DISSERTATION HACK: THE SECRETS OF DISTINCTION

THE SECRETS OF
THE SECRETS OF
THE SECRETS OF
DISTINCTION
DISTINCTION
DISTINCTION

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DISSERTATION HACK: THE SECRETS OF

DISTINCTION
© 2022 SANI EMMANUEL NUMA
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Hack #6: You Did It 68
Foreword 04
Before You Start 07
Hack #1: The Introductory Chapter 24
Hack #2: The Literature Review Chapter 37
Hack #3: The Research Methodology 43
Epilogue 70
Hack #5: You are Almost There 64
Hack #4: Analysis & Interpretation 57
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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FOREWORD
I CAN GUARANTEE THAT YOUR RESEARCH METHOD MODULE
LEADER, YOUR RESEARCH SUPERVISOR AND EVERYONE
CONNECTED WITH YOUR RESEARCH PROJECT WOULD NEVER
SHARE THESE SECRETS WITH YOU - Sani Emmanuel Numa
It is almost impossible to complete your Bachelor's degree,
Master's degree or Doctorate without having to work on a
dissertation or thesis. Whether it is an 8,500 words Capstone
Project as in the case with schools such as Cardiff Metropolitan
University or a 12,000 words thesis in the case of the University
of Bradford or 50,000 words plus dissertation expected of
students in the University of Leicester, there are general
principles, approaches and hacks which the supervisors and
tutors will not share.
Yes, a research project is demanding, time-consuming and a
complex set of activities but that's the way they have made it
seem. Surprisingly, research is the opposite of what they
project; it is an interesting, exciting and positively stimulating
activity which should give you a sense of fulfilment.

Let me ask you a question, can everyone dance? The answer is
yes! So long as you can understand the principle behind
dancing, you can get it done. In like manner, understanding the
secrets of dissertation writing will help you achieve a stress-
free distinction at the end of the day.
Since 2012, I have provided research support to international
students studying in reputable universities in the United
Kingdom and the United States of America. My clients come
from schools such as Anglia Ruskin University, University of
Chichester, University of Bolton, University of Leicester,
Roehampton University, University of Northampton, Ardeen
University, Middlesex University, Cardiff Metropolitan University,
Sheffield Hallam University, Royal Roads University (Canada),
the University of Sunderland in London, University of Warwick,
Loughborough University London, UNICAF, University of
Gloucestershire, University of West England, University College
London, Mont Rose College, Birmingham City University,
Westford University College, The King's University and others.
Within Africa, I have also worked for students from Babcock
University, Covenant University, Nile University, Ahmadu Bello
University, University of Ibadan, University of Abuja, University

of Ibadan, University of Abuja, University of Lagos, University of
Benin and more. Overall, I can boldly say that I understand the
secrets of distinction-grade dissertation writing as I have
mentored, assisted and supported more than 30+ to achieve
distinction in their postgraduate project.
I am not asking you to quit attending courses on Research
methods, nor am I asking you to be arrogant in challenging the
status-quo or norms regarding research work in your school.
What I intend is to provide you with useful hacks that you can
use to quickly wrap up your research project, cut down
supervisor back-and-forth by almost 99% and avoid issues such
as cancellation of research work when you have already gone
far into it. If you plan to handle your research project by copy
and paste (plagiarism), then this book is not for you but if you
intend to deliver something qualitative, it's time to hit the
ground running and trust me, the final grade of a distinction
will be worth it. This book is not only recommended for full-
time students but also for executives and other groups who
have to combine academic work with family, career and work-
related activities. I present to you a research companion to walk
you through the journey of research.

BEFORE YOU START
WHAT ARE YOU ABOUT TO DO
Most students usually get panic attacks when it's time for their
thesis or dissertation. Perhaps, they have heard that it's time to
come up with a topic and they would have reflected on previous
experiences or stories about research projects. Such panic,
anxiety and self-pressure can only lead to mistakes. You should
be excited about the opportunity of embarking on a research
project because it is one avenue where you contribute to
knowledge development and also help to solve real-world
problems. It should also excite you that the project when
completed, can boost your grades. Of course, we all want to
graduate with good grades.
What you are about to do is a Research Project, think about it,
"RE" and "SEARCH". This means that you are working through
available evidence, and scholarly or unharnessed data to either
understand a problem, solve a problem or advance a solution.
Beyond all the big definitions and concepts, this is simply what
research is all about.

Your project must be intended to solve a problem, support
a cause, proffer a solution or close a gap in research. So if
there is no problem to be solved, then why research it?
Research projects require a base. Since it's all about a
search, at least to an extent, then there should be two
components, a literature base and then a data source base.
The literature helps to understand the different sides to the
problem while the data source helps to address the
questions of the research. Some students make the mistake
of carelessly choosing a topic without considering if there
is supporting literature on one hand and if there is a
source to collect data on the other hand. Note that research
work is not wishful thinking, it's not about your feelings or
desire to show the world that you know it all, it's a
scientific process which requires a strategic approach.
The above explanation means that;
1.
2.
The overall success or failure of the research project is a
function of your understanding of what you need to do.

ARM YOURSELF WITH INFORMATION
The guideline of the school: you need to know what the
school expects of the dissertation, the word count, the
specified structure, the nature of data to be collected and
other relevant information.
The timeline for the work: the guideline and the timeline
for the completion of the dissertation are also fundamental
to note. This will enable you to plan your activities and also
manage all research schedules appropriately. The same will
determine the nature of the topic you will work with at the
end of the day.
Peruse previous samples: some schools will provide you
with samples of previous works. You need to study them,
understand what was done, how it was done and the
general presentation. You don't need to follow the samples
verbatim but you can pick one or two lessons from them
and never fall into the trap of plagiarism
If research work is a scientific process, there must be a
guideline because scientific processes are not haphazard. Before
you start, you need to arm yourself with vital information. Such
information also includes;

THIS IS THE GENERAL EXPECTATIONS
Originality: the work provided should be devoid of
plagiarism of any form. This means, you cannot go online
and copy information as you may deem fit without (i)
paraphrasing it as appropriate and (ii) citing/referencing it.
Note, paraphrasing does not give you the right of an
author, it only shows creativity and understanding on your
part.
Critical writing: it is expected that you don't write as a
dummy but as an expert and for objectivity, it is expected
that you critique and balance all your argument. So it is
not enough to write, “Sani (2022) said COVID-19 is a
pandemic and Josh (2022) note that COVID-19 is a sham”
but something like this, "Sani (2022) contends that COVID-
19 is a pandemic. However, Josh (2022) contend that
COVID-19 is not a pandemic as argued by Sani (2022) but a
sham". Permit me to burst your bubbles, no software
Whether it is written or not, there are some unsaid
expectations of the research project which you should have at
the back of your mind as you prepare to work on the research
project.

