, then the na,e of the publi"ation and its date is used in the "itation, for e@a,ple, (#he
:ew $traits #imes, 2H Jan$, 2000, p$&2)$
4y the +ay, personal communications are not pla"ed in the list of referen"es des"ribed belo+
be"ause the reader "annot retrieve the,$ (hus they are only referred to in the te@t, for
59
e@a,ple, (C Perry 2001, pers$ "o,,$, 2 3ay) and C$ Perry (2001, pers$ "o,,$, 2 3ay)$ At
,ay so,eti,es be helpful to note the organisation a person represents, as in (? ?avieri PAsian
1efen"e Coun"ilQ 2000, pers$ "o,,$, & 3ay)
E?A-P,ES OF ENTRIES IN THE REFERENCE ,IST
(he full details of the referen"es referred to in the "itations above are given in the list of
referen"es at the end of the assign,ent, as sho+n in the follo+ing e@a,ples arranged in
alphabeti"al order of type of sour"e for your "onvenien"e in these notes)
.. Arti"le or "hapter in an edited boo- or boo- of readings
2. Arti"le in a 0ournal
;. Arti"le in an ele"troni" 0ournal
<. Arti"le in a ne+spaper or ,agaIine
/. 4oo-
3. Conferen"e paper
4. Assign,ent or dissertation
1. 1o"u,ent at an internet site
=. 5or-ing paper series
:ote that there are no brackets around the year, there is no full stop after an initial, and
there is no space between two initials. As well, the volume and number of a "ournal are not
capitalised. #he edition of a book is given after the title, for e'ample, ;rd edn +without a full
stop after edn5. #here is a space after each entry in a list of refernces.

% Art#cle or c)a.ter #n an ed#ted book or book o( read#ns
Jones, 4 F ?,ith 2 1992, !/oreign ,ar-et entry ' the te@tboo- vs the net+or- theory#, in
7ndustrial :etworks> A :ew ?iew of *eality, 2
nd
edn, eds 4 A@elsson F 2 =aston,, ;outledge,
<ondon, pp$ &H'5%$
Af there is only one editor, use !ed$# (+ith a full stop) before the editor#s na,e instead of !eds#$
(he initials follo+ the fa,ily na,e of an author but precede the fa,ily na,e of an editor$
4 Art#cle #n a <o'rnal
3inor, 3, 5u, 5V F Choi, 3: 1991, !A proposition'based approa"h to international entry
strategy "ontingen"ies#, Journal of 8lobal Marketing, vol$ H, no$ &, pp$ %9'G$
1eshpande, ; 19&, ! SParadig,s lostM) on theory and ,ethod in resear"h in ,ar-eting#,
Journal of Marketing, vol$ HG, /all, pp$ 101'110$
Anderson, = F Coughlan, A( 19G, !Anternational ,ar-et entry and e@pansion via independent
or integrated "hannels of distribution#, Journal of Marketing, vol$ 51, January, pp$ G1'2$
!8ere and there# 2001, Atlantic Journal, vol$ 10, no$ 2, pp$ &%'&G$
/or an art#cle #n an electron#c <o'rnal, see that heading belo+$
60
: Art#cle #n an electron#c <o'rnal
(ellis, 5 199G, !Appli"ation of a "ase study ,ethodology#, #he @ualitative *eport, vol$&,
no$&, ?epte,ber, vie+ed & 3ay 1999, Whttp)**+++$nova$edu**ssss*O;*O;&'&*tells2$ht,lX
?ee the Internet s#te heading belo+ for non'0ournal ele"troni" referen"es$
5 Art#cle #n a news.a.er or !aaA#ne
:eating, P 1999, !(he SJuiet revolutionM #, Asian )usiness *eview, April, pp$ 1%'1G$
Austrade 199&, !=@porting of servi"es "o,e into fo"us#, )usiness *eview 6eekly, ?epte,ber
1G, p$ 1$
#he :ew $traits #imes 2001, !7ne ,ore ti,e#, 2H Jan$, p$&2$
1 *ook
4radley, / 1991, 7nternational Marketing $trategy, &
rd
edn, Prenti"e 8all, <ondon$
