Guide for the preparation of the thesis

Learning objectives:

Conceiving research as a process made up of various closely interrelated stages. Understanding the different types of research. Perceiving research as an everyday thing in the teaching profession. 4. Get a basic reference guide.

guide-for-the-elaboration-of-the-degree-thesis

General objectives:

Present this document as a guide for preparing the thesis in the social sciences or medical sciences.

The topics to be discussed will be the following:

1. Conceive the idea or project to be carried out.

2. State the research problem.

3. Elaboration of the theoretical framework.

4. Define the type of research to be carried out.

5. Establish the research hypothesis.

6. Select the research design.

7. Selection of the sample.

8. Data collection.

9. Analysis of the data.

10. Presentation of the results.

The topic deals with the different steps or stages when carrying out a thesis or research, either under the quantitative, qualitative or a combination approach. It shows the activities that a researcher must carry out in each stage of the study. And it refers in particular to a kind of research, that which is social and scientific.

Research has to do with reality. Topics such as; interpersonal relationships, marriage, violence, television, work, illness, presidential elections, human emotions, culture, family and any other issue of social relevance.

Research can serve two purposes:

1. Produce knowledge and theories (Basic Research)

2. Solve practical problems (Applied Research)

In a colloquial sense: it is the obtaining of a data or information that we do not know.

Scientific investigation; It is the type of research that due to its relevance and significance must be carried out in compliance with the minimum methodology established for these purposes.

Methodology: set of guidelines and procedures that are part of a scientific investigation.

1. Conceive the research idea.

2. Statement of the problem.

3. Theoretical framework.

4. Definition of the type of investigation.

5. Formulation of the hypothesis.

6. Research design.

7. Selection of the sample.

8. Data collection.

9. Analysis of the data.

10. Preparation of the investigation report.

1. Hypothesis: it is a tentative assumption or explanation of what is to be investigated, which is formulated as a proposition.

2. Theory: set of concepts and definitions related to each other, which represent and specify a relationship between variables in order to explain and predict an event. The Theory is a proven Hypothesis.

3. Variable: it is a characteristic that can change and whose variation is capable of being measured or observed.

4. Inferential: instrument by means of which deductions or generalizations can be made from a sample.

5. Parameter: is the statistical information collected from the population or the universe.

6. Statisticians: are the statistical results collected from a sample.

All research has to start with an idea, constituting the first approach to reality that is intended to be investigated.

Sources of ideas for an investigation

There are a large number of sources that can generate ideas to investigate, among which we have:

a.- Individual experiences

b.- Written materials (books, writings, newspapers and theses)

c.- Theories

d.- Discoveries as a result of Research

e.- Personal conversations

f.- Observations of facts

g.- Beliefs and even presentiments

It is understood that a good idea has nothing to do with the origin of it, it arises and little by little, it is refined and formed until you have a clear and precise idea.

Example; If a person wants to investigate and propose how to develop a Municipality; You must use an Urban perspective

(science that studies the different aspects of development and planning of a city), where you will analyze aspects such as: communication routes, soil and subsoil, economic problems of the community, availability of land, legal aspects, sources and amounts of income of the population, ages, economically active population, etc.

The more a topic is known, the more refined the process will be the more efficient and fast.

From where we can obtain information to carry out an investigation:

1.- Topics already investigated, structured and formalized, from which you can find written documents and other materials that report the results of previous research and analysis.

2.-Topics already investigated, but less structured and formalized. But there are few written documents.

3.-Little researched and unstructured topics, which require an effort to find what has been investigated, even if it is scarce.

4.-Subjects not investigated.

Taking the previous example, the idea of what you intend to investigate should be very precise, in order to clearly define your study.

Otherwise, you could find various unknowns that must be answered, such as:

1. Will you investigate and analyze the current situation of the communication routes of that municipality?

2. Will you carry out socioeconomic studies of the entire population?

3. Do you know the legal aspects that affect development?

4. Will you determine what is the economically active population to define strategies according to the current reality?

5. Will you make proposals on development or only describe the problem?

6. Will you establish a relationship between causes and effects and will you experiment with the results obtained?

7. Will you explain the causes that impede the development of that municipality?

Frequently, there is confusion about what it is to pose the research problem, especially in academic studies, where it is believed that to pose the problem is to describe the situation to be investigated.

In reality, to pose the problem is to clearly establish each one of the aspects that comprise it, thus allowing to clearly "pose" what, why, and why the proposed study should be carried out.

• Determine a relationship between the study variables. Remembering that they can be dependent or independent. When it comes to qualitative studies, it is not a requirement to determine this relationship by the very nature of them.

