Google and Other Applications to Support the Dissertation Process
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Posted By: Terrie Hampton-Jones on July 31, 2023 Google and Other Applications to Support the Dissertation Process Terrie Bethea-Hampton, Ed.D., NBCT Campbell University betheahampton@campbell.edu Ashley Johnson-Holder, Ed.D. Fayetteville State University aholder@uncfsu.edu Abstract Completing a dissertation can prove to be a catalyst for one’s career. One of the most common questions is, "How long will it take to complete a doctorate?" Of course, it depends on the field of study and the institution, but it is a standard question. When my "battle buddy" and I share with people that we completed our course work, dissertations, and defense in just under three years, we usually get many questions about what tools, applications, and strategies we employed. We enrolled and completed our program in Educational Leadership and School Supervision at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. The two of us met during the first week of coursework and remained study partners. I studied Educational Leadership and School Supervision at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. I met my study partner during the first week of the course and we continued to study together throughout the program.am.ipal of a Our classes were organized in cohorts, so we were able to collaborate easily with each other.ry school. As we embarked on this journey, we gathered helpful tools, applications, and strategies. I completed my dissertation on Freshman Academies, "Strategies identified for grade nine transition programs about academic achievement, discipline, and student attendance (Bethea, T, 2016)." My classmate's completed dissertation was "Reading Teachers' and administrators' perceptions of the factors that promote or inhibit student reading achievement in selected North Carolina elementary schools (Holder, A, 2016)." Keywords: Google Docs, Google Scholar, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Forms, Dissertation, hardware device, Survey Monkey, LinkedIn, data collection, AlternativeTo Introduction During the writing process of a dissertation, certain resources can be helpful, while others may not be as effective. Collaborating with a partner can be beneficial in sharing resources and tips. Some useful resources include Google Docs, Google Scholar, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Forms, hardware devices, Survey Monkey, LinkedIn, data collection, and AlternativeTo.ertation. Many students complete the course work and end up “ABD” (all but dissertation). It helps to be driven, motivated, and passionate about the research. To avoid the ABD status, it is helpful to have a compiled list of proven tools, applications, and strategies that will assist in completing the course work, writing, and defense. Especially if the goal is to complete the process within three years or less. This paper is intended to share briefly the hardware, Google Applications, websites, and other applications employed during the process of completing the dissertation. Google Docs Completing a dissertation can be a tedious process for one to manage and finish in a timely manner. It involves conducting thorough research and storing it in a way where it is easily accessible. To compile a paper that is informative and of high quality, one must dedicate themselves to the process. The main goal of the research is to pose new arguments and to provide additional insight through different lenses. In simple terms, the literature review is a collection of resources that, when organized and combined, create patterns and themes that summarize and synthesize information. The literature review is a vital part of the dissertation because the researcher is gathering information from old and new information to determine interpretations on a specific topic. The literature review can require up to 100 references or more. Before beginning this process, it is essential to store the literature review in a safe place that can be accessed with or without an Internet connection. It is important to save the research in multiple locations, such as a hard drive, flash drive, and an online application. For example, Onedrive, Zoho Docs, Dropbox, or Google Docs are popular storing platforms used widely. It is not wise to store the research in one location. Google Docs functions a lot like Microsoft WORD. Google has assisted the dissertation completers to be less stressed and overworked while completing the dissertation. Several Google applications are out there to make doctoral students’ life more manageable. When completing the dissertation, Google Docs has many benefits over using WORD. For example, Google Docs automatically saves work, which protects the researchers' time when looking for the last edited draft in WORD. Google Docs allows the researcher to 1) Store papers to read later, 2) Purchase additional storage, 3) Sync to other devices and accounts, 4) Share papers with collaborators, and 5) Review all edits and versions of the paper (“Google Docs," 2019). Researchers should use the folder feature in Google to compile their documents for their dissertation. For example, it would be wise to have one folder for each chapter and important components. When completing the dissertation, the researchers had one main folder titled Dissertation. Within that folder, there were other folders, which were titled Acknowledgements, Table of Contents, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, APA Tables, and References. Google Scholar There is a distinct difference between Google and Google Scholar. Google Scholar pinpoints scholar works to include university sites, professional journals, and other academic publishers (Scholar.Google.com, 2016). An essential component of writing the dissertation is to gather scholarly research to include in the literature review and to support the study. In a scholarly paper, the sources may include books, journal articles, websites, and other dissertations. The validity of the sources is vital to the credibility of the paper. Therefore, it is important only to include scholarly research-based works. Information from websites can be highly subjective. Therefore, Before including sources in scholarly work, it is important to conduct website evaluations and analysis. Researchers should pay close attention to the website's extension, such as .org, .gov, .edu, .mil, or .com, as it can significantly impact the information's credibility.n is delivered. Google Scholar includes a database of academic journals, dissertations, white papers, and other scholarly research. The functionality of the operators within Google Scholar assists the reacher in narrowing the focus of the study. With Google Scholar, researchers can explore various disciplines and sources to locate scholarly research. Moreover, this tool provides the "My Library" feature, allowing researchers to store their research. This feature helps in keeping track of the sources used for literature review and simplifies the reference page citation process ("Google Scholar," 2019). Google Forms and Google Sheets Data collection is a huge part of completing the dissertation. One must collect data to conduct their study and rationalize their findings. Although many software applications exist to assist researchers with data collection, most of them are very costly. However, Google Forms is a free application that allows users to create and deliver surveys. Users can create themes to make the survey more personalized and have the option to embed YouTube videos or images. When creating the survey, researchers can choose from various question-type options ranging from short answer to utilizing a checkbox grid (see figure 1). Users can also utilize question skip