STAGE 4

Assessment point

By this stage, you should (a) have chosen the main journal article that will be the focus of (or platform for) your replication-based dissertation, (b) have good justifications for adopting not only your chosen route (i.e., Route A: Duplication, Route B: Generalisation or Route C: Extension), but also the specific approach within this route (e.g., a population-based generalisation within Route B: Generalisation), and (c) know the research questions and/or hypotheses that you plan to address. Whilst you will have some idea of a possible research strategy for your dissertation, it is unlikely that you will know exactly what strategy you will adopt at this stage. What knowledge you do have will likely have come from understanding the research strategy that was adopted in the main journal article, especially if you are taking on Route A: Duplication or Route B: Generalisation. However, this is a good time to speak to your supervisor - who at the undergraduate and master's level, may also be your tutor - about your proposed dissertation. If you have to write a dissertation proposal, the outcome of this meeting could form the basis of that proposal, but the meeting is equally important where this is not the case, simply because you need to know that you are on the right track. If your supervisor completely objects to (a) your chosen journal article or (b) the route that you want to take, this is the time to find out before you spend time (i) delving into the literature, (ii) working out the details of your research strategy, and (iii) concerning yourself with some of the potential challenges ahead, such as gaining access to data sources, or whether your proposed research strategy will pass the Ethics Committee (if this is even a requirement). To know what to take into this meeting (i.e., what to prepare), and what you want to get out of it, think about some of the following: