АN INVЕSTIGАTIОN INTО THЕ SIGNIFIСАNСЕ ОF РRОJЕСT МАNАGЕMЕNT АND THЕ НЕАLTH АND SАFЕTY ТRАININGS ОF ОРЕRАTIVЕS ОN SITЕ IN THЕ ОMАN СОNSTRUСTIОN INDUSTRY-Research paper available
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Write in your own words who you want to thank. This is not mandatory.
ABSTRACT
Should be 1 page long. This will be the last thing you will write because you have to finish all the chapters to write the abstract.
It should have minimum 03 paragraphs.
1st paragraph (setting the scene) – will be an introduction to your topic, why you do it (in a sentence or two) and the purpose of the research.
2nd paragraph (what have you done) – what you have done in the research, i.e. the research methodology/methods adopted, how many interviews carried out, etc.
3rd paragraph (what did you find out) – your main findings of the research and main conclusions.
Note: abstract should not have any sources of references.
Key words: in Alphabetical order separated with a semi colon.
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Table of Contents
DECLARATION…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… II
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… VI
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. VII
CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 1
1.1 BACKGROUND…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2
1.4 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
1.5 METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2
1.6 STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
2.1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4
2.2 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – CONCEPT AND HISTORY…………………………………………………………………………. 4
2.3 SUMMARY………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………………………………………… 8
3.1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8
3.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES AVAILABLE …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8
3.3 CHOICE OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………………………………………………… 9
3.4 RESEARCH METHOD/S ADOPTED………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 9
3.4.1 Step 1 – Development of Research instrument……………………………………………………………………….. 10
3.4.2 Step 2 – Piloting……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 10
3.4.3 Step 3 – Choice of Sample………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 11
3.4.4 Step 4 – Data Collection and Recording…………………………………………………………………………………. 11
3.4.5 Step 5 – Data Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 13
3.5 DATA VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 13
3.6 SUMMARY………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 14
CHAPTER 4 – ANALYSIS AND INVESTIGATION…………………………………………………………………………………. 15
4.1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 15
4.2 DETAILS OF THE PARTICIPANTS/ORGANISATIONS/CASE STUDIES……………………………………………………………… 15
4.2.1 Job Role and Average years of Experiences…………………………………………………………………………….. 16
4.3 MAIN FINDINGS…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 18
4.3.1 Question 4 – Level of adoption of sustainable development in projects……………………………. 18
4.4 DISCUSSION AND SYNTHESIS……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 19
4.5 SUMMARY………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 19
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CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSIONS……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 20
5.1 OVERALL SUMMARY……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 20
5.2 OVERALL CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 20
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 20
5.3.1 To the industry……………………………………………………………………………………. 20
5.3.2 To the Academia…………………………………………………………………………………….. 20
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 21
APPENDIX 1 – DRAFT QUESTIONNAIRE………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 22
APPENDIX 2 –………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 22
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List of Tables
TABLE 2.1: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT HISTORY………………………………………………………………………………………………. 6
TABLE 4.1: JOB ROLE OF THE RESPONDENTS……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 16
TABLE 4.1: JOB ROLE OF THE RESPONDENTS……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 17
List of Figures
FIGURE 2-1: THREE PILLARS OF SUSTAINABILITY…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 6
FIGURE 2-2: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK……………………………………………………………………………………… 6
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Abbreviations
(This is not mandatory)
| NHS | National Health Service |
| PPP | Public Private Partnership |
CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
You need to have a chapter introduction to each and every chapter, except for chapters 1 (introduction) and chapter 5 (conclusion).
The chapter introduction could be something like below:
Chapter 2 is an in-depth literature review of the topic sustainable development in social housing. The chapter is mainly divided into three sections. The first sections discusses the concept and history of sustainable development, in general. The second part of the chapter highlights the significance of sustainable development in social housing construction. The final part then discusses the main issues in implementing sustainable development in social housing projects. Overall, Chapter 2 aims to achieve objectives 1 and 2 highlighted in Section 1.3.
2.2 Sustainable Development – Concept and History
Note: Please ask from your supervisor whether you need only 1 Literature review chapter or more.
The literature review sections should highlight the following:
– The main findings of the literature you gathered.
– The ‘review’ should be a critique rather than a ‘report’ of the findings.
