bachelor thesis qualitative research

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Tips for a qualitative dissertation

Veronika Williams

17 October 2017

Tips for students

This blog is part of a series for Evidence-Based Health Care MSc students undertaking their dissertations.

Undertaking an MSc dissertation in Evidence-Based Health Care (EBHC) may be your first hands-on experience of doing qualitative research. I chatted to Dr. Veronika Williams, an experienced qualitative researcher, and tutor on the EBHC programme, to find out her top tips for producing a high-quality qualitative EBHC thesis.

1) Make the switch from a quantitative to a qualitative mindset

It’s not just about replacing numbers with words. Doing qualitative research requires you to adopt a different way of seeing and interpreting the world around you. Veronika asks her students to reflect on positivist and interpretivist approaches: If you come from a scientific or medical background, positivism is often the unacknowledged status quo. Be open to considering there are alternative ways to generate and understand knowledge.

2) Reflect on your role

Quantitative research strives to produce “clean” data unbiased by the context in which it was generated.  With qualitative methods, this is neither possible nor desirable.  Students should reflect on how their background and personal views shape the way they collect and analyse their data. This will not only add to the transparency of your work but will also help you interpret your findings.

3)  Don’t forget the theory

Qualitative researchers use theories as a lens through which they understand the world around them. Veronika suggests that students consider the theoretical underpinning to their own research at the earliest stages. You can read an article about why theories are useful in qualitative research  here.

4) Think about depth rather than breadth

Qualitative research is all about developing a deep and insightful understanding of the phenomenon/ concept you are studying. Be realistic about what you can achieve given the time constraints of an MSc.  Veronika suggests that collecting and analysing a smaller dataset well is preferable to producing a superficial, rushed analysis of a larger dataset.

5) Blur the boundaries between data collection, analysis and writing up

Veronika strongly recommends keeping a research diary or using memos to jot down your ideas as your research progresses. Not only do these add to your audit trail, these entries will help contribute to your first draft and the process of moving towards theoretical thinking. Qualitative researchers move back and forward between their dataset and manuscript as their ideas develop. This enriches their understanding and allows emerging theories to be explored.

6) Move beyond the descriptive

When analysing interviews, for example, it can be tempting to think that having coded your transcripts you are nearly there. This is not the case!  You need to move beyond the descriptive codes to conceptual themes and theoretical thinking in order to produce a high-quality thesis.  Veronika warns against falling into the pitfall of thinking writing up is, “Two interviews said this whilst three interviewees said that”.

7) It’s not just about the average experience

When analysing your data, consider the outliers or negative cases, for example, those that found the intervention unacceptable.  Although in the minority, these respondents will often provide more meaningful insight into the phenomenon or concept you are trying to study.

8) Bounce ideas

Veronika recommends sharing your emerging ideas and findings with someone else, maybe with a different background or perspective. This isn’t about getting to the “right answer” rather it offers you the chance to refine your thinking.  Be sure, though, to fully acknowledge their contribution in your thesis.

9) Be selective

In can be a challenge to meet the dissertation word limit.  It won’t be possible to present all the themes generated by your dataset so focus! Use quotes from across your dataset that best encapsulate the themes you are presenting.  Display additional data in the appendix.  For example, Veronika suggests illustrating how you moved from your coding framework to your themes.

10) Don’t panic!

There will be a stage during analysis and write up when it seems undoable.  Unlike quantitative researchers who begin analysis with a clear plan, qualitative research is more of a journey. Everything will fall into place by the end.  Be sure, though, to allow yourself enough time to make sense of the rich data qualitative research generates.

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• Dissertation
• How to Write a Results Section | Tips & Examples

How to Write a Results Section | Tips & Examples

Published on August 30, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on July 18, 2023.

A results section is where you report the main findings of the data collection and analysis you conducted for your thesis or dissertation . You should report all relevant results concisely and objectively, in a logical order. Don’t include subjective interpretations of why you found these results or what they mean—any evaluation should be saved for the discussion section .

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Table of contents

How to write a results section, reporting quantitative research results, reporting qualitative research results, results vs. discussion vs. conclusion, checklist: research results, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about results sections.

When conducting research, it’s important to report the results of your study prior to discussing your interpretations of it. This gives your reader a clear idea of exactly what you found and keeps the data itself separate from your subjective analysis.

Here are a few best practices:

• Your results should always be written in the past tense.
• While the length of this section depends on how much data you collected and analyzed, it should be written as concisely as possible.
• Only include results that are directly relevant to answering your research questions . Avoid speculative or interpretative words like “appears” or “implies.”
• If you have other results you’d like to include, consider adding them to an appendix or footnotes.
• Always start out with your broadest results first, and then flow into your more granular (but still relevant) ones. Think of it like a shoe store: first discuss the shoes as a whole, then the sneakers, boots, sandals, etc.

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If you conducted quantitative research , you’ll likely be working with the results of some sort of statistical analysis .

Your results section should report the results of any statistical tests you used to compare groups or assess relationships between variables . It should also state whether or not each hypothesis was supported.

The most logical way to structure quantitative results is to frame them around your research questions or hypotheses. For each question or hypothesis, share:

• A reminder of the type of analysis you used (e.g., a two-sample t test or simple linear regression ). A more detailed description of your analysis should go in your methodology section.
• A concise summary of each relevant result, both positive and negative. This can include any relevant descriptive statistics (e.g., means and standard deviations ) as well as inferential statistics (e.g., t scores, degrees of freedom , and p values ). Remember, these numbers are often placed in parentheses.
• A brief statement of how each result relates to the question, or whether the hypothesis was supported. You can briefly mention any results that didn’t fit with your expectations and assumptions, but save any speculation on their meaning or consequences for your discussion  and conclusion.

A note on tables and figures

In quantitative research, it’s often helpful to include visual elements such as graphs, charts, and tables , but only if they are directly relevant to your results. Give these elements clear, descriptive titles and labels so that your reader can easily understand what is being shown. If you want to include any other visual elements that are more tangential in nature, consider adding a figure and table list .

As a rule of thumb:

• Tables are used to communicate exact values, giving a concise overview of various results
• Graphs and charts are used to visualize trends and relationships, giving an at-a-glance illustration of key findings

Don’t forget to also mention any tables and figures you used within the text of your results section. Summarize or elaborate on specific aspects you think your reader should know about rather than merely restating the same numbers already shown.

A two-sample t test was used to test the hypothesis that higher social distance from environmental problems would reduce the intent to donate to environmental organizations, with donation intention (recorded as a score from 1 to 10) as the outcome variable and social distance (categorized as either a low or high level of social distance) as the predictor variable.Social distance was found to be positively correlated with donation intention, t (98) = 12.19, p < .001, with the donation intention of the high social distance group 0.28 points higher, on average, than the low social distance group (see figure 1). This contradicts the initial hypothesis that social distance would decrease donation intention, and in fact suggests a small effect in the opposite direction.

Figure 1: Intention to donate to environmental organizations based on social distance from impact of environmental damage.

In qualitative research , your results might not all be directly related to specific hypotheses. In this case, you can structure your results section around key themes or topics that emerged from your analysis of the data.

For each theme, start with general observations about what the data showed. You can mention:

• Recurring points of agreement or disagreement
• Patterns and trends
• Particularly significant snippets from individual responses

Next, clarify and support these points with direct quotations. Be sure to report any relevant demographic information about participants. Further information (such as full transcripts , if appropriate) can be included in an appendix .

When asked about video games as a form of art, the respondents tended to believe that video games themselves are not an art form, but agreed that creativity is involved in their production. The criteria used to identify artistic video games included design, story, music, and creative teams.One respondent (male, 24) noted a difference in creativity between popular video game genres:

“I think that in role-playing games, there’s more attention to character design, to world design, because the whole story is important and more attention is paid to certain game elements […] so that perhaps you do need bigger teams of creative experts than in an average shooter or something.”

Responses suggest that video game consumers consider some types of games to have more artistic potential than others.

Your results section should objectively report your findings, presenting only brief observations in relation to each question, hypothesis, or theme.

It should not  speculate about the meaning of the results or attempt to answer your main research question . Detailed interpretation of your results is more suitable for your discussion section , while synthesis of your results into an overall answer to your main research question is best left for your conclusion .