(horelli, 84 F Cavusgil, ?( (eds) 1990, 7nternational Marketing $trategy, Perga,on Press,
7@ford$
#om #humb 1991, 5iley, Ee+ Vor-$
7 Con(erence .a.er
;it"hie, J4 199&, !A""essing international edu"ation ,ar-ets#, Paper presented to the &rd
Anternationalising =du"ation Conferen"e, ?ydney, 22'2& ?epte,ber$
8ealy, 3 and Perry, C 199, !?tru"tures and pro"esses of Australian s,all business#
international net+or-s#, -roceedings, +or-'in'progress paper, Australia and Ee+ Nealand
3ar-eting A"ade,y Conferen"e (AEN3AC9), 6niversity of 7tago, 1unedin, Ee+ Nealand,
1e"e,ber 199, pp$ &H'5%$
;i"hardson, J F (aylor, 2 199%, !/ir, e,beddness and perfor,an"e +ithin Japanese net+or-
organisations#, Paper presented to the A"ade,y of Anternational 4usiness ?outh'=ast Asia
;egional Conferen"e, ,ompetitive Advantage through 8lobal :etworks, eds$ >$ 2ray F
<lanes, 6niversity of 7tago, 1unedin, 1G'20 June, pp$ 5&&'55%$
8 Doc'!ent at an #nternet s#te Bs)ow a't)or or t#tle>s.onsor#n a't)or#t9 #( t)ere #s no
a't)or3 t)en t)e date3 t#tle3 na!e o( s.onsor3 date o( =#ew#n and UR,C
<ee, 3( 199%, 8uidelines for ,iting *eferences and (lectronic $ources of 7nformation
6nited Eations, >ienna, vie+ed 12 3ay 1999, Whttp)**+++$eliI$tased$edu$au*refs$ht,X$
8uides to ,iting (lectronic 7nformation n$d$, vie+ed % 3ay 2000,
61
Whttp)**+++$uv,$edu*Yn"rane*estyles*apa$ht,lX$
!8ello and goodbye# 2000, Appaloosa :otes, vie+ed % 3ay 2000,
Whttp)**+++$,as$edu*estyles*apa$ht,lX$
?ee the art#cle #n an electron#c <o'rnal heading above for ele"troni" 0ournal referen"es$
D Ass#n!ent or d#ssertat#on
Cro+ley, /: 19H9, !5or-ing "lass "onditions in Australia, 1G'151#, Ph1 thesis, 6niversity
of 3elbourne$
E ;ork#n .a.er ser#es
?elvara0ah, C( 19, !3ar-eting edu"ation in 3alaysia) i,pli"ations for Australian tertiary
institutions#, Aaculty of )usiness $taff -apers, 5or-ing Paper no$ H&, ?+inburne Anstitute of
(e"hnology, 3elbourne$
TA*,ES AND FIGURES
Eote that an e@a,iner should not have to loo- at tables and figures to be able follo+ your
argu,ents$ Af there is an i,portant point in a table or figure, you have to in"orporate it into
your te@t L the e@a,iner should not have to do your work by ferreting for points in tables and
figures$ (hat is, an e@a,iner should be able to pass an assign,ent +ithout having to loo- at
any of its tables or figures, if he or she is in a hurry$ ?i,ilarly, tables and figures should be able
to be read so,e+hat independently of the te@t, so ensure the titles of tables and figures are
rather long and self'e@planatory, and any sy,bols in a table are e@plained in a note to the table$
(hat is, so,eone +ho has not read the te@t should understand a table$ 4y the +ay, a table has
ro+s and "olu,ns and a figure does not$
(he title or a table or figure should be reasonably self'e@planatory that is, it should not be too
short, and it sour"e should be at the botto,$ A table or figure should be referred to in the te@t
of an assign,ent by its nu,ber, not as !above# or !belo+#$
A have tried to develop so,e rules of thu,b for assign,ent +riters that are as "lose as possible
to $tyle Manuals standards, and e@a,ples of figures# and tables# titles, notes and sour"es
follo+)
