Your report must include the following sections with content as defined below: Introduction, Methods, Findings, and Discussion. A template based on these requirements is provided. Note that Level 1 headings in APA style are centered with bold font. You may add Level 2 headings as needed, which should be left-aligned with bold font.
Report Sections:
- Introduction: Begin your report with an introduction. Do not use a separate heading for this section; introduce your report directly under the title on the second page. In this section, you will provide an overview of the interview project and introduce the contents of the report. You should provide a thesis map for your paper to let the reader know what to expect. The guidelines for this section are intended as practice for writing the Introduction section of each chapter of your dissertation.
- Methods: Begin this section by identifying and describing the qualitative approach used for the project. While this project was limited in scope, interviewing participants for the purpose of understanding a human experience is typical for phenomenological studies. In this section, describe the methods you used to develop the interview protocol, conduct the interview, create the transcript, and analyze the data. In discussing your interview protocol development, you may wish to include the mapping table you prepared in Week 4. In discussing your analysis process, explain how you made decisions as you developed codes and categories in working with the data and how you identified the themes you will discuss in a later section. You must reference at least two scholarly sources that support your methodology. You may use the Merriam and Tisdell (2016) text and any of the journal articles or supplemental book chapters provided as resources in the course. Please do not use sources other than those provided in the course. This is a good opportunity to think about how you might write Chapter Three for a qualitative dissertation.
- Findings: In this section, you will share the findings from your analysis of the interview data. Begin with an introduction that describes the participant and the setting for the interview and that introduces the major themes identified from the data. Use a pseudonym for the participant and do not include details that may make it possible for the participant to be identified. For example, you might describe your participant as a female who is pursuing a Ph.D. in Leadership with a specialty in business and offer a couple of sentences to describe where she is in the program. You might describe the data collection setting as a virtual environment with a semi-structured interview conducted using Microsoft Teams with only the interviewer and participant present and note the length of the interview. Then, discuss each theme in detail and provide evidence in the form of direct participant quotes as part of your discussion. Be sure to use quotation marks or block quote formatting (depending on number of words quoted) any time you use a participant’s exact words and cite the line number from the transcript. Use the table of themes you previously created to help you organize and write this section, but do not include the table in your paper or otherwise use lists of quotes in this section. Remember that quotes can never stand on their own as complete sentences. Instead, you need to integrate participant quotes with your own words in discussing each theme. Review the Week 7 handouts for examples. You must discuss a minimum of four themes, and you may find it effective to include a Level 2 heading for each. You must use multiple participant quotes as evidence to support your discussion of each theme. Do not use sources in this section; the content should be limited to the findings as supported by participant quotes. This is a good opportunity to think about how you might write Chapter Four for a qualitative dissertation.
- Discussion: This section is an opportunity to articulate meaning from your findings. Here, you will discuss the findings within a context of existing research, including sources used in developing your interview questions. You were not asked to complete a literature review for this project, but you must reference at least five peer-reviewed sources in this section. Do not use websites or dissertations as neither are peer-reviewed. Do not use sources that were published more than five years ago. Use the articles linked below, revisit other sources used in developing your interview protocol, or look for recent peer-reviewed articles through the Cumberlands Library that are relevant to the themes you discussed in the Findings section. For example, if one of the interview themes was related to grit, you might reference a journal article presenting research on this topic in an educational context and describe how your findings were similar to or different from the published study’s findings. This is a good opportunity to think about how you might write Chapter Five for a qualitative dissertation.
Reminder: The use of content generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools is plagiarism and will result in a failing grade for this assignment. Please be sure that all text in your paper is your own original content except as quoted from your participant with quotation marks and line number citations and as credited to scholarly sources with correct citations and reference entries.
The list below provides sources you may use for the Discussion section; please do not use other sources.
- All You Need is Self-Determination: Investigation of PhD Students’ Motivation Profiles and Their Impact on the Doctoral Completion Process (De Clercq et al., 2021)
- A Phenomenological Exploration of the Student Experience of Online PhD Studies (Lee, 2020)
- A Sentiment Analysis of the PhD Experience Evidenced on Twitter (Guha & Pande, 2021)
- Contributing Factors for Success of Nontraditional Students at Online Doctoral Programs (Kebritchi et al., 2023)
- Education Doctoral Students’ Self-Study of Their Identity Development: A Thematic Review (Xu & Hjalmarson, 2022)
- Factors Contributing to Imposter Phenomenon in Doctoral Students: A US-Based Qualitative Study (Bano & O’Shea, 2023)
- Factors Leading Educators to Pursue a Doctorate Degree to Meet Professional Development Needs (Burton, 2020)
- Fostering Motivation When Virtually Mentoring Online Doctoral Students (Jameson & Torres, 2019)
- From Imposter Syndrome to Heroic Tales: Doctoral Students’ Backgrounds, Study Aims, and Experiences (Nori, 2020)
- Growing Grit to Produce Doctoral Persistence (Hudson et al., 2020)
- Identifying Significant Personal and Program Factors that Predict Online EdD Students’ Program Integration (Rockinson-Szapkiw et al., 2019)
- Internal Motivation among Doctoral Students: Contributions from the Student and from the Student’s Environment (Lynch et al., 2018)
- Not just a phase: Exploring the Role of Program Stage on Well-Being and Motivation in Doctoral Students (Sverdlik & Hall, 2021)
- PhD Imposter Syndrome: Exploring Antecedents, Consequences, and Implications for Doctoral Well-Being (Sverdlik et al., 2020)
- The Influence of Family on Doctoral Student Success (Breitenbach et al., 2019)
- Virtual Faculty Strategies for Supporting Motivation of Online Doctoral Students (Jameson e
