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Presenting your findings that your study can provide. By diluting your presentation with numerous relatively trivial details, your major findings will be lost. While there may be a time when these relatively minor issues can be productively addressed, at this time it is important to address the major findings. Determining the “major” issues may be viewed as a judgment call. Certainly, as the person most familiar with your data and with your findings, you are considered to be in an ideal position to help us, your readers, to recognize and accept this focus. Thus, it becomes incumbent on you to help us see the light. Connect your findings with the major theories and research guiding your study. A Cautious Interpretation Some researchers make major pronouncements from their research, implying that they have solved all the questions in the world with their research. Others are timid about making any statements beyond the data which they collected. While these extremes are not unusual in first drafts of dissertations, doctoral students learn to make appropriately cautious interpretations. A wise researcher takes care not to over-generalize from limited data. Being cautious, while making a case for what you did find, you will find an appropriate balance. Seeking critical readers’ reactions to your analysis, you will have access to others’ views on the match between your data and your proposed findings Concluding Sections Typically, doctoral studies conclude with at least one additional section in addition to an abstract of the study. These sections may be called “Summary,” “Conclusions,” “Implications,” and/or “Recommendations.” The need for details required in each section varies across institutions, so become familiar with the customs at your university and your chair’s preferences. Summary This usually includes a total recapitulation of all the elements of the study, including a statement of the problem, the research design, the findings, and the conclusions. Conclusion This section makes assertions based on the findings. It usually addresses issues that support, or fail to support, a theory which is being tested. For example, if a hypothesis has been supported by the data, then the researcher may conclude that the data support the validity of the theory which was being tested in the study. Some researchers use the trends which were evident in their findings as a basis for potential theory building. This section states the researcher’s sense of how the study’s findings contribute to the knowledge in a discipline. Implications In this section, the researcher is free to make a range of suggestions for the usefulness of the findings. The research settings may range 130 Presenting your findings from elementary grade classrooms, to university-based research projects; this is the researcher’s opportunity to explain how the findings of the just-completed study may contribute to theories and/or practice in these settings. Another way of viewing this section is for the researcher to state the potential significance of the implications of the study on professional practice, or on life in general. If you wrote a “Potential Significance” section for your dissertation proposal, you may return to that hypothetical section to reflect on the predictions you made. With the knowledge acquired from your findings, you may now revise these statements of potential significance to more accurately reflect your understanding of the possible impact of your study’s findings. Recommendations You make recommendations based on your experiences in conducting the research as well as in any other professional capacity. You may recommend that other researchers (including future doctoral students) conduct additional studies in this area, which follow from the findings and procedures implemented in your study. While the liberty to speculate and tell others what to do is tantalizing, most doctoral students, and researchers generally, restrict their suggestions to a few targets. In actuality, many doctoral students follow up on their own studies, or advocate that students in their program continue with the same line of inquiry. Abstract Most institutions require you to write an abstract of your study. Often the abstract is the first part of your study which is read by your readers. It is frequently the only part read by others outside your institution. Create an abstract which clearly represents your study, focusing on the most significant elements. The information included in your abstract will influence whether researchers proceed to look at your total study. You will want people who are studying issues related to yours to find your study among all the others. You will also want your abstract to be an accurate representation of all the hard work you have devoted to this project. Most students find it useful initially to write an extended abstract, and then to pare down their words, so that the key issues are expressed concisely within the imposed limits. An abstract of your study is usually published in Dissertations Abstract International (DAI). Although there is a 350-word restriction, the format is open to individual choice. The content typically includes the following: • • • • • • title; problem or issue which was researched; the frame of reference or theoretical bases which guided the study; the data sources which informed your study; the procedures for analyzing your data; and the outcomes or findings. The number of words which you allot to each part will be unique to your abstract. Give great