How to Do a Dissertation in Record Time Using Government Data: A Primer

by Robert Slater

Overview

How To Do a Dissertation in Record Time with Government Data: A Primer is written to help students in the social sciences and education do their dissertations in as few as four years from start to finish. Its purpose is to show doctoral students how to conceptualize, formulate and investigate a research problem using government data. Two data sets are used. One is the General Social Survey (GSS), which is used by social scientists and contains some of the best information available on American society. The other data used in this book is from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the gold standard for data on U.S. K-12 education. Both sets of data are free and available online.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610485708
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/03/2024
Pages:	88
Product dimensions:	5.88(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.29(d)

About the Author

Robert O. Slater is a professor of education who does research and writes on educational leadership, democracy and human development in K-12 and higher education. He received his BA from the Harris Teachers College in St. Louis, MO, one of the historic HBCUs in the U.S., his MEd from Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, and his PhD from the University of Chicago in Chicago, IL.

Table of Contents

Part I: Overview and Commonsense Questions

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Doctoral Program Overview

Chapter 3: The Structure of the Traditional Dissertation

Chapter 4: 10 Commonsense Questions

Chapter 5: The Practical and Theoretical Questions

Chapter 6: From “Topic” To Research Question

Part II: The Dissertation

Chapter 7: Problem Statement

Chapter 8: Literature Review and Conceptual Framework

Chapter 9: Methodology

Chapter 10: Data Analysis and Discussion

Chapter 11: Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

Part III The Mind’s Eye

Chapter 12: The Mind’s Eye

Appendix A

Accessing the GSS Data

Accessing the NAEP Data

References

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

As a current doctoral student, How to Do a Dissertation in Record Time Using Government Data: A Primer has been helpful in de-mystifying the dissertation process by providing a thorough yet accessible roadmap from finding a problem to finalizing the report. Chapter 4’s '10 Commonsense Questions' are a particular useful set of guides that I plan to post prominently on my office wall.

Rich Vath