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I have completed my data collection and analyzed the results.

I have included all results that are relevant to my research questions.

I have concisely and objectively reported each result, including relevant descriptive statistics and inferential statistics .

I have stated whether each hypothesis was supported or refuted.

I have used tables and figures to illustrate my results where appropriate.

All tables and figures are correctly labelled and referred to in the text.

There is no subjective interpretation or speculation on the meaning of the results.

You've finished writing up your results! Use the other checklists to further improve your thesis.

If you want to know more about AI for academic writing, AI tools, or research bias, make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

Research bias

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• Self-serving bias
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The results chapter of a thesis or dissertation presents your research results concisely and objectively.

In quantitative research , for each question or hypothesis , state:

• The type of analysis used
• Relevant results in the form of descriptive and inferential statistics
• Whether or not the alternative hypothesis was supported

In qualitative research , for each question or theme, describe:

• Recurring patterns
• Significant or representative individual responses
• Relevant quotations from the data

Don’t interpret or speculate in the results chapter.

Results are usually written in the past tense , because they are describing the outcome of completed actions.

The results chapter or section simply and objectively reports what you found, without speculating on why you found these results. The discussion interprets the meaning of the results, puts them in context, and explains why they matter.

In qualitative research , results and discussion are sometimes combined. But in quantitative research , it’s considered important to separate the objective results from your interpretation of them.

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131 Interesting Qualitative Research Topics For High Scoring Thesis

Qualitative research topics are undoubtedly not easy. While statistics enthralls some students, others don’t like the subject. That’s because qualitative assignments entail cognitive analysis, which complicates them. But apart from the hardships of completing the projects, selecting topics for qualitative research papers is also a challenge.

This article presents a list of 130-plus qualitative research topic ideas to help learners that struggle to get titles for their papers. It is helpful because many learners have difficulties picking titles that will make their essays impressive to educators. But before presenting the topics, this article defines qualitative research.

What Is Qualitative Research?

Qualitative research is an investigative and innovative abstract data analysis. When writing a qualitative research paper, a learner analyzes intangible data. Qualitative researchers code the data after or during collection. Therefore, having top-notch research topics is necessary for a first-class essay.

Knowing how to write a qualitative research paper is vital because it helps the student deliver a copy that provides a clear picture of an event or situation. A researcher can achieve this via practical experience, reliable reporting, and conversations. Gathering raw data is the initial step in qualitative research. A researcher can gather raw data by conducting reviews, observations, and surveys. Also, researchers can use creative methods to collect data.

Best Examples Of Qualitative Research Topics

Qualitative research covers many things. Here are examples of topics that learners can explore in their qualitative study.

• What causes stigma around some health challenges?
• Stigma facing the people living with disabilities- What is the cause?
• Can Pro Bono legal assistance improve the criminal justice system?
• How the less privileged can benefit from Pro Bono services
• The educational challenges facing rural children- Are there ways to help them?
• Child labor causes- How to mitigate the practice
• Substance and drugs- What are young people abusing more?
• How alcohol affects college students
• Can food insecurity interfere with children’s performance in school?
• Food banks intricacies- Understanding the challenge in low-income areas
• Free education- Does it have socioeconomic benefits?
• Culture and female harm- What’s the connection?
• The impact of social media on physical and social engagement among teens in urban areas
• Using medication to treat depression- What are the health benefits?
• Investigating peer educators’ efficiency in creating awareness of health and social issues
• Gender-based violence- What causes it in rural areas, and how does it affect victims?
• Sexual reproductive health challenges of child brides- Are there ways to control it?
• Investigating the causes of school dropout among teenagers
• How to address school dropout among young adults
• Investigating the deteriorating academic pursuit in Third-World countries
• Social activities- Do they have benefits for depressed people?
• Investigating cerebral palsy and the stigma that people associate with it.
• Living with disabilities- Are there social implications?
• The impact of ableism on disabled people
• Exploring the promotion and benefits of feminist values
• Why should society promote free education in all learning environments?
• What causes food insecurities among low-income earners?
• Food and housing insecurity- What are the root causes?
• What are the effects of displacement- Investigating the homeless people’s mental health

These are good examples of qualitative research topics. However, a student that picks a title in this category should research it extensively to impress the educator with their work.

Qualitative Nursing Research Topics

Professors ask students to write about qualitative topics when pursuing nursing studies. Here are issues to consider in this category.

• How does the nurse-patient relationship affect health outcomes?
• How can nurses deal with complex patients?
• How can nurses provide culturally competent care?
• How do personal beliefs affect nursing practice?
• What is the impact of spirituality on nursing care?
• How does the nurse’s role change when working with terminally ill patients?
• What challenges do nurses face when providing end-of-life care?
• How can nurses best support families whose members have serious illnesses?
• What are the unique challenges of caring for elderly patients?
• How does the nurse’s role change when working in a hospice setting?
• Health outreach programs- What are the most effective ways to execute them?
• Effective methods of curbing drug abuse
• Effective ways to help rape survivors
• How can nurses administer care to female genital mutilation victims?
• How to care for special needs individuals
• Anxiety and depression symptoms
• Methods of administering care to Dyslexia patients
• How to help individuals dealing with mental disorders
• Signs of Alzheimer’s disease in older people
• How to provide primary patient care

These are good qualitative research topics for students pursuing nursing studies. Nevertheless, learners must research any of these titles before writing their papers.

Qualitative Research Topics In Education

Most topics spring up from the education niche despite fitting other specifications. Here are examples of qualitative research topics that include the education niche.

• Are guidance and counseling essential in schools?
• How computer literacy affects education
• Why governments in developing schools should encourage adult education
• Autistic children’s education- Which learning style suits them?
• Is mental health education relevant in the modern school curriculum?
• Exploring the learning conditions for kids in third world countries
• Child education and food insecurity- What is the connection?
• The impact of virtual learning on high school students
• How does alcoholism affect a student and their education?
• Homeschooling- What are its advantages and disadvantages?
• How do teachers’ beliefs about intelligence affect their teaching?
• What is the teacher’s role in developing a student’s self-concept?
• Does race or ethnicity play a role in how teachers treat their students?
• What are the teachers’ experiences with teaching students with special needs?
• What methods do effective teachers use to motivate their students?
• What are the most effective ways to teach reading and writing?
• How does technology use affect how teachers teach, and students learn?
• What are the challenges faced by teachers in rural areas?
• What are the challenges faced by teachers in urban areas?
• How do charter schools differ from traditional public schools?

Many topics and issues in the education system allow learners to find subjects to investigate and cover in their papers quickly. And this is not an exhaustive qualitative research topic list in this field. Nevertheless, it covers the most exciting ideas to explore.

Qualitative Research Topics In Public Health

Educators ask students to write academic papers while studying the public health sector. And this provides insights into crucial and relevant aspects of this sector. Here are qualitative research topics examples in this category.

• How does the public health sector manage epidemics?
• The role of public health in disaster management
• Evaluating the effectiveness of public health campaigns
• An analysis of the factors that hinder effective public health delivery
• Access to healthcare: A study of rural and urban populations
• Health needs assessment of refugees
• Mental health support within the public health sector
• The role of technology in public health
• Understanding and addressing health disparities
• Sexual and reproductive health rights in the public health discourse
• How immunization benefits people in rural areas
• What causes water-borne diseases, and how can society mitigate them?
• Symptoms of high blood pressure among young people
• How antenatal care helps pregnant women
• How to boost breast cancer awareness

These are excellent qualitative research paper topics in the public health sector. Nevertheless, learners need sufficient time and resources to investigate their preferred titles in this category to write winning papers.

Qualitative Research Topics In Project Management

Project management writing focuses on ways to achieve results and goals while basing the achievement on the process. This subject covers planning, structuring, proffering, and controlling ways to execute plans to accomplish desired goals. Here are research topics for qualitative research in project management.