detail in reporting the more unusual parts of your study. Sometimes, in a desire to entice a reader to pursue the entire text, researchers 131 Presenting your findings provide sketchy information. Be cautious in writing your abstract, seek advice from your support group. After numerous revisions, all these pieces of your dissertation are likely to be approved by your committee, led by your chair. They will decide that it is time to schedule orals. In most cases, this agreement reflects individual and collective concurrence that you have accomplished all that is required for approving the dissertation. In rare instances, faculty agree to schedule orals despite the fact that they are not pleased with the dissertation. This may be precipitated by a student’s resistance to committee members’ suggestions. In such a situation, faculty may vote to fail the student at the oral examination. While most institutions offer the opportunity for a “second” oral defense, students want to avoid this situation, if at all possible. For most doctoral candidates, the scheduling of orals reflects a major accomplishment, and is prelude to a celebration of their work: “When my mentor finally said, ‘You can defend,’ I felt the Glory come upon me!” 132 14 Defending Your Dissertation Preparing for Orals I’m excited to talk about my study, now that it’s done! I sat at orals with people who had been my teachers and finally saw myself as a quasi-peer. When you’ve decided, “I’ve done the best I can do,” there is one more step in the completion of your dissertation. You have probably heard it referred to in some of these ways: • • • • • • • orals; your orals; the defense; your defense; a hearing; your hearing; an oral examination. Your institutions terms may reveal important insights. If we look more closely at the names, we will note subtle potential differences in the focus of this culminating experience. For example, when candidates prepare for a “defense” they are typically placed in a position which is different from “orals.” As a candidate at a “defense” you are likely to be asked to defend the theories, stances, and decisions which you made in the process of writing your dissertation. You are more likely to experience a confrontation, a time when there is a need to “defend” what was done and why it was done. At a session labeled “orals” the candidate may consider and speculate about multiple perspectives on theories and other issues, without necessarily defending one stance. The use of the term “your” makes your orals more personal. Certainly each person’s experience is unique, never to be duplicated precisely by any other candidate. Regardless of the name it is given at your institution, there are two interdependent processes which occur: • you publicly discuss what you researched, why you studied it, what you discovered in the process, and how your study contributes to the scholarship in your area of specialization, while 133 Defending your dissertation • your committee makes an academic evaluation about the adequacy of your dissertation and your oral presentation. Since I think most institutions use this event as a time to hear from the candidate in an academic setting, I will use the term “oral” and the plural term “orals” in this discussion. (As in all aspects of the dissertation process, I strongly urge you to inquire about what happens at this event from your committee and from your collegial support group. These people have the most intimate details to offer which should be useful in your preparation for this important day, a most-memorable day in your academic career.) In the main, orals are a positive experience, a time when the candidate gets to talk extensively about all she or he has learned and the enduring questions which may guide future research: “Dr. L told me that the orals were to be a happy occasion and not one to grill and intimidate the person.” Smith notes: Much will depend on the quality of research done, the kind of rapport one has with the committee, and the amount of ego strength that one has at the end of this whole process. For some students it is agony. The committee may be rough and the student may be very anxious. These students go in thinking that the committee will try to trick them. In essence, they have set the tone for their own defense. Other students may experience complete ecstasy because they feel that writing the dissertation is one of the most creative things they have ever done. These students usually feel good about what they have done, and they go in with the attitude that they know more about their dissertation than anyone else does. They enter with a willingness to share this knowledge. Reactions to the defense are as varied as the defense itself. Some students end up with ambivalent feelings; others are so relieved to have finished that they do not know exactly how to feel. Many students are simply happy because the defense has gone very well for them. Although the feelings may be different, no one will deny that a real sense of accomplishment is there. No one can destroy that. (Smith, 1982, p. 43) The Purpose Academic institutions constantly evaluate. For you to gain admission into your doctoral program, your academic record was scrutinized. During all your courses, your work was evaluated. Prior to writing your dissertation, your proposal was subjected to careful review. And now that the individual members of your committee have each decided that your dissertation is ready for orals, they will evaluate your work publicly. There are basically four purposes accomplished by your orals: 134