Supervisor management: it's expected that you have a
way of dealing with your supervisor. Most people prefer to
bombard their supervisors with messages and others tend
to take everything their supervisor says, hook-line-and-
sinker. There is no blanket approach, however, it's best to
pace your communication with your supervisor to avoid
coming across as disturbing, besides, as a postgraduate
research student, you are supposed to be a master of the
game of research. I usually recommend four levels of
engagement; the first should be at the point of selecting
the topic and getting it approved, the second should be
when your first set of chapters including methodology and
instrument is ready, and the third is when the data
analysis part of the work is completed and the last
engagement should be when the final draft is prepared.
Anything outside of this is tantamount to biting more than
you can chew.
can do critical writing for you (at least, not to my knowledge),
so it means you have to be set to own whatever you write.
There are some things you need to note about your
supervisor;

Some supervisors are a novice in some areas of research
and also do not have competencies in research methods or
some form of data analysis. Hence, try to understand when
their comment seems to compel you to follow a particular
pattern, it shows their weakness.
Some supervisors may not have comments to make
because the work is good. This would typically show when
the supervisor starts correcting words, expressions etc. to
simply show some form of activity, don't get disturbed
about it, he/she may just be acting petty to come across as
working.
Some supervisors are argumentative or inclined to debate.
What they require most times is not changing what you are
doing but rather explaining, justifying or validating your
position. Most students start changing their work and all
that, no! Some feedback requires you to reply to the
comment and not necessarily work on your draft. If you
tend to take their feedback hook-line and sinker, they tend
to see you as someone who is not grounded and cannot
justify what you are doing.
1.
2.
3.

Research assistance: whether said or not, you must
understand that you cannot handle the research work
alone. Though, this is dependent on the nature of the
research. For example, you need assistance with review of
the work, data collection, data entry and all of that. These
3. Some supervisors are latecomers. They would not comment
on your work or even comment on it from the beginning of the
work to the end. Then on the day of submission, boom! They
deal a fatal blow by giving feedback that will alter a significant
part of the work. If this happens, just understand that the late-
comer supervisor is acting up and sadly, you have to work to
beat time.
4. There is also an ambiguous supervisor who will never give
clear comments on the work. They leave the document aside
and give a bunch of feedback, leaving the student confused as
to how to address the feedback. Sometimes, such feedback is
generic feedback that the supervisor sends to all students and
you do not need to bother. At other times, such feedback may
just be a way of playing to the gallery. In most cases, all you
need to do is to add a couple of words or sentences to fulfil all
righteousness.

Packaging and Presentation: truth is, packaging and
presentation matter. It could only become an issue when
the quality of the work does not align with the quality
packaging and presentation. In academic research,
packaging and presentation refer to proper formatting of
the work, appropriate line spacing, indentation and
pagination. Some schools will award marks for using
figures, diagrams, pictures, pictorial representations and
the use of tables. Others will appreciate an extensive list of
appendixes to the work. While these aspects may not be
necessary, you need to recognise if it is the norm in your
school and if it is, align with it.
Ensure Appropriate Connections: connecting between
paragraphs and sections should be seamless. To do this,
before you begin a new paragraph, make sure the former
paragraph says something about the incoming paragraph.
I.e., the last sentence of a paragraph can read,
constitute part of your back-end plan to address the research
work. Well, I and my team at Oliveserah Business and Academic
Concepts have a decade of experience in providing research
assistance (WhatsApp: +234-706-818-0074)

"While remote work performance is being affected by the
quality of internet support for staff, the capacity of the
employee is also described as a major factor influencing
employee performance”. With this, the next paragraph can start
like this, "Remote workplaces a demand on the skills,
experience and expertise of employee as earlier indicated and
without the right capacity, staff may not function effectively
while working remotely". Similarly, you need to explore some
transition approaches or more creative styles when moving
from one section to another.
CHOOSING THE RESEARCH TOPIC
Armed with the information provided so far, you can now go
ahead to choose a research topic. Research topics can either be
quantitative i.e. if the aim is to assess, analyze or evaluate the
impact of one variable on another. On the other hand, research
topics can be qualitative where the aim is to understand,
examine or review something. It is good to think about whether
the study will be quantitative or qualitative since this will
determine the methodology you will have to use for data
collection.

Conduct a search to ensure that you can find at least 20
credible and recent journals on the subject you want to
study.
Think about the context of the research and consider if
there is a feasible way of collecting secondary, primary or
mixed data for the research.
Be sure it's a topic you can comfortably speak about
without having to do extensive reading.
There are two key variables which refer to an independent
body of knowledge that is well researched "Remote work
practices" and "Employee productivity"
Because they are independent, it means you can run a
In choosing a topic, please note the following;
1.
2.
3.
For this discourse, we shall be using a hypothetical topic:
The Impact of Remote Work Practices on Employee
Productivity in Oliveserah Business and Academic Concepts
Note the following from the topic;

The topic also has a context “Oliveserah Business and
Academic Concepts”. This means that you can use an
organisational context, a local area context or a group
context. A context must be specific because having for
instance “The Impact of Remote Work Practices on
Employee Productivity in the UK” is too broad since you
cannot claim to have the capacity to research the whole of
the UK.
The topic can also be expressed in other ways. It's
important to note this so that you don't get confused when
you come across certain creative expressions of a research
project. For instance; -Remote work and Employee
Productivity in Oliveserah Business and Academic Concepts;
Does Remote work practices enhance employee
productivity? Insight from Oliveserah Business and
Academic Concepts; Remote work practices in Oliveserah
search for remote work practices and find sufficient
information for your research, same with Employee
productivity. If you choose two variables where one of them
does not have sufficient literature, you run the risk of having
one-sided research which is a minus.