titles at the top of a table or figure (+ith bold for the na,e but not for the nu,ber, and no
full stop, 12 point font), and
notes and sources at the botto, of a table or figure (+ith a full stop at the end of the,,
and they are in that order, in 11 or 10 point font)$
(able H$1 T9.es o( !arket entr9 #nto T)a#land
/igure H$1 T9.e o( c)annel str'ct're 'sed #n eac) !arket
Eote) /igures are for "ivilians +hose fa,ily status "ould not be deter,ined$
?our"e) 2ibbs (1999)$
?our"e) developed for this resear"h$
62
?our"e) analysis of field data$
SO-E ST+,E ISSUES
8ere are so,e -ey ideas about style fro, $tyle Manual (2002) and ,y o+n e@perien"e$
Abo't s!all t)#ns l#ke words and n'!bers
(here is a differen"e in the use of a full stop at the end of an abbreviation and a
"ontra"tion$ /or e@a,ple, !1r# and !7"t$# are different be"ause the !r# in 1r is the last
letter in the full +ord but !t# is not the last letter in 7"tober$
6se single Juotation ,ar-s rather than double Juotation ,ar-s, e@"ept +hen you have a
Juotation +ithin a Juotation +hen double Juotation ,ar-s should be used$ 8ere is an
e@a,ple) 8e said, !4ill shouted at ,e, S2o a+ayZM A "ould not believe it$#
8o+ever, if your Juotation is ,ore than &0 +ords, present it as an indented paragraph
without Juotation ,ar-s and +ith a one line spa"e before and after the indented paragraph$
As +ell, the font should be one point less than nor,al, that is, 11 point font in a thesis that
follo+s the usual 12 point font$ (his font siIe differen"e does not apply for Juotations less
than &0 +ords$ /or e@a,ple, he said)
A a, going to spea- ,ore than &0 +ords$ A a, going to spea- ,ore than &0 +ords$ A a,
going to spea- ,ore than &0 +ords$ A a, going to spea- ,ore than &0 +ords$
Eote that all Juotations should be pre"eded by a pre"is in your own words of +hat is in the
Juotation L you "annot hide behind so,eone else#s +ords 0ust be"ause you do not have the brains
to e@press the idea in your o+n +ords$ At is your tas- to read the literature and synthesise its
ideas into a pattern for your thesis$ Vou should not for"e the e@a,iner to do this by 0ust plopping
in a Juotation for hi, or her to read$ An brief, use short Juotations that you have first e@pressed in
your o+n +ords, and use the, sparingly$
Af you use your o+n, unusual +ords or slang +ords, present the, +ith Juotation ,ar-s
the first ti,e you use the, but not +hen you use the +ords after thatC for e@a,ple, !Juasi'
probabilisti"# and !"onfir,atory*dis"onfir,atory test#$
Present a title of a boo- or 0ournal in itali"s, for e@a,ple, #om #humb$ $tyle Manual gives
you the "hoi"e of "apitalising the first letter of all the +ords in a tittle or only the first one L A
strongly re"o,,end "apitalising all of the, be"ause that is +hat ,ost a"ade,i" 0ournal
reJuire$
1o not pla"e full stops bet+een the letters in established abbreviations li-e !6?# or
!A?=AE#$
6se country na,es and abbreviations li-e this) !6nited ?tates# is a noun or an ad0e"tive
and !6?# is only an ad0e"tive$
6se a "apital letter only at the start of a heading or the title of a figure and table, and then
use lo+er "ase for all the other +ords$ 3ore advi"e on presenting tables and figures is
provided belo+$