• How effective communication strategies can impact the outcome of a project
• How different leadership styles affect team productivity during a project
• The role of conflict management in ensuring successful project outcomes
• Gender differences in the perception and understanding of project risk
• The impact of organizational culture on a project’s likelihood of success
• How different project management methodologies affect its outcome
• The effect of stakeholder involvement on project success
• How to manage virtual teams effectively to ensure successful project outcomes
• What motivates project managers to achieve successful results?
• How can project managers create a positive work environment that leads to successful outcomes?
• What challenges do project managers face when trying to achieve successful outcomes?
• How can project management be used to achieve social change?
• What are the ethical implications of project management?
• What are the global impacts of project management?
• Ways to achieve sustainable development through project management

These are topics to explore in project management. Nevertheless, learners need adequate time to investigate their chosen titles and write winning essays.

Qualitative Research Topics In Political Science

Qualitative research can also cover political science. Investigating this field enables people to understand it better and can be broad. Here are sample titles to consider in for your scientific thesis .

• How do social media affect the way people engage with politics?
• What motivates people to vote?
• How does voting behavior change over time?
• What are the consequences of gerrymandering?
• How does campaign finance influence elections?
• Interest groups- What is their role in politics?
• How do the media cover politics?
• What are the effects of political scandals?
• How does public opinion influence policymakers?
• How feminism enhanced the American politics
• The adverse effects of misrepresentation
• The American democracy- A look into its dimensions
• Colorism, racism, and classism- How the American ideologies differ
• What causes an election crisis?
• Two-party system- What challenges does it face in America?
• Black women’s inclusion in the American politics
• Should America have a multi-party system?
• Why mass media matters in politics’ scrutiny and promotion

While political science is a broad field, these narrow topics help learners handle their research effectively. Pick any of these ideas to write a winning essay.

Topics For Ethnography Qualitative Research

Ethnographic research entails studying and paying attention to society and describing it. Here are topics to consider for a research paper in this field.

• Studying a subculture: Reasons people join and stay in gangs
• How does social media use vary by culture?
• An ethnographic study of a homeless shelter or soup kitchen
• Understanding the lives of sex workers through ethnography
• The impact of religion on family life
• How does parenting vary between cultures?
• How do children learn and socialize in different cultures?
• What is the effect of migration on family life?
• What are the experiences of refugees?- An explorative case study
• What is the impact of poverty on family life?
• How do people in different cultures understand and experience mental illness?
• What is the role of the family in other cultures?
• What are the end-of-life experiences and beliefs around death in different cultures?

This article has presented easy qualitative research topics. However, some need time and resources to investigate and write quality papers. Therefore, pick your paper title carefully to write an essay that will earn you an excellent grade.

Get Quality Writing Help Online

Maybe you have a title for your paper but not time for writing a unique, top-notch thesis. In that case, get the best dissertation services from our writers. We’re educated, native ENL writers with a proven track record of exceeding customers’ expectations. Our team helps university, college, and high school learners complete their writing and editing assignments. Whether writing a research paper is a requirement for a degree or a diploma course, we can help you. Contact us to get quality, custom, and cheap help from qualified experts in your study field.

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Dissertation examples

Listed below are some of the best examples of research projects and dissertations from undergraduate and taught postgraduate students at the University of Leeds We have not been able to gather examples from all schools. The module requirements for research projects may have changed since these examples were written. Refer to your module guidelines to make sure that you address all of the current assessment criteria. Some of the examples below are only available to access on campus.

• Undergraduate examples
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Dissertation Structure & Layout 101: How to structure your dissertation, thesis or research project.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Reviewed By: David Phair (PhD) | July 2019

So, you’ve got a decent understanding of what a dissertation is , you’ve chosen your topic and hopefully you’ve received approval for your research proposal . Awesome! Now its time to start the actual dissertation or thesis writing journey.

To craft a high-quality document, the very first thing you need to understand is dissertation structure . In this post, we’ll walk you through the generic dissertation structure and layout, step by step. We’ll start with the big picture, and then zoom into each chapter to briefly discuss the core contents. If you’re just starting out on your research journey, you should start with this post, which covers the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis .

*The Caveat *

In this post, we’ll be discussing a traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout, which is generally used for social science research across universities, whether in the US, UK, Europe or Australia. However, some universities may have small variations on this structure (extra chapters, merged chapters, slightly different ordering, etc).

So, always check with your university if they have a prescribed structure or layout that they expect you to work with. If not, it’s safe to assume the structure we’ll discuss here is suitable. And even if they do have a prescribed structure, you’ll still get value from this post as we’ll explain the core contents of each section.  

Overview: S tructuring a dissertation or thesis

• Acknowledgements page
• Abstract (or executive summary)
• Table of contents , list of figures and tables
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Literature review
• Chapter 3: Methodology
• Chapter 4: Results
• Chapter 5: Discussion
• Chapter 6: Conclusion
• Reference list

As I mentioned, some universities will have slight variations on this structure. For example, they want an additional “personal reflection chapter”, or they might prefer the results and discussion chapter to be merged into one. Regardless, the overarching flow will always be the same, as this flow reflects the research process , which we discussed here – i.e.:

• The introduction chapter presents the core research question and aims .
• The literature review chapter assesses what the current research says about this question.
• The methodology, results and discussion chapters go about undertaking new research about this question.
• The conclusion chapter (attempts to) answer the core research question .

In other words, the dissertation structure and layout reflect the research process of asking a well-defined question(s), investigating, and then answering the question – see below.

To restate that – the structure and layout of a dissertation reflect the flow of the overall research process . This is essential to understand, as each chapter will make a lot more sense if you “get” this concept. If you’re not familiar with the research process, read this post before going further.

Right. Now that we’ve covered the big picture, let’s dive a little deeper into the details of each section and chapter. Oh and by the way, you can also grab our free dissertation/thesis template here to help speed things up.

The title page of your dissertation is the very first impression the marker will get of your work, so it pays to invest some time thinking about your title. But what makes for a good title? A strong title needs to be 3 things:

• Succinct (not overly lengthy or verbose)
• Specific (not vague or ambiguous)
• Representative of the research you’re undertaking (clearly linked to your research questions)

Typically, a good title includes mention of the following:

• The broader area of the research (i.e. the overarching topic)
• The specific focus of your research (i.e. your specific context)
• Indication of research design (e.g. quantitative , qualitative , or  mixed methods ).

For example:

A quantitative investigation [research design] into the antecedents of organisational trust [broader area] in the UK retail forex trading market [specific context/area of focus].

Again, some universities may have specific requirements regarding the format and structure of the title, so it’s worth double-checking expectations with your institution (if there’s no mention in the brief or study material).

Acknowledgements

This page provides you with an opportunity to say thank you to those who helped you along your research journey. Generally, it’s optional (and won’t count towards your marks), but it is academic best practice to include this.

So, who do you say thanks to? Well, there’s no prescribed requirements, but it’s common to mention the following people:

• Your dissertation supervisor or committee.
• Any professors, lecturers or academics that helped you understand the topic or methodologies.
• Any tutors, mentors or advisors.
• Your family and friends, especially spouse (for adult learners studying part-time).

There’s no need for lengthy rambling. Just state who you’re thankful to and for what (e.g. thank you to my supervisor, John Doe, for his endless patience and attentiveness) – be sincere. In terms of length, you should keep this to a page or less.

Abstract or executive summary

The dissertation abstract (or executive summary for some degrees) serves to provide the first-time reader (and marker or moderator) with a big-picture view of your research project. It should give them an understanding of the key insights and findings from the research, without them needing to read the rest of the report – in other words, it should be able to stand alone .

For it to stand alone, your abstract should cover the following key points (at a minimum):

• Your research questions and aims – what key question(s) did your research aim to answer?
• Your methodology – how did you go about investigating the topic and finding answers to your research question(s)?
• Your findings – following your own research, what did do you discover?
• Your conclusions – based on your findings, what conclusions did you draw? What answers did you find to your research question(s)?

So, in much the same way the dissertation structure mimics the research process, your abstract or executive summary should reflect the research process, from the initial stage of asking the original question to the final stage of answering that question.

In practical terms, it’s a good idea to write this section up last , once all your core chapters are complete. Otherwise, you’ll end up writing and rewriting this section multiple times (just wasting time). For a step by step guide on how to write a strong executive summary, check out this post .

Need a helping hand?

