Writing a PhD Thesis
The purpose of this talk is to explain to PhD candidates on what to be aware when writing their thesis. The materials of this talk are sourced from my PhD supervision at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia since 2007.
Ismail Said
Academic Manager of Generic Program
The School of Graduate Studies
UTM
1 FEB 2015
PhD research is my baby
REMINDER: In your lifetime, you only write ONE thesis.
What is a Thesis? • A scientific document that has to be clear, well
explained, well presented and easy to read. “The thesis is the culmination of your project and the quantifiable evidence of your learning and what you have accomplished for your higher degree” (Monash University).
• It is a testament of your analytical and critical thinking on your research subject.
• It defines your transition from student to scholar. It is a document with substantial and original contribution to knowledge of a particular field.
2 Overview
Content
1. Model of Architectural
Quality
2. Model of Behavioral-
based Simulation
4 /120
Pedestrian movement
Understanding Crowd
Behavior & environmental design
Conway
Crowd modeling
Introducing AI
Reynolds
Behavior& automata
Way-finding
Fruin
Handerson
Okazaki
Matsuda
Ortony
Hiido
Kuwahara
Watanabe
80s 90s 70s
Particle & flow-based sim.
Decision Support sys.
Synthetic perception
Interaction & emotion-based sys.
Social & cognitive emergence
Crowd dynamics
Reasoning model
AI
00s Rao & Georgeff
Tyrell
Yoshida
Ebihara
Terzepoulos
Thalmann
Renault
Bates
Thalmann
Palechano
Watanabe
Monzani
Mussee
understanding- behavior, crowd of
pedestrian, Limited- computer
power
Modeling using- AI, cellular automata,
Development of- way finding alg.
More modeling, AI using physics,
emergence, cognitive models
AI with reasoning model, model
based on dynamic vars.
Model of Architectural Quality Model of Behavioral-based Simulation
Novelty and Originality
• Carrying out an empirical work that has not been done before
• Making a synthesis that has not been made before
• Making a new interpretation of known materials • Bringing new evidence to bear on old use • Being cross-disciplinary and using different
methodologies • Adding new knowledge to the current pool of
knowledge
What is a Thesis? • It is cogently written that develops into a story. A story of new
knowledge discovered from your investigation.
• This means that each chapter is linked to the preceding ones. Each section of the chapter is integrated to explain the purpose of the chapter. Each chapter ends with a conclusion or a summary.
• A story worth a thousand pictures.
Read Novels
The Uncharted Path: The Autobiography of Lee Myung-Bak
What is a life well lived?
Content of a Thesis Abstract
• A brief representation of your thesis
• An overall picture of your thesis that should trigger the examiners to go to your Chapter 1: Research Problem and Background
• Its content includes RESEARCH PROBLEM AND GAP, AIM AND OBJECTIVES, METHODS, RESULTS AND FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS, FURTHER RESEARCH.
• DOING THE RIGHT THING VERSUS DOING A THING RIGHT.
Examiner Comment on Abstract
• By Tracey Skelton on Nor Fadzila’s thesis, AFFORDANCE OF SCHOOL GROUNDS FOR CHILDREN’S OUTDOOR PLAY AND ENVIORNMENTAL LEARNING (2014)
The abstract accurately reflects the thesis and captures the content to very good effect. The abstract provides a good insight into what the thesis focuses on and outlines the methods used to gather the data. The innovative question about the role that school grounds play in children’s learning and play activities is clearly laid out. The abstract is followed by an excellent contents page, which is very detailed and well structured.
Content of Thesis Chapter 1: Research Problem and Background
• It is the main door of your thesis to enthuse the
examiner that it is a worthwhile research to be read. In other words, it is the first impression for the examiners.
• Its structure comprises of defining the research problem and specifying the gap of study, background and scope of study, research aim and objectives or hypothesis, significance of study, anticipated findings.
Content of Thesis
Chapter 1: Research Problem and Background
• Your problem could be derived from literature as well as your direct experience with the research problem.
• The background is the situatedness of your study. It means that the context of your research as a small part of a large research discipline.
• It should be written in simple present tense.
Affordances of School Grounds
for Children’s Outdoor Play and Environmental Learning
Nor Fadzila Aziz (PB103013)
PhD Candidate Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr Ismail Said
Faculty of Built Environment Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
1 October 2014
School Grounds
Schools grounds as potential sites for children’s outdoor play
and environmental learning
• School grounds provide the opportunities for children to interact with
the school environment through movement, investigation,
concentration and social interaction.
