Finish Your Dissertation, Don’t Let It Finish You!	3
	Copyright	4
	Contents	7
	Acknowledgments	11
	Introduction	15
	The Price of Your Study	18
	Passion	18
	Rigor	19
	Integrity	20
	Creativity	20
	Energy	21
	Pre-Study Prep	21
	Pre-Study To-Do Checklist	22
	Chapter 1: The Secret Handshake	29
	The Team That Will Make or Break You: The Committee	29
	Typical Dissertation Committee Structure	30
	The Chairperson	31
	General Committee Members	32
	“Emily Post” for Academic Research	33
	Top 10 Rules for Maintaining Emotional and Social Intelligence	33
	Honesty Really Is the Best Policy	36
	Checklist for Maintaining Integrity	36
	Chapter 2: Breaking Ground on Your Study	41
	The Intrinsically Satisfying Study Topic	41
	Breaking Ground Can Be Easier Than You Think	45
	The Quick and Dirty About Variables	46
	Dependent Variables	48
	Independent Variables	48
	Levels Within the Variables	48
	Variable Definitions	49
	This Is Exactly What I Want to Know: Ask Solid Research Questions	50
	Examples of Strong Research Question Stems	52
	Examples of Bad Research Questions	52
	Examples of Good Research Questions	53
	This Is What I Think About What I Want to Know: Confident Hypotheses	54
	Examples of Research Questions and Hypotheses	55
	Chapter 3: Anatomy of a Dissertation	57
	What Comes Before the Five Chapters	64
	What Follows the Five Chapters	65
	Additional Helpful Resources	65
	Chapter 4: Rolling Out the Red Carpet for Your Study: The Strong Introduction	67
	Introduction (What Is Going On Here?)	69
	Rationale (So What Makes This Topic Important?)	69
	Purpose of Study (Now What Is Going to Be Done About It?)	69
	Chapter 5: Literature Review Made Simple	73
	How to Do an Exemplary Lit Review	74
	Give the Author Proper Credit	76
	Juice Your Sources for the Information You Need	77
	Threats to Internal and External Validity	78
	Internal Validity	78
	External Validity	78
	Empirical Juicer	79
	Theoretical Juicer	81
	Additional Helpful Resou Rces	83
	Chapter 6: Data Scavenger Hunt: Methodology	85
	What Type of Interior (Research) Design Goes With Those Foundational Research Questions?	89
	Core Nuts and Bolts of Research Design	89
	The People Helping You Do It: The Participant Sample	91
	Study Props: Instruments and Materials	95
	Qualitative, Quantitative, or Mixed Methods?	95
	Construct Validity	104
	Go Get It: Study Procedure	107
	What Type of Detail Needs to Be in the Procedure?	108
	Additional Helpful Resources	110
	Chapter 7: The Institutional Review Board (IRB)	111
	The IRB Application Process	112
	The IRB Four: Voluntary, Anonymity, Confidentiality, and Transparency	113
	Solid Consent Forms	115
	IRB Survival Skills	116
	Chapter 8: Making Sense of the Data Collection Scavenger Hunt: Results	119
	Data Speak	120
	What Do I Do With These Numbers?	125
	What Do I Do With the Words?	127
	Tips for Conducting a Content Analysis	128
	Additional Helpful Resources	133
	Chapter 9: I Am Listening, Data: Discussion	135
	Introduction	136
	Interpretation of Findings for Research Questions and Hypotheses and Additional Analyses: What?	138
	Limitations	139
	Implications for Theory and Practice: So What?	140
	Future Research: Now What?	140
	Conclusion	141
	Chapter 10: Your Data’s Next Chapter After the Dissertation Write-Up and Graduation	143
	Pointers for a Smooth Oral Defense	144
	Postgraduation Words of Wisdom	146
	Your Dissertation Beyond Graduation (If and When You are Ready, of Course)	148
	Present at a Conference	148
	Publish Your Study in a Scholarly Journal	150
	Apply Your Study Data as Consultation Content	151
	Closing Thoughts	153
	Appendix A: Summary Chart of Statistics, What to Report, Abbreviations, and Suggested Syntax	155
	Appendix B: Anatomy of a Dissertation in Context	167
	Appendix C: Sample Dissertation Rubric	185
	Appendix D: The Juicers	191
	References	195
	About the Author	199
	Author Index	201
	Subject Index	203