Table of contents

This section is straightforward. You’ll typically present your table of contents (TOC) first, followed by the two lists – figures and tables. I recommend that you use Microsoft Word’s automatic table of contents generator to generate your TOC. If you’re not familiar with this functionality, the video below explains it simply:

If you find that your table of contents is overly lengthy, consider removing one level of depth. Oftentimes, this can be done without detracting from the usefulness of the TOC.

Right, now that the “admin” sections are out of the way, its time to move on to your core chapters. These chapters are the heart of your dissertation and are where you’ll earn the marks. The first chapter is the introduction chapter – as you would expect, this is the time to introduce your research…

It’s important to understand that even though you’ve provided an overview of your research in your abstract, your introduction needs to be written as if the reader has not read that (remember, the abstract is essentially a standalone document). So, your introduction chapter needs to start from the very beginning, and should address the following questions:

• What will you be investigating (in plain-language, big picture-level)?
• Why is that worth investigating? How is it important to academia or business? How is it sufficiently original?
• What are your research aims and research question(s)? Note that the research questions can sometimes be presented at the end of the literature review (next chapter).
• What is the scope of your study? In other words, what will and won’t you cover ?
• How will you approach your research? In other words, what methodology will you adopt?
• How will you structure your dissertation? What are the core chapters and what will you do in each of them?

These are just the bare basic requirements for your intro chapter. Some universities will want additional bells and whistles in the intro chapter, so be sure to carefully read your brief or consult your research supervisor.

If done right, your introduction chapter will set a clear direction for the rest of your dissertation. Specifically, it will make it clear to the reader (and marker) exactly what you’ll be investigating, why that’s important, and how you’ll be going about the investigation. Conversely, if your introduction chapter leaves a first-time reader wondering what exactly you’ll be researching, you’ve still got some work to do.

Now that you’ve set a clear direction with your introduction chapter, the next step is the literature review . In this section, you will analyse the existing research (typically academic journal articles and high-quality industry publications), with a view to understanding the following questions:

• What does the literature currently say about the topic you’re investigating?
• Is the literature lacking or well established? Is it divided or in disagreement?
• How does your research fit into the bigger picture?
• How does your research contribute something original?
• How does the methodology of previous studies help you develop your own?

Depending on the nature of your study, you may also present a conceptual framework towards the end of your literature review, which you will then test in your actual research.

Again, some universities will want you to focus on some of these areas more than others, some will have additional or fewer requirements, and so on. Therefore, as always, its important to review your brief and/or discuss with your supervisor, so that you know exactly what’s expected of your literature review chapter.

Now that you’ve investigated the current state of knowledge in your literature review chapter and are familiar with the existing key theories, models and frameworks, its time to design your own research. Enter the methodology chapter – the most “science-ey” of the chapters…

In this chapter, you need to address two critical questions:

• Exactly HOW will you carry out your research (i.e. what is your intended research design)?
• Exactly WHY have you chosen to do things this way (i.e. how do you justify your design)?

Remember, the dissertation part of your degree is first and foremost about developing and demonstrating research skills . Therefore, the markers want to see that you know which methods to use, can clearly articulate why you’ve chosen then, and know how to deploy them effectively.

Importantly, this chapter requires detail – don’t hold back on the specifics. State exactly what you’ll be doing, with who, when, for how long, etc. Moreover, for every design choice you make, make sure you justify it.

In practice, you will likely end up coming back to this chapter once you’ve undertaken all your data collection and analysis, and revise it based on changes you made during the analysis phase. This is perfectly fine. Its natural for you to add an additional analysis technique, scrap an old one, etc based on where your data lead you. Of course, I’m talking about small changes here – not a fundamental switch from qualitative to quantitative, which will likely send your supervisor in a spin!

You’ve now collected your data and undertaken your analysis, whether qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. In this chapter, you’ll present the raw results of your analysis . For example, in the case of a quant study, you’ll present the demographic data, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics , etc.

Typically, Chapter 4 is simply a presentation and description of the data, not a discussion of the meaning of the data. In other words, it’s descriptive, rather than analytical – the meaning is discussed in Chapter 5. However, some universities will want you to combine chapters 4 and 5, so that you both present and interpret the meaning of the data at the same time. Check with your institution what their preference is.

Now that you’ve presented the data analysis results, its time to interpret and analyse them. In other words, its time to discuss what they mean, especially in relation to your research question(s).

What you discuss here will depend largely on your chosen methodology. For example, if you’ve gone the quantitative route, you might discuss the relationships between variables . If you’ve gone the qualitative route, you might discuss key themes and the meanings thereof. It all depends on what your research design choices were.

Most importantly, you need to discuss your results in relation to your research questions and aims, as well as the existing literature. What do the results tell you about your research questions? Are they aligned with the existing research or at odds? If so, why might this be? Dig deep into your findings and explain what the findings suggest, in plain English.

The final chapter – you’ve made it! Now that you’ve discussed your interpretation of the results, its time to bring it back to the beginning with the conclusion chapter . In other words, its time to (attempt to) answer your original research question s (from way back in chapter 1). Clearly state what your conclusions are in terms of your research questions. This might feel a bit repetitive, as you would have touched on this in the previous chapter, but its important to bring the discussion full circle and explicitly state your answer(s) to the research question(s).

Next, you’ll typically discuss the implications of your findings . In other words, you’ve answered your research questions – but what does this mean for the real world (or even for academia)? What should now be done differently, given the new insight you’ve generated?

Lastly, you should discuss the limitations of your research, as well as what this means for future research in the area. No study is perfect, especially not a Masters-level. Discuss the shortcomings of your research. Perhaps your methodology was limited, perhaps your sample size was small or not representative, etc, etc. Don’t be afraid to critique your work – the markers want to see that you can identify the limitations of your work. This is a strength, not a weakness. Be brutal!

This marks the end of your core chapters – woohoo! From here on out, it’s pretty smooth sailing.

The reference list is straightforward. It should contain a list of all resources cited in your dissertation, in the required format, e.g. APA , Harvard, etc.

It’s essential that you use reference management software for your dissertation. Do NOT try handle your referencing manually – its far too error prone. On a reference list of multiple pages, you’re going to make mistake. To this end, I suggest considering either Mendeley or Zotero. Both are free and provide a very straightforward interface to ensure that your referencing is 100% on point. I’ve included a simple how-to video for the Mendeley software (my personal favourite) below:

Some universities may ask you to include a bibliography, as opposed to a reference list. These two things are not the same . A bibliography is similar to a reference list, except that it also includes resources which informed your thinking but were not directly cited in your dissertation. So, double-check your brief and make sure you use the right one.

The very last piece of the puzzle is the appendix or set of appendices. This is where you’ll include any supporting data and evidence. Importantly, supporting is the keyword here.

Your appendices should provide additional “nice to know”, depth-adding information, which is not critical to the core analysis. Appendices should not be used as a way to cut down word count (see this post which covers how to reduce word count ). In other words, don’t place content that is critical to the core analysis here, just to save word count. You will not earn marks on any content in the appendices, so don’t try to play the system!

Time to recap…

And there you have it – the traditional dissertation structure and layout, from A-Z. To recap, the core structure for a dissertation or thesis is (typically) as follows:

• Acknowledgments page

Most importantly, the core chapters should reflect the research process (asking, investigating and answering your research question). Moreover, the research question(s) should form the golden thread throughout your dissertation structure. Everything should revolve around the research questions, and as you’ve seen, they should form both the start point (i.e. introduction chapter) and the endpoint (i.e. conclusion chapter).

I hope this post has provided you with clarity about the traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below, or feel free to get in touch with us. Also, be sure to check out the rest of the  Grad Coach Blog .

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

36 Comments

many thanks i found it very useful

Glad to hear that, Arun. Good luck writing your dissertation.

Such clear practical logical advice. I very much needed to read this to keep me focused in stead of fretting.. Perfect now ready to start my research!

what about scientific fields like computer or engineering thesis what is the difference in the structure? thank you very much

Thanks so much this helped me a lot!

Very helpful and accessible. What I like most is how practical the advice is along with helpful tools/ links.

Thanks Ade!

Thank you so much sir.. It was really helpful..

You’re welcome!

Hi! How many words maximum should contain the abstract?

