CHINHOYI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
GRADUATE BUSINESS SCHOOL
Presentation of
DISSERTATION GUIDELINES FOR MASTERS STUDENTS
January to June 2025
Introduction
• This is the GBS-CUT house-style:
– crystallizes our expectations.
– Need to go through the guidelines on your own
• Research by graduate students is expected to address
national, regional and international values
• Locate a problem:
– Research is not a luxury (provide a solution to our needs)
– Education 5.0 mandra
Possible source of information
a) Research module done in your last semester
– please revise the notes
b) The Research Process for Social Siences
• This book is available at the cost of production
Start by developing a concept note
• Concept note:
– Means to clarify your idea:
– What is it that you want to do about the need / problem
that you have abserved?
• Outline the following:
– The Problem
– Background to the study
– Research objectives
– Significance of the study
– How do you intend to solve the problem
(It is this document that you will convert into a Research Proposal)
Developing a Research Proposal
• When you have agreed with the supervisor that the idea is sound, develop and submit a
research proposal.
• The structure of the research proposal should include the following:
1. Topic (tentative)
2. Background to the study
3. Statement of the problem
4. Research objectives
5. Research questions
6. Research hypotheses or Research propositions
7. Significance of the study
8. Delimitations of the study
9. Brief outline of literature review
10. Research methodology
11. Organisation of the research report
12. Work plan
13. Budget
14. References
Background to the study
• This should provide the context in which the
study is being conducted eg what prompted
the study
– Move from general to particular.
– Do not just give the history of the organization or
industry unless it is the core of the research
problem.
• Avoid mere literature review.
Statement of the problem
• Make the problem clear
– Show in what way it is a problem and to whom.
– the problem should have a national outlook
• avoid studying a single organization
– it must be practical and solvable from the study at
hand
• The research problem should be in two parts;
– the practical problem observed
– the knowledge gap that the study seeks to close.
Example of a Statement of the problem
• Despite the sacred obligation of local authorities to observe the highest
standards of accountability and transparency in the management of public
funds under their purview, there is brazen lack of sound financial reporting
systems by local authorities and boards (Veritas, 2020). The volume of
financial irregularities at the Local Board continue to surge by each year,
with no proper reference to internationally recognised financial reporting
standards. The impact of the opaque financial management and reporting
systems, administered without the professional guidance of IFRSs has led
to a string of scandals at the Local Board, revolving around misuse of the
revenue collected, and costly leakages. The Local Board is prejudiced as
funds are personalized, essential projects get lesser funding and the rate
payers are robbed of development (Auditor General, 2022). No study has
been done to address this challenge. Against, this background, this study
intends to develop a model for globally benchmarked financial
management system, with a view to addressing the prevailing financial
leakages and porous governance mechanisms.
Research objectives/Research questions
• It is recommended to state the main objective
(aim) and then specific objectives of the study.
– Not more that 5 objectives are required.
– Corresponding research questions should be used
instead of, or in conjunction with, the research
objectives.
Example of Objectives
• To develop a model for best practices financial
reporting system at the Local Board (main)
• To reveal the prevailing extent of financial
leakages in the councils
• To determine the nature of governance pratices
in the local board
• To establish the challenges affecting the
financial reporting systems at the Local Board.
Research hypothesis (es) or Research propositions
Should only be stated if they are relevant to your study
should be tested statistically in the Results Chapter.
See an example of current trends in stating research hypotheses in the
book referred to above:
– H1: Perceived serviced quality has a positive effect on customer
satisfaction.
– H2: Customer satisfaction has a positive effect on customer loyalty.
– H3: The effect of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty is stronger
for female than male MSc students.
• Research hypotheses are used in quantitative research. For
qualitative research, use research propositions.
Others aspects of proposal
• Significance of the study
– how the findings of your study are important.
– the major stakeholders of the study and how they may benefit from the findings of the
study.
• Delimitation of the study
– The delimitation of the study should set the boundaries of the study in terms of
geography (where the study is conducted), time (period the study is conducted), target
population and field of study/theory and concepts involved.
• Outline of literature review
– Indicate strides have been made regarding the area of study and hence the knowledge
gap. The major theories underpinning the study should be outlined. The sources should
be current
Other aspects cont’d
• Research methodology
• Data collection procedures
• Data presentation and analysis methods
• Reliability and validity
• Ethical considerations
• Organisation of the Dissertation
• Work plan
• Research Budget
• References
WRITING THE DISSERTATION
• This is the responsibility of student under the
guidance of the supervisor
– The Progress report form should be completed
during the supervision period
– Approval form sould be signed before submission
• Length of dissertation
– A minimum of 25,000 words and a maximum of
40,000 words
Structure of the dissertation
• Cover page (See Appendices for the order)
• Preliminary pages
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Literature Review
• Chapter 3: Research Methodology
• Chapter 4: Results and discussion
• Chapter 5: Summary, Conclusions and Recomendations
• References (in alphabetical order)
• Appendices
Chapter 1: Introduction
• Normally the last chapter to be written.
– largely derived from the research proposal
• Includes:
– background to the study/background to the research
problem,
– statement of the problem/research problem,
– research objectives and research questions,
– research hypothesis(es)/research proposition/s,
– significance of the study,
– delimitations of the study,
– structure of the dissertation
– chapter summary.
Chapter 2: Literature review
• What has been published about the area of study
– should reveal both the theoretical framework and prior
empirical evidence and show the research gap.
– must adequately address the thematic areas as
informed by the research objectives and questions,
conceptual framework/hypothesis/proposition/s.
– Use recent scholarly sources/references.
– Do not write notes.
• Not lesss than 30 pages long
• SPLIT
Chapter 3: Research methodology
• How data were collected and analyzed.
• Diveded into:
– Research philosophy
– research paradigm,
– research design,
– target population,
– sample size and sampling method
– research instruments,
– data collection procedures
– reliability, validity/credibility of findings
– ethical considerations.
Research Philosophy
• What is the lens that the research used why?
• Two major extremes of research philosophies:
– Positivism (deals with quantitative research) and
– Interpretivism (deals with qualitative research).
– In between these extremes are variations such as
pragmatism.
Research paradigm
• Three research paradigms are:
– Quantitative (related to positivism),
– Qualitative (related to interpretivism) and
– Mixed methods (related to pragmatism).
Research design
• The choice must be justified.
• Major types of research designs include:
– Descriptive (e.g,case-study, survey)
– Experimental (e.g, field experiment, controlled
experiment, quasi-experiment)
– Correlational (e.g., case-control study,
observational study)
– Review (literature review, systematic review)
Chapter 4: Results and discussion
• In this chapter, data are presented, analysed,
and interpreted.
• Results, interpretation and discussion should
be guided by research
objectives/questions/hypotheses/proposition
instead of the structure of the research
instrument.
Chapter 5: Summary, Conclusions and
Recommendations
• Summary of research findings first
• Conclusions are derived from the findings based
on the research
objectives/hypotheses/proposition as outlined in
Chapter 1.
– Include the outcome model or framework and its
applicability or feasibility.
• Recommendations are based on theory, policy and
practice and limitations and future research.
– Recommendations are informed by conclusions.
Reference List
• All sources used in the dissertation ust appear
here
– nothing more and nothing less
– In-text citations should balance with the
references list
• The APA referencing system should be used.