Business and Academic Concepts and its impact on employee
productivity; Remote work and the Question of Employee
Productivity in Oliveserah Business and Academic Concepts.
After expressing the topic and ensuring that it resonates with
the guidelines of the school and any indicated area of interest,
the next step is to share the topic with your supervisor for
some go-ahead. It is important to get the supervisors' approval
since they would be the ones supervising the research work and
the initial engagement will also enable you to align with the
preference of the supervisor. Ideally, it's good to share three
topics with your supervisor for review and approval. Once
approved, you are on your way to achieving excellence.
GETTING AROUND GOOGLE SEARCH
For your research work, a complex database may not be so
essential if you understand that the resources you select are
credible journals or at best, dissertations which are of high
academic quality.
There are journals such as Sage Journals, Google Scholar and
others which you can use.

+Dissertation PDF] Remote Work >2015: Search are
iteration, indicating that you may need to repeat over and
over again after changing the keywords and terms until
you achieve a final report. Let's assume you are gathering
materials relating to the independent variable (remote work
is the independent variable here which means, it is the
variable that is assumed to influence another variable
which in this case is employee productivity"). Using the
+Dissertation or +Journal ask Google to include a previous
thesis or journal in the search report. Also, specifying PDF]
is asking Google to show documents in the report (notes,
documents are of high academic quality compared to
articles, stories and other non-academic text which may
show up in the search result.
Business and Academic Concepts and its impact on employee
productivity; Remote work and the Question of Employee
Productivity in Oliveserah Business and Academic Concepts.
However, what I'd just touch on in this edition is using
google.com and this can be expressed in the search query as
follows;

Using >2015 compels Google to only show only papers that
were published after 2015 in the search result as shown below.
+Dissertation PDF] Remote Work AND Employee
Productivity >2015: while the initial search is done
independently per variable of the study, this second
approach just merges both dependent and independent
variables. It is the approach of using "one stone to kill two
birds" but may not be effective if previous research has not
been done to link both variables. Running the search on
Google.com will result in the snapshotted result.

Prepare to extract: for every academic material, you are
looking for quotes, expressions, facts, evidence and any
useful information which will be useful to your research
work. To get this done, you need to spend quite some time
on each material identified from the search.
Shopping for information: As you may observe in the
snapshot below, scanning through one of the identified
EXTRACTING DATA FROM LITERATURE

literature from the search on google.com, there are some useful
facts, assertions, and arguments which we can now highlight
as useful for the work. Rather than highlighting it, you can just
copy this and paste it into the section where you intend to
utilise the evidence.
Collect the reference: In the work above, you have access
to the main author of the work which is Kiburz (2016) and
other “bonus” references that are recent i.e. Gajendran et al
(2014) and Mekonnen (2013). Since you are adopting a
similar reference, you need to go to the reference section of
the work, extract and start building your reference list.

Continue: You need to do this repeatedly for more than one
material and keep checking the total number of text you
have collected. Ideally, if you are collecting data to make up
a chapter where you anticipate writing 3,000 words, I
recommend you collect evidence up to 2,500 words or
more. If you can collect more than 3,000 it's even better
because when it's time to write, you may need to work on
the total text you have collected in your own words, taking
away unnecessary perspectives and relating their
arguments more to your work.
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for sponsorships, research collaboration,

assistance and more

Do an outline of the chapter based on the guideline and
create a space. I like to work on Google Docs since it's more
secure as opposed to working on a document on a system
that might just crash at any point. This is shown below is
important.
HACK #1
WRITING THE INTRODUCTORY
OR BACKGROUND CHAPTER
BEFORE YOU WRITE
You need to understand what is required for each section
in the chapter. If you do not know what the subsections of
the chapter represent or what information you will include,
then read through this section of the book

first before approaching the first chapter of your research work.
You should have three documents open to break through
this first chapter. The first is the Chapter 1 document
which has the outline of the section, the second is the
reference document where the reference for extracted
evidence is immediately provided and the third is the
document identified through a search on www.google.com.
It is strongly recommended that before you start writing,
make sure every piece of evidence you require from other
authors has been collected. Once that is done, you will end
up with the raw draft of chapter one which will be the final
document you will work with at the end of the day.
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
General statuesque and one key variable: Here, you want
to provide some interesting argument, statistics and
insight which should captivate the reader. You can start
with issues, facts or debates relating to any of the key
variables of the research and this should give birth to,
The background of the study should include three components
which can be addressed in three or more paragraphs;

The Situation with the second variable and why it's
worth investigation (usually best when the second
variable is the dependent variable): You may want to start
another paragraph that focuses on the second variable and
show its importance including some vital reasons why you
want to focus on it. A good start for the paragraph can be
as follows, "As remote work conversations continue to
or connect to another paragraph which should focus on the
next variable. You may also want to provide some clear
meaning at this point as a foundation for the work. A good
example, given our working topic, is, Since the outbreak of the
coronavirus pandemic, a growing number of organisations have
embraced remote work as a way of sustaining the operations of
the organisation. According to Sani (2022), more than 11
million people are working remotely online and the arguments
of Ariane (2021) showed that more than 50 million employees
will be working remotely by 2030. Remote work which is the
focus of this research is generally understood as a system
wherein employees carry out their job responsibilities without
having to be in the physical office space (Trump, 2019)".