The literature review should be a ‘critique’ of the available sources of literature you have. It is different to a ‘report’.
| Critique | Report |
| According to John (2007) the concept of
sustainable development mainly relates to the consumption of resources, whilst preserving them for future generations. This concept, as per Smith et al (2009), requires things such as saving of the |
John (2007) states that the concept of sustainable development mainly
relates to the consumption of |
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| environment, which relates to ‘environmental’ context. However, John (2012) asserts that the concept of sustainable development goes further than ‘saving the environment’. As he suggests, it includes not only environmental context but also economic and social aspects as well. OECD (2014) also agrees with the three pillar concept above, i.e. SD includes environmental, social and economic contexts. | (2009) suggest the need to save the environment in order to achieve sustainable development. John (2012) and OECD (2014) state that, sustainable development considers three pillars, i.e. economic, environment and social. |
Have a look at the above example and understand how to write a ‘critique’. It’s all about comparing and contrasting the literature you read and then putting it into your research context.
– The literature review should be written in sections, sub-sections and in paragraph form mostly.
– You can use diagrams, tables and graphs to support the discussions, if and when needed.
– First of all, before writing the literature review, develop a structure for the literature review with sections and sub-sections. The sections and sub-sections of the literature review can be decided by looking at your objectives. Show this to your supervisor and amend it, if necessary.
– Usually, for an MSc dissertation (given the word count), you should write about 8000-word literature review. Don’t forget, literature review gets 30 out of the 100 marks of the dissertation element.
– The discussions throughout the literature review should flow well and there should be ‘continuity’.
– The discussions of the literature review should include minimum of 50 literature references at least. In-text referencing is very important. Please avoid plagiarism (look at the plagiarism video on blackboard).
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Figure (Figures and table numbering should be Chapter number and Figure/table number – For an example, Figures in Chapter 2 should be Figure 2.1, Figure 2.2, Figure 2.3, etc.)
Table – Table numbering should be the same as discussed above.
Figure 2.1: Three pillars of sustainability
Figure 2.2: Sustainable Development Framework
Table 2.1: Sustainable development history
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2.3 Summary
Summary, obviously should summarise the main points of the literature review. It should about 1/2 page. At the end of summary, to make a link to the Chapter 3, I want you all to develop research questions that have come up through the main findings/issues of the literature review.
For example,
All in all, the following research questions emerged through the discussions/issues of sustainability in social housing:
- What are the main barriers of implementing sustainable development during design stages of a social housing project?
- How to resolve the aforementioned barriers to make the process of implementation more effective?
The above research questions will be studied in the next stage of research.
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CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This should briefly explain what the chapter is all about. Usually you can say something like below:
The chapter discusses the methodology adopted for the research. Considering pros and cons of research methodologies and considering the objectives of the research, a qualitative methodology was chose for the study. The qualitative methodology was carried out using semi-structured interviews. The chapter discusses the justification behind the choice/s of qualitative and semi-structured interviews and also discusses the way the interviews were carried out.
Note: you can write this chapter in past tense or present participle (ask from your supervisor)
3.2 Research Methodologies Available
This is not a mandatory section – please ask your supervisor whether to include this or not (I usually prefer not to).
To write this section, you can use the reference list given on blackboard.
This section should be to introduce the available research methodologies, i.e. qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods.
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3.3 Choice of Research Methodology
VERY IMPORTANT section. You need about 1 page discussions as to, not only what methodology you have chosen, but WHY you have chosen it.
When you are writing up the justification, the following can be taken into consideration:
- Literature evidence
- Nature of your research and what you seek out to do
- Relating the type of methodology chosen to research questions/aim/objectives
The more evidences you bring out, the better!!!
3.4 Research Method/s Adopted
Here you have to highlight what method/s has/have been chosen as part of the methodology chosen in section 3.3. As before, you have to discuss in few paragraphs, why that chosen method/s is best for your research. Sometimes, highlighting the advantages of the chosen methodology (with literature evidences) will also be good to strengthen your discussions.
You can write this in a step-by-step approach. For example,
- Step 1 – Development of the research instrument
- Step 2 – Piloting
- Step 3 – Choice of sample
- Step 4 – Data collection and recording
- Step 5 – Data analysis
The following sub-sections explain these in-detail.
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3.4.1 Step 1 – Development of Research instrument
This section is about the development of the questionnaire for the survey, or the questions for the interviews/case studies.
You can write the following to discuss this:
How did you develop the research instrument? – e.g. based on the objectives, research questions, etc.
