2
PREFACE
Writing a thesis is one of the steps students must do in order to complete their undergraduate studies. As a inal requirement, the student’s thesis should relect the academic standing, as well as the academic quality of the program from which s/he graduates. herefore, careful consideration and systematic organization are needed to produce a qualiied and well-organized thesis.
he International Program understands this need and therefore provides a step by step thesis guide book to help its students write their thesis that meets international academic standards. his guide can be a reference for students during their writing process in terms of content, organization/structure and language use. his guidebook cannot substitute the role of the thesis advisors, therefore if there is any confusion about the thesis, the student is advised to see the content advisor immediately.
Any feedback and/or suggestions on how we could improve this guidebook are much appreciated.
And inally, good luck for those of you who are embarking on the thesis writing journey!
Yogyakarta, June 2014
3
General Information
A. THESIS
What is a thesis?
A thesis, or a dissertation, is a document that presents an author’s original opinion based on his/her research indings. It is the inal assignment that must be successfully completed by every student of the IP to partially fulill the requirements of the S1 bachelor’s degree. As a inal assignment, a thesis should relect your point of view towards your major subject in relation to its relevance in real life. herefore, you should approach your thesis as a new and challenging academic experience in which you carefully consider a topic, logically investigate it, and present and analyze the data in the form of a major research report. he outcome of your research might be to make useful contributions and give new insights into the development of that particular ield.
Duration of thesis writing
he maximum amount of time allowed for writing your thesis is 6 (six) months starting from the date the Letter of Permit is issued. Should the normal writing time expire and the thesis is not completed, you may renew the Letter of Permit only once by completing the following procedures:
1. Write a letter of request to renew the letter of permit to the thesis advisor.
2. Pay the thesis renewal fee to the BUKOPIN Bank, no later than one month after the normal consultation time is expired, and reregister by doing a Key-In on the SIMAK.
3. Fill in the thesis renewal form and return it to the Academic Section along with the approval statement by the advisor and the payment receipt. At this point, you may propose a new advisor to replace the current advisor provided approvals from both sides are given.
4. If the normal writing time is expired but you can inalize the thesis within less than one month after the due time, you do not have to pay the renewal fee. However, inalization beyond that period requires students to fulill the above renewal procedures.
5. If you cannot complete your thesis within the second normal completion time (the additional 6 months), your thesis will be considered as void and failed. If you want to write another thesis, you must follow the normal procedures starting from the beginning.
Supervision Methods
he supervision method for writing a thesis is as follows:
1. You will be guided by two advisors, a content advisor and a language advisor. Each advisor is responsible to check your thesis based on the work division.
4
3. Meeting with your advisors will be done based on the agreed-upon time between you and them, but IP UII has a policy to give opportunity to the advisors one week for one chapter.
4. he IP management has the authority to allocate the workload of a certain advisor who is chosen by the majority of students to other students.
5. You must see the content advisor before consulting with the language advisor. 6. Remember that writing a thesis is a process, you should enjoy the process and value
any recommendation given to improve your thesis.
Thesis format and formal details of a thesis
Formal details of a thesis
he formal details outlined below observe some general principles in research writing. he details cover the following points:
1. The Abstract
An abstract is a short summary of the research. It is located at the beginning of the thesis before the table of contents. he main purpose of the abstract is to summarize the research to help the reader quickly understand the purpose of the thesis. he abstract explains the objective and the main indings/conclusions of the thesis, it does NOT introduce the research area. he abstract should include:
• he topic of the research
• he research problem and/or main objective of the research
• he methodology used
• he main indings
• he main conclusions
he abstract should not be too long. It should be a concise summary (not too short) of your research. Your abstract should be around about half a page to one page in length with single line spacing.
2. Thesis Length
Oicially, there is no limitation for the total number of pages in a thesis. You can decide how long your thesis will be depending on the complexity of research problems. he thesis should be typed on 80 gram A4 paper size with 29.7 cm (8.4 inch) in length and 21 cm (11.2 inch) in width.
3. Spacing
5
4. Margins
Use a margin of 4 cm long on the left and above-intended side of the paper and 3 cm long on the bottom one right. If you are typing footnotes at the bottom of the page, plan your bottom margins very carefully to allow room for the notes.