Concluding with a rationale: having reviewed all issues,
perspectives, evidence and information, you need to end
with a powerful paragraph that sets the tone for the
research. Something like this, “In response to the ongoing
debate regarding the extent to which remote work practices
impact organisational variables and considering the search
for an effective approach to boosting staff performance,
occur in the corporate world, there are concerns over the issue
of employee productivity. John (2019) asserted that employee
productivity is the capacity of employees to deliver on the goals
of the organisation. This is contingent on several factors, some
of which Thomas (2022) identified to include quality of
supervision, availability of work tools, employee motivation and
other associated factors which may be difficult to manage in a
remote work context. Suffice to note that every organisation
yearns for improved staff productivity since it makes the
difference in the performance, competitiveness and efficiency of
the organisation_______________". This might be
developed to cover two or more paragraphs with a structured
argument which gets the reader engaged and willing to read
further. Mode of Delivery: WhatsApp/Email

the goal of this research is to assess the impact of remote work
practices on employee productivity in the research and business
consulting sector. This will be achieved by studying the
phenomenon within the context of Oliveserah Business and
Academic Concepts”.
To succeed in this section, you need to collect as much evidence
and organise them properly into paragraphs. Aim to provide the
reader with useful information in this section and ensure that
they end up appreciating the value of the study you are
carrying out.
RESEARCH CONTEXT
An overview of the industry, the size, competition, trends
etc.
An overview of the company, the year of starting, the staff
Every research has a context, think of it as the aspect, the
industry, the organisation or the country you are focusing on.
At this point, you need to clarify the context of the study.
In the case of an organisational case study i.e. Oliveserah
Business and Academic Concepts, you may need to collect
evidence and provide a review of;

An issue that the company or others are facing that you
seek to address through the research. In other words, what
is the current state of the company and the industry which
your research will address?
strength, etc.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Issues with current adoption, performance or operations
which if not addressed could negatively affect
organisational outcomes i.e. remote work practices may not
have been effective in boosting staff productivity outcomes
in the organisation.
The current challenge that the organisation is facing and
the consequence i.e. there are productivity problems among
staff which is costing the organisation millions of dollars in
losses and the organisation has not been able to find an
While some schools require a single sentence to show the
problem i.e. Business School Netherland (BSN), some others
require an extensive section which clarifies the problem.
Here, you can have a paragraph dedicated to advancing the
following problems;

There are gaps with existing research which need to be
filled i.e. previous researchers have not studied the impact
of remote work on employee productivity in the business
and academic research consulting wherein Oliveserah
Business and Academic Concepts operates. To prove this,
you need evidence that shows research on remote work and
other organisational variables i.e. staff commitment,
organisation efficiency etc. but not employee productivity.
effective work model to boost performance outcomes.
RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The aim of the research is a re-expression or re-cast of the
topic you are working on. It is the expected goal of the research
and this can be expressed in an action word (action word here
implies using words such as investigate, study, observe,
examine, etc.).
In the case of this topic, the aim is to analyse the impact of
remote work practices on employee productivity in
Oliveserah Business and Academic Concepts.

The objectives are specific goals which need to be addressed in
other for the main research goal to be achieved. Some
researchers make the mistake of just writing anything to fill
the space but trust me, whether you fail or not is a function of
the research objectives.
WARNING: Every aspect of your research work, the literature
review, methodology, data analysis and findings will be judged
by your research objectives. If you don't get it right, then the
quality of anything that follows will not matter, trust me.
To craft an objective, you need to be strategic and think about
the data you want to collect and how the objective will be
achieved. Ideally, a three to four list of research objectives will
suffice.
In the case of the working topic of this research, the objectives
selected and the thought rationale is shown in the table on the
next page.

RESEARCH QUESTION
To write this section, you need to re-express the research
objectives as a question. This means that you are setting out to
provide answers to the research question which directly leads to
the achievement of the research objectives. As such, research
objective 1 becomes, “What are the remote work practices of
Oliveserah BAC?”. You may want to make use of words such as
What, How, Why etc. in expressing the questions of the
research.

HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY
As a scientific process, research would typically end in two
outcomes, true or false. Hence, the hypothesis is an expression
of the likely outcomes of the research. When these likely
outcomes are specified, you can continue with the research
process to objectively determine which of the outcome should
be accepted.
This is the logic behind the null hypothesis (false) and
alternative hypothesis (true);
Ho (Null Hypothesis): Remote Work Practices do not have any
significant impact on Employee Productivity in Oliveserah
Business and Academic Concepts
H1 (Alternative Hypothesis): Remote Work Practices have any
significant impact on Employee Productivity in Oliveserah
Business and Academic Concepts
With a specified hypothesis, you can determine whether the
conclusion of the study is valid at the end of the study.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
You as a student and a career professional.
The organisation was chosen as the case study
To the industry wherein the case study organisation
operate
To academia, other researchers may value the research
report.
The gaps observed in existing research.
The potential to address industry challenges through the
research
The anticipated outcome of completing the research.
In this section, you need to speak about the value, currency and
importance of the research. Some of the pointers to develop
into paragraph includes the benefit of the research;
This could serve as a good justification for the research.
However, where there are specific requests for a “Justification
of the Study” in the research, you need to have more evidence.
The discourse can focus on;

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
Subject scope i.e. what variables or subjects will the
research focus on, and also which associated subject you
do not focus on?
Time scope i.e. what period will your study focus on, and
why? Also, what period will you not focus on?
Geographical scope i.e. you need to outline the organisation
you are focusing on, the area of the study and the country
context, including a note of what you would not cover.
Methodological scope i.e. what type of methodology do you
intend to use and what methodology would you not use?
Don't ever make the mistake of assuming that you can cover
every aspect of a subject matter, concept or theme in research.
Hence, you need to draw a line by stating what you will do,
what you will cover and what you cannot do. In essence, you
should have a paragraph or sentence which covers the
following;

STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH WORK
This aspect of the research writing provides you with an
opportunity to present an overview of the research chapters and
segments. You need to consider whether it's five chapters, six
or seven chapters of research work. Once confirmed, dedicate
each paragraph to explaining what information will be
presented in the chapter of the research work.
(+234)-706-818-0074

assistance and more

You may need to revisit the earlier discussion on literature
review and literature search on www.google.com because
you will need a lot of that in this aspect of your research
work.
You need to structure the literature review to align with the
objectives of the research as you have already specified in
the introductory chapter. Most students think that
literature review is wishful writing but it is not, you need
to be guided by the objective and focus on bringing out
constructs which will be used for the research.
A construct is described as any variable, theme or idea
which can be used to measure another variable in
quantitative research. In qualitative research, it could mean
keywords or themes that aid understanding of a subject.
HACK #2
STARTING AND WRAPPING UP THE
LITERATURE REVIEW CHAPTER
BEFORE YOU WRITE

