Elements of an Academic Research Thesis

 Introduction

 Problem Statement

 Research Questions

 Research Objectives

 Literature Review

 Theoretical Framework

 Hypothesis Development

 Population and Sample

 Variable and Measures

 Data Collection Methods

 Data Analysis and Results

 Discussion of Results

 Recommendations and Limitations

Introduction

Thesis statement, context (brief background)/Motivation, Objective and scope

Relevance and importance of your research

A description of the objectives of your research and how your methodology achieves them

Structure of the rest of the thesis

From a general overview of topic to narrow overview till study specific subject

Problem Statement

Scientific research starts with a definite aim or purpose. To find solutions for identified
problems, a problem statement that includes the general objective and research questions of
the research should be developed. Gathering initial information about the factors that are
possibly related to the problem will help us to narrow the broad problem area and to define
the problem statement. A “problem” does not necessarily mean that something is seriously
wrong with a current situation that needs to be rectified immediately. A problem could also
indicate an interest in an issue where finding the right answers might help to improve an
existing situation. Thus, it is fruitful to define a problem as any situation where a gap exists
between an actual and a desired ideal state.

1
  Staff turnover is higher than anticipated.
 Young workers in the organization show low levels of commitment to the
organization
 Increasing NPL’s in banks

The foregoing problems provide us with enough information to embark on our research
journey. However, what these problems also have in common is that they still have to be
transformed into a researchable topic for investigation. Indeed, once we have identified the
management problem, it needs to be narrowed down to a researchable topic for study. Very
often much work is needed to translate the broad problem into a feasible research topic.

It is very important that symptoms of problems are not defined as the real problem. For
instance, a manager might have tried to decrease employee turnover (the best people are
leaving the organization) by increasing wages, but with little success. Here the real problem
may be something else such as the low motivation of employees who feel they do not have
enough control over their work. The high turnover rate may merely be a symptom of the deep
rooted motivational problem. Under these conditions, in the long run, a higher salary will not
affect employees intentions to leave. Thus, finding the “right” answer to the “wrong”
problem definition will not help

Significance of study

The significance of a study is its importance. It refers to the contribution(s) to and impact of
the study on a research field. The significance also signals who benefits from the research
findings and how.

As you draft your Significance of the Study, consider the following:

 Broadly, a component of the significance of the study is to illustrate the contribution

that your study will make to the existing literature on the problem or broad problem
areas of education.

 Generally, a component of the significance of the study is to elucidate exactly how

you will extend the current literature.

 Specifically, a component of the significance of the study is to determine who

benefits from the study and how that specific audience will benefit from its findings.
What contribution will your study make to the literature or to the field? (As an Ed.D.
dissertation the focus should be on how this dissertation will contribute to our efforts
in practice)?

o What do you hope others will learn from your study?

o Who benefits?

2
Theoretical (potential theoretical significance in that how it is unique and different from past studies)
and Practical (implications of this study for financial practitioners)

Stakeholders

Research Scope

The extent to which the research area will be explored in the work and specifies the
parameters within the study will be operating. These parameters usually consist of the sample
size, the duration, inclusion and exclusion criteria, the methodology and any geographical or
monetary constraints.

“The current study focuses on all listed companies from the main market in Istanbul stock
exchange in Turkey, and categorizing all companies in five sectors according to the ISE
distribution of sectors over the period 2004-2010. The main reason for choosing this period is
the availability of data and also Turkey code of corporate governance has been launched in
July 2003. While the main justification for choosing the sectors is to identify the influence of
the ownership structure in sectorial level which none of previous study has been done at least
in Turkey context”

Research Questions and Objectives

Research objectives are clear statements of what you aim to achieve through your research.
They are specific actions that you will take and act as milestones that will help you complete
your research.

A research question is the specific concern that you will answer through your research.

For instance,

1. To test the potential linkage in the long-run and short-run between the financial indicators
(money supply, interest rate) and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Top 100 Index from September 1998
until October 2011.

2. To test the potential linkage in the long-run and short-run between the external indicators
(exchange rate, oil price) and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Top 100 Index from September 1998
until October 2011

1. Is there any potential linkage in the long and short run between the financial indicators (money
supply, interest rate) and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Top 100 Index from September 1998 until
October 2011?