5. Title
Generally, title pages contain three kinds of identifying information: the title of the paper, author identiication, and course identiication. Center the title on the irst page and on the legalization page. he title should be typed in capital letters and should not be underlined or surrounded by quotation marks.
6. Page Numbering
Number each page starting with page 1. Place the irst numbers of each chapter in the center at the bottom of the pages and the next numbers in the upper-right-hand comers of the page.
he preliminary parts are given small-Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, etc.), whereas tables and pictures are identiied by giving capital-Roman numerals. his is continued by signing with Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, ....). Arabic numbers are also used for signing any formulas mentioned about the thesis.
7. Headings of Major Divisions
he irst line of the irst chapter will be “CHAPTER I”. One line below this appears the title of the chapter in capital letters, centered. Use an inverted pyramid and 1.5 line spacing succeeding lines of the title if it is longer than one line. Place the irst line of text three lines below the chapter title. Succeeding chapters, “CHAPTER II”, “CHAPTER III”, etc., should follow this same format. Do not use terminal punctuation on any chapter headings. Each chapter should begin on a new page.
8. Headings of Subdivisions
he subdivision within a chapter or section does not begin on a new page unless the preceding page is illed. If there is no room for the complete heading and at least two lines of text at the bottom of a page, the new subdivision should begin on the next page. All chapter titles and headings should follow the following example.
9. Font
Use only standard Times New Roman font, size 12 characters per inch.
10. Indentation
6
end of lines according to standard rules. Use your dictionary if you are unsure of where to divide a word.
11. Citation of Sources
To avoid plagiarizing, you must state whatever sources you use in your text. Citation of the source(s) of your information must be given for the following:
1. All direct quotations
2. Paraphrase the statements of others
3. Opinions and theories that are not your own
4. Information that is not a matter of general knowledge
In relation to the last point, you should mention the sources if the statements you are citing are not general information. For example, if you are describing an island, you may mention the name and location of the island without stating the source. Yet, you must state the sources of other information such as its population, annual rainfall custom and cultural characteristics and so on.
he citation style that IP UII uses is APA style (American Psychological Association). he citation should be typed in single space and include the author’s surname, year of publication, and pagination. he following are some rules that must be remembered in citing other’s statements, but for speciic examples please refer to APA Referencing Guide for IP UII.
APA style requires authors to use the past tense or past perfect tense when using signals phrases to describe earlier research. E.g., Jones (1998) found, or Jones (1998) has found…
Basic rules of APA citations
1. he reference is enclosed in parentheses, within the text, e.g.,
Sixty four percent of retail trade is controlled from Canada and 14 percent from the United States (Clement, 1997, p.307).
2. If an author’s name appears in the text, do not include it in the reference, e.g.,
Clement (1977, p.307) argued for recognition of two types of foreign investment by Canadian Corporations
3. If the citations are written by the same author, published in the same year and related to each other, you must distinguish them by giving a lowercase letter after the year of publication, e.g.,
7
he interaction between social structure and economic system has produced unbalanced regional structures in Canada (Cuneo, 1978b).
4. If more than one source is used to reference a statement, they should be enclosed in a single pair of parentheses and separated by semi-colons, e.g.,
here is evidence from the judicial sentencing literature that the sex of defendant hag-only a negligible efect on judicial dispositions (Green, 1961, pp. 134–136; Nagel, 1969, pp. 342–345).
5. If you are citing a source in total (without giving page references), you imply that the whole article or books is pertinent to your discussion. However, you should make everything clear from which source you are citing those statements, e.g.,
Whether as the very stimulus for rational capitalism (Weber, 1958) or more possibly its functional product (Tawney,1962), Calvinistically-lavored Protestantism has been seriously challenged.
12. Tables and Figures
Tables and igures should be clearly noted and labeled. If they are not your original data, make sure that you have stated the sources clearly in their caption. You are not allowed to include them in essays unless they are relevant to your topic of discussion. Table and igures should be related to and discussed in the text. he procedure for making tables and igures in your thesis is:
1. Table
a. Table number and titles. Put the table number and title before the table. Give every table a brief but clear and explanatory title. he basic content of the table should be easily inferred from the title. e.g.
Table 1
Mean Performance Score of Students With Diferent College Majors
b. Relate the tables and text. Tables cannot stand alone, it should be accompanied by informative table supplements. In the text, refer to every table but discuss only the table highlights. Do not write “the table above” (or below) or “the table on page 32,” but write the table number instead. e.g.