Promotes children’s physical, social and cognitive development and
children’s health (Ozdemir and Yilmaz, 2008; Willenberg et al., 2010)
Potential sites for place-based or environmental learning and instruction (Malone and Tranter, 2003a, 2003b; Dyment, 2005; Dyment et al., 2009;
Powell, 2007; Stanley 2010)
• Children’s outdoor play in the school grounds is a fundamental
component of informal learning, which has been referred to as
environmental learning by Tranter and Malone (2004).
Research Gap
There has been a variety of research about school grounds, but most
studies have focused either on the impacts of the physical
environment on children’s behaviour and levels of physical activity
or on children’s perception of their school ground environment.
• The studies overlooked the connection between the physical environment
and the social context of school grounds regarding the actualisation of affordances and the formation of children’s preferences.
• Research focusing on children’s values of outdoor play for environmental
learning in relation to the physical and social contexts of school grounds is less studied.
Therefore, more comprehensive research is required to explore the
connection between children’s experiences within the designed
school ground environment with their perceptions of the ideal school
grounds for environmental learning.
Content of Thesis
Chapter 2: Literature Review
• This chapter presents the critical appraisal of past studies related to your research subject. It shall demonstrate a discursive prose that is you write in your own words.
• It is synthesizing a subject from a set of previous studies in your own stance. Therefore, it explains how you evaluate the works of others, show the relationships between different works, and show how it relates to your work. Hence, it is your debate on what has been studied, what is the status quo of the research subject, and lastly, what you want to extend.
• Organize the literature review into sections that present themes or identify trends, including relevant theory.
Content of Thesis
Chapter 2: Literature Review
• Here is where you discuss the meaning of research concept or
underpinning(s). The discussion ends with a clear research framework of your study referring to past studies and your research objectives.
• It shall be written in simple present tense even though you are referring to past studies.
PhD Thesis Defense, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Widya Fransiska Febriati Anwar (PB093004)
Supervisor(s):
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ismail Said
Dr. Dilshan Remaz Ossen
Dr. Moh. Hisyam bin Rasidi
Rebuilding identity of the historical area through the use of urban morphology
1875 1920 1945 2004
December 2009 – January 2013
Situating a research with the current status quo of a subject
Urban Morphology
Environmental Psychology
Conservation Preservation
Urban
Element
Urban
Structure
Change
Urban
Setting
Place
Attachment Image of
the city
City
Marketing
Culture
Conzen, 1960; Lynch, 1960; Kostof, 1991;
Wikantyoso, 1997; Hillier, 2001; Ikaputra,
et. Al, 2000; Fattahi and Kobayashi,
2009a, 2009b
Whitehand and Morton,
2004; Rapoport, 2004;
Samant, 2004; Tweed
and Sutherland, 2007;
Smith, 2008; Rabady,
2010; Ragab, 2011, Kim,
2011
Boblic, 1990; Hall, 1997;
Purwanto, 2005; Hanh, 2006;
Hara, et.al (2008)
Schuller, 1898; Geisler, 1918; Whitby, 1951; Conzen,
1960; Muratori, 1960; Hillier and Hanson, 1984;
Forties; 1989; Kropt, 1996; Hall, 1997; Levy, 1999;
Canigia, 2001; Jiang and Claramunt, 2002; Chapman,
2006; James and Bound, 2009; Tian et.al, 2010; Topcu
and Kubat, 2012
Rodwel, 2007; Kolzlowski and
Bowen, 1997; Sevinc, 2009;
Wei and Kiang, 2009;
Whitehand and Gu, 2010; Albert
and Hanzen, 2010; Hillier, 2001
Inn, 2004;Gospodini, 2004, 2011; Doralti,
2004;Watson, 2006; Plaza, 2006, 2008; Butina,
2006; Niebrzydowski, 2007; Novickas, 2007;
Lewicka, 2008; Handal, 2009;Chen, 2011;
Sainz, 2012 Tuan, 1974; Steele, 1981; Altman and
Low, 1992; Hummon, 1992; Jackson,
1994; Cross, 2001; Guillani, 2003;
Willian and Vaske, 2003; Smaldone,
2006; Handal. 2006; Beidler, 2007;
Hernandez, 2007; Brown and
Raymond, 2007; Watson and Bentley,
2007; White et.al, 2008; Liu, 2009;
Raymod et.al, 2010; Najafi and
Kamal, 2011
Rebuilding City Identity
Place
Familiarity
Sense of
Place Identity
Authenticity
Urban
Reminder
City's Identity
Place Character
Identity of Place
Place Identity
Rebuilding city identity through the use of urban morphology (Widya, 2013)
RO#3 The interdependency between the urban morphology and identity
Place Identity
The current bonding
between people and
riverside area
Interview Questionnai
re
Stage 3
The new/ remaining/ disappeared urban elements or setting
The forgotten and memorized elements
High vs. Low appreciation
towards the place
Social Character Physical Character
IDENTITY OF RIVER CITY
Stage 4
RO#1. The physical and spatial pattern
Urban Morphology
The persistent and new
urban element
The physical-spatial
pattern changes,
streetline and riverline
Superimposed the maps
Stage 1
RO#2 Place character that can establish the identity
Identity with the Place
People's appreciation
in the past (1890-1930)
People appreciation of
the present (1990-
2000s)
Old
paintings
/ photos
Interview
Question
naire
Archival
studies
Stage 2
Examiner Comment on Literature Review
• By Tracey Skelton on Nor Fadzila’s thesis, AFFORDANCE OF SCHOOL GROUNDS FOR CHILDREN’S OUTDOOR PLAY AND ENVIORNMENTAL LEARNING (2014)
The literature review, which is largely located in Chapter 2, is extremely comprehensive and clearly written. An extremely good range of literature is examined and the candidate displays clear knowledge of, and the competence to engage with, the scholarly debates that are relevant to her field of study. She draws upon well-established and influential literature and also recent work to very good effect. The literature review is structured clearly and logically.