6se a "apital for one particular unit but all lo+er "ase for many, generic units, for
e@a,ple, !,y 6niversity# and !,any universities#$
5rite out nu,bers fro, one to nine in words, and larger nu,bers as numbers, for
e@a,ple, !nine# and !10#$ 8o+ever, if you are "o,paring a nu,ber above 10 +ith a nu,ber
63
belo+ 10, present both of the, as nu,ber, for e@a,ple, !G out of the 15 people +ere blind#$
8o+ever, never use nu,bers at the start of a sentence$ /or e@a,ple, do not start +ith
!199 +asK# or #GG per"ent +asK#C instead, start +ith !(he year 199 +asK# or !As ,u"h as
GG per"entK#
Eevertheless, use nu,bers rather than +ords for parts of a document, and present the,
+ith a "apital +hen referring to a parti"ular part of the do"u,ent, for e@a,ple, !Chapter 2#
and !/igure %$1#$
7""asionally use !A# or !+e# +hen des"ribing +hat you a"tually did, but do not use the, to
present your o+n value 0udge,ents in phrases li-e !A feel# or !A "onsider#$
1o not use slangy "ontra"tions li-e !don#t# or !"an#t#C instead, +rite !do not# or !"annot#$
Please do not use ad0e"tives and adverbs be"ause +hat they are essentially 0ust value
"udgements and if the e@a,iner +anted to -no+ about value 0udg,ents he or she +ould loo-
at the letters to the =ditor of a ne+spaper$
6se italics for e,phasis very sparingly L as a usual ,a@i,u,, itali"ise only one or t+o
+ords per one or t+o pages$ 6sing itali"s too often +ill ,a-e the, lose their i,pa"t$ ((his is
not a thesis, so A have used itali"s here ,ore often than A +ould in a thesis$)
A date is +ritten as 12 3ay 2002, in that order and +ithout a "o,,a$ (he ter,s !p,# and
!a,# are +ritten +ithout full stops, for e@a,ple, 12$15 a,$ /or nu,bers, thousands do not
need a "o,,a but larger nu,bers should be presented +ith spa"es instead of "o,,as, for
e@a,ple, 5000 and 50 000 000$
Abo't b#er t)#ns l#ke )ead#ns3 sentences3 .arara.)s and so on
Head#ns$ 6se reasonably long headings and titles of figures and tables ' about 0$5 to
0$G5 lines are usually reJuired$ 4y the +ay, the use of headings should be able to help the
reader follo+ your pattern of argu,ent$ (hus, you "ould have a side heading at least every
t+o or three pages, perhaps, and a run'in heading every three to four paragraphs, say$
(!Head#ns$# at the start of this ite, is an e@a,ple of a run'in heading, but it should have
"overed at least t+o or three paragraphs of ,aterial$)
6se bullet points sparingly in a"ade,i" +riting, and only +hen the ,aterial in ea"h point
"an e@pressed as a phrase or "lause +ith a "o,,a or a se,i"olonC that is, do not put
sentences as bullet points$ (his a"ade,i" "onvention about bullet points e@ists be"ause a
thesis is +ritten to be read "arefully by thoughtful e@a,inersC in "ontrast, a "onsultant#s
report +ith ,any bullet points is +ritten to be read Jui"-ly by busy e@e"utives$ ((his list of
bullet points is therefore inappropriate, A -no+, but A a, not +riting a thesisZ)$ 1o not
indent a list of bullet points and do not have a blan- line after the se,i"olon that leads into
the list$ $tyle Manual suggests that a se,i "olon or "o,,a is not reJuired if you use a half
spa"e bet+een ea"h bullet point ite,, but using a half spa"e is too tireso,e +hen using a