8
c. Table notes. hree types of notes can be placed below the table, which can eliminate repetition from the body of the table: general notes, speciic notes, and probability notes.
A general note qualiies, explains, or provides information relating to the table as a whole and ends with an explanation of any abbreviations, symbols, and the like. General notes are designated by the word Note
(italicized) followed by a period. e.g.
Note. Factor loadings greater than .45 are shown in boldface. M=match process; N = non match process.
A speciic note refers to a particular column, row or cell. Speciic notes are indicated by superscript lowercase letters (e.g. a, b,c). e.g.
an= 25. bhis participant did not complete the trials.
A probability note indicates how asterisks and other symbols are used in a table to indicate p values and thus the results of tests of statistical hypothesis testing. e.g.
*p < .05. **p < .01
2. Figures
Figures are: graphs, charts, maps, drawings, and photographs. Figures must be accompanied by a caption. A caption is a concise explanation of the igure that is placed directly below the igure and serves as the title of the igure. he caption should be a brief but descriptive phrase. e.g.
Figure 3. Fixation duration as a function of the delay between the beginning of eye ixation and the onset of the stimulus in Experiment 1.
13. References
All the references you use must be based on APA referencing style and must be listed alphabetically by the author with full publication information on a separate page named “REFERENCES”.
Below are some basic rules in APA referencing style:
a. All lines after the irst of each entry in your reference list should be indented one-half inch from the left margin. his is called a hanging indentation. b. Authors’ names are inverted (last name irst); give the last name and initials for
9
c. Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the irst author of each work.
d. If you have more than one article by the same author, single-author references or multiple-author references with the exact same authors in the exact same order are listed in order by the year of publication, starting with the earliest. e. When referring to any work that is not a journal, such as a book, article, or Web
page, capitalize only the irst letter of the irst word of a title, the irst word after a colon or a dash in the title, and proper nouns. Do not capitalize the irst letter of the second word in a hyphenated compound word.
f. Capitalize all major words in journal titles.
g. Italicize titles of longer works such as books and journals.
h. Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles or essays in edited collections.
Example:
REFERENCES
Alleyne, S. (2014). A step-by-step on how to do a background study for a thesis. Retrieved from http://education.seattlepi.com/stepbystep-background-study-thesis-1626. html
American Psychological Association (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed). Washington DC: Author.
FBS UNY. (2009). Panduan tugas akhir. Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni Yogyakarta: Suara Ungu.
Globio, E. (Feb. 7, 2013). hesis writing: How to write background of the study. Retrieved from http://thesisadviser.blogspot.com/2013/02/thesis-writing-how-to-write-background.html
Man, Y. K. (2006). Factors afecting customer’s trust in online banking (unpublished) honours degree project). Hongkong Baptist University, Hongkong.
Sekaran, U. (2003). Research methods for business: A skill building approach (4th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Valeda, J.M. (2012). Analysis in factors inluencing stock return in manufacturing companies listed in Indonesian Stock Exchange (unpublished bachelor degree). Universitas Islam Indonesia, Yogyakarta.
Widdel. (n.d.). Problem identiication the irst step to successful problem resolution. BUS 1221 supervision. Retrieved from http://webs.anokaramsey.edu/widdel/ftp/ b1221/Problem%20Identiication.pdf
10
4.14. Binding
For the inal step, you must bind the thesis in diferent kinds of color in
accordance with your study program’s color. he kinds of color are classiied as follows: 1. Black for students of Management
2. Blue for students of Accounting 3. Green for students of Economics
Sample of thesis outline
As a guide of thesis writing, the main content of the sample is general rather than speciic and the inclusion or relevance of certain components suggested herein will need careful and thoughtful consideration and consultation by student with the advisor. he sample of the thesis outline is elaborated as follows:
Preliminary Statement consists of:
1.1. Background of Study 1.2. Problem Identiication 1.3. Problem Formulation 1.4. Problem Limitation 1.5. Research Objectives 1.6. Research Contributions 1.7. Deinition of Term 1.8. Systematics of Writing
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1. heoretical Review
11
2.2. heoretical Framework 2.3. Hypotheses Formulation
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHOD
1.1. Type of study
1.2. Population and sample 1.3. Data collection method 1.4. Research Variables 1.5. Analysis Technique
CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1. Statistic descriptive
4.1.1……… 4.1.2……… 4.2. Reliability and validity test
4.2.1……… 4.2.2……… 4.2.3……… 4.3. Hypothesis testing (quantitative research only)
4.3.1……… 4.3.2……… 4.3.3……… 4.4. Discussions
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1. Conclusions 5.2 Research limitations 5.2. Recommendations
12
B. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS
Students’ rights and obligations
Students’ Rights
All students have the right to:
1. Receive a thesis consultation card and guidelines to thesis writing
2. Choose the content advisors by illing in the form provided by the ip management. 3. Change the content advisors if there are any problems that occur between the
students and the chosen advisors by reregistering themselves in the thesis period (either march or september).
