Health Professions Division Dissertation Guide

9 Problem Statement and Goal A concise statement of the problem to be addressed (why the work is being undertaken) and a concise definition of the goal of the work (the accomplishment of the work) will be addressed in this section. Candidates should provide supporting evidence of the problem and goal from the literature. Every effort should be made to define a goal that is measurable. The goal contained in the idea paper is a step in that direction. In other words, it attempts to establish some degree of measurability. Many candidates do not provide an adequate statement of the problem, which has been the basis for rejection. Candidates must clearly identify the need for the research and the outcome the research will accomplish in order to establish the basis for the dissertation research. Research Question or Hypothesis In this section, the candidate will state the preliminary research question(s) to be answered by the study. State any hypothesis or hypotheses that will be tested. Relevance and Significance The statement of the problem that will be addressed will be strengthened in this section. It contains a brief description of the relative value of the work proposed. While a full literature search is not required at this stage, a brief discussion and synthesis of at least 10 to 15 references of key relevant work must be included. Knowledge, improvement in professional practice, and/or contribution to understanding in the field of study must be significantly advanced by the dissertation research. It should answer the “So what?” question. In essence, looking forward, it should be possible to distill from a completed dissertation a paper that is worthy of publication in a journal or conference proceedings or as a textbook or monograph. Practical Applications of the Findings In this section, there should be an answer to the question “Who cares?” How might/will the results of the research be applied to the candidate’s field of interest? Barriers and Issues In this section, pre-existing barriers and current issues relative to the candidate’s chosen topic are identified. Why has this goal not already been met? Is it because the work is difficult and the solution elusive? If the answer is yes, it might make it appropriate for a dissertation. If, on the other hand, the work would be easy but no one until now has thought of it, then it might not be doctoral-level work. In this section, the candidate will discuss the underlying problem(s) and issues and the expected degree of difficulty of the solution. Approach In this section, the candidate will state how he/she expects to accomplish the stated goal. The candidate will prepare a sequential list of the proposed major steps that will accomplish the goal, including the proposed conceptual methodology. Resources In this section, the candidate provides a preliminary description of the facilities or human resources to be used to accomplish the stated goal.