You need to start the review chapter with an introduction
where you discuss what the chapter will discuss and how
important it is to the research work.
WRITING CONCEPTUAL REVIEW
The essence of the conceptual review is to clarify the concept
used in the research. They include the independent and
dependent variables as in quantitative research or the keywords
in qualitative research.
You may want to dedicate a section to discussing the definition
of different authors on the variables of the study i.e. definition
of remote work and make sure you criticise the definition. You
might want to have a section devoted to conceptual
clarification as follows;
2.1 Conceptual Clarification
2.1.1 Concept of Remote Work
2.1.2 Concept of Employee Productivity

GO BEYOND THE CLARIFICATION
Reflecting on the topic i.e. remote work has different sides to it.
Such includes factors influencing remote work, characteristics
of remote work and very importantly remote work practices
which are part of the research objectives. So you may want to
have sections that cover these different areas. You'd also need
to have similar sections for the other variable to have a
balance.
Note: brainstorming is important to have a quality literature
review chapter. After reading this book, you need to do a mind
map of the section and structure of the review chapter before
you start collecting materials and eventually writing.
EMPIRICAL LITERATURE REVIEW
The review chapter will come across as academically strong
when you include an empirical literature review. Here, you need
to discuss the findings of previous research and the gaps or
flaws in existing research which will help you identify gaps and
also provide a basis for juxtaposing the findings of the
research.

You may have separate paragraphs which highlight the name
of the author, the focus of their study, the methodology used,
the type of analysis, the findings and the gaps in the research.
Some students may want to present this in a table where
separate columns are created to address the different
information required.
The empirical review could end with a paragraph that
summarises the overall findings and makes a case for the
contribution of your research to advancing the argument of the
research.
Rather than having this as a stand-alone section, some schools
or supervisors would prefer that you rather incorporate such an
argument while discussing the different variables in the review.
For instance, rather than having a stand-alone empirical review
where the author's research showed that "virtual reporting is a
significant aspect of remote work", you may just discuss this
evidence under the features of remote work in a structured
section of the research work.

The theoretical framework is a section in the literature review
that attempts to review theories which could assist to explain
the different variables of the topic. For the key variables of the
research topic, there is a theory which should be analysed.
In reviewing relevant theory, you need to trace the origin of the
theory, the assumption of the theory, the strength of the
theory, how it relates to your research and then what are the
criticisms of the theory.
If your research involves two key variables, you need to review
at least two theories, one for each of the variables of the study.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
RESEARCH MODEL/CONCEPTUAL MODEL
This is the section where you will attempt to demonstrate the
impact of remote work practices on employee productivity in
Oliveserah Business and Academic Concepts.
Using the topic we are working with, we would have identified
some useful constructs from the literature. I.e. in terms of

of remote work practices, we may have identified constructs
such as virtual meetings, virtual reporting, virtual supervision
etc. Also, the literature would have clarified the construct of
employee productivity to include job satisfaction, staff
creativity, etc
When represented diagrammatically, you have the framework
below. You can now appreciate that we will be analysing the
variables of remote work and employee productivity to arrive at
meaningful outcomes.

You need to read about the Research Onions Model of Saunders
et al (2016) as shown below.
HACK #3
BLASTING THE RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY CHAPTER
BEFORE YOU WRITE
Although schools have different outlines and expectations for
methodology, the Onions model provides you with a basis for
designing a methodology. In essence, you have to first decide
on philosophy, conclude on approach etc. until you get to the
centre of the onion layers where you decide on the techniques
and procedures.

The introduction in the research methodology chapter is aimed
at providing some baseline meaning of methodology, why it is
essential to your research, how it connects with the objectives
and then what are the sections and information to be provided.
NOTE: In writing the methodology chapter, you need to collect a
new set of citations and references, and for every choice you
make, you need to justify why you explored that choice,
acknowledge its strength and then reference its weakness. It
would be a plus when you discuss how you plan to mitigate the
weakness.
DO AN INTRODUCTION
Positivism: using the scientific process to collect, analyse
and interpret data. Mostly used for quantitative research
where survey questionnaires will be used to collect data.
Interpretivism: relying on your subjective preference,
experience and understanding to collect, analyse and
interpret data. Mostly used for qualitative research where
interview, focus group, observation etc. is to be used.
A. RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY
GENERAL OUTLOOK OF THE SECTIONS

Realism: using a scientific approach to conduct
experiments where the variables are to be manipulated i.e.
controlled and uncontrolled experiments.
Post-positivism: addresses the flaws of positivism and is
useful for mixed research where quantitative and
qualitative data are to be collected.
Positivism supports the collection of data from large
samples but it does not give in-depth data insight.
Interpretivism results in in-depth data insight but it is only
useful for small samples and is highly subject to bias.
Realism results in insight into relationships among
abstract variables but is not suitable for human studies
due to its abstract nature.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Deductive approach: is useful where the researcher intends
to collect data to test a hypothesis or theory and is useful
for quantitative data/positivism philosophy
Inductive approach: this is useful where the researcher
intends to provide an answer to the question and when the
researcher is seeking to get new information.
B. RESEARCH APPROACH

Abductive approach: this is best suited when deductive or
inductive research is not appropriate and the study seeks to
explain something, a phenomenon or a situation.
The deductive approach helps to clarify relationships
among variables i.e. roles, effect, cause and impact but its
correctness is a function of the accuracy of the research
assumption.
The inductive approach helps to understand future
outcomes and meaning but it does not form the basis for
generalisation.
Abductive approach makes the most of inductive and
deductive approaches but it results in problems with the
analysis.
Suitable for qualitative studies and interpretive philosophy.
Mono-method quantitative is where you are collecting
numerical data from the administration of a survey
questionnaire
Mono-method qualitative is where you are collecting data
from the field through a survey, personal observation or
C. METHODOLOGICAL CHOICE