4. Be facilitated and guided by content advisors and language advisors who are capable and willing to give supervisions.
5. Be provided with feedback on their writing in each consultation.
6. Change their language advisor without incurring extra fees if the assigned language advisor quits in the middle of the thesis period.
7. Use all facilities provided by the university in the process of writing their thesis.
Students’ Obligations
All students who start to write their thesis are obliged to:
1. Pay the supervision fee at the beginning of the thesis period, and if they are unable to complete their thesis within 6 months, they must extend the period by paying an extension fee (either March or September).
2. Consult with the content and language advisors about the consultation schedule and respect the agreement about the schedule (remember there is no such thing as “express thesis consultation with the content & language advisor”).
3. Bring the thesis consultation card to each consultation 4. Obey all IP rules and procedures for writing a thesis
5. Take the advice and constructive criticism given by advisors seriously by making the necessary changes to their thesis
6. Receive approvals that the thesis is ready to be examined from a content and language advisor before registering for the thesis examination
7. Sign the thesis control card and submit it together with the requirements for the thesis examination.
Content advisors’ rights and obligations
Content Advisors’ Rights
Each content advisor has the right to:
1. Receive the supervision and examination fees determined by IP Management. 2. Object, suggest, or accept topics proposed by the students.
3. Determine the consultation schedule.
13
Content Advisors’ Obligations
Each content advisor is obliged to: 1. Set up a regular weekly supervision. 2. Guide and give supervision as scheduled.
3. Keep notes on the topics discussed and to sign the thesis consultation card every time there is a consultation.
4. Provide feedback on students’ writing.
5. Give approval when the thesis is ready to be examined by signing both on the students’ thesis and their consultation cards.
6. Test the students on the examination day.
7. Refund supervision fee if s/he fails to carry out his/her responsibility as a advisor or resign before the thesis writing period ends.
Language advisors’ rights and obligations
Language Advisor’ Rights
Each language advisor has the right to:
1. Receive the language consultation fee organized by IP Management.
2. Ask the students to show their consultation card, and to check the period of extension to determine where the consultation will be held, when the schedule of biweekly meeting is, and how long they can inish checking the students’ writing (remember there is no such thing as “express thesis consultation” with the language advisor).
3. Clarify anything related to language supervision with the IP Management. 4. Terminate their contract in the middle of thesis period for any reason. 5. Be given the IP Management’s guidelines to thesis writing.
Language Advisors’ Obligations
Each language advisor is obliged to: 1. Set up a regular biweekly consultation.
2. Guide and give language advice at least once every two weeks in order to know the progress of students’ writing.
3. Provide feedback on the students’ writing.
4. Keep notes on the topics discussed and sign the thesis consultation card every time there is a language consultation.
5. Give approval when the thesis is ready to be examined by signing both on the students’ thesis and their consultation cards .
6. Inform the ip management if s/he wants to resign. S/he must refund the consultation fee which has been transferred for the period.
14
IP management’s rights and obligations
IP Management’s Rights
he IP Management has the right to: 1. Receive all payments from students.