• The approach must be clear and precise, to avoid confusion and that it can be distorted and remain without solution.

The approach should establish the way in which empirical tests will be carried out and specify the way in which the data or information collection will be carried out. Being viable observation of the problem and its environment.

• Investigation objectives; they refer to expressing with great clarity and breadth the purpose or raison d'être of the study. Both generally and specifically.

Research questions; They represent the study guides and are drafted in a way that clearly delimits and guides the fulfillment of the general and specific objectives of the work. The questions must be precise and oriented to solve and obtain the answers that are sought with the investigation. In the section on conclusions and presentation of the results, each of these questions should be widely answered, thereby demonstrating that the study fulfilled its mission. Otherwise it will be a work devoid of practical value.

• Justification of the investigation; expresses the worth of the work, explains why it is convenient to carry out the research and what are the benefits that will derive from it. Answering Why? For what? Who will benefit? In what way? among other fundamentals.

Work feasibility: it is the practical and real possibility of carrying out the study by the researcher. Analyze its feasibility.

• Valuation of deficiencies or deficiencies in the knowledge to be investigated; Evaluate and analyze what studies exist in this regard, in order to avoid carrying out a repetitive or widely studied study.

There are studies that may require months and even years, depending on the nature and scope established, their depth and the objectives to be achieved, therefore these and other aspects must be thoroughly evaluated to avoid superficial and methodological work deficient or inadmissible.

Convenience; what is it for?

Social relevance; What is its significance for society? Who will benefit from the results?

Practical implications; Will it help to solve a real problem?

Theoric value; Will any gap of knowledge be filled? Can the information obtained be used to comment, develop or support a theory?

Methodological utility; Does it help to define a concept, environment, variable context or relationship between variables?

It is the practical, economic and all-round feasibility of conducting a study.

Example of infeasibility:

The aim was to determine the impact that introducing television would have on a community that did not exist, to know if behavior patterns and habits were changing.

It was interesting for the contributions to the effects of the medium, the diffusion of innovations and other areas of knowledge.

However, the cost of the investigation was very high; Acquire many televisions, to send them to the community, the stay and per diem of the researchers, the time it might take to know the results, etc.

There are studies that last for months and even years, depending on the nature, depth and objectives that are intended to be achieved, therefore, these and other aspects must be thoroughly evaluated before making the decision.

The theoretical framework involves analyzing theories, previous research and antecedents that are considered valid to support the study.

Furthermore, it is a fundamental requirement of all scientific research that the work can be validated.

Main functions of the theoretical framework

Collect the information obtained in some medium, such as:

Bibliographic sheets, notebooks, discs and floppy disks.

Expand the horizon of the study or guide the researcher to focus on your problem.

It leads to the establishment of hypotheses or statements that will later have to be tested in reality.

Inspire new lines and areas of research.

It provides a framework for interpreting the study results.

Literature review; It consists of detecting, obtaining and consulting the bibliography and other useful written materials for the purposes of the study, from which the relevant and necessary information concerning the research problem must be extracted and compiled.

Adoption of a theory or development of a theoretical reference perspective. It will be especially useful to adopt a theory because it describes, explains and predicts the phenomenon, context, event or fact to which it refers, in addition to organizing knowledge about it and guiding the research carried out on it.

Criteria for evaluating a theory:

Ability to describe, explain and predict.

Logical consistency. Fruiting

perspective

; (Heuristics; art of inventing) "ability to generate questions and discoveries."

Parsimony; simplicity or simplicity of the theory.

a) Primary (direct) sources; They are the objective of bibliographic research or literature review and provide first-hand data.

Example: Books, anthologies, periodical articles, monographs, theses and dissertations, official documents, newspaper articles, documentaries, expert testimonies.

b) Secondary sources: They are compilations, summaries and lists of references published in a particular area of knowledge.

Example: Business association magazines, magazines that use books or other research as a source of information.

c) Tertiary sources: These are documents that summarize names and titles of magazines and other periodicals, as well as names of newsletters, conferences, symposia, Web sites, etc.

Example: Company directories, report titles with government information.

They are useful for detecting non-documentary sources such as organizations that carry out or finance studies, members of scientific associations, higher education institutions and government agencies that carry out research.

It is essential that there is evidence that validates the information used in any investigation. For this, the APA v.6 standards must be used in the case of social sciences, or the Vancouver standards for studies in medical sciences.

Example of how to cite bibliographic resources:

For an article or chapter within a book.

Author / editor (year of publication). Title of the article or chapter. In Title of the work (page numbers) (edition) (volume). Place of publication: publisher or publisher.

