NCM RESEARCH PROJECT THESIS CHECKLIST Revision 01/2012

Thesis/Dissertation

Reviewer Checklist

Name of Reviewer: ______

Name of Author: ______

Project Title:______

Research Thesis Draft Requirements:

All Final Research Drafts must fulfill certain requirements as outlined in the Research Guidelines for Projects and Proposals. Please utilize this checklist to indicate whether the final draft document you are reviewing has met the following:

Thesis Draft OVERALL:

Is based on the original research outlined in the proposal. If unforeseen circumstances forced a change of project, approval from NCM is included.
Demonstrates that the candidate has a grasp of the scientific method and writes using established scientific formats.
Discusses the research that has already been done in the field, including a brief historical overview of the existing research. Includes a detailed review of the work of others and a discussion of how the researcher’s findings contribute to, refute, and/or expand upon existing knowledge in this field.
Include a brief historical overview of work in your field.
Basic formatting and style should follow MLA guidelines.

Comments if necessary: ______

Format

1. Introduction/Purpose

Includes brief summary statements on the areas or subfields of midwifery research examined.
Provides the reader with an immediate idea of what the researcher has done and has found.
Contains the thesis, purpose or hypothesis statement in the final sentence of the first or second paragraph.
Contains a quotation or illustrative story/example that captures initial attention of intended audience (avoided if intended for a clinical journal).
Contains brief summaries of information on the background, nature, and scope of the problem.
Contains a brief narrative of how the research topic was selected (again avoided if intended for a clinical journal).
Contains a summary of the entire project – thesis or purpose statement, methods and findings.

Comments if necessary: ______

2. Thesis/hypothesis

This section provides more detailed information on the purpose statement put forth in the introduction
Provides a statement of what the researcher expects to find and includes the hypotheses tested

Comments if necessary: ______

3. Literature Review

Provides an expanded and comprehensive overview of the literature available on the topic
Provides the reader with all of the pertinent background needed to understand original findings and interpretations
Summarizes what has been done so far on the topic and describes the areas where more research is needed.
Makes a case for why this study was necessary based on gaps in the literature.

Comments if necessary: ______

4. Methodology

Researcher is self-critical in this section preempting any attacks on methodological flaws. (For example, if the researcher knows that the midwives studied did not keep accurate records of transports, researcher notes that data can only provide estimates of transport rates and based on researcher’s knowledge of the practice, provides an opinion on whether estimated rates are high or low.)
This section equips the reader to evaluate the accuracy and validity of researcher’s findings.

Recruitment

Describes how participants were recruited including any modification of recruitment methods (letters, email or flyer posting etc.)Includes a justification for, and a critical reflection on, methods utilized for subject recruitment
Demonstrates guarding against coercion and insures fully voluntary participation. (See sample recruitment questionnaire, Appendix A).
Discusses the reasons for utilizing recruitment method. (Generally this is because other researchers have demonstrated success with a method in the past), cites a handful of these researchers.
Describes how well the recruitment methods worked, any problems encountered, modifications if needed

Comments if necessary: ______

Projected sample size

States sample size, justifying reasons for sample size, describing whether the sample is randomly collected or is collected on all individuals who volunteer and the reasons for utilizing sample size.
Describes how well the sample size worked, any problems encountered, modifications instituted

Comments if necessary: ______

Informed Consent

Demonstrates that informed consent was obtained from each participant and explains the importance of informed consent and whether there were any problems obtaining it.
Describes how informed consent was obtained without biasing the results.

Comments if necessary: ______

Confidentiality

Describes how participant confidentiality was maintained, e.g., pseudonyms, coded numbers for participants, etc., any problems maintaining confidentiality, modifications instituted, etc.

Comments if necessary: ______

Data collection methods

Describes how data was collected, e.g., direct observation, questionnaire, survey, interviews, etc., justifying utilization of methodology chosen (Generally this is because other researchers have demonstrated success with a method in the past), cites a handful of these researchers.
Describes any problems with data collection, any modifications in data collection methods
Researcher is self critical in this section preempting any attacks on methodological flaws

Comments if necessary: ______

Data Analysis

Describes how data was analyzed, e.g., lists specific software program for statistical analysis, describes qualitative analysis of themes from birth stories or other text based data, etc., justifying utilization of the data analysis methodology chosen
Justifies utilization of the data analysis methodology chosen. (Generally this is because other researchers have demonstrated success with a method in the past), cites a handful of these researchers.
Describes any problems with data analysis, any modifications in data analysis methods
Researcher is self critical in this section preempting any attacks on methodological flaws

Comments if necessary: ______

Funding

If researchers have received funding from an external granting institution to cover research expenses, a list of these institutions and any guidelines or specific requirements/restraints dictated by them is listed.
Explanation of how the project has conformed to the guidelines is included, listing any problems encountered with conforming to the guidelines and how these were resolved

Comments if necessary: ______

5. Results

In this section researcher describes pertinent results but does not offer any interpretations of them.
Charts and graphs are used to summarize results
The values reported are those dictated by the statistical methods utilized
Readers are able to read this section and know exactly what the researcher found
Only results pertinent to the thesis/hypothesis statement are reported here

Comments if necessary: ______

6. Discussion

This section provides a discussion, supported by all the available evidence, of the significance of findings and relates them to the other research available.
Makes clear the arguments, summarizing the evidence for each assertion.
Discusses what the findings mean for childbearing women and for midwifery as a field
Describes the theoretical and /or applied significance of the findings, critiquing and debunking competing explanations
Points out exceptions or problems with the data that muddy or complicate the interpretations and discusses any unsettled points.

Comments if necessary: ______

7. Conclusion

No new information is presented in the conclusion.
The conclusion simply restates the thesis/hypotheses and the main findings.
At the end of the conclusion, the researcher points out areas for future study and pinpoints information needed to further clarify arguments/findings

Comments if necessary: ______

8. Acknowledgements

Includes acknowledgement of institution/s that supported the research, like NCM.
Includes acknowledgement of study participants.
Includes acknowledgement of any granting institution/s that provided funding.

Comments if necessary: ______

9. Bibliography

Full citations for all of the resources cited in the final research paper are included.
Utilizes correctly formatted citations such as:
Williamson, C. and H. Goodare
2000 ETHICAL RESEARCH WITH PATIENTS: Guidelines for researchers.
Written for Consumers for Ethics in Research (CERES), and Breast-Cancer Research Ethics & Advocacy Strategy (BREAST UK), October 2000.Available at: charlottes_charter.pdf.

Comments if necessary: ______

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