3
2. Is there any potential linkage in the long and short run between the external indicators
(exchange rate, oil price) and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Top 100 Index from September 1998
until October 2011?

4
  Literature Review

 A good literature review needs to include references to the key studies in the field. For
this reason, articles and
 books that are often cited by others must be included in your literature review, even if
these articles and books were
 Written 30 or even 40 years ago. Of course, more recent work should also be
incorporated in your literature survey,
 Since recent work will build on a broader and more up‐to‐date stream of literature
than older work.

Journals/ Recognition and Rankings

5
Theoretical Framework

Theoretical framework involves the identification of a network of relationships among

variables considered important to the problem. A theoretical framework represents your
beliefs on how certain phenomena (or variables or concepts) are related to each other (a
model) and an explanation of why you believe that these variables are associated with each
other (a theory). Both the model and the theory flow logically from the documentation of
previous research in the problem area.

The process of building a theoretical framework includes:

1. Introducing definitions of the concepts or variables in your model.

2. Developing a conceptual model that provides a descriptive representation of your theory.
3. Coming up with a theory that provides an explanation for relationships between the
variables in your model. From the theoretical framework, then, testable hypotheses can be
developed to examine whether your theory is valid or not.

 The dependent variable (also known as the criterion variable).

 The independent variable (also known as the predictor variable).
 The moderating variable.
 The mediating variable.

Example:

Culture, Corporate Cash holdings, Governance Indicators

 Hypothesis Development

A scientific hypothesis must meet two requirements. The first criterion is that the hypothesis
must be testable.

Testability of hypotheses
A hypothesis must also be falsifiable (it must be possible to disprove the hypothesis)

Directional/Non-Directional

The dependent variable is the variable of primary interest to the researcher. The researcher’s
goal is to understand and describe the dependent variable, or to explain its variability, or
predict it. In other words, it is the main variable that lends itself for investigation as a viable
factor

Independent variable is one that influences the dependent variable in either a positive or
negative way. That is, when the independent variable is present, the dependent variable is
also present, and with each unit of increase in the independent variable, there is an increase or
decrease in the dependent variable.

6
The moderating variable is one that has a strong contingent effect on the independent
variable – dependent variable relationship. That is, the presence of a third variable (the
moderating variable) modifies the original relationship between the independent and the
dependent variables.

A mediator is a way in which an independent variable impacts a dependent variable. It’s part
of the causal pathway of an effect, and it tells you how or why an effect takes place.
If something is a mediator:
1. It’s caused by the independent variable.
2. It influences the dependent variable
3. When it’s taken into account, the statistical correlation between the independent and
dependent variables is higher than when it isn’t considered.

In full mediation, a mediator fully explains the relationship between the independent and
dependent variable: without the mediator in the model, there is no relationship.
In partial mediation, there is still a statistical relationship between the independent and
dependent variable even when the mediator is taken out of a model: the mediator only
partially explains the relationship

Determine measures
Unless the variables in the theoretical framework are measured in some way, we will not be
able to test our hypotheses. To test the hypothesis that unresponsive employees affect
customer switching, we need to operationalize unresponsiveness and customer switching.

Operational Definition of Variables

Population and Sample

A population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about. A sample is the
specific group that you will collect data from. The size of the sample is always less than the
total size of the population.

Data Analysis

7
Results & Discussion

 Findings (Tables)

 Diagnostics

 Methods (Selection/Appropriate Method)

 Robustness

Recommendations and Limitations

References

8
 Factors affecting the upward mobility of women in public accounting

It is recommended that a system be set up to assess the value of the contributions of each
individual in discharging his or her duties, and use that, rather than the number of hours of
work put in, as a yardstick for promotion. Second, women CPAs should be given
progressively more responsibility after they have served three to five years in the system.
Assigning a mentor to train them will facilitate smooth functioning of the firm. Third, a short
seminar should be organized for executives to sensitize them to the adverse effects of sex‐
role stereotyping at the workplace. This will help them to beneficially utilize the talents of
women CPAs. If viewed as professionals with career goals and aspirations, rather than in
stereotyped ways, women CPAs will be enabled to handle more responsibilities and advance
in the system. The organization also stands to benefit from their contributions. In conclusion,
it would be worthwhile for public accounting firms to modify their mental orientations
toward, and expectations of, women CPAs. It is a national waste if their potential is not fully
tapped and utilized.