The multimethod quantitative or qualitative
methodological choice is where you use more than one
quantitative method or qualitative method in the same
research. I.e. in multi-method qualitative research, you may
be conducting Key Informant Interview and Focus Group
discussions.
Mixed method: this occurs when you plan to collect
quantitative and qualitative methods in the same research
i.e. conducting an interview and also conducting a
questionnaire survey.
Generally, quantitative methods have the advantage of
being objective, highly structured, generalisable and easily
analysable. The main weakness is that it does not offer
much insight beyond the data collected.
On the other hand, the qualitative method gives a deeper
understanding but it is difficult to effectively analyse, it
cannot be easily generalised and the researcher's bias may
affect the outcome of the research.
focus group.

Survey: the survey approach is used to collect data from
respondents or participants in record time through the use
of a survey questionnaire
Case study: the strategy involves using a different
approach to collect data from a defined context i.e. an
organisation, a district area or a group etc.
Action research is aimed at solving a problem to improve
outcome by proffering a solution, evaluating its impact and
reflecting on the process
It is usually advised to use more than one research choice in
research to mitigate the weakness of a single approach and to
also achieve triangulation.
D. RESEARCH STRATEGIES
There are three basic strategies to use for your Bachelor's,
Masters and Doctorate dissertation. You may explore other
information in the Saunders, Lewis and Thorhill's (2016) book
on research methods.

Survey strategies are easy to administer, cost-effective and
highly efficient but they may not provide the respondent
with an avenue to express themselves and the data
generated could be vague.
The case study option allows for a more focused study but
the result may not be generalised outside of the case study.
Action research is useful for evaluating the outcome of an
intervention or solution but it is complex, difficult to
coordinate and lacks analytic rigours.
Cross-sectional time horizon where you say, “Hey, I’m only
going to collect my data once and not repeating it over
time”.
Longitudinal time horizon where you go, “I’m gonna
collect the data in August and repeat it in September
because I want to compare outcomes” and this is useful if
some intervention occurred before the next data collection.
E. TIME HORIZON
This simply means, what is the period and interval for the data
collection process of the research. There are two options;

The population is the number of people in the group from
where your data will be collected. In describing the
population, you can also write about the characteristics,
peculiarities and key notes regarding the population.
For quantitative research, your sample can be derived
quantitatively by entering the population size on the
website: http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html and then
determining the number of persons to include in the
survey.
For qualitative research, you may not be concerned with
the scientific determination of sample size, you can use
purposive sampling or convenience sampling to choose
whomever you want to include in the interview.
A cross-sectional time horizon is usually cost-effective but they
do not support comparative analysis whereas a longitudinal
horizon allows for comparative analysis but it is complex, time-
consuming and difficult to manage.
F. TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES
The subsection of this section may include;
Population and Sampling

Primary data collection where you are collecting data from
the field through surveys or interview.
Secondary data collection is where data is either sourced
from literature using a systematic literature review or from
a statistical database for secondary quantitative data.
Method of Data Collection
Instrument of Data Collection
Survey questionnaire: the survey questionnaire should be
patterned after your research objectives. First, you should have
a demographic section where you want to understand age,
gender, etc. A section will focus on the research objective and
the questions will be framed by using the construct shown in
the research model. I.e. Section B can be “The Remote Work
Practices of Oliveserah BAC” (note that this aligns with the
research objective and question 1). The first question, drawing
on the construct in the research model can be, “I was involved
in sending virtual reporting as part of my remote work
obligations”. Then you can have options, Strongly Agree, Agree,
Unsure etc. It is always advisable to use the Likert Scale as a
basis for designing an instrument for postgraduate research,
the Yes/No type questions would not get you anywhere.

For interviews, you may wish to simply ask the direct
research question to the participant after asking them a
question relating to their job role/what they do and how
they perhaps understand the topic before asking them
questions like "Do you think that the remote work practices
in the organisation are structured? If Yes/No, what are the
structured remote work practices/why is the remote work
practices not structured? You have to do this for all
objectives/questions.
Note: Developing a questionnaire or interview guide has
nothing to do with your feeling, thinking, previous work
experience etc. as a lot of people erroneously think. Your
instrument must strictly be based on the research question and
the construct identified from the literature. The reason for
using constructs from literature is because, at the end of the
analysis, you may need to juxtapose your findings with the
position of other authors as reported in the literature.
Plans for Administration of the Instrument
Some schools will require an extensive discussion of your plans
for collecting data. For the survey questionnaire, the plans may
include;

Getting approval from the case study organisation.
Planning with the gatekeeper for the period of data
collection.
Sharing the survey link or hard copy questionnaire
Following up to ensure completion of the questionnaire
Closing of the survey.
Plans to contact participants to give their consent for the
interview.
Plan to give the participant the interview guide, and
arrange a date for the interview.
Plans to record the interview and also ensure the safety of
the recording to avoid data leakage.
In the case of a key informant interview, organisation approval
may not be required, however, your write-up needs to discuss;
G. PLANS FOR DATA ANALYSIS
There are two routes to data collection which is a function of
the methodology you are using. Data analysis is really broad,
perhaps, it will be treated in another edition of this book.
However, the options you may exploit are as follows;