2. Allocate the students based on the content advisors chosen by them.
3. Allocate the students to language advisors who are considered capable of and willing to give language consultations.
4. Ask language advisors who resign in the middle of the thesis period to refund the language advisor consultation fee.
IP Management’s Obligations
he IP Management is obliged to:
1. Transfer the consultation fees to both content advisors and language advisors and ensure they receive the receipts
2. Write efective guidelines to thesis writing
3. Prepare a letter requesting the service of content advisors and language advisors, a thesis consultation card and guidelines for thesis writing to be given to the students 4. Provide the best advisors for the students
5. Help the students if they have any problems related to thesis writing (if necessary) 6. Allocate the students to another advisor if there is a language or content advisor
who resigns in the middle of the thesis period
15
CHAPTER I:
INTRODUCTION
he introduction chapter aims to briely introduce the research topic to the readers. It should provide a background to the researcher’s study. As the introduction chapter discusses the central idea of the study, it should contain why the researcher is conducting the study, what questions are intended to be answered, and what research purposes are expected to be achieved. It should be convincingly written so it could attract readers’ attention. In general, the irst chapter contains the following sections:
1.1. Background of the Study 1.2. Problem Identiication 1.3. Problem Formulation 1.4. Problem Limitation 1.5. Research Objectives 1.6. Research Contributions 1.7. Deinition of Terms
1.1. Background of the Study
Background of the study consists of the study’s background, the study’s context, and the study’s focus. Study background is a review of the study and current information about the issue being discussed. Ideally, the background of study should efectively provide the history and background information on the research problem (Alleyne, 2014, para. 1).
he background of the study may be generated by some empirical observations, the need to explore the problem, and some other relevant conditions (Globio, 2013, para. 1). he researcher needs to write what led him/her to propose such study and why his/her research problem is worth analyzing, so readers will have better insight on the research topic.
he researcher should begin with a clear description of the study’s background, context framing the research, and situations that may have spurred the researcher to undertake the study (Globio, 2013, para. 2).
Among typical guiding questions to be used as guidance for writing background of the study are:
a. What is my study about?
b. What is the background of my study?
16
1.2. Problem Identiication
Before determining the research questions, the researcher needs to describe as much information as he or she can about research topic. Problem identiication is deined as a formulation of signiicant factors which are relevant to research (FBS UNY, 2009, p. 3, 13). A problem occurs when there is a diference between what “should be” and what “is”; between the ideal and the actual situation (Widdel, n.d.). hus, it is the researcher’s responsibility to irst identify the gap between the ideal and the actual situation. Identifying a very clearly deined and speciic problem is an important step to successfully formulating questions and answering the research problem.
A typical guiding question to identify a problem is “what kinds of problems am I going to focus on?”
he researcher should describe the problem intended to be addressed as clearly as possible. After identifying the problem, the researcher can start observing the phenomena, gather information related to the research problem, and begin inding answers.
1.3. Problem Formulation
Having identiied the research problem, the researcher needs to clarify the problem statements in the form of questions. hese problem statements serve as a guideline to elaborate the research focus and to control whether the research problems have been answered or not. Example:
he researcher could use yes/no or WH question form. Among popular WH- question words are what, how, and why. What is generally used to describe something; how is generally used to describe the process, but it can be substituted by what; and why is generally used to describe reasons.
A typical guiding question to identify problem is “What are my real and speciic problems?”
1.4. Problem Limitation
In this section, the researcher discusses the constraints, controls, or restrictions given in the study. he researcher should explain his/her practical consideration (such as budget limitation, time limitation, etc.) which makes him/her choose to focus his/her study in a particular ield. he researcher could state what aspects of the research topic are being included and what aspects are excluded.
Among typical guiding questions to limit the topic of research are:
1.1.1.a. Am I going to limit the scope of my research?
17
1.5. Research Objectives
his section summarizes objectives or goals which will be achieved after conducting the current study. hese research objectives should be closely related to the problem formulation section. Moreover, research objectives must be stated clearly, explicitly, and speciically. Among typical guiding questions to determine research objectives are:
a. What are the objectives of my research? b. Do I have speciic objectives?
he research objectives should be in accordance with the research questions (number, content).
1.6. Research Contributions
he research usually involves at least an implication from which the researcher draws certain beneits, advantages, or contributions. he successful or failed implementation of the research indings constitutes a measure of the research accuracy. If the conducted research is accurate and reliable, hopefully the indings, will contribute some beneits.
In general, the research should have at least three contributions, mainly to: 1) the researcher, 2) future researchers, and 3) parties related to the current research, such as institution, company, government, etc.