What type of questions did you ask? – e.g.
- For a questionnaire, it’s close-ended questions. The close-ended questions can be in different form:
- Binary scale (yes/no);
- Options (e.g. type of building – a. residential, b. commercial, c. military);
- Questions with a likert-scale (e.g. level of agreement, a. very satisfied, b. satisfied, c. neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, d. not satisfied). There are different likert-scales, e.g. 3 likert scales (Satisfied, Medium, Dissatisfied); 4 likert scales (Very satisfied, satisfied, medium, not satisfied); 5 likert scales (highly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, highly disagree); or even a likert scale upto 10. Explain what type of likert scale you used and why?
- For interviews/case studies – it’s open ended questions. That means there is no answer given for the question.
Finally you say that the developed questions/questionnaire (draft) is attached in an Appendix (e.g. Appendix 1).
3.4.2 Step 2 – Piloting
In this section, please write about how many people did you send the questionnaire/questions for piloting? Who are they? What were their main comments? And finally, say the questionnaire/questions were revised using the main comments, and the final questionnaire is attached is an Appendix (e.g. Appendix 2).
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3.4.3 Step 3 – Choice of Sample
Herein we discus:
- Who you interviewed/chose for the case studies/who you sent the questionnaire to?
- How did you choose them (sampling)?
- Why did you choose them (justification)?
- How many did you choose (final selection)?
E.g. The questionnaire developed were then sent to local authorities. They are the key authority or personnel responsible for making social housing sustainable. They are responsible for the implementation of sustainable development policies and also responsible for empowering the communities on driving the agenda towards sustainability. The local authorities were chosen within the North West area of England to reduce the scope of the study. The reasons for this is given in chapter 1.4 (Scope and Limitations). There are about 135 local authorities in the North West area, and of them, 50 local authorities were chosen randomly for the questionnaire survey, based on location.
3.4.4 Step 4 – Data Collection and Recording
Mode of data collection?
– For questionnaires there are several options: telephone survey, postal survey, email survey, online survey, survey by hand delivery. Say what did you choose and why?
– For interviews: face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, skype/online interviews, etc. Say what you chose and why?
– For case studies: you can collect data using interviews, observations, etc. Say what
you chose and why?
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How long did it take?
– For questionnaires can say: Online questionnaire link was sent to the selected sample discussed above and they were given a period of 2 weeks to respond. At the end of 2nd week, only 32 questionnaires were received, therefore, to increase the number of respondents, another reminder was sent to the respondents extending the deadline for further 02 weeks. At the end of the 4th week, altogether 56 questionnaires were received for initially selected sample of 135, giving a response rate of 41.5%. The response rate is very good, considering the usual response rate for a social science research is about 10 – 15% (provide a reference if possible). If you get a very good (or low) response rate, highlight the reasons as to why that is the case.
– For interviews you can say: Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 managers in local authorities in the North West. The interviews took place during June 2015. Duration of each interview was about 30 – 45 mins.
How did you record the data?
– For questionnaires you can say: The questionnaire responses were recorded on SPSS Version 12 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). A sample of the questionnaire received is given in an Appendix (e.g. Appendix 3). The respondents were given codes (e.g. CONT 1, CONT 2, etc.) and their responses were recorded row by row. There were some missing information in some responses and they were recorded as ‘Nil’ so that it will not affect the final data analysis.
– For interviews you can say: During the interviews, the discussions were recorded
using a digital Dictaphone. Once the interviews were over, they were transcribed, moreover word to word, on word documents. A sample of the interview transcriptions is given in an Appendix (e.g. Appendix 3).
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3.4.5 Step 5 – Data Analysis
In data analysis you have to describe what method did you use in a paragraph. Write a small paragraph on unit of analysis.
In a research, usually you try to analyse or focus on a particular element – it could be people’s perceptions, a process, an organisation, a sector or even a country (very rarely). So, you have to highlight what exactly you are looking at and why here. This makes it easier to present the findings in the next chapter.
For questionnaires: Please use SPSS for data analysis. The main analysis methods used were descriptive and inferential statistics. Under descriptive analysis mainly mean analysis was used to derive main findings. Under inferential statistics Kruskal-Wallis test to identify variations in groups.
For qualitative: One of the easiest and most convenient methods to use for qualitative analysis is ‘content analysis’. This has many variations/forms. However, a simple analysis of the ‘contents’ of the interview transcripts or case study data will be sufficient to derive findings of the study.