The variance in the dependent variable, upward mobility, can be explained by the three
independent variables: long hours of work, not handling greater responsibilities, and
discrimination. As women are expected to, and do indeed, take on responsibility for
household work and childrearing, they are not able to work beyond regular work hours at the
workplace. This creates the wrong impression among higher‐ups in the organization that
women are less committed to their work. Because of this perception, they are not entrusted
with significant responsibilities. This further hinders their progress as they are not afforded
exposure to the intricacies of accounting practices as much as men. Hence, women are
overlooked at the time of promotion.Deliberate discriminatory practices due to sex‐role
stereotypes, as evidenced in the well‐known case of Hopkins vs. Price Waterhouse & Co.,
also arrest women’s progress. If women are not valued for their potential and are expected
to conform to sex‐typed behaviour (which confines them to inconspicuous roles), their
chances of moving up the career ladder are significantly reduced. Thus, the three independent
variables considered here would significantly explain the variance in the upward mobility of
women in public accounting. The impracticability of putting in long hours of work, lack of
opportunities to handle greater responsibilities, and sex‐role stereotyping all negatively
impact upward mobility.

If women spend more hours on the job after regular work hours, they will be given greater
responsibilities.

If women are entrusted with higher levels of responsibility, they will have more opportunities
to move up in the organization.

If women are not expected to conform to stereotypical behavior, their chances for upward
mobility will increase.

9
A substantial number of women have entered the public accounting profession in the past 15
years or so. However, less than 4% of the partners in the big eight accounting firms are
women, indicating a lack of upward mobility for women in the accounting profession.
Against the backdrop of the fact that the women students perform significantly better during
their academic training than their male counterparts, it is unfortunate that their intellectual
ability and knowledge remain underutilized during their professional careers. The recent
costly litigation and discrimination suits filed make it imperative for us to study the factors
that affect the upward mobility of women and examine how the situation can be rectified.

In this cross‐sectional correlational field study, data on the three independent variables and
the dependent variable were collected from women CPAs in several public accounting
organizations in the country through mail questionnaires.

The population for the study comprised all women CPAs in the country. A systematic
sampling procedure was first used to select 30 cities from the various regions of the country,
from which a sample of accounting firms would be drawn. Then, through a simple random
sampling procedure, five CPA firms from each of the cities were chosen for the study. Data
were collected from all the women in each of the firms so chosen. The total sample size was
300 and responses were received from 264 women CPAs, for an 88% response rate for the
mail questionnaires, which is pretty good. The unit of analysis was the individuals who
responded to the survey. All respondents had, as expected, the CPA degree. Their ages
ranged from 28 to 66. About 60% of the women were over 45 years of age. The average
number of children in the house below the age of 13 was two. The average number of years
of work in the organization was 15, and the average number of organizations worked for was
two. The average number of hours spent daily at home on office‐related matters was 1.4.

All demographic variables such as age, number of years in the organization, number of other
organizations in which the individual had worked, number of hours spent at home on office‐
related matters, and number of children in the house and their ages, were tapped by direct
single questions.

Upward mobility: This dependent variable indicates the extent to which individuals are
expected to progress in their career during the succeeding three to ten years. Hall (1986)
developed four items to measure this variable, a sample item being: “I see myself being
promoted to the next level quite easily.” The measure is reported to have convergent and
discriminant validity, and Cronbach’s alpha for the four items for this sample was 0.86.
Sex ‐ role stereotyping: This independent variable was measured using Hall and
Humphreys(1972) eight‐item measure. An example item is: “Men in this organization do

10
not consider women’s place to be primarily in the home.” Cronbach’s alpha for the
measure for this sample was 0.82.

Responsibilities assigned. This was tapped by three items from Sonnenfield and McGrath
(1983), which asked respondents to indicate their levels of assigned responsibility to (a) make
important decisions, (b) handle large accounts, and (c) account for the annual profits of the
firm. Cronbach’s alpha for the three items was 0.71 for this sample.

