COMMON ERRORS IN PROPOSALS AND DISSERTATION.pptx

COMMON ERRORS IN PROPOSALS
AND DISSERTATION
DR. EDE OSITA
MODERATOR: DR. OGBONNAYA I.S.
CHIEF CONSULTANT PLASTIC SURGEON

OUTLINE
Acknowledgements
Study conception
Literature search and review
Methodology

Results
Conclusions and recommendations
References
Before you submit
Dissertation defense

Acknowledgements
 Dr. U.N ENWEANI
Chairman faculty of orthopaedics
NPMCN. Chairman NOA.
 Dr. I.S OGBONNAYA
Chairman RET NOHE
 Dr. Eyichukwu G.O.
Head Arthroplasty Unit NOHE

 Dr. EZE C.B
Former MD, NOHE.
 Dr. A.U KATCHY
HOD, A&E,UNTH.
 Prof. IKEM I.C
Past Secretary Faculty of Orthopaedics
NPMCN

Conceptualization of study
Choosing a topic:
 Starting too late
 Choosing a topic that is Uninteresting /difficult/inadequate
literature
 Poor and tedious literature search

 Start early ( within 3-6 months)
 Have a number of possible topics
 Read widely around the topic
 Confirm the practical and statistical feasibility of the work

 choosing a supervisor
 Not a popularity contest
 Choose an experienced supervisor
 Choose a supervisor interested in your field of research
 Regular consult at each level of the work

Literature search and review
 Define your research question, frame it as a question
 Your lit. search should revolve around your specific objectives
 Goggle, goggle scholar, hinari, pmc, library, author
 Don’t forget local studies

 Use simple language
 Critique the article not just quoting authors
 Use more recent work

 In-text citations are superscripts, enclosed before a comma or after a
full stop.
 Reference full articles not only abstracts
 Check for grammatical errors ( Grammarly)

 Avoid plagiarism ( Duplichecker
)
 Do not start sentences with abbreviations or numbers

 Put a full stop after et al.
 Read your cited articles especially the landmark works,
local works and very old articles.

Methodology
Research design:
Experimental or Non-experimental design
Xteristics of experimental design- intervention, randomization,
control,
Non-experimental design (correlational studies)- cohort or case
control studies, surveys.

 Time series- cross-sectional or longitudinal.
 Attrition in longitudinal studies
Sampling technique
 Probability or non-probability method
 Non-probability- convenience and voluntary sample response

 Probability- simple random sampling, systematic , stratified , cluster
sampling
Sample size estimation
Which statistical test to use

 Comparing sample mean to a known population mean = one sample t- test
 Comparing 2 independent sample means = independent sample t-test
or mann-whitney u-test
 comparing 2 related measures = paired sample t-test
 comparing 2 sample proportions = chi-square or Fischer's exact test


comparing 3 ind. Sample means.= one-way ANOVA or kruskal-wallis
test
Associations between 2 continuous variables = Pearson or spearman
rank correlation
Predict a dependent variable from 1 or more independent variable(s)=
regression method.
.

 State your role in the study
Results
 Must answer your specific objectives
 Do not over-represent your results
 State the exact p-value

 Observe table and chart rules
 Know how to interpret the data

 The mean time to union in the plating group was 6.3 months while it was 5.8 months in the
nailing group (p = 0.023).
 There is no significant difference in the requirement of analgesia between the groups with
superficial burns and deep dermal burns, x2(1,234)=34.23 ,p = 0.583.

 There was moderate positive correlation between BMI and degree of varus
angulations of the knee ( r = 0.42, p = 0.001).
 Patients that did not receive tranexamic acid are more likely to bleed than
those that receive the drug(O.R= 3.9, 2.8-7.9, p=0.031).

SPINAL INJURY PRESSURE SORE TOTAL NO. OF PATIENTS
YES 30 40
NO 5 40
TOTAL 35 80
Pps(SI) = events occurring/total number = 30/40 = 0.75
Pps(NSI) = 5/40 = 0.125
Odds = events occurring/events not occurring
Ops(SI) = 30/10 = 3
Ops(NSI) = 5/35 = 0.143
O.R. = 3/0.143 = 20.98.
Odds = P/1-P.

 Tables-
 Legends are on top and should not exceed the width of the table
 Order rows and columns by size
 Round numbers off to allow a quick mental arithmetic calculation
 Leave a gap every 3 or 4 rows to make it readable

 Should stand alone and be interpretable
 Don’t cluster the data with gridlines
 Use a font I size smaller than the text font

Table 1. The aetiology of trauma among adolescents in Nigeria in 2009 (n =
208).
AETIOLOGY FREQUENCY PERCENT
RTA 149 71.63
ASSAULT 22 10.58
FALL 13 6.25
INDUSTRIALACCIDENT 12 5.77
DROWNING 8 3.85
SPORTS 4 1.92
TOTAL 208 100
AETIOLOGY FREQUENCY PERCENT
FALL 13 6.25
ASSAULT 22 10.58
RTA 149 71.63
INDUSTRIAL
ACCIDENT
12 5.77
DROWNING 8 3.85
SUICIDE 4 1.92
TOTAL 208 100
Table 1. The aetiology of trauma among adolescents in Nigeria in 2009 (n = 208)

 Charts-
 Legends are below chart
 Use different colours to contrast different groups
 Use the appropriate chart to illustrate your data
 Do not enclose your charts

 Remember to add the units of measurements in the axis labels
 Major tick marks should be outside
 Do not repeat what has been presented in tables and charts in the text
 Put a short explanatory prose to refer to your chart or table.

0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Diabetic Non-diabetic
Mean
Fasting
blood
glucose(mg/dl)

Discussion
 Must be based on the results
 Highlight the more important findings
 Ensure all your specific objectives are discussed
 Discuss your findings in the light of other works, highlighting
similarities and differences

 Proffer explanations when unexpected differences occur
 Avoid the temptation to discuss other related findings not
covered by your objectives and methodology

Conclusion and recommendations
 Must be based solely on your results and objectives
 Limit it to 2 or 3 points

References
 Vancouver for both colleges
 Six names before et al.
 Read your references
 Use a reference software (zotero, endnote, mendeley)

 Avoid the temptation of having too many references( 100 +)
 Ensure your references correspond to the in-text citations
 References must appear in the sequence they appear in the text
 References come before appendices

Before you submit
 Update your table of contents, abstract page and your new references in your discussion.
 Change your future tense of the proposal to past tense of the dissertation
 Ensure all your printed works correspond in the paginations
 Check for missed pages, duplicated pages ,wrong sequence of page numbering and
inverted pages.
 Don’t forget your ethical clearance certificate

Defense
 Practice before time
 Aim to summarize your work in 5 minutes
 Give your work to a colleague to go through
 Be confident but not arrogant in your defense

APPENDIX
 1. Jaykaran C, Tamoghna B. How to Calculate Sample Size for Different Study Designs in Medical
Research_.html. Indian J Psychol Med. 2013 Jun;35(2):121–6.
 2. Grammar check online – Grammarly
 3. Plagiarism software – Duplichecker
 4. Reference software – Zotero, Endnote, Mendeley
 5. Robert J. Sternberg. A guide to scientific writing for students and researchers: The psychologist’s
companion. Cambridge University Press 2003.

COMMON ERRORS IN PROPOSALS AND DISSERTATION.pptx

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