2. About Me
– Dr. Merza Abbas
– Assoc. Prof.
– Chairman of Graduate Studies,
Centre for Instructional Technology
& Multimedia
– merza@usm.my, drmerza@yahoo.com
5. Why do a master degree?
• To do a better job
– To teach better: more effectively, more
efficiently, more productively, etc…
– To improve the quality of learning
• To move to better jobs
• Because it is exciting, challenging, etc…
– Because it‛s there
6. Why do a master degree?
• To do a PHD, to be a researcher
• To acquire “constructive” knowledge as
well as “destructive” knowledge
• To learn to deconstruct and/or
reconstruct knowledge (how do you
know what you know is correct?)
• No real applications except for a PHD
or in a research environment
7. What is a graduate program?
Critical review of paradigms:
PHD
Accept when irrefutable
Critical review of theories:
Master
Accept when “proven”
Grad. Dip/ More skills & theories:
Prof. exams Accept w/o question
Skills & theories:
Bachelor
Accept w/o question
Diploma Skills: Accept w/o question
8. Paradigm
Structure
P
of R
Academic D
E
E
thinking S
S
C
Theory C
R
R
I
I
P
P
T
T
I
I
Model
V
V
E
E
Res.
Res.
Practice
9. Structure of Scientific
Revolution (Kuhn, 1970)
Master programs
Paradigm Normal Science
New
Anomalies New Paradigm
Normal Science
Another new
More Anomalies
Paradigm
Doctoral Programs
10. Objectivist Paradigm
Theory Focus: Mastery of content/skills
Behaviourist through conditioning and use of
Mental processes
extrinsic “motivational”processes
are predictable:
External factors
Cybernetic through accumulation of sub-skills
can change
and sub-procedures
internal processes
Cognitive through activation of mental
processes such as schemas,
strategies, & metacognition
11. Constructivist Paradigm
Theory Focus: reasoning skills & science
process skills
Mental through inquiry and solving
Development real-life problems
Mental processes
are not predictable:
Knowledge is private &&
Humanist through meaningful
is personally
purposeful learning
constructed
Social through scaffolding,
learning cooperative/collaborative learning,
12. What is a
thesis/dissertation?
• Report of a scholarly investigation
– Proof of theory-practice mastery
– Genuine & Original thought/argument
• Document to pass a sentence
– Verify/fine-tune theories, models, practice
– Reject/Debunk paradigms, theories, models
13. What is in a
thesis/dissertation?
• Chapter 1: Introduction
– Problem Statement
– Research Questions
– Hypotheses, etc
• Chapter 2: Literature Review
• Chapter 3: Research Methodology
• Chapter 4: Results / Data Analysis
• Chapter 5: Discussion & Conclusions
14. Skills for Research & Thesis
Writing Draw & apply reasonable conclusions
Organize & analyze expt. data
Plan & conduct controlled expt.
Generate logical predictions
Recognize & state Alt. H & Theories
Sense & state causal question
Describe nature accurately
Dari Lawson (1995)
15. Literature Review
• What is it?
• What is it for?
• Where do we start?
• How do we do it?
– Quantitative research
– Qualitative research
• How do we know we‛ve done a good job?
• Worked example(s)
16. Literature Review:
M.Ed. Evaluation Form
• Perkaitan Sumber yang disoroti
dengan masalah kajian.
• Terdapat teori/model untuk
menyokong masalah kajian.
• Sumber yang disoroti adalah terkini
dan mencakupi skop kajian.
17. What is it?
• High quality overview
– Clarity, Flow, Relevance, Recency,
Empirical focus, Independence
• With technically accurate citations
and references
– List all articles cited in text,
– Cite all articles listed in reference
– Use the APA standard.
18. What is it for?
• Support for ideas in Chapter 1
• Elaboration of ideas in Chapter 1
• Reference for discussion and
conclusions in Chapter 5
– Must be thorough, exhaustive, & up-to-
date
19. Where do we start?
• Choose a paradigm
• Problem Statement (3-5 pages: tentative cause
& effect statements)
– Problems = anomalies
– Choose a suitable theory/model
– Identify Independent Variables (IV)
– Identify Dependent Variables (DV)
– Identify Moderator Variables (MV)
• Write clear Research Questions
– How will the IVs affect the DVs among the MVs?
– Develop the Hypotheses
• Derive a Title from the Research Questions
• Tip: RQ = Summary of Problem Statement
20. Information Processing
Model
Learning: process of Executive
Motivation
Encoding and decoding
E Control
N
Stimuli/Knowledge items
V
into meaningful structures
I Response
Muscles cognitive
using various Generator
R
O
strategies
N
M
Short Term/ Long
E
Sensory Working Term
N Senses
Register Memory Memory
T
21. Piaget‛s theory
Existing
• Learning: Schema in
equilibrium
process of
resolving New Information
cognitive causes disequilibrium
conflicts Assimilation
Self-regulation
Accomodation
New Schema
in equilibrium
22. How do we do it?
• Expand from the Title
– Expand concepts to content outline
– Use cause and effect structure
• Expand from the Research Questions
• Expand from the Problem Statement
• Take note of the
– Academic Pecking Order
– Sources of Knowledge
– Who else has done this, in what paradigm, with what
subjects, & with what results: go to ASKERIC, Google, etc.
• Tip: Hypotheses are summaries for Lit. Review.
23. The Academic Pecking
Order
Innovators
Developers
No name
dropping,
Reporters
padding
Please!
Students
25. Inductive Deductive
Scientific
Reasoning Reasoning
Thinking
Begins with a
Begins with
theory that
specific
explains an
observations
event
Detects
forms
patterns &
hypotheses
forms
to test
Forms tentative
Collects data/
hypotheses
observations
to test
to test H’thesis
Concludes with
Confirms
a new theory
original theory
Dari Sopiah Abdullah (2004)
26. How do you know you‛ve
done a good job?
• Does the review support every
hypothesis?
• Does the review support Chapter 5?
• Up-to-date, thorough, exhaustive,
original?
• Can be turned into a book / a monograph?
27. Tuckman‛s (1999) criteria
• Context
• Magnitude (number of references)
• How empirical & up-to-date
• Connectedness to the problem
• Well-organized?
• Establish significance?
• Convincing argument?
28. Let‛s try an example
• Paradigm
• Variables
• Research Questions
• Title
• Literature Review Outline
