*JFK School of Psychology & Social Sciences: Get Started with NU Library

Researching similar dissertations and theses is an important step for graduate students. It can help ensure that your research is original, learn from the work of other students, locate additional resources on your topic, and identify potential research designs, frameworks, and data collection instruments.

• Start with ProQuest Dissertations & Theses @ National University to see dissertations from only National and Northcentral University. Browse the most recent dissertations or search by keyword, subject, degree code, dissertation chair, or school.
• Expand your research to over 3 million dissertations worldwide using ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
• For additional guidance, see the Finding Dissertations Guide.

A proper research problem can be defined as a specific, evidence-based, real-life issue faced by certain people or organizations that have significant negative implications for the involved parties. This means that you will need to support your research problem with scholarly literature and often statistics.

• A NavigatorSearch is the best starting point for finding scholarly literature on your research problem. To ensure that your search results are from scholarly/peer-reviewed journals, check the limit box on the search page.
• For help determining whether a scholarly journal is peer-reviewed, click here to review the FAQ. For additional guidance on finding scholarly articles, see the Preparing to Search Guide. 

Since many statistics are gathered by national statistical organizations and made freely available online, you may need to supplement your NavigatorSearch results with Google searches.

• The Library also provides Statista, a research database containing data statistics.
• For additional guidance on finding statistics, see the Statistics Guide.

A strong theoretical or conceptual framework provides a foundation for graduate research, helps you to interpret your findings in a meaningful way, and allows you to demonstrate the relevance and significance of your work. 

• You can learn more about the framework requirements for NU dissertations in the Dissertation Center and Applied Doctoral Center.
• Remember to discuss possible frameworks with your Dissertation Chair to ensure they align with your study.

Explore possible frameworks within the literature to help you identify what framework works best for your research.

• Using the Advanced Search screen in NavigatorSearch will allow you to include search terms related to theory as in the example search and selected article below.

• Using ProQuest Dissertations & Theses to find similar dissertations is another great way to identify frameworks related to your research problem.
• For additional guidance, see the Researching Theoretical Frameworks Guide.

Graduate students must describe their research methodology and design and elaborate upon their appropriateness in relation to the study problem, purpose, and research questions. Course resources are often a great way to learn about methodology and design.

• For further support, the Library provides SAGE Research Methods which includes books, reference works, journal articles, datasets, cases, and instructional videos focused on research methodology and design.
• Using the menu bar, you may browse content by topic, discipline, or content type. You may also use the Advanced Search option to search for resources by method as shown below. Your search results page includes a brief definition of the method searched followed by search results.

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• For additional guidance, see the Research Methods & Design Guide.

The method of data collection for your dissertation or thesis will be driven by your research methodology and design.

Common data collection instruments include:

• interview or focus group questions,
• survey or questionnaire,
• observation sheet, and
• curriculum or training materials for an educational intervention.

Typically, NU students will locate and use (with permission) an existing instrument from scholarly literature rather than designing their own instrument.

A great way to discover instruments relevant to your research problem is to carefully read the "Methods" section in scholarly journal articles.

• Using the NavigatorSearch Advanced Search screen will allow you to include the type of data collection instrument you are looking for as in the example below.

• For additional guidance, see the Tests and Measurements Guide.