EDU-M 711B: Mentoring: Policy & the Dissertation II

Overview

In this, your fourth PAR cycle, you will continue your investigation of your dissertation topic context by investigating the stakeholders to which your research is likely to be important. This investigation will influence whether and to what extent you are likely to use certain types of evidence as part of your research design. You will also continue to draft your introductory chapter.

Following the PAR steps, during this cycle you will:

1. Diagnose and discover the following:
1. What stakeholder groups is my dissertation topic likely to target?
2. What types of research create influence in which sectors?
3. Further investigation into data collection, literature, and analysis methods used in my topic area.
2. Act - You will continue your rough draft to the introduction to your dissertation, which will include:
1. Problem statement/Purpose
2. Research questions
3. Motivation for study
4. Context for questions
5. Summary first ideas for data collection and hoped-for outcomes
6. Importance of such findings
7. A roadmap through the different sections
3. Measure - With your mentor, you will discuss the data collection issues you face and how these data relate to the stakeholders you have identified. You will then continue this conversation in your critical friends' forums, adding your ideas for the benefit of your cohort.
4. Reflect - You and your mentor will discuss your progress and your challenges, and exchange ideas about how to overcome those challenges in the mentoring sections ahead in your journal entries. You may choose to keep your journal throughout each cycle or to write about your full experience toward the end of these eight weeks.

Refer to this cycle's progress chart in the DOCS area of the course.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Explored and discussed the stakeholder groups who are likely to take an interest in the focus and outcome of your dissertation.
• Interviewed key stakeholders, and determined their view on funding issues and concerns that impact this dissertation topic.
• Updated the contextual sections to include this new understanding and completed a rough draft of your dissertation introduction.
• Uploaded appropriate bibliographic references derived from these last two mentoring sections to the cohort's Wiki space.
• Completed a comprehensive journal entry, capturing both process and outcomes from the PAR cycle.

Points

Required Texts
EDU-M 711B texts are available from the JIU/MBS bookstore