+ord pro"essor L so 0ust use a "o,,a or se,i "olon at the end of ea"h ite, +ithout a
spa"e at all$
(he start of a sentence or paragraph is the ,ost po+erful part L it has the ,ost i,pa"t on
a reader#s ,ind ' so put the ,ain idea you are trying to get a"ross there at the start and do
not +aste that part on parentheti"al issues$ /or e@a,ple, the first senten"e of a paragraph
should be a topi" or the,e senten"e that su,,arises the ,ain idea or position that +ill be
developed in the paragraph$
6se short senten"es ' about 1$5 to 2 lines is usually long enough$
Paragraphs should be about one ,ain idea but do not use one&sentence paragraphs L
64
a"ade,i" ideas should be deep enough to +arrant ,ore than one ,ere senten"e to present
the,$
(ry to have linkers at the start or near the start of paragraphs so the reader +ill definitely
follo+ your line of thought fro, paragraph to paragraph$ /or e@a,ple, use +ords and
phrases li-e !/urther,ore#, !(hus#, !(hese influen"es#, !(he ne@t step is toK# and !K
theseK#$
6se 12 point (i,es Ee+ ;o,an font, 1$5 line spa"ing, a left ,argin of & or H ",
(+hi"hever your university reJuiresC ?C6 reJuires & ",) and other ,argins of the default
2$5H ",s$
E0a!.les o( t)ese st9le #ss'es (ro! Perr9 B%EEDC t)at talk abo't t)e st9le #ss'es at t)e
sa!e t#!e as t)e9 #ll'strate t)e!
(he issue of "o,,uni"ation +ith e@a,iners is "ru"ial$ Ft)#s #s a t)e!e sentence or G(la@ abo't
t)e w)ole o( t)#s ne0t sect#onH Consider an e@a,iner$ Ft)#s #s t)e t)e!e sentence t)at
s'!!ar#ses t)e w)ole o( t)#s .arara.)H 8e or she ,ay be reading the thesis at 11 p$,$ on
/riday after a hard day#s +or- on ,ore i,portant things li-e their o+n resear"h, their o+n
students# resear"h or ,orale in their 1epart,ent$ A ,a0or reason for their agreeing to e@a,ine
the thesis is a sense of duty to their dis"ipline$ (hus the student should try to ,a-e the pro"ess of
e@a,ination as ,u"h li-e a 0ourney on !autopilot# as possible, +ith "hanges in dire"tion "learly
,ar-ed, the tra"- "learly flagged and ea"h step in an argu,ent e@pli"itly e@plained, as des"ribed
belo+$ (he e@a,iner should not have to do any hard "riti"al thin-ing as he or she follo+s the
student#s 0ourney$ An other +ords, the "andidate should try to neither ,a-e the e@a,iner think
too much nor to go to sleepC rather, the e@a,iner ,ay hopefully dro+se off for a ,inute or t+o,
snapping fully a+a-e every no+ and then to "he"- that the thesis is still !on tra"-# and fulfilling
the e@pe"tations set up at the start of ea"h se"tion and sub'se"tion of ,aterial$ An brief, the
reader ,ust be guided along a s,ooth, easily'follo+ed path to+ards the "on"lusions that have
e@"ited the "andidate and +ill hopefully e@"ite the e@a,iner into passing the thesis and perhaps
as-ing the "andidate to +or- +ith hi, or her on a resear"h pro0e"t in the future$ Ft)#s #s a
s'!!ar9 sentence t)at s'!!ar#ses and t#es t)e w)ole .arara.) toet)erH
(his easily&followed communication "an be a"hieved by using several prin"iples$ Fnot#ce t)e
l#nker o( Gt)#sI co!!'n#cat#on@ w#t) t)e .re=#o's .arara.) t)at leads stra#)t #nto t)e
t)e!e sentence ne0t t)at s'!!ar#ses t)e w)ole o( t)#s .arara.)H /irstly, have se"tions and
sub'se"tions starting as often as very se"ond or third page, ea"h +ith a des"riptive heading in