Quantitative Data Analysis: Using SPSS makes things
easier. Simply download the spreadsheet if you used a
google survey tool. On the downloaded spreadsheet, you
need to code all the aspects of the Likert scale data. You
can do this by using the REPLACE function to assign
weight to the Likert scale data i.e. Strongly Agree has a
default weight of 5, Agree has a default weight of 5 and so
on for a 5-point Likert scale data. That way, you can open
the excel file with SPSS and then run your analysis. The
two useful features on the SPSS are the TABLE and the
DESCRIPTIVE features which will enable you to calculate
percentages, derive arithmetic means and others. SPSS also
allows you to run correlation analysis, the outcome will be
useful in conducting a test of the hypothesis. You need to
understand the fundamentals of these processes and be
able to describe them in your methodology. Be careful not
to state what you will not do or overstate what you will do
because it could affect the quality ratings of your work.
Qualitative Data Analysis: never make the mistake of
thinking that qualitative analysis is just another kind or
type of data analysis because it is perhaps the most

complex data analytic method. After the interview, there would
be a need to transcribe the recording and this is the first stage.
After transcribing, you need to read through the transcribed
text to highlight keywords or expressions that you consider to
be associated with the research question. The second level is
where you now fish out all the keywords to make themes. I.e. if
there are keywords such as reports, documents, files, record
etc., these suggest a theme of REMOTE DOCUMENT
MANAGEMENT. Next, you can organise the themes under each
research question to be discussed and in discussing them, you
need to include extracts from the response as this would be a
way of validating the assertions that you have made.
H. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
How would you feel if those who decide to take part in your
research are exposed to harm because of their response?
Unhappy right? Yes, to forestall this issue, research ethics is
necessary to enable you to take appropriate steps towards
protecting the participants of your research.
Some of the ethical plan which you need to note and discuss
how you plan to address them includes;

Informed consent: state how you intend to make
participants aware of the objectives of the research and
what type of information you'd be getting from them. A
cover letter to your questionnaire or interview guide will
sort this.
Voluntary participation: you need to state that participation
is voluntary and the participants can withdraw at any
point.
Privacy/Confidentiality/Anonymity: you need to state how
you intend to ensure that participants/respondents who
took part in the research cannot be traced by a third party,
not even your supervisor.
Depending on the nature of your research, there could be other
ethical issues which you need to also highlight and address.
(+234)-706-818-0074

assistance and more

Collect your data and make sure all data collection
processes are completed.
Do a framework for the analysis and interpretation chapter,
and then run the analysis, copy the result and paste it into
the appropriate section so that when you hit the chapter to
write, you have all the information right where you need it.
In addition to pasting the result to be analysed in the
relevant section, you need to also go back to your literature
review and copy expressions of authors that either resonate
with or contradict your findings. For instance, if the
information you pasted in the analysis section is that “60%
of the staff who work remotely had to send virtual reports,
you may need to copy an expression from one of your
authors that either says, "Most of the staff working
HACK #4
SAIL THROUGH THE ANALYSIS AND
INTERPRETATION CHAPTER
BEFORE YOU WRITE

remotely tend to be involved in sharing digital reports (Emma,
2022) which shows support or “staff working remotely are not
require to send virtual reports (Ariana, 2022) which contradicts
your findings. Anyway, such contradiction or juxtaposition of
your findings with previous studies is done in the discussion of
findings section of this chapter.
The focus of the introduction is to recant the methodological
decision that was taken, a summary of the data collected and
an insight into the response rate and lastly, an overview of the
contents to be presented in this chapter.
DO AN INTRODUCTION
You may choose to use a chart or a table. Fortunately, Excel
or SPSS can assist you in generating a chart or a table.
You need to interpret or analyse the numbers on the chart
or table
Here, you want to have a section devoted to the analysis of the
demographic data such as age, gender etc. Some of the things
you need to consider include;
ANALYSE THE DEMOGRAPHIC DATA

Lastly, don't just analyse the numbers, try to bring out the
implication. I.e. if 70% of the staff who worked remotely
are female, it means that the case study organisation give
more women remote work opportunities.
For qualitative research, you may need to create a table
where you'd discuss the profile of the key informant and
their experience or background as it relates to the research.
ANALYSE THE DATA RELATING TO THE

RESEARCH QUESTION
The sections will simply refer to each research question. I.e.
Since research question one is “What are the remote work
practices of Oliveserah BAC?”, then this section could be
4.3. Analysis of Data Relating to Research Question 1:
What are the remote work practices of Oliveserah BAC?”.
You may also express it creatively.
The data to be analysed in this section will focus on the
construct relating to remote work practices as expressed in
the research model and also a specific section in the
questionnaire. The output to be analysed in this section
when generated using SPSS looks like this;

You need to descriptively analyse the proportion of positive
respondents, those that were neutral and those that were
negative (disagree and strongly disagree). Also, you need to
comment on the mean; for a 5-point Likert scale, a mean from
3.0 and above is considered to be valid. This means that the
statement is true and the mean is derived by adding the total
weight (5+4+3+2+1 for a 5-point Likert scale) and dividing by
the total scale which is 5 (strongly agree, agree, unsure,
disagree and strongly disagree). You can follow this method to
derive the mean score for other Likert scales.
Also, you need to comment on the standard deviation; the
closer the standard deviation is to 1.0, the more we can
assume that there is dispersion in the data gotten (which
means, the respondents did not just respond in one particular
manner but in a different pattern which shows that different
relevant groups took part in the research. This is basically what

you have to do for all the set of data you have derived from the
field.
If it's qualitative data, it's only the theme that you will have to
discuss in this subsection where each theme has its interview
extract as shown below.
Select the two variables you need to correlate. Using our
working topic as an instance, there are specific variables
for remote work practices and another set of variables for
employee productivity (See the research model).
The above pattern will be used until the themes identified for
each section have been exhausted.
The hypothesis which you earlier specified needs to be tested in
this chapter. To do this;
HYPOTHESIS TESTING

In selecting the variables, choose the variables with the
highest mean.
Run a correlation analysis with SPSS and when completed,
it returns a result like this.
To analyse the report of the correlation analysis, simply look at
the Pearson correlation value which is 0.467. There is a
standard parameter to determine whether it is a strong or
weak correlation as you can see below. You will notice that
0.467 falls within the region of low positive correlation.
Source: https://towardsdatascience.com/eveything-you-need-to-know-about-interpreting-correlations-

2c485841c0b8

To test the hypothesis, simply look at the p-value which is
indicated by Sig. (2-tailed). Where the value is higher than
0.05, you have to accept the null hypothesis but if it is less
than 0.05, you accept the alternative hypothesis. In this case,
the p-value of 0.000 is less than 0.05, hence, we reject the null
hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis.
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS /

INTERPRETATION OF RESULT
While this section is the last part of the data analysis chapter,
it could become the fifth chapter for research involving six or
seven chapters.
In this section, you need to discuss the overall research findings
under a specific paragraph which will address what the
findings are and how they address the questions of the
research. Also, you need to juxtapose your findings with that of
previous scholars towards finding similarities and differences.

