BUAD-799 Candidacy Exam
Purpose
The Candidacy Exam is about writing a research proposal describes the research ideas and the research question to be tackled in the doctoral dissertation. The research proposal must include an abstract of around 350 words, an introduction relating the research issue(s) to be tackled, the methods to be employed and the expected thesis’s contribution to the theoretical aspect of your field of specialization.
Abstract:
The Candidacy Exam document must contain an abstract which is a concise and brief description of the research question that you will be tackling in your doctoral research. Basically, the abstract of your document describes the research question under investigation, the location of the research in the literature and methods to be used to address the research question, and the likely outcomes and implications of your research. Your abstract should not include internal headings, citations listed in the reference section, diagrams, or other illustrations. The length of the abstract should be around 350 words.
Introduction:
The Candidacy Exam document introduction summarizes the research question that you will be addressing in your doctoral research. This should clearly define the research question(s), and unambiguously state the rationale and objectives of the research. The introduction should also provide a context to prepare the readers upfront on what are expected in the rest of the document including a breakdown of the contribution of the main sections of the candidacy exam document. In other words, the introduction should cover the following aspects of the research proposal: i) background that outlines a preliminary literature review of the research topic; ii) the purpose of the research and what does the study intend to do? iii) motivation by highlighting why does the study intend to do that? and iv) benefit by showing who or what or how will the study benefit?
Literature Review:
A comprehensive and exhaustive review of the relevant literature containing the weaknesses (deficiencies) of existing work related to the research question(s) to be addressed in your doctoral research. In fact, this section should do a thorough search of all the past studies conducted in line with the research question(s) to be tackled. The literature review should be written in a logical format using appropriate language. It includes, but not limited to, an account on how others have addressed this or similar problem(s) and which approaches were used. The literature review aims to survey all existing scientific contributions related to the research topic from which it is expected to identify a research gap. The research gap should be formulated as a research question.
The main steps in conducting a literature review should include the following: i) searching for relevant literature through keywords related to the research question, ii) evaluating and selecting the pertinent papers published in high quality peer reviewed journals, iii) Identifying themes, debates, and gaps, iv) outlining the structure of the review and v) writing a commented and comprehensive literature review. The papers to be included in the literature review have to be published in peer review journals with a high quality credentials such as: a) at least 1 of Thomson ISI (impact factor), b) ranked at least B in Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) journals list, or c) ranked at least 2 in Academic Journal Guide.
Methodology:
The research methodology is a tool or a set of tools and techniques that you will be utilizing to conduct your research. The candidacy exam document should describe which approach(s)/methodologies you are adapting in your doctoral research, why this research methodology is selected over others, how these research methodology is applied in your research. If the research requires data collection, then this section should include from where you will be collecting data, the data collection method, the statistical methods or tools to be used, and any limitations or difficulty that might be faced when collecting or testing the data.
Conclusion:
In this section, you are expected to summarize the research gap that you identified in the literature review and it helped you to formulate your research question. Also, you need to provide a brief discussion about the research methodology that you will be utilizing to tackle your research question.
References or Bibliography:
The Candidacy Exam document must include a bibliography or references section listing all works that are referred to in your text. The format to be used for listing sources in the bibliography/references section is APA.
Appendices:
Material that is pertinent but is very detailed (raw data, procedural explanations, etc.) may be placed in an appendix. Appendices should be designated A, B, C (not 1, 2, 3 or I, II, III). If there is only one appendix, call it simply Appendix, not Appendix A. Titles of appendices must be listed in the table of contents. Appendix pages must be numbered consecutively with the text of the Candidacy Exam document (do not number the pages A-1, A-2, etc.).
Tables and Figures
A table is a columnar arrangement of information, often numbers, organized to save space and convey relationships at a glance. A rule of thumb to use in deciding whether given materials are tables or figures is that tables can be typed, but figures must be drawn. A figure is a graphic illustration such as a chart, graph, diagram, map, or photograph.
Captions and Numbering:
Each table and each figure in the text must have a number and caption. Number them consecutively throughout, beginning with 1, or by chapter using a decimal system (e.g., 1.1, 1.2 . . .). A table caption is placed on top of the table but a figure caption must be placed on the bottom of the particular figure.
Placement of Tables and Figures:
It is better to place a table or figure immediately after the paragraph of its first mention on the same page if there is room, or on the following page. Tables or figures of peripheral importance to the text may be placed in an appendix. Tables and figures must be referred to in the text by number, not by a phrase such as “the following table.” In general, tables/figures should be formatted to fit on a single page unless absolutely unavoidable.
Oversized Materials
If you are having trouble fitting a table or a figure within the margins, even after relaxing each margin by .25 inch, you may want to use one of the following options:
Landscape Pages:
Place a table or figure sideways (landscape style) on the page
Counterclockwise:
From its normal position. Rotate the caption or heading also, so that all parts can be conveniently read together. The page number may be rotated with the figure as well.
Reduced Type Size:
Reduce the font size of the table or figure. The size should be no smaller than 9-point.