Thank you so much 😊 Find this at the right moment

You’re most welcome. Good luck with your dissertation.

best ever benefit i got on right time thank you

Many times Clarity and vision of destination of dissertation is what makes the difference between good ,average and great researchers the same way a great automobile driver is fast with clarity of address and Clear weather conditions .

I guess Great researcher = great ideas + knowledge + great and fast data collection and modeling + great writing + high clarity on all these

You have given immense clarity from start to end.

Morning. Where will I write the definitions of what I’m referring to in my report?

Thank you so much Derek, I was almost lost! Thanks a tonnnn! Have a great day!

Thanks ! so concise and valuable

This was very helpful. Clear and concise. I know exactly what to do now.

Thank you for allowing me to go through briefly. I hope to find time to continue.

Really useful to me. Thanks a thousand times

Very interesting! It will definitely set me and many more for success. highly recommended.

Thank you soo much sir, for the opportunity to express my skills

Usefull, thanks a lot. Really clear

Very nice and easy to understand. Thank you .

That was incredibly useful. Thanks Grad Coach Crew!

My stress level just dropped at least 15 points after watching this. Just starting my thesis for my grad program and I feel a lot more capable now! Thanks for such a clear and helpful video, Emma and the GradCoach team!

Do we need to mention the number of words the dissertation contains in the main document?

It depends on your university’s requirements, so it would be best to check with them 🙂

Such a helpful post to help me get started with structuring my masters dissertation, thank you!

Great video; I appreciate that helpful information

It is so necessary or avital course

This blog is very informative for my research. Thank you

Doctoral students are required to fill out the National Research Council’s Survey of Earned Doctorates

wow this is an amazing gain in my life

This is so good

How can i arrange my specific objectives in my dissertation?

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Supervising Undergraduate Nursing Students on Their Bachelor's Thesis. A Qualitative Study

Guro karlsholm.

1 Department of Public Health and Nursing, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Beate André

Kjersti grønning.

2 Department of Research, Nord-Trøndelag Hospital Trust, Levanger, Norway

Introduction

The bachelor's thesis (BT) in undergraduate education is often an autonomous and individual assignment. It aims to demonstrate knowledge gained through education, to be an assessment tool, and to give new learning outcomes through working on the thesis. The process of working with the BT most often includes individual supervision. There is an absence of support for teachers supervising undergraduate nursing theses, which includes a lack of national or institutional guidelines, role definitions and research material.

Given the lack of helpful guidelines, this study aims to explore what the teachers emphasize as important regarding their supervision of nursing students writing their BT.

The study has a qualitative approach, featuring individual semi-structured interviews with nursing teachers supervising nursing students on the BT. Reflexive thematic analysis is used as the method of analysis.

The analyses resulted in two generated themes, each with two subthemes, describing the patterns the teachers emphasize as important aspects of their supervision of nursing students writing their BT. The themes were “The pedagogical approach to the supervision” and “The advantages of the bachelor's thesis to the nursing profession.”

Conclusions

The teachers balanced different roles in the supervision of the students. They wanted the students to grow through challenging them, grounded in a relationship of trust and confidence. They were role models for how to be critical thinkers and incorporated critical thinking as a pedagogical implement in supervision, wanting to raise the students to become nurses who think critically. The teachers sought to combine clinical relevance with academic literacy to secure a new generation of nurses able to be a part of the future development of the profession. They wanted to equip the students with knowledge, skills, and confidence to speak up and communicate nursing. Last, the teachers combined their clinical and academic identities in the supervision of the BT.

Most nursing education in Europe includes a final project at the end of the education ( Humar & Sansoni, 2017 ). The project, or assignment, is named with diverse terminology—e.g., final-year dissertation or project, undergraduate dissertation or bachelor's thesis ( Reguant et al., 2018 ). This article uses the term “bachelor's thesis” (BT). The BT is often designed as a small research project ( Reguant et al., 2018 ) which can be informed by theory or empirical study. It is not regarded as a full-scale research project, but a platform to develop research skills, competencies and scientific curiosity at the undergraduate level ( Gallart et al., 2015 ). Since most undergraduate students are inexperienced in research, they must develop these skills and competencies during their work on the BT ( Agricola et al., 2018 ). They will need individual support during supervision, adapted to the student's level of knowledge and need for support ( Agricola et al., 2021 ).

Supervision research projects are described as a complex and subtle form of teaching which includes both the teaching process for the supervisor and the learning process for the student ( Agricola et al., 2021 ). Nevertheless, there is an absence of support for undergraduate thesis supervisors, which includes a lack of national or institutional guidelines, role definitions, training, research material, and theoretical frames of reference ( Ädel et al., 2023 ; Holmberg, 2006 ; Roberts & Seaman, 2018 ; Shanahan et al., 2015 ; Todd et al., 2006 ).

Review of Literature

The bachelor's thesis.

The BT in undergraduate education is often an autonomous and individual assignment ( Reguant et al., 2018 ) that includes individual supervision ( Gallart et al., 2015 ) and is the student's first big academic task. One of the aims of the BT is to let the students demonstrate the knowledge they have gained through their education, being summative and functioning as the culmination of the degree process ( Feather et al., 2014 ; Roca et al., 2018 ). It also functions as an assessment tool for students’ competencies and knowledge gained through education ( Gallart et al., 2015 ; Todd et al., 2004 ) and allows the students to address the actual learning outcomes and knowledge gained through working on the task. Essential learning outcomes, in addition to nursing knowledge, are to increase students’ academic literacy and research skills, to enhance their ability to write and develop critical thinking, and to enable them to become familiar with evidence-based practice, thus helping the students in their professional identity and academic growth ( Reguant et al., 2018 ; Roberts & Seaman, 2018 ). The BT offers a disciplinary framework to understand and develop academic literacy and research skills related to their profession ( Ashwin et al., 2017 ; Jefferies et al., 2018 ).

Through the BT, students learn to write but they also write to learn ( Hunker et al., 2014 ). It is argued that writing, through formulating arguments, evaluating evidence, and connecting ideas, can support the development of critical thinking skills ( Jefferies et al., 2018 ). Critical thinking is one of the characteristics of academic texts ( Borglin & Fagerström, 2012 ); conversely, academic literacy increases critical thinking ( Jefferies et al., 2018 ). Critical thinking is an essential part of the nursing profession ( Borglin & Fagerström, 2012 ); it is discipline-specific and needs to be taught to undergraduate nursing students in a nursing context ( Jefferies et al., 2018 ). Teachers play a vital role in students’ development of critical thinking: they need to model critical thinking for the students in all aspects of nursing education ( Borglin & Fagerström, 2012 ). Teachers are encouraged to incorporate critical thinking into their teaching methods to increase students’ ability to learn critical thinking ( Borglin & Fagerström, 2012 ; Jefferies et al., 2018 ). Such teaching must be tailored to each student's needs ( Jefferies et al., 2018 ). The relationship between academic writing and critical thinking must be explicitly clarified or explained to the students ( Borglin & Fagerström, 2012 ).

Newly graduated nurses have reported that working on the BT generated transferable knowledge in research and academic skills that they used in their daily work and as a method of learning ( Lundgren & Halvarsson, 2009 ; Lundgren & Robertsson, 2013 ). They reported a more critical approach to the research process and increased critical thinking related to their work as nurses ( Aguayo-González et al., 2020 ; Lundgren & Robertsson, 2013 ).

In cases where undergraduate nursing students have been part of small research projects which gave them real practical experience of the different steps in the research process, students reported increased competency in their use of tools to close the gap between theory and practice ( de Jong et al., 2018 ), increased knowledge and positive attitude toward evidence-based practice ( André et al., 2016 ), hands-on experience and motivation to initiate clinical projects in the future ( Grønning et al., 2022 ), greater understanding of the application of theory in practice, and increased confidence in interacting with colleagues because of their new knowledge ( Parkes & O'Dell, 2015 ).

Supervising the BT

Due to the lack of unified guidelines, supervision is often based on individual preferences and competencies, with potential differences between the supervisors, and can become a stressful experience ( Ädel et al., 2023 ; Holmberg, 2006 ; Roberts & Seaman, 2018 ). Some researchers have tried to identify common practices for supervising at the undergraduate level ( Shanahan et al., 2015 ); however, more research is needed to be able to build a strong foundation for future recommendations for research supervision in nursing education.