bold$ ?e"ondly, start ea"h se"tion or sub'se"tion +ith a phrase or senten"e lin-ing it +ith +hat
has gone before, for e@a,ple, a senten"e ,ight start +ith !2iven the situation des"ribed in
?e"tion 2$&$H# or !(urning fro, international issues to do,esti" "on"erns, $$$# (he i,portant issue
here is that the e@a,iner is led on fro, old ideas +hi"h he or she has already digested +ith, to
ne+ ideas) +e all need !an opportunity to get S"o,fortableM +ith old ,aterial before ne+
,aterial is thro+n at us# (<indsay 1995, p$ 5%)$ Ee@t, briefly des"ribe the argu,ent or point to be
,ade in the se"tion at its beginning, for e@a,ple, D?even defi"ien"ies in ,odels in the literature
+ill be identified9$ As +ell, ,a-e ea"h step in the argu,ent easy to identify +ith a -ey ter, in
itali"s or the 0udi"ious use of Dfirstly9, Dse"ondly9, or D,oreover9, Din addition9, Din "ontrast9 and so
on$ Fas #s be#n done #n t)#s .arara.)H /inally, end ea"h se"tion +ith a su,,ary, to establish
+hat it has a"hievedC this su,,ary senten"e or paragraph "ould be flagged by usually beginning it
+ith DAn "on"lusion,$$$9 or DAn brief,$$$9 An brief, follo+ing these five prin"iples +ill ,a-e argu,ents
easy to follo+ and so guide the e@a,iner to+ards agreeing +ith a student9s vie+s$

C)'nk#ness$ (he "on"ept of a !"hun-# "an help su,,arise so,e of the dis"ussion above$
65
Fanot)er l#nker and a t)e!e sentence t)at #ntrod'ces t)e w)ole o( t)#s ne0t sect#onH As
sho+n at the start of the thesis in ?e"tion 1$2, the +hole thesis is one big "hun- of an idea$$ Fa
t)e!e sentence (or t)#s .arara.)H 4ut ea"h part of the thesis should be a "hun-y part of the
+hole thesis, +ith lin-s to other parts$ /or a start, ea"h chapter should have its o+n role +ithin
the thesis su"h as Chapter 2#s identifi"ation of resear"h issues about +hi"h data is "olle"ted in
Chapter &$ =a"h "hapter has section and subse"tion "hun-s +ith a nu,bering syste, that refle"ts
their interrelationships (su"h as &$2, &$2$1 and &$2$2)$ (hen ea"h subse"tion has "hun-s of
paragraphs +ithin it, so,eti,es indi"ated +ith run'in headings$
Ee@t there are individual paragraphs$ Fanot)er l#nker and t)e!e sentenceH (hese are al,ost
al+ays longer than one senten"e and ta-e up about one third of a page or so$ =a"h paragraph
usually have a !lin-er# +ord at the start su"h as !Ee@t# or !/urther,ore#$ (hese lin-ers at the start
of a paragraph lead the e@a,iner fro, already'digested ideas into a ne+ idea$ =a"h paragraph
deals +ith one idea that is introdu"ed and su,,arised in a the,e senten"e near the start, for the
start of a paragraph is a !hot spot# that the reader +ill nor,ally "on"entrate upon (<indsay 1995)$
/inally, ea"h sentence has one s,all idea, +ith the ,ost i,portant aspe"t of the senten"e
presented at its startC that is, do not +aste the hot spot at the start of a senten"e on a relatively
uni,portant phrase li-e !As sho+n in (able %#, rather, pla"e these uni,portant phrases at the end
of a senten"e after a "o,,a$ ?enten"es also often have a lin-er +ord at the start su"h as
!8o+ever# to guide the reader fro, the -no+n "ontent of the previous senten"e into the ne+
,aterial in the senten"e$ Af there is no lin-er, the reader +ill assu,e the ne+ senten"e leads