3.5 Data Validity and Reliability
In terms of data validity, you have to talk about the following things with regard to your sample and questionnaire/questions:
- Expertise of the sample you used for the research – e.g. they may have more than 10 years experience in the field of research, which may mean their opinions/views are very valid as they know the subject/area well.
- Qualifications the respondents have – this may mean the respondents of the survey/interviews know the subject well – which means the answers they have given are valid and reliable.
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- Questions you have asked – try to avoid bias as much as possible. Also try to improve clarity and undertandability of the questionnaire, so that the respondents understand what you are asking, hence answer the questions without any confusion.
- Piloting – to make sure the questions are clear and understandable to improve validity and reliability of answers.
- Choosing participants from a different groups/categories – this may mean that the answers are not biased towards a particular category of people, thus, it improves validity and reliability. However, this may not be suitable for all research studies.
3.6 Summary
The research study adopted a qualitative approach to achieve the aim and objectives highlighted in Chapter 1. The main reason for that was the research questions developed at the end of Chapter 2 were mainly exploratory in nature. The qualitative approach was carried out using 10 semi-structured interviews with construction managers in large contractors’ organisations. The data was analysed using qualitative content analysis. The findings derived from the analysis is presented in the next chapter.
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CHAPTER 4 – ANALYSIS AND INVESTIGATION
4.1 Introduction
This chapter discusses the main findings derived from the questionnaire/interviews. As discussed in chapter 3, the data collected from questionnaire/interviews were analysed using SPSS/content analysis. The main findings are presented in 3 main sections. The first section discusses the generic details of the participants/organisation/case studies. The second section discusses the main findings of the questionnaire/interviews, according to the research questions presented. The final section presents a data synthesis to bring main findings of the literature and the empirical findings together.
4.2 Details of the participants/organisations/case studies
The details of the participants were analysed using the data record sheet developed during the questionnaire survey (see Appendix 4). Note: the importance of the data record sheet is that it provides evidence to support that you have actually done the work.
To write this you have to identify the unit of analysis.
- Type of organisation they work for
- Type of projects they work for
- Number of employees in the organisation
- Number of on-going projects they have
- Their job role
- The years of experience the respondents have with regard to the study area
Note: there are several questions you can ask in terms of details of the respondents, however, please ask only the MOST IMPORTANT/RELEVANT questions to the study. Avoid ‘good to know’ or ‘nice to know’ type of questions.
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4.2.1 Job Role and Average years of Experiences
Table 4.1 below shows the type of job role carried out by the respondents and their average years of experiences.
Table 4.1: Job role of the respondents
| Job Role | Code | Number of Responses | Avg. years of Experiences* |
| Architect | ARCH | 13 (28%) | 3.6 |
| Contractor | CONT | 14 (32%) | 2.5 |
| Project Manager | PM | 15 (40%) | 1.4 |
| Total | 42 | 2.9 | |
* 1 – less than 2 years, 2 – 3 to 5 years, 3 – 6 – 10 years, 4 – More than 10 years
If you asked the same question in interviews, you can present the details as follows:
| Interviewee | Code | Role | Years of Experience | Remarks |
| Interviewee 1 | INT1 | Architect | 12 | INT1 was involved in many sustainable construction projects (5 to be precise) over the course of his employment. |
| Interviewee 2 | INT2 | Architect | 3 | INT2 has no experience in sustainable construction, however, he holds a Master’s degree in sustainable construction. |
| Interviewee 3 | INT3 | Architect | 5 | |
| Interviewee 4 | INT4 | Contractor | 8 | |
| Interviewee 5 | INT5 | Contractor | 10 | |
| Interviewee 6 | INT6 | Project Manager | 21 | |
| Interviewee 7 | INT7 | Project Manager | 4 | |
| Interviewee 8 | INT7 | Project Manager | 8 |
If you are doing case studies, you can present the case study details as above.
| Case study | Code | Type of project | Contract duration | Remarks |
| Case study 1 | CS1 | Hospital | 5 | This is on a traditional form of contract and the contract is nearing completion. |
| Case study 2 | CS2 | Hospital | 25 | This is on a PFI form of contract and the construction of the project is already completed and the project is now on operation stage. |
| Case study 3 | CS3 | Hospital | 4 |
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In analysis and investigation section, you will have at least 03 main elements in each section of the chapter. They are:
– Summary of findings in a tabular or diagrammatic (e.g. pie chart, bar graph) format
– Highlight the significant answers:
- High
- Low
– So what? What does the overall information say to you?