Nevertheless, there is a repertoire of roles available for supervisors at the undergraduate level, not only based on individual experience but also dependent on culture and context. The roles range from being based on personal commitment (interactional) on one side to institutional roles (transactional) on the other ( Ädel et al., 2023 ). The interactional side of the scale describes roles with a supportive approach, which takes the individual student as the starting point for supervision ( Ädel et al., 2023 ). Interactional roles may use pep talks, show enthusiasm and empathy, and give a sense of security. They place the responsibility on the student but give support, help, and guidance along the way. They motivate students to learn and help them to understand how, what, and why. The teacher's focus is on the learning rather than the product. They also withhold intervention to support the independence and freedom of the student ( Ädel et al., 2023 ).

Others describing supervisory roles at the interactional end of the scale describe a humane, approachable, and friendly teacher ( Vehviläinen & Löfström, 2016 ), where the relationship between student and supervisor and the feedback from the teacher might have a positive impact on the student's academic outcomes ( Jefferies et al., 2018 ). The supervision takes as its starting point social needs, such as emotions, expectations, and motivation ( Agricola et al., 2021 ), making a comfortable and trusting relationship with a focus on confidence, support, and encouragement ( Roberts & Seaman, 2018 ). The supervisor is described as a facilitator of the process, helping each student to attain the best possible result ( Reguant et al., 2018 ) and fostering development, growth, and independence ( Roberts & Seaman, 2018 ). A personal relationship between student and supervisor is a natural consequence of this type of role ( Reguant et al., 2018 ; Roberts & Seaman, 2018 ). There is diversity among the students ( Vehviläinen & Löfström, 2016 ), exemplified in their level of knowledge, personal abilities, expectations, and achievement ( Reguant et al., 2018 ). This means that the supervisors must give the students personal attention, be sensitive to each individual student, and support them where they are in the process ( Agricola et al., 2018 ).

On the transactional side of the scale, we find supervisory roles that are more institutional and more distanced from a personal relationship with the student ( Ädel et al., 2023 ). These roles emphasize professional knowledge of the subject matter and provide information, instructions and corrections. They demand a minimum standard and high quality and may be seen as a reflection of the institutional surrounding of the thesis, the assessment and grading ( Ädel et al., 2023 ).

Others have described transactional roles with supervisors helping the students to plan their time, set goals, and organize themselves and teaching them how to be self-critical ( Reguant et al., 2018 ; Todd et al., 2006 ). There are descriptions of supervisors shepherding the process ( Reguant et al., 2018 ), but also being aware not to push the students in any direction, since they must take responsibility for their own BT ( Todd et al., 2006 ). Furthermore, it is the supervisor's responsibility to ensure fairness among the students through the fair and equal allocation of time for supervision ( Vehviläinen & Löfström, 2016 ).

Supervision of the undergraduate dissertation is a negotiated practice between supervisor and student ( Roberts & Seaman, 2018 ), where dialogue and communication are crucial since supervision is a two-way process ( Agricola et al., 2018 ). The roles are not determined throughout the whole process but can change from being involved, directive and hands-on to being more in the background, acting on the student's initiative ( Todd et al., 2006 ). The supervisor may shift between indirect and direct strategies ( Agricola et al., 2021 ), and different roles can be taken when supervising the process or the product ( Ädel et al., 2023 ). A difficult situation, though, is balancing being supportive and giving instruction and direction versus being challenging and encouraging the student's autonomy and independence ( Agricola et al., 2018 ; Holmberg, 2006 ; Todd et al., 2006 ; Vehviläinen & Löfström, 2016 ). Balancing the roles is expressed as a problem or challenge in supervision, not a solution ( Vehviläinen & Löfström, 2016 ). This confirms that the supervision process is complex, involving communication, collaboration, and the possibility of conflict ( Agricola et al., 2018 ).

Purpose of the Study

By letting the teachers speak about the supervision of the BT, we extend the understanding of being a supervisor of the BT in nursing education, which might contribute to future recommendations and guidelines for supervision in this specific field. We applied a broad approach to this study and asked the teachers about their thoughts on supervising the BT and about the learning outcomes from the BT, guided by the following research question: What do the teachers emphasize as important regarding their supervision of nursing students writing their BT?

A qualitative approach was chosen for the study involving individual semi-structured interviews with teachers supervising the BT. The study is conducted within a constructivist approach, with a belief in knowledge as constructed in the interaction between the researcher, the participants, and the context ( Braun & Clarke, 2022 ; Mann & MacLeod, 2015 ). Our hermeneutic orientation is such that the interpretations should stay close to the data, being recognizable to the participants. Reflexive thematic analysis is used as a method of analysis. The method is suitable to search for patterns of meanings across the dataset, allowing us to search for both semantic and latent meanings in the text ( Braun & Clarke, 2022 ).

The location for this project is a nursing course at a university campus in Norway. The BT in this nursing institute is included in a course constituting 15 credits from the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System. The course includes lectures on research methods, a course in literature search organized by a librarian, three group seminars with other students, and two mandatory individual supervisions, a third being voluntary. The BT is the last course the students fulfill within their 3-year nursing education resulting in a bachelor's degree. The students write their thesis individually and can choose between two types of paper: a literature review of approximately 10,000 words or participating in a clinical research project and writing an empirical paper as an academic article of approximately 4,500 words. The teachers are allocated as supervisors for the students based on the student's preliminary choice of theme or research question, presented in their compulsory process outline. The supervisor often has expert knowledge on the topic at hand, but not in all cases. The content of the course is described, together with predefined learning outcomes, in official documents available to teachers, students, and other interested parties on the university's internet homepage. The documents work as a guide for the teachers and a goal for the students. No other guidelines exist for the teachers on how to supervise the students.

Recruitment and Data Collection

The study population was teachers supervising last year's undergraduate nursing students writing their BT. At the time of data collection, 28 teachers were supervising 192 students individually. To achieve purposive sampling for the quality and accuracy of the data collection, all teachers who had supervised the BT in the spring term of 2019 were invited to participate in the study. Invitations to participate were sent by email. Twelve teachers volunteered for the interviews by responding to the email from the first author. Time and place were decided individually. The leadership at the institute approved the interviews being conducted during the teachers’ working hours in an appropriate, but neutral, room at their workplace. The interviews were completed between June and August 2019, after the students had submitted their theses and graduated from education (June 2019). The duration of the interviews was 45 to 90 min, with an average of approximately 60 min. Data saturation was reached after the 12 interviews, no more interviews were needed.

A semi-structured interview guide was used with questions including learning outcomes from writing a BT, the construction of knowledge in nursing, and reflections on supervising the BT ( Table 1 ). The first interview was listened to by all authors for discussion and acceptance of the questions. The review did not lead to any changes in the interview guide. The interviewees were encouraged to share their thoughts and use their own words and were given freedom and the possibility to speak freely. The researcher added questions for elaboration or clarification purposes and got the conversation back to the theme if needed. The first author conducted all interviews and transcribed them verbatim. In a few cases, repetition of words and special expressions were not transcribed for the readability of the excerpt and to maintain the anonymity of the informants.

Examples from the Interview Guide.

Note . BT = bachelor’s thesis.

We carried out the analysis according to Braun and Clarke (2022) guidelines for reflexive thematic analysis and its six nonlinear phases. The interviews were transcribed and familiarized (phase 1) in the same order as they were conducted. In the coding phase (phase 2), the order was changed to break the possibility of a familiar flow in the dataset and to give a fresh perspective, minimizing the possibility of an unevenly coded dataset ( Braun & Clarke, 2022 ). A preliminary research question guided a systematic inductive coding of the data material, coding only what was considered relevant to the research question. The first author did the coding alone, which is normal and good practice in reflexive thematic analysis ( Braun & Clarke, 2022 , p. 55). We generated initial themes (phase 3), which were later refined several times, going back and forth between the original text and the codes (phase 4). Themes in the reflexive thematic analysis involve the identification of patterns around ideas or concepts related to the research question ( Braun & Clarke, 2022 ); they were led by the idea that they should tell the story, illustrate diversity and richness, and ultimately answer the research question. The research question was reformulated in parallel with the development of the themes. The first author prepared suggestions for themes for discussion among the authors, a discussion that did not aim to seek consensus but to gain richer and more nuanced insights into the material ( Braun & Clarke, 2022 , p. 55). Preliminary themes were presented and discussed in a reading circle on thematic analysis, and later in a group of experienced researchers in health educational research. The responses from both groups were discussed by the authors and considered in the refinement of the themes. The final themes were checked to ensure their uniqueness and boundaries (phase 5) and all themes contributed to the overall analysis. When writing the report (phase 6), citations were selected and translated from Norwegian to English by the first author. NVivo ( NVivo, 2020 ), Excel, and MindManager ( MindManager, 2019 ) were used as technical tools in the analysis process.