I was also hoping to read more critical discussion about the conceptual and material problems around the ideas of affordances is all the existing literature accurate and useful? What are the candidate’s own critical perspectives on the literature?
Content of Thesis
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
• It explains the research approach or design on how to elicit data as well as what tools are used to analyze the data leading to results.
• It also explains what type is your research either exploratory, explanatory, experimental, descriptive or narrative.
• In addition, it describes the general approach of your investigation either positivism, pragmatism or constructivism.
• It elaborates the meaning of parameters as well as the interrelationship of parameters.
• It describes the background of your study site or setting or context.
• Lastly, the justify the validity and reliability of your methods.
• It should be written in simple past tense.
Affordances of School Grounds
for Children’s Outdoor Play and Environmental Learning
Nor Fadzila Aziz (PB103013)
PhD Candidate Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr Ismail Said
Faculty of Built Environment Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
1 October 2014
Research Methodology
Research Design
Exploratory
research
Mixed methods design
(Concurrent nested strategy)
Transactional approach
Qualitative
(Predominant method)
Quantitative
(Embedded method)
Children
(Stratified purposeful
sampling)
Teachers
(Simple random
sampling)
Data analysis and triangulation
Findings
Measurement Strategies
STRATEGY RESPONDENT OBJECTIVE
a) Walkabout interview and mapping
Children (n=80)
RO#1
b) Photography and discussion
RO#2
c) Drawing
RO#4
d) Preference survey
RO#3
e) Survey questionnaire
Teachers (n=71)
RO#3 RO#4
Environmental
Learning Children’s
Outdoor Play
Actualisation of
Affordances
potential site for
Preferences
School Grounds
Environment
Pe
rce
ptio
n a
nd
a
ttitu
de
to
wa
rds
Co
nc
ep
tio
n o
f id
ea
l sc
ho
ol g
rou
nd
s
offered affordances
perceived affordances
offered affordances
BOTTOM
UP
Children’s
interactions
Children’s
needs
CHILDREN’S BEHAVIOURAL AND PERCEPTUAL RESPONSES
PLANNING AND DESIGN OF SCHOOL GROUNDS
Children’s
emotions
Interrelationship between Variables
D1 D2
D3
RO #1 Affordances of school grounds
Children’s
walkabout interview & mapping
(n=80)
Children’s photography &
discussion (n=80)
RO #2 Factors that influence
level of affordances
RO #3 Environmental learning
in school grounds
Children’s preference
survey (n=80)
RO #4 Ideal school grounds for environmental learning
Outdoor play
activities
The use of school grounds environment
Play behaviour patterns & children’s
performances
Place preferences
Children’s affection & evaluation towards the environment
Properties & attributes
of school grounds
Person-environment relationship
(“ACTUAL” environment)
Needs &
preferences
The potentials & barriers of school grounds for environmental learning
Beliefs, preferences & needs
Meaning and
understanding on the potential affordances of school grounds
Features, design patterns & aspects considered
Perceptual & conception
(“IDEAL” environment)
Physical &
social
factors
Theoretical & design implication in enhancing school grounds’ potentials
Teacher’s survey
questionnaire (n=71)
Children’s drawing
(n=80)
Descriptive statistics (Univariate)
Spatial analysis (Hotspots) Content analysis (Interpretative)
Descriptive statistics
Descriptive statistics
RASCH Model
Descriptive statistics Content analysis
TRIANGULATION
Perceptions &
attitudes
Research Objectives
Examiner Comment on Research Methodology
• By Tracey Skelton on Nor Fadzila’s thesis, AFFORDANCE OF SCHOOL GROUNDS FOR CHILDREN’S OUTDOOR PLAY AND ENVIORNMENTAL LEARNING (2014)
This is a really strong chapter in the thesis and the range of methods utilized for the research is explained very well and in good depth. There is also valuable use of methodological scholarships and discussion and strong argument put forward to the mixed-method approach. There are a few things that I think will strengthen the chapter and form part of the minor amendments.
