The document outlines the standard format and components for a research thesis or publication, including an introduction, literature review, research methods, findings and discussions, and conclusions. It provides guidance on developing key elements such as establishing the need for research, defining the problem statement, developing research questions and objectives, and determining the research design and data collection methods. The overall purpose is to guide researchers on how to properly structure their work and methodology.

1. Research
Writing
Harry Entebang PhD
11/12/2012

2. Standard Format for a Thesis
 Chapter 1: Introduction
 Chapter 2: Literature Review
 Chapter 3: Research Methods
 Chapter 4: Findings & Discussions
 Chapter 5: Conclusions, Limitations &
Future Research
Note:
Refer to the PhD format to be discussed in the
class

3. Research Writing (publication)
 Introduction- summary of the whole paper
 Literature review (including conceptual & theoretical
frameworks)
 Problem statement
 Research question
 Research objectives
 Research Hypotheses
 Research methods (including research design) –population,
operationalization of research, instruments, reliability,
validity, procedures for data analysis)
 Research Findings & Discussions-highlights new discovery
 Conclusions, limitations & future research

4. Where to start?

5. Step 1: Establish the Need for Research:
Why are you interested to
undertake the research?
Is there a specific issue or problem
you try to solve?

6. Step 2: Define the Problem
(problem statement)
 This is the most important step
 Determine the issue/problem
 Problems may be either specific or general.
 Problems stem from gaps between what is
supposed to happen and what did happen
and gaps between what did happen and
what could be happening.
 What are the consequences/implications of
the problem(s)?
 If the problem is incorrectly defined, all else is
wasted effort.

7.  The problem statement describes the
central issue of the paper and persuades
the reader to continue reading the
paper.
 Formulating a strong, clear problem
statement often represents the first step in
research.

8. How to Develop a Problem
Statement
Step 1: Describe the issue.
For example, if you are studying the
effectiveness of audit committee in
protecting the interest of shareholders,
briefly describe the current corporate
governance (fraud)/corporate crime
environment and statistics of fraud
(internationally and nationally)

9. Step 2: Clarify why the issue is important.
Using the same topic as an example, explaining
information about the current corporate governance
(fraud) environment and statistics of corporate crime
could clarify why effective audit committee could
contribute to safeguarding of shareholder interests. In
general, consider issues that affect a large population,
have serious impacts on a population/company/nation
or extend or challenge existing knowledge. For
example, studying the effectiveness of audit
committee in protecting the interests of company’s
shareholders is more important than ever due to several
large corporate scandals
(ENRON/WORLDCOM/SATYAM/BARRING BANK).
Really need to make sure the reader understands why
the issue matters

10. Step 3: Explain your proposed methodology
Explain how you will conduct or synthesize
research (research operationalization).
Include or clarify which variables you will
study and how you will measure them. For
example, an article about corporate fraud
might include tracking the frequency of
corporate crime etc.

11. Step 5: Sum up your research project in a
concise question that mentions the
independent variable (the factor you change)
and the dependent variable (the effect you will
measure).
For example: “How effective is the audit
committee in protecting the interests of the
company’s shareholders?
This question can often serve as your title as
well.

12. Example of Problem Statement 1
More people are seeking for diagnostic procedures. In order to provide
excellent patient care at a minimal cost, ABC Hospital needs diagnostic
procedures that are safe, efficient, and accurate. In addition, the
procedures should not be overly painful for the patient. Currently, the
hospital's main diagnostic tools are CAT scans and spinal taps. However,
the CAT scan fails to make clear diagnoses 60% of the time. When the
CAT scan fails, doctors must resort to the spinal taps. While the spinal
tabs are accurate, this procedure is very painful and sometimes
dangerous for the patient. If ABC Hospital continues to do the two
procedures, they will not only be wasting time and money (resources),
which jeopardizes their overall efficiency and earning potential. An
undue suffering could lead patients to choose another hospital with
more advanced facilities. Given this, a new diagnostic technique,
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) may surpass the CAT scan in
accuracy and reduce the need to resort to the spinal tabs. Hence, there
is an urgent need to research the feasibility of establishing an NMR lab at
ABC hospital. This research will investigate the accuracy, efficiency, and
safety of NMR as well as implementation issues.

13. Example of Problem Statement 2
 In pursuit of socio-economic growth, the Malaysian government has
established a number of large government-linked companies (GLCs) since
the 1970s especially after the announcement of the New Economic Policy
(NEP). Although over the years the growth of GLCs has been phenomenal in
terms of investment, production, revenue and range of activities and they
constitute a significant part of the economic structure of the nation
(Putrajaya Committee on GLC High Performance, 2005), however, based on
several reports and publications concerning GLCs by PCG in 2005 and 2006
respectively and a recent study on state-owned enterprises in Malaysia
(Entebang, Puah & Abu Mansor, 2006) reveal that most GLCs have not
performed well. In view of the present performance of GLCs and their
strategic role in nation building (Putrajaya Committee on GLC High
Performance, 2006), GLCs need to be more entrepreneurial. In fact, scholars
have consistently found that the practice of corporate entrepreneurship and
the application of strategic entrepreneurial orientation in established
organisations appear to enhance organisational performance. Therefore,
this research seeks to investigate the extent to which EO affects CE
performance in GLCs and how this relationship will be influenced by internal
and external organisational factors.