Trustworthiness

Reflexivity in thematic analysis means being aware of your subjectivity and how it interacts with your research ( Braun & Clarke, 2022 ). Reflexivity describes an active researcher making choices based on values, situated practice and in relation to methods and theory. This means that our analysis is always influenced by theoretical assumptions, not in an atheoretical vacuum. Reflexivity is an ongoing process of reflection during the whole process, never complete or finished. Furthermore, interpretation of the data happens through all phases, as the data the subjectivity of the researchers and the choices we make before and during data collection and all phases of analyses. We have sought credibility through describing the design of the study in detail, and the analytical process in a transparent manner. Dependability is taken care of through a stable research team during the whole study and concentrated time for data collection. The context and analysis are described in such detail, that readers can decide whether the findings are transferable to their setting.

Ethical Considerations

All methods were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations, including institutional regulations and Guidelines for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities ( NESH, 2021 ). The study was approved by the Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research (ref. no.:45703) as required by the Personal Data Act ( The Personal Data Act, 2018 ), on behalf of the institution hosting the study. The leaders at the institute approved conducting the interviews during the teachers’ working hours and on the university campus. Before the interviews, all participants were given written and oral information about the purpose of the study. Their participation was voluntary and confidential, and they had the right to withdraw at any time. All participants were given the opportunity to ask questions about the study, before providing written informed consent . The findings are presented in an anonymized manner to ensure confidentiality.

Twelve teachers were interviewed individually. Six had supervised students writing a literature review, and six had supervised students writing an empirical BT. Half of them had a master's degree and the other half had completed a PhD. Their experience of being BT supervisors varied between 5 and more than 15 years, except for one who had done this for the first time. They had supervised between three and 10 students each that term. There were 10 women and two men, aged around 40 years or older.

The analyses resulted in two generated themes, each with two subthemes, describing the patterns the teachers emphasized as important aspects of their supervision of nursing students writing their BT ( Table 2 ). The themes of the pedagogical approach to the supervision and the advantages of the BT to the nursing profession are constructed by semantic and latent outcomes, respectively. The following section will present the results as an analytic narrative.

Themes, Subthemes and Characteristics.

The Pedagogical Approach to the Supervision

The pattern in this theme was the description of the pedagogical approach on which the teachers based their supervision. It revealed that the teachers were scaffolding the supervision with trust and individual orientation and filling it with challenge and the urge to develop.

Individual Approach: the Importance of Trust, Confidence, and Support

The teachers all highlighted the importance of a good relationship with each student, a relationship that should be based on the individual student's knowledge, ambitions, and motivations. The teacher's role was to find each student's level and adjust their supervision to the individual. Furthermore, the teachers emphasized building trust and confidence in the students and creating a good atmosphere for supervising. They supported the students through the use of acknowledgement and non-verbal communication. A common focus was to address the supervision of the student's interests and drive, to build their motivation and self-efficacy.

I try not to have a negative tone of voice but always start with something positive because there is always something good to say. (T6)

Some students struggle with low self-efficacy while others have high skills and are self-driven, so they require different supervision strategies. Therefore, we have to meet the students at their level and give them what they need as individuals. (T11)

Stimulating Approach: Urging Development Through Challenge and Critical Thinking

The teachers tried not to give the students answers but rather wanted them to find their own answers by thinking on their own. They asked questions in response to the student's questions and countered their arguments, recognizing that knowledge is made in the dialogue between teacher and student. They further motivated the students to be critical and creative about their writing process through dialogue and discussions. Reflection was seen as key to increasing the students’ understanding of their product. The teachers also pushed the students on time and workload and encouraged steady progression in the students’ work. Nevertheless, they were conscious not to be too harsh since the students were novices and inexperienced in writing assignments as large as the BT.

Learning might be a chaotic process, but I think it is important for them to learn how to articulate their own problem because then they might find a way to answer the problem themselves. (T9)

I am not afraid to challenge them and discuss with them: it's my experience that it makes them think and find their way out of the problem. Yes, it is about asking them good questions, but I can’t challenge them too much—most of them are pretty young and inexperienced. (T1)

The Advantages of the BT to the Nursing Profession

The pattern of the second theme was how the teachers focused on the advantages of the BT beyond the learning outcomes related to the course. Where the learning outcomes mostly related to the individual student's knowledge, the teachers also focused further on what this would mean for the nursing profession, both in the clinic and in academia.

The Professional Nurse: Developing Competence for Clinical Nursing Practice

The nursing perspective on the theme for the BT was highlighted as important. It should be well-defined inside the nursing profession. Furthermore, the learning outcomes from the BT had to be clinically relevant. The BT was seen as an exceptional opportunity to dig deep into a specific field of interest, gain vulnerable insight into nursing practice, and discover and reflect on significant values in clinical practice. The BT enabled students to bridge the theory into a clinical setting, supporting practical competence and increasing clinical understanding. It collected all threads from education up till now. The teachers’ aim was for the students to have courage and confidence in their professional conversations, to talk about knowledge and research, to articulate the nursing profession, and to make their voices heard. They wanted the students to become communicating nurses, speaking up for their profession, both together with other nurses and in interprofessional discussions.

I encourage them to show why this theme or research question is important, and why is it important for nurses to know about this, how it contributes to a wider context. (T2)

If it doesn’t have any clinical relevance and you don’t learn anything practical from it, then I don’t find it of value … it's not worth anything if you can’t use it in the clinic. (T3)

Out there in the real world, you need to be confident in your decisions, to have the courage to raise your voice in interprofessional teams, or to argue against the doctor. I think it's a very important quality as a nurse, to communicate the nursing profession with a confident voice. (T4)

The Academic Nurse: Developing Nursing as an Academic Profession

Through the BT, the teachers saw an opportunity to supervise students to become nurses with academic capacity, to further ensure nursing as an academic profession. They wanted the students to learn how to produce an academic text of quality, to be confident with the research process, and to experience the joy of discovering or creating new knowledge. Furthermore, they wanted the students to become critically thinking nurses, being curious and asking questions, but also being humble in their own knowledge and understanding its limitations. The teachers aspired to develop nurses that contributed to knowledge-based nursing in practice. They also expressed the importance of comparability with other educational courses in terms of the requirements for the BT and the students’ preparedness for further education at the master's level.

I think that research and nursing belong together—not all the students are becoming researchers, but we must teach it to the students, so they understand our profession. I think teaching them research methods is important to help them become critically thinking nurses. (T10)

Developing knowledge and attitude toward knowledge is important because it never stops: everything continues during your career, I think, so that is why I think it is so important. (T8)

I hope they see the joy of exploring and being in the process, discovering new knowledge and working in a structured way, because I think the process is as important as the product. (T9)

The teachers in this study emphasized two important aspects regarding their supervision of nursing students writing a BT: their pedagogical approach to the supervision and the advantages of the BT to the nursing profession.

The teachers’ two pedagogical approaches to supervision may be labeled as interactional and transactional roles. The transactional role may be equivalent to the subtheme “stimulating approach,” where they describe taking a stimulating approach with a challenging attitude, critical thinking and striving for progression ( Ädel et al., 2023 ). They encourage the students to have autonomy and independence in their process and emphasize the dissemination of knowledge. The institutional role is equivalent to the subtheme “individual approach”, which describes the teachers building an individual relationship with the students, relying on trust and confidence ( Ädel et al., 2023 ). Both roles considerably echo the results of other studies ( Agricola et al., 2018 ; Reguant et al., 2018 ; Roberts & Seaman, 2018 ).