logic and require that some questions be answered while others may not. Figure 1. Screenshot of Google Forms Once the survey is finished, it can be shared using a link that can be accessed through a computer or a cell phone. As participants complete the survey, Google analyzes the data in real-time for the researcher. To further analyze the data, users can transfer it to Google Sheets from Google Forms. Additionally, users can invite collaborators to edit or contribute to the survey doctorate candidates to invite dissertation chairs and committee members to view, edit, or modify their survey before distribution (“Google Forms & Sheets,” 2019). Google Slides - Presentation of Research While completing the dissertation, candidates must present their study multiple times across the program. Most doctoral programs require that candidates defend their chapters and wait for the committee to approve before allowing them to move on. Google Slides functions similarly to other Google applications previously discussed, as users' work is saved automatically, making accessing the last finished presentation easier. Therefore, candidates can defend chapters 1-3 and easily access that particular presentation to add more from chapters 4 and 5 when defending their entire study. Additionally, Google Slides allows users to choose from professional themes, embed videos, and upload images. Similar to previous applications discussed, candidates can share their presentations with their dissertation chair and committee members, allowing them to edit their performance and give constructive feedback (“Google Slides,” 2019). Useful Tools and Resources Technology is a moving target, and there are changes daily. However, this is a list of tools and resources that are current today for completing the dissertation process. Hardware - No specific desktop, laptop, or tablet is preferred for completing the dissertation. Any lightweight, portable devices such as a Smartphone, iPad, or tablet is necessary to have handy for jotting notes, thoughts, marking resources, and even writing while on the go. This helps to keep the research available to the researcher at all times. It is good practice to read something about the research daily and keep a technology device handy. A reliable laptop or desktop is necessary for actually writing the dissertation. This means that a computer that can access the internet and store data is necessary. In some states like North Carolina, the State Employee Credit Union offers special assistive technology loans to purchase technology devices associated with education (North Carolina SECU, n.d.). Also, Apple offers a 10% discount to educators. Students should check with their dissertation chair on any specific IOS, OS X, or Windows versions needed to run statistical data. Samples - Vanderbilt University provides free of charge a page that contains sample templates for abstracts, acknowledgments, table of contents, and the dissertation page. There are also templates for the dissertation, composition, structure information, and style requirements for APA, MLA, and Chicago formatting. AlternativeTo - AlternativeTo is a website that lists alternatives to web-based software, desktop computer software, and mobile apps. The AlternativeTo app sorts the alternatives to various websites, applications, and online resources by criteria including the number of registered users who have clicked the “Like” button for each category. This assists the researcher in identifying better resources that are user-friendly, helpful, and current. The current numbers for AlternativeTo are 83,163 Apps; 722,790 Likes; and 642,543 Reviews. The basic version of this application is free. The premium version has a 30-day trial period ("Alternativeto," 2019). Data Collection - Survey Monkey is an online survey development cloud-based software. Survey Monkey provides free, customizable surveys and a suite of paid back-end programs that include data analysis, sample selection, bias elimination, and data representation tools. There are free and paid versions of this data collection software. G-Power - G*Power 3 is a statistical power analysis program designed to analyze different types of data to compute sample size with graphic options. G Power covers many different statistical test of the F, t, chi-square, and z test families as well as some exact tests (Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G., & Buchner, A., 2007). LinkedIn - Though most people use social media to connect with friends and post personal accomplishments, LinkedIn can be a beneficial tool for networking with others writing on the same or similar topic. LinkedIn is an excellent resource for building a community of people with like interest. For example, a researcher studying black males can sort through the educators on LinkedIn and build a community to send the surveys out to for participation. NoNotes - Any researcher that is conducting a qualitative or mix-method study can record calls with the option of transcribing with No Notes. This call-recording app allows users to easily record any call of any length between North America and the UK. The call is then saved to the cloud (“NoNotes,” 2019). Conclusion With technology at our fingertips in today’s world, this has made completing the dissertation a more manageable task for doctoral candidates. If candidates strive to use the applications discussed and have the drive to earn a doctorate, then this is a monumental moment that can and will happen. If we could offer more advice to candidates, we would like to mention to celebrate the mini accomplishments as you are going through. For example, after you have finished collecting and analyzing your data, go out, and have a nice dinner with a family member or friend. That also brings us to encourage individuals not to push their loved ones away as you are going through the process. It is easy to become isolated and consumed with your dissertation, but this is not healthy as you will need the support of your loved ones to get you through the rough patches. Lastly, secure your battle buddy and hang together as you complete this significant accomplishment. References Alernativeto, (2019). Crowdsourced software recommendations. https://alternativeto.net Bethea, Terrie, "Strategies identified for grade nine transition programs in relation to academic achievement, discipline, and student attendance" (2016). ETD Collection for Fayetteville State University. AAI10610442. https://digitalcommons.uncfsu.edu/disserta... Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175-191 Holder, Ashley Johnson, "Reading teachers' and administrators' perceptions of the factors that promote or inhibit student reading achievement in selected North Carolina elementary schools" (2016). ETD Collection for Fayetteville State University. AAI10610446.https://digitalcommons.uncfsu.edu/dissertations/AAI10610446 Nonotes Call Recording and Transcription. (2019). https://www.nonotes.com North Carolina State Employee Credit Union, Assistive technology loans. (2019) https://www.secumd.org/personal/borrowing/... loans.aspx (n.d.). Retrieved October 19, 2019, from https://www.google.com/docs/about/. (n.d.). Retrieved October 19, 2019, from https://www.google.com/formss/about/. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2019, from https://www.google.com/sheets/about/. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2019, from https://www.google.com/slides/about/. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2019, from https://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar... If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Terrie Hampton-Jones
Associate Professor , Campbell University Other College... class of 2007 Member Since July 2023 |
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