Among typical guiding questions to ind research beneits are:
a. What beneits am I going to have from this research? b. Who will beneit from this research?
c. What beneits will other parties related obtain from the current study?
1.7. Deinition of Terms (Optional)
It is often necessary to provide operational deinitions of key terms used in a research paper to avoid misinterpretations and distortions. In addition, providing deinitions are also needed if there are words in the thesis not commonly known to the readers. he absence of operational deinitions will frequently bring confusion to readers. he list of deinitions is not numbered and needs to be referenced.
18
1.8. Systematics of Writing
his section presents the description of each chapter in the thesis. Each item should be described briely. For example:
Chapter I: INTRODUCTION his chapter contains …
Chapter II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE his chapter describes …
19
CHAPTER II:
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A review of related literature is essential in a thesis regardless the type of the research. Review of related literature is part of the thesis in which the researcher will explain about theories, previous research and results as well as the development of a hypothesis.
2.1. Theoretical Review
he theoretical review serves the important function of satisfying the research requirement that the candidate deals with the related theoretical writing and/ or research conducted by others on the same or related topics. he length and complexity of the theoretical review can vary according to the topics being drawn by the researcher. Nevertheless, it should be substantial to clearly cover the extent and range of the discussion of the research being undertaken by others. In conclusion, he Review of Related Literature must mention the present state of knowledge on the topic, review the similarities or diferences between the present and previous study; inally, discuss the relevance of the proposed topic to the study of what has been reviewed. It is important for any researcher who conducts qualitative research to explain the basic theory used in the research in this section. In the theoretical review, the researcher should be able to answer these following questions:
a. What are other researchers’ theoretical writings and research? b. What do other writers and researchers say about the topic? c. What are the results of the previous researchers’ research?
d. Which aspects of various associated topics in the literature directly relate to my study?
20
here are several concepts that should be considered in constructing theoretical review. hose concepts are as follows:
•
Do not plagiarize!
he researcher must be able to summarize, paraphrase and make in text citation. Please refer to the APA referencing guide to ind further information about summarizing, paraphrasing and citing. In text citation should not only be applied on theories and results but also on formulas, tables, igures taken from other researches that are used in the research.
•
Elaborating other’s opinion and your own
In the review of related literature, the researcher will review the previous researches opinions and research results. hough, in using other researcher’s idea, the researcher should elaborate it with his own ideas. he researcher should not merely copy paste others’ idea. he following is the example of how the researcher can elaborate the in text citations and his own ideas by Valeda (2012):
Research title: An analysis on factors inluencing stock return in manufacturing companies listed in Indonesian Stock Exchange
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1. heoretical Review his section will explain about …. 2.1.1. Dividend Policy
21
he underlined sentence is the citation taken by the researcher from Ang (1997) meanwhile, the rest sentences are his own opinion that is used to support or explain the cited sentence. Reporting verbs, available in the APA referencing guide, can be used to deliver the citation better. Your opinion can be a further explanation related to the cited sentence, the logic behind the statement or the relationship between the previous research and the current research.
2.2. Theoretical Framework
here are two types of research, they are qualitative and quantitative research. here are slight diference between those two since qualitative research does not require the researcher to make theoretical framework. hough, it is important to the researcher who conducts quantitative research to construct a good qualitative framework. he theoretical framework may contain the selection of a theory or model presented in the Review of Literature, or it may be a combination of theories or part of the models which is seen to more appropriately relect the speciic intent of the researcher. Hence, the Review of Related Literature presents the theories of other researchers, while the conceptual framework covers the theoretical basis for the proposed study. he conceptual framework should be able to answer these following questions:
a. What is the theoretical basis or foundation of my study? b. How will I link the theoretical basis to my study?
2.3. Hypothesis Formulation
Similar to the theoretical framework, not every research needs hypothesis formulation. When a researcher is doing a qualitative research, hypothesis formulation is not needed because the aim of the research is to ind or explore a phenomenon not to prove or test speciic hypothesis (Sekaran, 2002). However, if a researcher is conducting quantitative research, it is crucial to form a good hypothesis formulation. Even though the hypothesis or research problems have been formulated in the form of questions in the irst chapter of quantitative research, they need to be rewritten into statistical hypotheses. Once you have stated the empirical hypotheses, you can determine the null and alternative hypotheses that are developed from the theoretical basis. he researcher has to explain the logic and theories supporting the logic before inally stating the hypothesis.