E.g.
Table 4.2: Job role of the respondents
| Job Role | Code | Number of Responses | Avg. years of Experiences* |
| Architect | ARCH | 13 (31%) | 3.6 |
| Contractor | CONT | 14 (33%) | 2.5 |
| Project Manager | PM | 15 (36%) | 1.4 |
| Total | 42 | 2.9 | |
* 1 – less than 2 years, 2 – 3 to 5 years, 3 – 6 – 10 years, 4 – More than 10 years
According to Table 4.1, the number of responses from Architects, Contractors and Project managers are somewhat similar. This tells that the answers given by the respondents are not heavily biased towards one category of respondents. This, therefore, means the findings are valid.
NOTE: what I don’t want you to do is, repeating all the information presented in a table or a graph/chart. When you present information in a table, graph, chart, it’s self-explanatory.
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4.3 Main findings
Ask from your supervisor as to how they like you to present it. There are several ways of presenting it:
- According to the research questions you developed at the end of chapter 2
- According to the objectives in chapter 1
- According to the questions developed in the questionnaire – in my view, this is the most preferable way, as it gives, firstly, an overview of the answers to the questionnaire.
- According to the hypotheses you developed
4.3.1 Question 4 – Level of adoption of sustainable development in projects
Similar to what I mentioned in the previous page, the findings for these questions can also be presented in the 03 elements – summary in graph/table form, significant answers and what the answers mean?
Note: Since this is an MSc, it’s better to NOT to use just mean/mode as the main method of analysis. You should adopt some of the analysis methods Ade explained during his SPSS lectures. Also ask from your supervisors what they prefer (as a guidance – do your own research as well please to identify the best method/s of analysis).
For qualitative analysis, you can adopt the following way:
Question 1: What constitutes Sustainable construction?
Sustainable construction is something you use to reduce carbon emissions in buildings,
whilst trying to achieve economic and social benefits ……………………………………………..
| INT 1 | INT 2 | INT 3 | Total of frequency |
Rank | ||||
| (1′) if mentioned | Frequency | (1′) if mentioned | Frequency | (1′) if mentioned | Frequency | |||
| Environment | 1′ | 4 | 1′ | 5 | 1′ | 2 | 11 | 1 |
| Carbon emissions | 1′ | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Social | 1′ | 1 | 1′ | 1′ | 1 | 2 | ||
| Economic | 1′ | 2 | 2 | |||||
| … | 1′ | 3 | 1′ | 1 | 4 | 2 | ||
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| …. | 1′ | 4 | 4 | 2 | ||
| … | 1′ | 3 | 3 | 3 | ||
| … | 1′ | 1 | 1 |
You can also develop knowledge maps, cognitive maps, etc.
4.4 Discussion and Synthesis
This section could be about 3 – 4 pages long. Essentially this section should highlight the following:
– Any correlations between findings (with graphs, if possible)
– Discuss and compare main findings with literature findings (this will link Chapter 2 and Chapter 4): these main findings could be relating to the objectives/research questions.
– Discuss what these findings mean and the implications to the industry.
4.5 Summary
1/2 page of a summary highlighting the main points/findings of this chapter.
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CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSIONS
5.1 Overall summary
This could be 1 page, highlighting all the essential findings or discussions in your dissertation.
Note: (Some supervisors do not prefer this, because you already present these to each chapter. So, talk to your supervisor)
5.2 Overall conclusions
You can present the conclusions according to the main objectives set in Chapter 1. Essentially, the achievement of all objectives, should lead to the fulfilment of the aim as well. You can write the conclusion in about 2 pages.
5.3 Recommendations
5.3.1 To the industry
About 1/2 to 1 page. Mainly in terms of improvement of their practices, processes, policies, standards, etc.
5.3.2 To the Academia
About 1/2 to 1 page. Mainly in terms of further research.
Basically, overall, conclusion chapter should have about 4 – 5 pages.
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REFERENCES
Please follow Harvard Referencing Guide. Sort out the References in alphabetical order and number them. Present References sources that are:
– Journal papers
– Up-to-date
– Relevant to the area
– Written by key authors
Minimum 50 – 60 references should be included as this is an MSc dissertation.
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