Introduction

This Open Educational Resource (OER) book presents a step-by-step guide to help graduate students complete a Master’s thesis or a graduate research project paper for those who conduct research using a secondary dataset. Almost all graduate programs require a Master’s thesis/graduate research project as a graduate requirement. However, it is not easy for students to complete a thesis/research project since it requires a mastery of knowledge and skills through the integration of research methodology and statistics. Both research methodology and statistics are not easy subjects for students as well as researchers. Nonetheless, books or other published materials that combine both research methodology and statistics are rare mainly due to the magnitude of information and the difficulty of both subjects. As instructors who have supervised graduate students’ research projects for over 20 years, we understood the struggles and challenges students often face in the process of completing their theses/projects.  

This work aims to provide graduate students with a more comprehensive guide on the process of conducting a graduate thesis and research project by combining essential components selected from both research methods and statistics. This book also aims to present a step-by-step guide from the beginning to the end, such as choosing a research topic, finding a dataset, writing the Introduction and Literature Review, conducting data cleaning and analysis, and presenting findings in a final version of a thesis/graduate research paper. Since this book is a step-by-step guide, it contains only key elements and step guides. Thus, for more detailed information about research methods and statistics, we recommend reviewing other research methods and statistics textbooks.    

This guidebook consists of nine chapters: Chapter 1 is an overview of a Graduate Research Project/thesis to help students understand the structure of the thesis/project paper. It is highly anticipated that graduate students would have an idea about what to write and how to write their thesis. Chapter 2 is to guide students to select a research topic with existing data or to find secondary data for their research project. Chapter 3 is to help students find published references for the Introduction and Literature Review, the differences in writing between the Introduction and Literature Review, and the key elements to writing both sections. Chapter 4 is to guide students understand the SPSS program and a dataset in SPSS with knowledge from both research methods and statistics. Chapter 5 is to prepare for data analysis using SPSS by cleaning and managing a dataset through univariate analyses for a research project. Chapters 6 and 7 present steps for data analysis of bivariate and multivariate analyses and presentations of findings obtained from the data analysis. Chapter 8 is to help students understand how to write the Methods and Discussion when we conduct a thesis/project with a secondary dataset. Chapter 9 provides a few technical tips useful for writing a thesis or project paper successfully. Professional formatting, editing, and other essential writing techniques are included in this chapter.

Contributors

Dr. Sei-Young Lee, Assistant Professor of the Department of Social Work at University of Northern Iowa, has expertise in quantitative research methods and advanced statistical analyses such as longitudinal latent growth curve modeling (LGM), structural equation modeling (SEM), factor analysis, and psychometric tests. She conducted 12 grant projects funded by non-profit organizations, higher educational institutions, and state and federal governments up to $350,000 as a PI, Co-PI, program manager, and evaluator. She successfully completed all funded projects and disseminated the results through final reports, conference presentations, and peer-reviewed journal articles. Thus far, she successfully published 17 peer-reviewed journal articles and 36 conference proceedings in the areas of adverse childhood experiences, domestic violence/intimate partner violence/dating violence, and juvenile delinquency. She has been teaching research methods and supervising Master’s thesis and graduate research projects for 10 years.

Dr. Siyon Rhee, a Professor and Director at the School of Social Work, California State University Los Angeles (CSULA), has extensive social work teaching, research, and field experiences in the Los Angeles area. She is the pioneering researcher of IPV (Intimate Partner Violence) studies on Korean American families as she published her research in 1997 and has been cited by 147 articles. She not only has strong collaborative experiences with a variety of non-profit partner organizations surrounding Los Angeles that serve IPV and mentally and physically disabled people and their families, but also has received and implemented a substantial number of big grants over $3 million funded by state and federal governments as a PI. She has been teaching research methods and supervising Master’s thesis and graduate research projects for over 20 years.

Acknowledgments

This textbook would not be possible without support from Anne Marie Gruber at Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa. We would like to thank her for her hard work. As a Textbook Equity Librarian, she developed a Textbook Equity Grant project, provided a comprehensive and administrative guide, and created a book cover, with assistance from several Rod Library faculty/staff, as well as from Rod Library volunteer Nathan Gruber.

Accessibility Statement

University of Northern Iowa's Rod Library is committed to making its publications as accessible as possible. Images in this resource have alternative text and heading styles are used throughout for compatibility with screen readers.

This ebook is displayed in the software Manifold; detailed documentation is available regarding Manifold's accessibility commitment and features.

Multiple formats are provided, including online ebook, pdf, and Google Doc. The open licensing of this work allows for translation and changing formats as needed for any user, without additional permissions needed, as long as proper attribution is given and the work license is followed.

If you have any requests for alternative formats or suggestions for improving accessibility of this OER, please contact anne.gruber@uni.edu.