What was the background of the study, problem statement
and objectives which the research sought to address? This
has to be high level and can be as much as 150 words for
the paragraph or more.
What was done during the literature review and
methodology chapter of the research work?
How did the data collection activity go, what was done in
the previous chapter and to end this last paragraph, state
how the next section will advance the conclusion of the
study.
In the summary of the research section, you might need to
focus on the advancing paragraph which speaks to the
following;
HACK #5
YOU’RE ALMOST THERE
SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH

In the concluding chapter, you need to prove that the research
objectives were addressed by stating the objectives and
highlighting what was found as proof that the objectives were
addressed. You may also need to comment if the objective was
very well addressed, fairly addressed or not addressed. You
need to do this for all associated objectives wherein you
collected data.
You are not expected to present new information here but it is
good practice to reference some figures already presented
during your data analysis section. To end, you need to make a
case or create a link that will lead to the next section.
CONCLUSION OF THE STUDY
This is an avenue to contribute to current and future practice
while also addressing your last objective where you may have
stated that you will make recommendations or propose a
solution.
It is not expected that you will shoot blank bullets in this
section. Any recommendation you are making must be
RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE STUDY

actionable (implementable), should be explained and should be
backed by the data you have collected. A good recommendation
could follow this pattern:
Other case study organisations to consider.
Expansion of the sample size
Approaching the research with a different methodology.
Addressing some issues identified from the research which
was not thoroughly explored.
Recall that during the literature review chapter, you identified
certain gaps in the literature and you also identified some
issues in the problem statement section. This is the point where
you have to appraise your research and then, the aspect your
research has not effectively covered will form the basis for the
suggestions for future research. Some suggestions may focus
on;
SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE

RESEARCH

Accessibility issues may have affected the size and nature
of the data collected.
Lack of approval or delay in approval to conduct the
research.
Loss of data affected the scope of analysis presented.
Lack of expertise to analyse some of the data generated.
As a project with anticipated objectives, you need to reflect on
the overall activity to determine whether or not the goals of the
research were seamlessly achieved. Perhaps, there could be
issues which affected the outcome of the research (in other
words, if those issues were not there, you could have gone the
extra mile). Some limitations could include;
LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH
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assistance and more

You can now work on the abstract section where you clarify
the goal of the research, the methodology, the sampling
outcomes, the data analysis method and the findings of
the research, including the key recommendations of the
study. It should not just be a summary but a high-level
summary of the report.
You need to compile other aspects including the Table of
Content by using the Microsoft Word document feature,
Updating and attaching the reference section, including
relevant appendices such as data spreadsheet, interview
transcript and approvals if necessary.
Very importantly, you need to ensure appropriate
formatting and review the work before final submission.
HACK #6
YOU DID IT
DEVELOP OTHER PERIPHERAL

SECTIONS

Make sure you check for plagiarism and also check the
plagiarism report to check areas that have been flagged for
possible modification to avoid unintentional plagiarism.
LET'S WORK

TOGETHER
(+234) 706 818 0074 (WhatsApp)
srcnigeria@yahoo.com

I am excited that you read through this book and I am
convinced that your approach to smart academic research
writing will be different. Of course, this will be rewarding.
While this book may come across as a refresher for some of
you, I bet that there is a couple of new stuff that you have
learnt. Honestly, the research method is broad and I will be
building on this foundation in a subsequent edition. However,
this is sufficient to effectively coordinate your research activity
from start to finish.
Even if you may have to engage the services of a research
assistant, this book provides you with baseline knowledge to be
able to support, assist, train and engage your research
assistants appropriately. This book is an asset really, and you
can use it as a basis to improve the quality of research work
around the world, starting with your projects.
By having a copy of this book, we already have a relationship
EPILOGUE

and I would be excited to guide you through your research
journey. This is part of the services provided by Oliveserah
Business and Academic Concepts, an organisation I run to
provide academic and business consultancy support.
Research work is a collaboration and nobody can claim to know
it all. This is why I would love to understand your challenge as
this would guide me in subsequent editions of this book.
Kudos to you really, I am amazed at your quest for knowledge
and will be glad to be the reason for your success.
Go and excel, you have the secrets of distinction.
Sani Emmanuel Numa
(+234) 706 818 0074 (WhatsApp, Telegram and SMS)
Email: srcnigeria@yahoo.com, innonigeria@gmail.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sani Emmanuel Numa is a Research
Consultant with vast experience in
providing research training, mentorship
and facilitation for a vast majority of the academic community in Africa, the
United Kingdom, Europe, Canada and the United States of America.
In 2012, he started providing freelance research advisory services to
international students at the Master's and Doctorate levels. This grew into
Sky Research Consult and subsequently, Oliveserah BAC which provides
holistic research support to Students, Lecturers and Organisations in need of
research service. Within a space of 10 years, Emmanuel and his team have
worked with 200+ research students and lecturers, 100+ organisations and
more than 25 universities.
Sani has worked on several research projects spanning the field of Social
Sciences, Management Sciences, Public Health, Project Management,
Information and Communication Technology, and Education. There are also
collaborations in the areas of Environmental Sciences, Engineering and
Nursing. As a seasoned academic and business researcher, Sani researched
and published "Top 500 Business Ideas" which is gradually changing the
face of startup facilitation and business incubation across Africa.
As someone who has been grounded in studies on research methodology,
motivated by passion and trained by real-world experience, Sani presents
the world with simplified insight which will enable students at the post-
graduate level to go through their research project in a seamless, intelligent
and rewarding way. The book will serve as a refresher kit for those who are
already professionals but for those who do "have a hang over" research
discussions, this book would be a lifesaver.

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