Questionnaires were mailed to 300 women CPAs in the United States. After two reminders,
264 completed questionnaires were received within a period of six weeks. The high return
rate of 88% can be attributed to the shortness of the questionnaire and perhaps the motivation
of the women CPAs to respond to a topic close to their heart. Questionnaires were not
electronically administered for various reasons, including the advantage it afforded to the
busy respondents to reply without switching on the computer.

Do long work hours, failure to be handed greater responsibilities, and discrimination account
for the lack of upward mobility of women in public accounting?

After determining the reliabilities (Cronbach’s alpha) for the measures for this sample,
frequency distributions for the demographic variables were obtained. These may be seen in
Exhibit 1. Then a Pearson correlation matrix was obtained for the four independent and
dependent variables. This may be seen in Exhibit 2. It is to be noted that no correlation
exceeded 0.6. Each hypothesis was then tested. The correlation matrix provided the answer to
the first three hypotheses. The first hypothesis stated that the number of hours put in beyond
work hours on office‐related matters would be positively correlated to the responsibilities
assigned. The correlation of 0.56 (p < 0.001) between the number of hours spent on office
work beyond regular work hours and the entrusted responsibilities substantiates this
hypothesis.
The second hypothesis stated that if women were given higher responsibilities, their upward
mobility would improve. The positive correlation of 0.59 (p < 0.001) between the two
variables substantiates this hypothesis. That is, the greater the entrusted responsibilities, the
higher are the perceived chances of being promoted.

The third hypothesis indicated that sex‐role stereotyping would be negatively correlated to
upward mobility. The correlation of –0.54 (p < 0.001) substantiates this hypothesis as well.
That is, the greater the expected conformity to stereotyped behaviour, the less the chances of
upward mobility. To test the fourth hypothesis that the number of hours spent beyond regular
work hours on job‐related matters, assignment of higher responsibilities, and expectations
of conformity with stereotyped behaviour will significantly explain the variance in perceived
upward mobility, the three independent variables were regressed against the dependent
variable. The results, which are shown in Exhibit 3, indicate that this hypothesis is also

11
Substantiated. That is, the R2 value of 0.43 at a significance level of p < 0.001, with df
(3.238), confirms that 43% of the variance in upward mobility is significantly explained by
the three independent variables.

The results of this study confirm that the variables considered in the theoretical framework
are important. By focusing solely on the number of hours worked, ignoring the quality of
work done, the organization is perhaps not harnessing the full potential and encouraging the
development of the talents of the women CPAs adequately. It seems worthwhile to remedy
this situation. It would be useful if the top executives were to assign progressively higher
levels of responsibility to women. This would utilize their abilities fully and, in turn, enhance
the effectiveness of the firm. If executives are helped to modify their mental attitudes and sex
‐role expectations, they should tend to expect less stereotypical behaviour and encourage
the upward mobility of women CPAs. Knowing women bring a different kind of perspective
to organizational matters (Smith, 1999; Vernon, 2001), it is quite possible that having them as
partners of the firm will enhance the organizational effectiveness as well.

Studies of male and female accounting majors indicate that the percentage of women
accounting students has increased severalfold since 1977 (Kurian, 1998). Based on the
analysis of longitudinal data collected over a 15 ‐ year period, Mulcher, Turner, and
Williams (2000) found that female students’ grades in senior accounting 374 research
methods for business courses were significantly higher than those of the male students. This
higher level of academic performance has been theorized as being due to the higher need and
desire that women have to achieve and overcome stereotypes (Messing, 2000), having higher
career aspirations (Tinsley et al., 1999), or having a higher aptitude for accounting (Jones &
Alexander, 2001; Riley, 2001). Empirical studies by Fraser, Lytle, and Stolle (1998) and
Johnson and Meyer (1999), however, found no significant differences in personality
predispositions or behavioral traits among male and female accounting majors. Several
surveys of women accountants in the country pinpoint three major factors that hinder
women’s career progress in the public accounting field (see, for instance, Kaufman, 1986;
Larson, 1999; Walkup & Fenman, 2001). They are: (1) the long hours of work demanded by
the profession (a factor that conflicts with family demands); (2) failure to be entrusted with
responsible assignments; and (3) discrimination. In sum, the lack of upward mobility seems
to be due to factors over which the organization has some control.

12