14. Step 3: Establish the research
question
 The research question is an organizing element for
the topic under study. It focuses your investigation
into a narrow topic area and guides every aspect of
the research project, including the literature search,
the design of the study, data collection, data
analysis, interpretation of results, and even the
direction of the discussion.
 The research question responds to the inquiry What
do I want to know about by my topic?
 A research question can also help identify the study's
methodology as qualitative or quantitative

15. Example of research question
 Given the existing internal organisational and
external environmental factors in GLCs as well
as the present performance of GLCs in
Malaysia, the central question of the thesis is:
(1) to what extent does the entrepreneurial
orientation (EO) of GLCs contributes to their
entrepreneurial/CE performance i.e.
innovation, strategic renewal, and corporate
venturing activities and, (2) the extent to
which this relationship will be moderated by
organisational internal and external factors.


16. Step 4: Establish Objectives
 Research objectives, when achieved,
provide the information necessary to
solve the problem identified in step 3.
 Research objectives state what the
researchers must do (undertake).

17. Example of research objectives
 Based on the proposed research question
of the thesis, the primary goal is to
investigate the unique relationships
between entrepreneurial orientation and
corporate entrepreneurship performance
as well as to determine the moderating
impact of organisational internal and
external factors on this relationship in
GLCs. In particular, this research attempts:

18. 1. to review and analyse the research on corporate entrepreneurship and its related
fields as well as the theoretical approaches applicable to the study
2. to conceptualise the specific elements of organisational entrepreneurial orientation,
corporate entrepreneurship activities and organisational internal and external factors
3. to generate a set of empirically testable hypothesis linking existing organisational
factors, environmental factors, entrepreneurial orientation, and entrepreneurial
activities in GLCs
4. to conceptualise, determine and develop the theoretical constructs, designing the
research instrument, identifying a suitable sample, designing and carrying out the
data collection and developing a new conceptual framework for corporate
entrepreneurship within the business environment of GLCs
5. to examine and determine the extent to which EO of an organisation is associated
with its entrepreneurial activities in GLCs using quantitative methods to statistically test
the proposed hypotheses. This is further supplemented by the results/findings obtained
from the semi-structured interview
6. to assess the extent to which the internal and external organisational factors
moderate the relationship between the EO and CE performance
7. to present conclusions regarding the significance, reliability, and validity of the results
of the study, to discuss the theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of the
findings, and to present suggestions for future research

19. Research Hypotheses
In order to achieve the proposed objectives of this research, the
following hypotheses are developed for testing;
H1 That EO will be positively associated with innovation performance in GLCs
H2 That EO will be positively associated with strategic renewal performance in GLCs
H3 That EO will be positively associated with corporate venturing performance in GLCs
H4 That internal CE factors will moderate the relationship between EO and innovation
performance in GLCs
H5 That internal CE factors will moderate the relationship between EO and strategic renewal
performance in GLCs
H6 That internal CE factors will moderate the relationship between EO and corporate venturing
performance in GLCs
H7 That external CE factors will moderate the relationship between EO and innovation
performance in GLCs.
H8 That external CE factors will moderate the relationship between EO and strategic renewal
performance in GLCs
H9 That external CE factors will moderate the relationship between EO and corporate venturing
performance in GLCs

20. Step 5: Determine
Research Design
 Exploratory Research: collecting
information in an unstructured and
informal manner.
 Descriptive Research refers to a set of
methods and procedures describing
research variables.
 Causal Research (experiments): allows
isolation of causes and effects.

21. Step 6: Identify Information
Types and Sources
 Primary information: information
collected specifically for the
problem at hand
 Secondary information: information
already collected

22. Step 7: Determine Methods of
Accessing Data
 Secondary data is relatively easy to
access; primary data is more complex.
Methods of
accessing data vary
around the globe

23. Step 7: Determine Methods of
Accessing Data
 Three main choices for primary data:
Have a person ask questions
Use computer-assisted or
direct questioning
Allow respondents to answer
questions themselves without
computer assistance

24. Step 8: Design Data
Collection Forms
Questionnaire must be worded
objectively, clearly, and
without bias in order to
communicate with
respondents.

25. Step 9: Determine Sample
Plan and Size
 Sample plan refers to the process used to
select units from the population to be
included in the sample. Gives you
representativeness!
 Sample size refers to determining how
many elements of the population should
be included in the sample. Gives you
accuracy!

26. Step 10: Collect Data
 Data collection is very important because,
regardless of the data analysis methods used,
data analysis cannot fix bad data.
 Nonsampling errors may occur during data
collection.
 Data collection errors may be attributed to
field workers or respondents.
 Researchers must know the sources of these
errors and the controls to minimize them.

27. Step 11: Analyze Data
 Data analysis involves entering data into
computer files, inspecting data for errors,
and running tabulations and various
statistical tests.

28.  Datacleaning is a process by which raw
data are checked to verify that the data
have been correctly inputted from the
data collection form to the computer
software program.

29. Step 12: Prepare and Present
the Final Research Report
 Thelast step is one of the most important
phases of any research.
 Check the format used
 Check the reference style