22
“Return on Equity (ROE) is a measure of a corporation’s proitability that demonstrates the level of proit a company generates with the money invested by its shareholders. A high ROE means that surplus funds can be utilized to improve and expand the operations of the business without the shareholders having to invest more capital. ROA shows how much income is able to be generated based on how much assets a company own. ROE shows how much income is able to be generated based on how much equity a company owns. Higher ROE means the company has efectively and eiciently use the equity generated from the investment of the investors. his matter leads to the conclusion if a company can generate higher ROE, the demand and price of their stock is likely to increase. High stock price indicates a good health and higher value of the company that will attract the investors because of the security guarantee it holds and eventually increase the Stock Return of the company. From the description above, the hypothesis formulated for ROE is
23
CHAPTER III:
RESEARCH METHOD
“Methodology” is not only about the methods that you are going to use to collect data. In this part the researcher will put considerations of the concepts and theories which underlie the methods. his Chapter consists of the type of study, the research subject(s), the data collection method(s), the research variables, and the data analysis technique(s).
3.1 Type of study
In this section the researcher will explain about type of study which is going to be conducted by the researcher. here are two main types of research:
a. Qualitative Research
Qualitative Researchis primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research. Qualitative Research is also used to uncover trends in thought and opinions, and dive deeper into the problem. Qualitative data collection methods vary using unstructured or semi-structured techniques. Some common methods include focus groups (group discussions), individual interviews, and participation/observations. he sample size is typically small, and respondents are selected to fulill a given quota.
b. Quantitative Research
Quantitative Researchis used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into useable statistics. It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other deined variables – and generalize results from a larger sample population. Quantitative Research uses measurable data to formulate facts and uncover patterns in research. Quantitative data collection methods are much more structured than Qualitative data collection methods. Quantitative data collection methods include various forms of surveys – online surveys, paper surveys, mobile surveys and kiosk surveys, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, longitudinal studies, website interceptors, online polls, and systematic observations.
24
c. Primary Data
Primary data is information collected by the researcher directly through instruments such as surveys, interviews, focus groups or observation. Data observed or collected directly from irst-hand experience
d. Secondary Data
Secondary data, on the other hand, is basically primary data collected by someone else. Researchers reuse and repurpose information as secondary data because it is easier and less expensive to collect.
3.2 Population and Sample
his part will discuss about the population and sample of the research.
a. Population
A population is any entire collection of people, animals, plants or things from which the researcher will collect the data. It is the entire group that the researcher is interested in, which the researcher wishes to describe or draw conclusions about. In order to make any generalizations about a population, a sample, that is meant to be representative of the population, is often studied. For each population there are many possible samples. A sample statistic gives information about a corresponding population parameter. For example, the sample mean for a set of data would give information about the overall population mean. It is important that the investigator carefully and completely deines the population before collecting the sample, including a description of the members to be included.
b. Sample
A sample is a group of units selected from a larger group (the population). By studying the sample it is hoped to draw valid conclusions about the larger group. A sample is generally selected for study because the population is too large to study in its entirety. he sample should be representative of the general population. his is often best achieved by random sampling. Also, before collecting the sample, it is important that the researcher carefully and completely deines the population, including a description of the members to be included.
3.3 Data Collection Method
he method to collect the data will be described in this part. here are some ways to collect the data it depends on the data that researcher need to collect.
a. Surveys
25
b. Interviews
he use of interviews as a data collection method begins with the assumption that the participants’ perspectives are meaningful, knowledgable, and can be made explicit, and that their perspectives afect the success of the project. Two types of interviews are used in evaluation research: structured interviews, in which a carefully worded questionnaire is administered, and in-depth interviews, in which the interviewer does not follow a rigid form. In the former, the emphasis is on obtaining answers to carefully phrased questions. Interviewers are trained to deviate only minimally from the question wording to ensure uniformity of interview
c. Observations
Observational techniques are methods by which an individual or individuals gather irst hand data on programs, processes, or behaviors being studied. hey provide evaluators with an opportunity to collect data on a wide range of behaviors, to capture a great variety of interactions, and to openly explore the evaluation topic.
d. Focus Groups
Focus groups combine elements of both interviewing and participant observation. he focus group session is, indeed, an interview—not a discussion group, problem -solving session, or decision-making group. At the same time, focus groups capitalize on group dynamics. he hallmark of focus groups is the explicit use of the group interaction to generate data and insights that would unlikely emerge otherwise. he technique inherently allows observation of group dynamics, discussion, and irst hand insights into the respondents’ behaviors, attitudes, language, etc.
