Writing Built Environment Dissertations and Projects – Practical Guidance and Examples 2e

<p>Author biographies ix<br />Preface x<br />About the companion website xii<br /><br />1 Introduction 1<br />1.1 Introduction 1<br />1.2 Terminology; nomenclature 2<br />1.3 Document structure 3<br />1.4 Possible subject areas for your research 7<br />1.5 Professional bodies and the non ]technical or technical dissertation or project 8<br />1.6 Qualitative or quantitative analysis? 10<br />1.7 The student/supervisor relationship and time management 14<br />1.8 Ethical compliance and risk assessments 17<br />1.9 House style or style guide 22<br />1.10 Writing style 23<br />1.11 Proofreading 27<br />1.12 Extra support? 29<br />1.13 A research proposal 29<br />1.14 A viva or viva voce 30<br />Summary 31<br />References 31<br /><br />2 The introduction chapter to&nbsp;the&nbsp;dissertation or project 33<br />2.1 Introduction contents 33<br />2.2 Articulation or description of the problem and provisional objectives 35<br />Summary of this chapter 37<br />References 38<br /><br />3 Review of theory and the literature 39<br />3.1 Introduction 39<br />3.2 Style and contents of a literature review 41<br />3.3 Judgements or opinions? 43<br />3.4 Sources of data 44<br />3.5 Methods of finding the literature 48<br />3.6 Embedding theory in dissertations and projects 49<br />3.7 Referencing as evidence of reading 53<br />3.8 Citing literature sources in the narrative of your work 54<br />3.9 References or bibliography or both? 58<br />3.10 Common mistakes by students 59<br />3.11 Using software to help with references 60<br />3.12 Avoiding the charge of plagiarism 62<br />Summary of this chapter 64<br />References 64<br /><br />4 Research goals and their measurement 67<br />4.1 Introduction 68<br />4.2 Aim 70<br />4.3 Research questions 71<br />4.4 Objectives 71<br />4.5 Variables 74<br />4.6 A hypothesis with one variable 75<br />4.7 A hypothesis with two variables: independent and dependent 77<br />4.8 Writing the hypothesis: nulls and tails a matter of semantics 81<br />4.9 Lots of variables at large, intervening variables 83<br />4.10 Ancillary or subject variables 83<br />4.11 No relationship between the IV and the DV 88<br />4.12 Designing measurement instruments; use authoritative tools and adapt the work of others 89<br />4.13 Levels of measurement 93<br />4.14 Examples of categorical or nominal data in construction 95<br />4.15 Examples of ordinal data in construction 96<br />4.16 Examples of interval and ratio data in construction 97<br />4.17 Types of data 98<br />4.18 Money and CO2 as variables 102<br />4.19 Three objectives, each with an IV and DV: four variables to measure 103<br />4.20 Summarising research goals; variables and their definition 104<br />Summary of this chapter 105<br />References 105<br /><br />5 The Methodology chapter; analysis, results and findings 107<br />5.1 Introduction 107<br />5.2 Approaches to collecting data 110<br />5.3 Data measuring and collection 112<br />5.4 Issues mostly relevant to just questionnaires 120<br />5.5 Ranking studies 129<br />5.6 Other analytical tools 131<br />5.7 Incorporating reliability and validity 132<br />5.8 Analysis, results and findings 137<br />Summary of this chapter 138<br />References 139<br /><br />6 Laboratory experiments 140<br />6.1 Introduction 141<br />6.2 Test methodology 142<br />6.3 Sourcing test materials 143<br />6.4 Reliability and validity of findings 143<br />6.5 Sample size 145<br />6.6 Laboratory recording procedures 145<br />6.7 Dissertation/project writing (introduction, methodology and&nbsp;results) 146<br />6.8 Health and safety in the laboratory; COSHH and risk assessments 149<br />6.9 Role of the supervisor 151<br />6.10 Possible research topics for technical dissertations or&nbsp;projects, construction and civil engineering 153<br />6.11 Examples of research proposals 153<br />6.12 Research objectives and sample findings by the author 154<br />Bibliography 163<br /><br />7 Qualitative data analysis 165<br />7.1 Introduction 165<br />7.2 The process of qualitative data collection 166<br />7.3 Steps in the analytical process 168<br />Summary of this chapter 175<br />References 176<br /><br />8 Quantitative data analysis; descriptive statistics 177<br />8.1 Introduction 177<br />8.2 Examples of the use of descriptive statistical tools 178<br />8.3 Ancillary variables 186<br />8.4 Illustration of relevant descriptive statistics in charts 190<br />8.5 Normal distributions; Z scores 191<br />8.6 A second variable for descriptive analysis; an IV and a DV 197<br />Summary of this chapter 201<br />References 202<br /><br />9 Quantitative data analysis; inferential statistics 203<br />9.1 Introduction 204<br />9.2 Probability values and three key tests: chi ]square, difference in means and correlation 206<br />9.3 The chi ]square test 210<br />9.4 Determining whether the dataset is parametric or non ]parametric 220<br />9.5 Difference in mean tests; the t ]test 223<br />9.6 Difference in means; the unrelated Mann Whitney test 225<br />9.7 Difference in means; the related Wilcoxon t ]test 230<br />9.8 Difference in means; the parametric related t ]test 232<br />9.9 Correlations 236<br />9.10 Using correlation coefficients to measure internal reliability and validity in questionnaires 243<br />9.11 Which test? 243<br />9.12 Confidence intervals 247<br />9.13 Summarising results 250<br />Summary of this chapter 250<br />References 250<br /><br />10 Discussion, conclusions, recommendations and appendices 251<br />10.1 Introduction 251<br />10.2 Discussion 252<br />10.3 Conclusions and recommendations 253<br />10.4 Appendices 255<br />10.5 The examiner s perspective 256<br />10.6 Summary of the dissertation or project process 258<br />Summary of this chapter 259<br />References 259<br />List of appendices 260<br /><br />Appendix A: Glossary to demystify research terms 261<br />Appendix B: Research ethics and health and safety examples 268<br />Appendix C: An abstract, problem description and literature review 272<br />Appendix D: Eight research proposals 279<br />Appendix E: Raw data for a qualitative study 309<br />Appendix F: Statistical tables 340<br />Index 350</p>