The findings from this study support the argument that it is not sufficient to choose just one role or one direction in supervision. Thus, the quality of the supervision is dependent on the teachers’ ability to merge elements from different roles in supervision to be able to cover all needs of the students, depending on, for example, how independently the students work and where in the process they are ( Ädel et al., 2023 ; Todd et al., 2006 ). The different roles need different strategies and confirm the complexity of supervision ( Agricola et al., 2021 ), something which requires teachers who are both responsive and flexible and have high pedagogical skills. We see from other studies that balancing roles is reported as being a challenge for many supervisors ( Agricola et al., 2018 ; Holmberg, 2006 ; Todd et al., 2006 ; Vehviläinen & Löfström, 2016 ), but in our study, the teachers do not express this. The teachers in this study present the supportive role as a safe foundation for being challenging, something that grounds the situation. When the teachers need to give direction and sometimes demand progression and independence, they can rely on the supportive relationship, built on trust and confidence, as a safe basis to tell the students what they may not want to hear and to adjust their feedback to the student's maturity and level of experience. This study may exemplify how interactional and transactional roles, even if they sometimes appear conflicting, are equally important and mutually dependent in the supervision of nursing students on their BT ( Ädel et al., 2023 ).

The other theme found in this study was how the teachers expressed the advantages of BT for the nursing profession. A particular finding from this study is the teachers’ distinct focus on the clinical relevance of the BT, well defined inside the nursing profession, as described in the subtheme “the professional nurse.” The learning outcomes should be relevant and coherent with students’ future practice. This is interesting together with the results from another study which found that it is difficult for nurse academics to “let go” of their clinical past as they move into higher education settings ( Barrow & Xu, 2021 ). This may be a reason for the distinct focus on being supportive and urging confidence and trust in the relationship, which are important qualities in nursing practice. The teachers act as supervisors the same way they want the students to act as nurses. They are demonstrating important aspects of clinical nursing, mirroring an identity for the students to learn from and incorporate into their own nursing practice ( Baldwin et al., 2017 ). The teachers’ focus on clinical relevance in this study may confirm that the core identity of academic nurses is enacted through clinical practice ( Barrow & Xu, 2021 ). The teachers’ focus on clinical relevance is consistent with an emphasis on the fitness to practice as a product of an educational process, almost more than on the pedagogical approach ( Mackintosh-Franklin, 2016 ).

The teachers in this study also wanted to educate an academic nurse, able to contribute to the development of nursing as an academic profession, as described in the last subtheme. They wanted to provide the students with knowledge and skills to participate in research projects and utilize research knowledge, making them able to continue to develop their personal and professional knowledge. They wanted them to practice evidence-based nursing and to learn critical thinking. Critical thinking is a thread between the two main themes of this study. In training the students to think critically, the supervisors are forming critically thinking nurses capable of contributing to the nursing profession. When the teachers act as role models using critical thinking as a pedagogical tool, they stimulate the students to think and encourage them to come up with an answer themselves ( Agricola et al., 2021 ; Borglin & Fagerström, 2012 ), and they arrange a safe place for the students to practice. The BT also scaffolds a nursing context for the students, which is essential for the development of critical thinking skills ( Jefferies et al., 2018 ). The students need the nursing context, the clinical relevance, and the deep nursing knowledge; the BT is providing to develop their critical thinking adequately. The findings of this study confirm that the BT is a great means for nursing students to practice critical thinking ( Borglin & Fagerström, 2012 ), and supervising the BT mediates the impact the teachers have on developing critical thinking nurses for the future.

The two themes of the professional versus the academic nurse show that the teachers find both themes to be important advantages for the nursing profession, which is the same dualism that they are working within, their two identities. Clinical and academic identity go together, the former a foundation for the latter, while research work may be seen as an extension of nursing practice ( Barrow & Xu, 2021 ). Furthermore, academic nursing teachers and nurses in the clinic have a shared goal: to improve the lives of patients ( Mitchell, 2018 ). Working with knowledge through the BT, through supervision or in clinical practice, should reflect that.

Strengths and Limitations

In this study, the interviews were conducted by a PhD student at the faculty, which might have affected the interview in different ways. Some teachers might feel uncomfortable sharing their thoughts about their own work performance with a distant colleague, while others would rather discuss these themes with an acquaintance than with a stranger. Nevertheless, they all expressed a great willingness to contribute their experience, all voluntarily participating in the study. Using individual interviews also made it possible to dig deeper into the theme and to stop and take time to elaborate on parts of the interview, resulting in rich material ( Polit & Beck, 2017 ). Even if qualitative research is not automatically generalized to other situations, the developed knowledge in this study may be useful for other teachers supervising nursing students or other professions at an undergraduate level.

Implication for Practice

The findings of this study have shown the benefits for nursing students and the nursing profession when the teachers combine their clinical and academic identities. The nursing education must encourage the teachers to maintain their clinical identity, alongside developing their academic competence. Further, the findings from this study are an important contribution to future attempts to develop guidelines, role definitions, or other supporting materials for supervising undergraduate nursing students on their BT.

This study has shown that what the teachers emphasize as important regarding their supervision of nursing students writing their BT is based on both their pedagogical approaches to the supervision and how they want the BT to advantage the nursing profession. When supervising, they combine interactional and transactional roles, and clinical and academic identities, with critical thinking as a thread through the findings, modeling the practice of critical thinking to form critically thinking nurses. The findings demonstrate that supervising nursing students on their BTs is not just a technical issue for the teachers but goes beyond: it is grounded in their nurse identity and their aspirations for the profession, which is not described elsewhere.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the teachers who contributed to this study by volunteering for the interviews, and the leaders of the institute that accommodated the data collection.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and publication of this article.

Funding: The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was funded by the Norwegian Nurses Organization, NNO (grant number 1061526); and the Liaison Committee for Education, Research and Innovation in Central Norway (grant number 18/420-13).

Ethical Considerations: All methods were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations, including institutional regulations and Guidelines for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities ( NESH, 2021 ). The study was approved by the Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research (ref. no.: 457038) as required by the Personal Data Act ( The Personal Data Act, 2018 ), on behalf of the institution hosting the study.

ORCID iDs: Guro Karlsholm https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2783-2347

Kjersti Grønning https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4256-6339

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Barriers to the completion of bachelor thesis for bachelor nursing students during their internship: A qualitative study from dual student and faculty perspectives

Affiliations.

• 1 Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.
• 2 Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
• 3 The School of Nursing, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
• PMID: 37871497
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2023.105997

Background: Bachelor thesis are among the most important ways of exercising Chinese nursing students' research skills and developing critical thinking. However, there is a mismatch between the expectations and abilities of clinical nursing teachers and nursing students. Exploring the impediments to nursing students' research skills can provide a basis for developing targeted improvements.

Objective: To identify barriers to the completion of research projects among nursing undergraduates during their internships from the dual student and instructor perspectives.

Design: Descriptive qualitative design.

Setting: Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted this study at a tertiary hospital in Fuzhou, Fujian Province.

Participants: The study was conducted using a purposive sample of 16 nursing interns and six instructors.

Methods: Data were collected through semi-structured interviews to provide nursing students and instructors with various perspectives. The collected data were analysed using thematic analysis methods.

Results: This study included 16 students (two male and 14 female; age 21.75 ± 0.66 years), six instructors (age 34.33 ± 1.97 years), which was sufficient to reach data saturation. We identified 126 codes from the interview data and obtained seven subcategories among three categories: a) Lack of scientific research training: lack of clinical instructors' experience, lack of academic training courses, and lack of necessary scientific research resources support; b) Poor communication: excessive workload, poor instructor-student relationship, and lack of communication skills; and c) Lack of support systems: lack of support from other disciplines and negative coping patterns.

Conclusions: The findings of this study will help nursing interns develop an interest in scientific research throughout their internships. Reducing barriers will also strengthen teacher training programmes, improve the teaching process, promote teacher-student communication, and provide students with necessary social support.

Keywords: Barriers; Clinical placement; Internship; Nursing; Qualitative study; Students.

Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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