3.4 Research Variables
Research variable is an attribute or characteristics of a person, object or activity that have a certain variant that are determined by the investigator to be learned and conclusions drawn (Sugiyono, 2001).In connection to this research, the research variables consisted of the dependent variable and independent variables that are described as follows:
a. Dependent variable
26
b. Independent variable
An independent variable is a variable that afect the dependent variable. Independent variable gives both positive and negative inluences. In the script analysis, it can be seen that a variable that explain about a way or a method an issue is not solved other than independent variables (Ferdinand, 2006). In this research, independent variable is Behavioral Activation System (BAS) and Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS).
3.5 Analysis Technique
27
CHAPTER IV:
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS
Chapter 4 describes the data analysis about the research and the interpretation of the indings generated.
his chapter begins by explaining the number of samples obtained from the observation based on the criteria created in Chapter III, point Population and Sample. his can be described in tables and/or through an explanation about the research indings. here will be slight diferences with qualitative and quantitative research data analysis and discussion in terms of the components of this section.
his chapter includes:
4.1 Statistic Descriptive
a. Quantitative Research
If you are doing quantitative research, then you will use statistic descriptive analysis to illustrate the values of the data; mean maximum, minimum, and standard deviation of each variable. he description of each variable will explain where the extreme point of the data is obtained from.
b. Qualitative Research
If you are doing qualitative research, this part will illustrate the general description of your research subject. You can include important information related to your research subject that will help your reader better understand your indings.
4.2 Reliability and Validity test
To test the reliability and validity of the data obtained, quantitative research uses classical assumption tests. For example normality test, heteroscedasticity test, multicollinearity test, autocorellation test, multiple linear regression analysis, data triangulation and interjudge reliability.
4.3 Hypothesis Testing (quantitative research only)
28
4.4 Discussions
In general, the discussion section covers the result of your tests and concludes the indings into several paragraphs. he discussion should be able to answer the research questions and fulill the aim of the research.
In quantitative research, the discussion thoroughly explains about the result from the tests conducted above (reliability & validity test and hypothesis test). his section will consist of the thorough explanation about the current research, the conformation to previous research as stated in chapter 2, the answers to your research question or problem formulation (if any). his section will also consist of the diferences and changes of outcome from the previous research, and will summarize important results obtained from the current research. You also have to provide the logical reasoning of these changes based on the data you have gathered and the connection between those results to the real life event.
29
CHAPTER V:
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
his chapter should contain the conclusion of the research indings, research limitations, and research recommendation for future research.
5.1 Conclusions
In this section the researcher concludes the research indings and discussions by referring to the problem formulation in chapter I.
5.2 Research Limitations
his section explains any limitations (restrictions, issues not addressed, lack of available data, lack of prior research, sample size, etc) that occurred during the research. here should be also explanation why such limitations could not be overcome.
5.3 Recommendations
30
REFERENCES
Alleyne, S. (2014). A step-by-step on how to do a background study for a thesis. Retrieved from http://education.seattlepi.com/stepbystep-background-study-thesis-1626. html
American Psychological Association (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed). Washington DC: Author.
FBS UNY. (2009). Panduan tugas akhir. Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni Yogyakarta: Suara Ungu.
Globio, E. (Feb. 7, 2013). hesis writing: How to write background of the study. Retrieved
from
http://thesisadviser.blogspot.com/2013/02/thesis-writing-how-to-write-background.html
Man, Y. K. (2006). Factors afecting customer’s trust in online banking (unpublished honours degree project). Hongkong Baptist University, Hongkong.
Milikam, D.R. H. (1989). A step-by-step approach to thesis writing. Melbourne: Institute of Education, University of Melbourne.
Sekaran, U. (2003). Research methods for business: A skill building approach (4th ed.). New
York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Weissberg, R, and Buker, S. (1990). Writing up research: Experimental research report writing for students of English. Englewood Clifs. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.