The methodology chapter provides a very clear, descriptive introduction, but how does this chapter link with the aims of the thesis and the research questions of the thesis? There needs to be more critical discussion of the purpose of this chapter to answer the complexities of the research project. This material is there a little later on but the early part of the chapter needs to be restructured. I would move paragraph 2 on page 86 up in the introduction as it provides a good description of the methods and so would better with the introduction as part of showing why and how the research was done in the way it was.
Content of Thesis
Chapter 4: Results and Discussion
• Here lies the novelty of your research. Your data has been churned into tables and figures, your results. Figures could be maps, illustrations, charts and graphs.
• Being critical means you interpret the results rigorously relative to your research objectives, research hypothesis or research questions. Answering all of them means your thesis is complete.
• If you found that one of your objectives was not clearly answered, you can revise it in Chapter 1 or you can even drop the objective when you clearly understood that you have reached your research aim.
Content of Thesis
Chapter 4: Results and Discussion
• Situate your findings with those of your literature review either affirm, modify or reject. Hence, there should be many citations. Avoid playing safe in your discussion that is discussing your findings all in consistent with those in the review. You should argue why your finding is in contrast with the findings of previous studies. It means that you either modify the current status of research subject or you create a new theory. This is the novelty of your research, new knowledge.
• It should be written in simple past tense.
Examiner Comment on Results and Discussion
• By Tracey Skelton on Nor Fadzila’s thesis, AFFORDANCE OF SCHOOL GROUNDS FOR CHILDREN’S OUTDOOR PLAY AND ENVIORNMENTAL LEARNING (2014)
The chapter is extremely thorough and takes the reader through all the methods and findings step by step. In some places I think sections could be combined and more connected discussion be provided that provides a more analytical rather than a largely descriptive narrative.
I found the most interesting part of this chapter related to the ideal school grounds that the children invented. Their diagrams were intriguing. I enjoyed the discussion on this too.
Content of Thesis
Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications
• Here lies the contribution of your research, the milestones that you have generated and has clearly extended the boundary of the current status quo of your research subject. This demonstrates that you are a scholar in the field of study.
• The conclusion is constructed from the triangulation of findings answering your research objectives. It is a generalization of findings benefit humanity.
• The implication is your idea consists of constructive steps that your findings benefiting stakeholders, organization, government or the people’s community.
• It should be written in simple present tense.
The Model of Child-Environment Transactional Process
1. P-E fit
2. Affordances
3. Environmental preferences
Conclusion & Theoretical Implications
PLACE MAKING AND MEANING OF PADANG AS A PUBLIC PLACE IN HISTORIC CITIES OF MALAYSIA
Nor Zalina Harun (PB073042)
PhD Candidate, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Theoretical Implication
Distinctiveness
Place familiarity Place dependence
Diversity
Place rootedness Place identity
Place belongingness Place identity
Symbolical / analogical
Valuation
Denotative meaning Connotative meaning Abstract meaning
Cognitive attachment Affective attachment Symbolic attachment
+
+
Examiner Comment on Conclusion and Implication
• By Tracey Skelton on Nor Fadzila’s thesis, AFFORDANCE OF SCHOOL GROUNDS FOR CHILDREN’S OUTDOOR PLAY AND ENVIORNMENTAL LEARNING (2014)
A key strength of this thesis is the amount of data and the systematic analysis of that data. There is a wealth of material provided and discussed. This is particularly impressive given that the research could only be carried out in a two-day period in both schools. This is a testament to the mixed-methods approach that garnered a lot of information in a short space of time. The thesis is one of the best written and error-free pieces of work I have examined in quite a while – given the candidate is written in her second language this makes it all the more impressive. The structure and logic of the thesis is very strong and makes for an engaging read. I could almost feel the energy of the children as they talked about and engaged in their different types of play. There is a good engagement with the academic literature throughout the thesis and the candidate demonstrates a good knowledge of the debates – although I think a more critical take on the work would have really strengthened the thesis. The thesis provides insights which will be valuable for policy making and planning.
Discussion with peers and supervisor
Q & A Session