Dissertation Advice for Social Research
A Guidebook for Doctoral Students and Their Advisors
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Publishing:30th Sep '25
£39.99
This title is due to be published on 30th September, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
A guidebook for doctoral students and their advisors, this book provides a map to the many parts of a doctoral thesis – from the statement of the problem, preparation of the proposal, theory, methods, description, and interpretations of findings to the conclusions and implications for future research and practice.
Divided into six chapters that cover each step of the dissertation process, Dissertation Advice for Social Research outlines a program for research and writing with examples drawn from doctoral dissertations in sociology, social policy, history, and the humanities. Intended to spark students’ imaginations, each chapter contains examples of dissertations with tips on getting started, drafting and revising the manuscript, and checklists addressed to both students and advisors that spell out actions needed to make progress and to demonstrate a variety of analytic methods – ranging from qualitative interpretations and multivariate analysis of large data sets to historical accounts with examples of various modes of analysis, from grounded theory to qualitative comparisons and statistical tests of significance such as multiple regression.
This book is ideal for both doctoral students and their advisors, and will help students get started on their dissertations and to make progress throughout the writing process, regardless of analytic method.
“I wish I could have given this book to my doctoral students. It would have helped them, and me, considerably. And I wish this book were available when I wrote my dissertation. It would have improved my plodding great tome, made me more confident of what I was doing, and saved my dissertation committee’s time and energy. All mentors of social science doctoral students should give Giele’s Dissertation Advice for Social Research to their ABD students.”
—John E. Eck, Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati and author of Writing with Sweet Clarity (Routledge, 2022)
“This is an experientially grounded, strategically conceived, and immensely helpful step-by-step guidebook for doctoral students and their mentors navigating the challenging and uncertain seas of the academic dissertation. It is a long overdue book I would have welcomed enthusiastically 50 years ago when I initiated my dissertation and would recommend unreservedly to doctoral students today.”
—David A. Snow, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of California, Irvine
”Janet Zollinger Giele succeeds magnificently in her goal to ‘uncover the hidden rules of writing a dissertation.’ It is the sort of book I wish had been available when I was working on my own dissertation.”
—Glenn Firebaugh, Firebaugh, Pennsylvania State University, author of Seven Rules For Social Research (2008)
”This book on the dissertation process is a gem. It is full of systematic advice that takes the doctoral student to the finish line with enthusiasm for the process. Best of all—and what distinguishes this book from others—is the emphasis on theory. In my experience, graduate students often treat theory as something abstract and an obligatory and often confusing requirement. Here, Dr. Giele shows how theory can be a practical guide that is unique to the student's own research question and which then becomes a compass that guides the student through the entire dissertation process.”
—Martha Pott, Distinguished Senior Lecturer, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study & Human Development, Tufts University
ISBN: 9781041085850
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 400g
202 pages