Electronic documents and databases;

Author / responsible (date of publication). Title (edition),. Place of publication: publisher. Available at: specify path.

Exploratory studies serve to prepare the ground, they are normally carried out when the objective is to examine a topic or research problem little studied, of which there are many doubts or have not been addressed before. This revelation is generally obtained in the formulation of the theoretical framework.

Example: Research on the human genome, on the cure for AIDS or cancer.

Descriptive studies seek to specify the properties, characteristics and important profiles of people, groups, communities or any other phenomenon that is subjected to an analysis. In a descriptive study, a series of questions is selected and information on each of them is measured or collected, in order to describe what is being investigated.

Example: A national population census, an investigation to determine the number of smokers in a certain population.

Correlational studies are intended to determine and evaluate the relationship between two or more concepts, categories, or variables in a particular context.

Its main utility is to determine how a concept or variable can behave knowing the behavior of other related variables.

Example: a study that determines the theory; "The greater the academic preparation and the greater sense of national identity, the less corruption rates"

Explanatory studies go beyond the description of concepts or phenomena, or the establishment of relationships; They are aimed at answering the causes of events and physical or social phenomena, they can be considered as the most complete studies.

Example: The investigation you pointed out; “The HIV virus affects, first of all, the human immune system, allowing any pathogen to cause severe damage to the body. The process starts when the virus enters the bloodstream

Two factors influence how the research will be conducted:

The current knowledge of the research topic revealed by the literature review. The approach that the researcher intends to give to his study.

First, the literature may reveal that there is no background on the subject in question or that it is not applicable to the context in which the study will be carried out, so the investigation should start as exploratory.

Second, the literature can reveal to us that there are "pieces and pieces" of theory with moderate empirical support, that is, descriptive studies that have detected and defined certain variables.

Thirdly, the literature can reveal to us the existence of one or more relationships between concepts or variables. In these situations, research will begin as correlational.

Fourth, the literature can reveal to us that there is one or more theories that apply to our research problem; in certain cases the study can be started as explanatory.

On the other hand, the approach that the researcher gives to his study is decisive in defining how this will start, and may start in one modality and end in another.

They are equally valid and important, since they have all contributed to the advancement of the different sciences, technological advances or the contribution of social problems.

Each one has its objectives and reason for being.

Whether the research is of one type or another, or includes elements of one or more of these, depends on how the research problem arises.

What is a hypothesis? It is a tentative explanation of the phenomenon to be investigated, formulated as a proposition.

Should there be a hypothesis in all kinds of research?

Not necessarily, and even the hypotheses are not necessarily true, they may or may not be true and they may or may not be verified with facts.

Figure A. illustrates the most common way of developing hypotheses depending on the type of research to be carried out.

Once the research is evaluated through the theoretical framework (literature review), the objectives and research questions emerge, which give rise to the working hypothesis. Therefore, there is a close relationship between the problem statement, the literature review and the hypothesis.

Characteristics that a hypothesis must have:

They must refer to a situation or fact.

The study variables must be understandable, precise and as concrete as possible.

The presumable relationship that exists between variables must be clear and plausible (logical, true).

The terms of the hypothesis must be observable and measurable. Scientific hypotheses do not include moral aspects or questions that cannot be measured in reality.

The hypotheses must be related to the techniques available to test them.

The quantitative approach; it is very decisive regarding the external validity of the research; since with a

representative sample of the population a deduction is formulated with respect to that same population, with defined security and precision.

Main features:

1. It is a controlled and objective measurement, confirms, deduces and generalizes.

2. They are strong in external validity, what is determined is generalizable to the population.

3. Collect and analyze quantitative data on certain variables.

The qualitative approach; makes narrative records of the phenomena studied, using techniques such as observation and unstructured interviews.

Main features:

1. It focuses on the understanding of certain phenomena, it is subjective, inductive and not generalizable.

2. They are strong in internal validity and generally what they determine is not generalizable to the population.

Scope of the study: Quantitative approach Qualitative approach

Exploratory research: No hypothesis is formulated. Without formulation.

Descriptive Research: A predicting hypothesis is formulated. Without formulation.

Correlational Research: A relationship hypothesis is made. It may or may not occur.

Explanatory Research: It arises based on previous studies. It may or may not occur.

Research hypothesis; tentative proposition

Null hypotheses; deny or refute the relationship between variables.

Alternative hypotheses; They offer explanations other than those mentioned above.

Statistical hypotheses; Unique to the quantitative approach, they are formulated when the study data are numbers, percentages, or averages.

How many and what kind of hypotheses should be formulated in an investigation?

