Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

User-friendly, easy to dip into guide for all Built Environment students Takes the reader from the stage of choosing a topic to writing a well-structured dissertation Best case practice illustrated with numerous examples, case studies and references.

Dissertation Research and Writing for Construction Students covers topic selection, research planning, data collection and methodology, as well as structuring and writing the dissertation - in fact, everything needed for a successful write-up.

A new section advising students on the use of the SPSS software 'Statistical Package for Social Sciences' will help readers make the best use of this tool. New examples and references ensure that this new edition of the bestselling construction dissertation guide is right up to speed with current practice.

This is the ideal resource for students involved in research in Construction Management, Building and Quantity Surveying.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. xi)
• Acknowledgements (p. xiii)
• 1 Introduction (p. 1)
• Rationale for conducting a dissertation (p. 1)
• The meaning of research (p. 2)
• Purpose of the book (p. 2)
• Plan of the book (p. 3)
• Reference (p. 6)
• Part I Preparing the ground and reviewing the literature
• 2 Selecting a topic and writing the dissertation proposal (p. 9)
• Choosing the topic (p. 9)
• The dissertation proposal (p. 11)
• Summary (p. 16)
• References and additional reading (p. 16)
• 3 Reviewing the literature (p. 17)
• Rationale for undertaking a literature review (p. 17)
• Knowing the sources of information (p. 19)
• Understanding how the library works (p. 24)
• Note-taking (p. 26)
• Organising the literature review (p. 26)
• Writing up your literature review (p. 28)
• Summary (p. 34)
• References and additional reading (p. 35)
• Part II Research design and methodology
• 4 Approaches to data collection (p. 39)
• Research strategy (p. 39)
• Approaches to data collection (p. 44)
• Secondary data collection (p. 49)
• Summary (p. 51)
• References (p. 51)
• 5 Techniques for data collection (p. 52)
• Postal questionnaire (p. 52)
• Personal interview (p. 54)
• Sampling (p. 57)
• Summary (p. 60)
• References and additional reading (p. 61)
• 6 Questionnaire construction (p. 62)
• How to construct a questionnaire (p. 62)
• Types of questions (p. 65)
• A pilot study (p. 81)
• Covering letter (p. 82)
• Summary (p. 82)
• References (p. 83)
• Part III Analysis and presentation of the results
• 7 Measurements and probability (p. 87)
• Level of measurement (p. 87)
• Probability statement (p. 90)
• Summary (p. 92)
• 8 Analysis of the results (p. 93)
• Exploratory data analysis (open-ended questions) (p. 93)
• Coding open-ended questions (p. 94)
• Recording the information (p. 97)
• The descriptive statistics method (p. 98)
• The inferential statistics method (also known as bivariate statistical analysis) (p. 104)
• Data analysis using the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) software (p. 121)
• Summary (p. 125)
• References and additional reading (p. 126)
• 9 Structuring and writing the dissertation (p. 127)
• Typical dissertation structure (p. 127)
• Writing the abstract (p. 128)
• Writing the introduction chapter (p. 129)
• Writing the literature chapters (p. 130)
• Writing the chapter on questionnaire design and methodology (p. 136)
• Writing the chapter on analysis of the results (p. 142)
• Writing the conclusion chapter (p. 158)
• Writing the references/bibliography (p. 158)
• Summary (p. 163)
• References and additional reading (p. 164)
• 10 Dissertation supervision and assessment (p. 166)
• Getting started (p. 166)
• The role of the supervisor (p. 167)
• What is not the role of the supervisor? (p. 167)
• Planning your dissertation (p. 168)
• Dissertation supervision log (p. 168)
• Dissertation assessment: qualities in assessing at MSc level (p. 171)
• Summary (p. 174)
• References (p. 174)
• Appendix 1 (p. 175)
• Appendix 2 (p. 193)
• Appendix 3 (p. 199)
• Appendix 4 (p. 203)
• Appendix 5 (p. 204)
• Appendix 6 (p. 226)
• Appendix 7 (p. 238)
• Index (p. 241)