directly fro, the previous senten"e$ An brief, the thesis should be a string of "lear "hun-s of
ideas$ Fanot)er s'!!ar#s#n sentence to (#n#s) o(( t)e sect#on or .arara.)H
An e@a,ple +ill illustrate this easily'follo+ed "hun-iness$ Eoti"e in the e@a,ple)
the hierar"hy of paragraphs fro, a side heading +ith a nu,ber, through a side heading
+ithout a nu,ber, to a run'on heading that leads into t+o or three paragraphs of te@tC
the headings are Juite long and des"riptive, rather than terse one' or t+o'+ord
announ"e,entsC
so,e te@t follo+s ea"h heading, for e@a,ple, even though the se"ond side heading "losely
follo+s the first, there is nevertheless so,e te@t bet+een the t+o headingsC
the te@t reads as though the headings +ere not there, that is, the reader "an s-ip the headings
and still not ,iss the argu,entC
if the reader does read the heading, the senten"e follo+ing a heading is not e@a"tly the sa,e
as the heading L it says the sa,e thing but is phrased a little differentlyC and
the te@t outlines the topi"s to be "overed in ea"h se"tion before going into the details of
those topi"s$
8ere is the e@a,ple (adapted fro, 3":insy 199H, p$ H2'H&))
:$%$4 ;)9 so!e <o#nt #n#t#at#=es work and ot)ers do not
Fa s#de )ead#n w#t) n'!bersH
5hile there is still ,u"h to learn about 0oint initiatives in Australia, our observations of high'
gro+th fir,s overseas and of Australia#s shipbuilders have provided insights into +hat +or-s and
+hat barriers are still to be over"o,e$Ft)#s #s w)at t)e w)ole o( t)#s Sect#on :$% #s abo'tH
So!e co!!on (eat'res o( s'ccess('l <o#nt #n#t#at#=es
F a s#de )ead#n w#t)o't n'!bers J do not o be9ond t)ree n'!bers #n a n'!bered s#de
)ead#nH
66
(here appear to be three ne"essary ingredients in su""essful 0oint initiatives) a large and*or
e@panding ,ar-et, strong leadership and shared vision, and "o,ple,entary interests and s-ill$
Feac) o( t)ese w#ll be looked at #n t'rnH Physi"al pro@i,ity ,ay also be i,portant in 0oint
initiatives other than those +ith "usto,ers, suppliers and ;F1 providers$
,are and>or e0.and#n !arket$ Fa r'nK#n )ead#n to s)ow t)at t)e (#rst o( t)e t)ree
#nred#ents #s o#n to be d#sc'ssed #n t)e ne0t t)ree or so .arara.)sH (he ,ost su""essful
0oint initiatives a,ong Australia#s high'gro+th fir,s +ere often in industries +ith large or
e@panding ,ar-ets L and for Australia that ,eans e@port ,ar-ets$ A strong e@port orientation
"reates a "o,,on fo"us and the sense of a bigger pie that allo+s partners to +or- together$ (his
"o,,on perspe"tive is often absent +hen fir,s "o,pete for a s,all do,esti" ,ar-et$ (he
shipbuilding and do+nstrea, "he,i"al industries in Australia and abroad provide t+o "ontrasting
e@a,ples of this$ Eor+egian shipbuildersK
7n the other hand, Fn#ce l#nkerH the do,esti" fo"us and history of "o,petition a,ong do+nstrea,
"he,i"al fir,s in Australia ,ay help to e@plain their la"- of enthusias, for 0oint initiatives
"o,pared +ith their Eor+egian "ounterpartsK
Co!.le!entar9 #nterests and sk#lls$ Ft)#s #s t)e t)#rd .o#nt J we )a=e sk#..ed t)e second
.o#nt #n t)#s e0a!.le3 as s)own b9 t)e t)ree ('ll sto.s3 called an ell#.s#s3 abo=eH At is not
enough to si,ply get together L fir,s ,ust have enough "o,,on ground to be useful to one