The number of hypotheses will depend on the scope, focus and depth of the investigation. What type? You can include from each of the types of hypotheses, a number equal to the research questions that have been asked in the problem statement.

1. They represent the research guide

2. They have a descriptive and explanatory function as the case may be.

3. It has a deductive use, or in other words it contributes to prove theories.

4. The fourth function is that they suggest theories.

Example: When Albert Einstein tested his hypotheses, the theory of relativity emerged.

Refers to the plan or strategy to follow to obtain the information required in an investigation.

At what point or part of the research process does the design emerge?

It largely depends on the chosen approach and the problem statement. It is generally conceived or selected once the research problem has been refined and the theoretical perspective has been developed, the initial scope of the study established and the hypothesis formulated (if required)

in the colloquial sense; is to take an action and then observe the consequences.

In the scientific sense; It is a study in which one or more independent variables (causes) are intentionally manipulated to analyze the

consequences that the manipulation has on one or more dependent variables (effects).

Speaking of research; The term of experiment does not specify laboratory activities and the use of test tubes and chemical substances. It covers any activity that the researcher intends to observe, analyze or intentionally manipulate the causes (independent variables) to measure their impact or effects (dependent variables).

Experimental research.

Pre-experiments; A single group design with minimal degree of control, an example of this is case studies with a single measurement.

Pure experiments; they seek to increase theoretical knowledge for the progress of a certain branch of science or technology.

Quasi-experiments: experiments in which it is not possible to assign subjects randomly, given that they were previously designated or trained, so the lack of randomization introduces possible problems of internal and external validity.

Non-experimental research

Research that is carried out without manipulating the variables, what is done is observing phenomena as they occur, and then analyzing them.

Transectional; data collection in a single moment and in a single time, with the objective of describing variables and analyzing their interrelation at a given moment.

Longitudinal; They collect information at different points, over time, to make inferences about change, its causes, and effects.

Does an investigation always get a sample?

Not always, but in many cases the study is carried out on the basis of a sample.

Sample in a quantitative approach: it is a subgroup of the

population from which data is collected and must be representative of that population.

The population is the set of all cases that meet certain specifications.

Shows in a qualitative approach:

Unit of analysis or set of people, contexts, events or events on which data is collected without necessarily being representative of the universe.

Generally, the result of this type of study is exploratory or descriptive, because the results obtained are not statistically generalizable to other populations.

The choice between each of the types of sample depends on: the objectives of the research, its design and the results that are intended to be obtained from it.

Sample types:

Probabilistics; subgroup of the population in which all the elements have the same possibility of being chosen.

Non-probabilistic (directed); elements whose choice does not depend on probability, but on causes related to the characteristics of the research. Eg Selection of experts, type subjects, sample by fees, samples with volunteers, etc.

Steps involved in the data collection stage:

1. Selection of a data collection instrument.

2. Application of the instrument.

3. Prepare the observations, records and measurements obtained.

Understand data collection as; measure the process of linking abstract concepts with empirical indicators.

Data collection in a qualitative approach:

Interviews.

Observation.

In-depth sessions.

Data collection in a quantitative approach:

Content analysis.

Standardized tests.

Surveys and questionnaires.

How can the analysis of the information be carried out?

The analysis depends on the information that was collected. If quantitative data was obtained, the analysis is performed on a data matrix. The main types of quantitative analysis are as follows:

Descriptive statistics; Frequency distribution, measures of central tendency, asymmetry etc.

Z scores; The degree to which an individual value deviates from the mean on a scale of standard deviation units.

Reasons and rates. It is the relation or proportion that exists between two or more categories.

Inferential statistical reasoning: It is the determination of the parameters of the population by means of the statisticians.

Parametric tests: Statistical instruments such as Linear Regression and Pearson's Coefficient.

Multivariate analysis: Mathematical methods to analyze the relationship between various independent variables and at least one dependent variable. Among the most common instruments we find; MULTIPLE REGRESSION, LINEAR ANALYSIS etc. These types of instruments are generally for advanced research uses, there are several statistical programs such as:

SPSS for Windows. MINITAB etc.

If the information collected is qualitative, it will therefore be analyzed qualitatively, without prejudice to any particular quantitative information being extracted, such as; frequency, categorization or other similar.

Qualitative analysis is not limited to narrative descriptions, it can cover many other contexts such as the following:

Describe contexts or events.

Reveal situations.

Describe patterns and explain them.

Explain events and facts.

Build theories.

Depending on who will be the users of the results obtained, the report can be presented in two contexts:

Academic context, consisting of the following elements:

1. Cover

2. Index of the report

3. Summary

4. Introduction