How to write Chapter 1

Herewith the guide I prepared for my postgraduate students to write their Chapter 1

1.1 Overview

[what your Chapter 1 is about]

1.2 Research Background

[When and where did YOU get the idea of pursuing this master / doctoral study?]

[Who did you deal with when identifying issues related to your study?]  

1.3 Problem statement

[What is the issue you discover the field you would like to study?]

[What factors which you believe are the causes of the issue? Why?]

[Why do you believe that the issue should be resolved by YOU?]

1.4 Significance of the study

[What changes would you made if you managed to resolve the issue? Why?] 

[What would be the ideal research outcomes at the end of your master / doctoral study? Why?]

[Who will be benefited by the solution you offer through your research outcomes? Why do you believe so?] 

1.5 Research aim and objectives

[What is your one indispensable result that you want to achieve in your doctoral study? See Chapter 2 of Richardson, 2005]

[What are the enabling objectives you need to achieve in the course of attaining the research aim?]

1.6 Research questions and hypotheses

[Based on the issues, operationalise them to form the research questions you would like to answer through your findings]

[Based on the research questions, develop hypotheses which you would like to test using your data]

1.7 Scope and limitations of the study

[Define the scope of your research, particularly spell out what you DO NOT study]

[List down the limitations of your study, which cover technical, social and economical limitations]

1.8 Operational definitions

[List down all key concepts in your research]

[Based on analytical propositions (meanings from dictionary), develop the definition of those key concepts for use in your study]