another$ Co,ple,entary interests and s-ills see, to be i,portant, if obvious, ingredients of
su""essful 0oint initiatives$ 8unternet is an e@a,ple of ho+ a net+or- of fir,s +ith diverse but
"o,ple,entary interests "an be"o,e a for"e for innovation and gro+thK$
Re(erences
A=A 2002, Master of )usiness (ducation Aacilitator 8uide Aranchising, 2ibaran, Adelaide$
Perry, C 199, !A stru"tured approa"h for presenting theses#, Australasian Marketing Journal,
vol$ %, no$ 1, pp$ %&'5$
Peters, P 1995, #he ,ambridge Australian (nglish $tyle 8uide, Ca,bridge 6niversity Press,
Ca,bridge$
?her,an, AJ 1999, Aranchising and Bicensing, A,eri"an 3anage,ent Asso"iation, Ee+ Vor-
?,ith, 4 F ?u,,ers, J (eds) 199G, Aaculty of )usiness ,ommunications $kills andbook,
2nd edn, /a"ulty of 4usiness, 6niversity of ?outhern Oueensland, (oo+oo,ba$
$tyle Manual for Authors, (ditors and -rinters 2002, %th edn, Australian 2overn,ent
Publishing ?ervi"e, Canberra$
POSTSCRIPT: THESIS ,ENGTH
At is possible to plan the ,onths and pages of a postgraduate resear"h pro0e"t$ As a rough rule of
thu,b, the five "hapters have these respe"tive per"entages of the thesis9 +ords) %, &H, 1, 22 and
20 per"ent$ 6sing these appro@i,ate per"entages, a "andidate "ould plan the ti,e and pages for
any "hapter$ /or e@a,ple, if a "andidate plans to do a 50 000 +ord 14A thesis in 2H ,onths, the
planning pages and ,onths for ea"h "hapter "an be +or-ed out along the lines sho+n in (able 1$
67
(he rule of thu,b per"entages are slightly different if a thesis has two stages of data "olle"tion
rather than 0ust the one stage that "an be neatly des"ribed in a five "hapter thesis$ An this
"ir"u,stan"e, Chapters & and H +ould be devoted to the t+o stages of ,ethodology$ ;ule of
thu,b per"entages for a si@ "hapter thesis are about %, &&, 11, 1G, 20 and 1& per"ent$ /or
e@a,ple, a typi"al, %5 000 +ord Ph1 thesis +ith t+o ,ethodologies of data "olle"tion done in 2G
,onths ,ight loo- li-e (able 2$ (hese t+o tables are ,erely e@a,ples and are not te,plates for
every thesis, be"ause ea"h resear"h pro0e"t ,ust do +hatever is reJuired to solve its o+n,
0ustified resear"h proble,$ (he tables ,easure pages fro, the start of Chapter 1 to the end of the
final "hapter and so they in"lude tables and figures but do not in"lude the table of "ontents, the
list of referen"es or the appendi"es$ Eote that so,e ,onths have been added to dire"t per"entage
durations for the first and final "hapters, for starting and final drafting of the thesis$ A have
assu,ed that the ,argins, the font and the line spa"ing are those des"ribed in Perry (199), that
is, 12 point font and 1$5 line spa"ing$
68

(able A$1 An a..ro0#!ate .lan (or a 12 222 word t)es#s done #n 45 !ont)s
Chapter (opi" [ Pages 3onths
1 Antrodu"tion % 10 &
2 <it revie+ &H 55 %
& 3ethodology 1 &0 H
H 1ata analysis 22 &5 5
5 Con"lusions 20 &0 %
(otal 100 1%0 2H
(able A$2 An a..ro0#!ate .lan (or a 71 222 word t)es#s w#t) two !et)odolo#es3 co!.leted
#n 48 !ont)s
Chapter (opi" [ Pages 3onths
1 Antrodu"tion % 15 2
2 <it revie+ && G5 G
& 3ethodology A 11 25 &
H 3ethodology AA 1G H0 5
5 1ata analysis of
,ethodology AA
20 H5 5
% Con"lusions 1& &0 5
(otal 100 2&0 2G