Presented to an international audience of doctoral students online through DoctoralNet.com's regular conferences on Bigmarker (https://www.bigmarker.com/club_conferences/index/doctoralnet) this slide deck discusses things researchers should keep in mind. As part of our ongoing mission to increase graduation rates by offering dissertation help or thesis help, the ideas here were developed by the students in the room and are taken from our new book from Sage Publishing: Write Your Doctoral Dissertation or Thesis Faster: A Proven Map to Success - to be out Nov 2014

1. The Do’s & Don’ts of QQMM work
Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods
with previews from the new book:
James, E. A., & Slater, T. (2014). Write Your Doctoral
Dissertation or Thesis Faster: A Proven Map to Success.
Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage Publications.

2. Let’s Jump In…
• Two parts to each type of methodology –
– Do’s and don’ts about writing it up
– Do’s and don’ts in data collection and analysis

3. QUALITATIVE
WRITING IT UP?
DOING IT?
General discussion
What do you know about

4. General or Common Qualitative Lessons
1. Telling a story in such a way
without being part of it –
need to be objective and at
a distance
2. Time consuming – takes
hours extra to transcribe
3. No short-cut
4. Easy to become side-
tracked
5. Have to watch out for bias –
6. Also may have to consider
whether and how much
qualitative is respected
within your university

5. Dos and Don’ts for Qualitative Writing
1. Don’t quote
your authors
too much
2. Always by concise or
avoid discussions in
your methods chapters
3. Avoid discussions of
topic in methodology
James, E. A., & Slater, T. (2014). Write Your
Doctoral Dissertation or Thesis Faster: A
Proven Map to Success. Thousand
Oaks, CA, USA: Sage Publications.

6. Qualitative
Dos and Don’ts for
Data Collection &
Analysis
1. Cross-examine your worldview – is it
getting in the way of an alternative
interpretation?
2. Discuss your work with others, get their
opinions – and member check with your
participants to ensure you “got it right”
3. Transcribe your recordings, don’t rely on
notes
4. Don’t forget that a clear explanation of
the demographics and context of your
participants is as important as it is to
quantitative readers
5. Take notes on where you met, with
whom, for how long and include these
specifics in your explanation of how
your data were collected.

7. Qualitative
Dos and Don’ts for
Data Collection &
Analysis
Consistently report your findings so that your
reader understands:
1. From whom they were derived.
2. How the themes related to your questions.
3. The relative numerical justification for
quantification of the idea within your
larger body of data. As an example, if the
majority of your study participants agreed
with A then it should be discussed first and
should be quantified with the percentage
of people who mentioned something
similar. The other results should follow in
an obvious fashion.
4. The logical order which you maintain
throughout all your arguments leading to
your findings.
5. The role played by disparate data or
outliers in your study. These should
include a quantification of the significance
of these other ideas within your whole
collection of data.

8. Questions?
Don’t be shy – someone else is probably
wondering the same thing

9. QUANTITATIVE
WRITING IT UP?
DOING IT?
General discussion
What do you know about

10. General or Common Quantitative Lessons
1. Takes a long time to
develop rigorous and
reliable instruments.
2. Also may have
trouble getting a
large enough N= to be
statistically valid.

11. Dos and Don’ts for Quantitative Writing
1. Be clear on which are
results and which are
findings
2. Tell your reader at the
beginning of each section
how the results and
findings will be presented
and then follow that order
3. Superimpose a routine on
your explanation of
results, repeating that
routine throughout your
argumentation in order for
your reader to understand
the sequence of thoughts
and how they develop
James, E. A., & Slater, T. (2014). Write Your
Doctoral Dissertation or Thesis Faster: A
Proven Map to Success. Thousand
Oaks, CA, USA: Sage Publications.

12. Quantitative
Dos and Don’ts for
Data Collection &
Analysis
James, E. A., & Slater, T. (2014).
Write Your Doctoral Dissertation or
Thesis Faster: A Proven Map to
Success. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA:
Sage Publications.
DO
1. Tell your reader at the beginning of each
section how the results and findings will
be presented and then follow that order.
2. Superimpose a routine on your
explanation of results, repeating that
routine throughout your argumentation
in order for your reader to understand
the sequence of thoughts and how they
develop.
3. Use the tables and charts to present your
data to highlight and offer your reader
more options for understanding your
arguments rather than just written or
formulaic descriptions
4. Clearly explain the statistical models and
tests you used and why they are best
suited to your study

13. Quantitative
Dos and Don’ts for
Data Collection &
Analysis
James, E. A., & Slater, T. (2014).
Write Your Doctoral Dissertation or
Thesis Faster: A Proven Map to
Success. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA:
Sage Publications.
Don’t
1. Spend too much space on
written descriptions, especially
paragraph long descriptions of
frequencies of responses, instead
organize quantitative evidence
using tables and charts and show
your readers how the qualitative
data compare with quotations
from that evidence.
2. Forget to consider the internal
validity of your
findings, discussion or
conclusions, and arguments in
terms of both types of evidence.
This discussion should be
considered as part of your final

14. Questions?
Don’t be shy – someone else is probably
wondering the same thing

15. MIXED METHODS
WRITING IT UP?
DOING IT?
General discussion
What do you know about

16. General or Common Mixed Methods Lessons
1. The main difficulty
with mixed methods is
getting the logic of the
design integrated
enough that the data
triangulate well and
easily.
2. The second issue is in
your ability to write it
up so your reader
understands the
internal validity in your
design.

17. Dos and Don’ts for Mixed Methods Writing
1. Check and double
check the logics of each
method – and how you
display them for your
readers: one and then
the other? Or back and
forth?
2. Tell others what you
did, see where they
stumble in
understanding and
plan for that in your
writing
James, E. A., & Slater, T. (2014). Write
Your Doctoral Dissertation or Thesis
Faster: A Proven Map to Success.
Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage
Publications.

18. Mixed Methods
Dos and Don’ts for
Data Collection &
Analysis
James, E. A., & Slater, T. (2014).
Write Your Doctoral Dissertation or
Thesis Faster: A Proven Map to
Success. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA:
Sage Publications.
DO
1. Layout your logic and what you
want to say in slides – talk
yourself and others through it and
pre plan before you do much
writing.
2. Discuss how you coded your
qualitative data
3. Justify your use of the statistical
tests that you employed
4. Carefully plot your internal
validity for your readers

19. Questions?
Don’t be shy – someone else is probably
wondering the same thing

20. Upcoming News/Events
Monthly Content in Control Panel for
Paying Members
This month all about writing:
1) Pdf on tips and tricks
2) Video on using bibliographic
software to help you write
Upcoming Conferences:
June 30th - Theoretical and conceptual frameworks: What good are they?
July 14th - Pitfalls in data collection and analysis-what goes wrong?
July 28th - What makes for outstanding dissertations and thesis?
August 11th - Writing an outstanding introduction to your thesis
August 25th - The golden thread - building internal consistency throughout your
dissertation or thesis
September 8th- Committees, defense and publishing: The end games
Now scheduling online virtual retreats for July and August
http://www.doctoralnet.com/virtual-retreats-explained2.html