Have you ever played a game of telephone? The first person gives a message and it goes through several other people and it comes out completely different. The message evolves—sometimes in a minor way, but sometimes it results in a completely different message. Now imagine what this would look like in research. You start on one topic and then get a little off track in the problem, a little further off track in the purpose, and then even further off track in your approach to the research. By the end, your study lacks alignment. This is one of the most common reasons we see proposals rejected. Alignment is a matter of consistency and focus.
1. Plan out dissertation alignment in the beginning, not at the end
Alignment is much easier to plan out in the beginning than fix once it becomes an issue. Depending on how far off your sections drift, an alignment problem could be an extensive re-write in the proposal stage. Having a good idea of your research from the beginning is one way to avoid this issue. This takes a deep understanding of what you are studying and why. I often see a lack of alignment emerge from students not knowing exactly what they want to do, so they are piecing it together as they go. In this sense, alignment is often a reflection of preparation and understanding of your own study.
2. Line up your title/topic, problem statement, purpose statement, research questions, and data collection methods
This might seem strange, but an aligned dissertation will likely seem repetitive since the sections will have minute differences. I should be able to line up your title/topic, problem statement, purpose statement, research questions, and data collection methods and see many of the exact words. When working with students getting ready to write a proposal, I will ask them to see these sentences first. I look to see that they are narrow enough, that they are proposing something feasible, and most importantly that they are aligned. If these parts are aligned, you can build the rest of the proposal around them.
In the example below, you can see the elements of an aligned study and the elements of a study that is not aligned. They both start with the same topic: Portrayals of fiancé visas in American media. Note that in the aligned example, you see the same words throughout all elements.
In the example that is not aligned, there is a slight change in each of the elements that results in data collection far off from the topic. I encourage my doctoral students to go through this exercise before writing the full proposal. Not only is it a good way to check for alignment, but it also forces you to narrow down and think about these fundamental parts of the dissertation.
Dissertation Alignment Table
Aligned | Not Aligned | |
Topic/Title |
Portrayals of fiancé visas in American media
|
Portrayals of fiancé visas in American media
|
Problem Statement |
The problem addressed in this study is that it is not known how individuals entering the United States on fiancé (K1) visas from different countries are portrayed differently in American media.
|
The problem addressed in this research is that it is not known how individuals entering the United States on visas from different countries are portrayed in the media. |
Purpose Statement | The purpose of this research is to assess if there are differences in how individuals entering the United States on fiancé (K1) visas from different countries are portrayed in American media. |
The purpose of this research is to understand how immigrants from different countries are portrayed in the media.
|
Research Questions |
How are individuals entering the United States on fiancé (K1) visas from different countries portrayed differently in American media?
|
How are immigrants portrayed in the media? |
Data Collections Methods |
Content analysis of American media portrayals of individuals entering the United States on fiancé (K1) visas from different countries
|
Content analysis of immigration issues in the media
|
There are also alignment considerations within data collection. Even if all of the above elements are aligned, you will want to pay close attention to this as you move forward with your proposal and develop your research methods. In the aligned example from the table, you could go on to conduct a content analysis of an American television show such as TLC’s 90 Day Fiancé using a structured data collection instrument that would allow you to collect data that provide you with what you need to address the research question. This would seemingly be aligned. However, if you didn’t record key data, such as the country of origin of those coming in on a K1 visa, your data will not allow you to address the research question.
That telephone game was fun as a kid, but when this same evolution of focus appears in your dissertation, it causes a lot of issues and prevents you from moving forward to becoming Dr. You. Fortunately, this is such an important foundational piece of the dissertation that many resources are available for working through alignment issues.
Dissertation Alignment Additional Resources:
Nova Southeastern University’s Slides on Alignment: https://education.nova.edu/summer/2017sessionmaterials/Required_T1_Alignment_Presentation_Weintraub.pdf
Article: “Building Consistency between Title, Problem Statement, Purpose, & Research Questions to Improve the Quality of Research Plans and Reports” https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/nha.20009
The University of Phoenix Article on Alignment: https://research.phoenix.edu/blog/constructing-study-design-aligning-research-question-methodology-design-and-degree-program
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