Evaluating A Thesis: Importance Of Validity, Reliability, And Trustworthiness

Reading and Evaluating a Thesis from the Perspective of Validity, Reliability, and Trustworthiness

This spring you will practice to do oppositions. And at the final seminar is something special – it is more of a graduation test than the previous ones, and it is the time where you present the thesis as a whole.

When doing an opposition it is important to read the thesis thoroughly and to keep the purpose and research question in mind throughout the reading. The opposition is about evaluating the thesis from the perspective of validity (how well have the authors studied what they aimed to study?), reliability (that the results would be the same the next time as well), but also about the trustworthiness, relevance, and if it is understandable and credible. Trustworthiness is about how the conclusions have been reached. Questions to ask are: “how did they reach the conclusions, was the empirical data “right” for this kind of study, which sources have been used and are the conclusions to be trusted, which and how many scientific sources and which empirical sources have been chosen, and are they to be trusted”?

You also need to make sure that the written information is relevant to question and purpose. Sometimes theses’ have a lot of information that is not relevant to the studied phenomenon, and this needs to be pointed out by the opponent. One way of evaluating that part is to look at the references that have been used and if they are relevant to the studied phenomenon, the question asked and the purpose. The research question should answer which problem the thesis will solve and the purpose should answer how to solve it.

Discuss what relevant means for you and the context of the research question that you are interested in. To be able to only have scientific sources and empirical data that is relevant for the purpose and question might mean deleting text that is not relevant.

If a text is understandable is a question about language and structure, and is of great importance when evaluating the thesis, as this affects how easy (or difficult) it is to read and understand. A thesis is expected to be well-written and it should be possible to read the thesis without going back and forth. There has to be a “red thread” throughout the thesis that is easy to follow, and where the different parts of the thesis are coherent.

To receive constructive critique from the opponents often results in a thesis with higher quality. If the opponent has done a proper job evaluating the relevance, credibility and validity of the collected information it is easier to comment on the trustworthiness of the thesis. Note that the relevance is not only about the collected primary and secondary data, but also about the chosen and used academic literature. Also, make sure to have a positive attitude when doing the opposition. It is about giving constructive criticism and the goal is to help the writers to improve their thesis, and to encourage their writing. As a respondent of criticism remember to keep calm and be respectable.

Questions to consider when doing an opposition:

1. Is the thesis interesting and worth reading?

2.Is it easy to read and understand?

3.Are the results of the thesis trustworthy, reliable etc.?

4.Was it easy to understand the purpose?

5.Do you consider that the title reflects the contents of the report?

6.How did the author describe the background? Was there an introduction and general survey of this area?

7.To what degree did the author justify his/her choice of method of tackling the problem?

8.Did the author discuss the extent to which the prerequisites for the application of such a method are fulfilled?

9.Is the method adequately described? What about reliability and validity? Trustworthiness and relevance?

10.Have the authors set out their results clearly and concisely?

11.Do you consider the authors’ conclusions to be credible and valid when looking at the presented data and analysis?

12.How did they reach their conclusions?

13.What is your opinion of the bibliography? How many and what types of literature are included? Do you feel they are relevant?

14.Which sections of the thesis were difficult to understand? Other comments on the report and its language and structure.

15.What are the stronger and weaker features of the thesis?

16.What is your estimation of the news value of the thesis?

17.What is your concluding assessment of the thesis?

18.Recommendations for improvements?

1.The thesis in concern is quite interesting. One fact about the topic and the research is that it is unique and that the target group of the research is Swedish Generation Y population. It must be noted that though the topic has been widely researched, it has been researched on a broader and generalized manner and never specifically on the Swedish or the Generation Y population.

2.The thesis was easy to read and understand. The problem statement and purpose statement of the thesis was able to summarize the aim of the research paper appropriately. The research questions were narrowed and specific according to the aim of the study. Therefore, it is justified to say that the paper demonstrates clarity and easy to read and understand.

3.The results of the thesis seem to be reliable and trustworthy. The major reason for this is because the research had been conducted through online as well as face to face survey that guarantees no kind of manipulation or coercion from the side of the. The authors had ensured that reliability of the results was not tampered with by allowing only one person to log in at a time while conducting the online survey. Moreover, during the face-to-face survey the authors made sure that the participant faced no kind of pressure or manipulation while filling out the survey form.

4. The purpose and aim of the thesis paper was easily understood. This was made possible by the problem statement and especially by the purpose statement of the paper. The authors were able to mention the purpose of the paper with utmost clarity leaving no scope of doubt about the mission of the paper in the mind of the reader.

5.The title appropriately summarizes the contents of the report. It contains the keywords like ‘Generation Y’, ‘Sweden’, ‘Loyalty’ ‘Mobile Phones’, that appropriately hints at what the paper aims at doing and what might be the contents of the paper.

6.The authors had introduced the background of the topic in an efficient manner. They have talked about the rise of the mobile services, the rising competition in the wireless phone market, the mobile service present in Sweden as well as the Generation Y. They have also discussed the various factors that usually affect brand loyalty like brand image, brand quality as perceived by the customers, brand experience, customer satisfaction, fluctuating costs as well as the link between Generation Y and brand loyalty. The authors did provide an efficient introduction and a detailed survey of the background of the research topic, necessary for the understanding of the paper.

Ensuring Relevance and Understandability of Written Information

7.The authors did mention their method chosen for the purpose of the research as well as provided justification for it under the headings of ‘Research Design’ and ‘Research Method’. They have stated that the approach or method used for the research is descriptive quantitative and have provided theoretical justification for using such method.

8.The authors have described the required actions taken for the application of their chosen method in details. They have explained all the necessary arrangements made for the proper execution of their research method. This is evident under the ‘Questionnaire and Questionnaire Design’ where the authors mention how the questionnaire was designed and how it was distributed.

 9.The research methodology has been very well described in the paper. The paper appropriately describes the research process. The authors have given a detailed description of the method starting from the selection of the sample and the research method to the analysis of the data including in between the description of the sample used, of the method of data collection, of the tools used in data collection, of the design of the questionnaire as well as its distribution among the participants. The paper also demonstrates how the data collected was analyzed to bring about effective results. Since the research is based mostly on primary data it can be said that the method of the research is highly reliable. Moreover, the authors have explained their endeavours towards a manipulation free survey under the ‘Reliability’ section which accounts for the reliability of the method. The research method used calls for high validity of the results since the research method was open and realistic and because a large sample was used to get the desired results. Moreover, the secondary data has been backed up by adequate references and after performing  wide range of literature review. Hence, evidently the research method is valid. Coming to the aspect of trustworthiness, the research method as well as the findings can be trusted since the method was reliable, ethical and valid. The research method is relevant considering the type of sample and the nature of the research used.

10.The authors have presented their findings and results efficiently in an organized manner that was concise, clear and easy to understand. They had also presented graphs making it easier to understand the results.

11.The conclusions are credible and valid since the target group was focused and specific to the aim of the research. Moreover, the data collected and the method of analysis sem to be practical and realistic.

12. The authors had conducted an online and face-to-face survey of the Swedish Generation Y population and had asked them questions relevant to their research questions. The data collected was primary and quantitative which was then analysed through the method of cross-tabulation. The findings were also backed up by secondary data colleceted from relevant academic sources.

13.The authors had referred to a wide range of academic articles for their research. They have used about 108 resources including academic, papers, journals and official websites to support their research. The resources referred to seem to be relevant for their research purpose.

14.None of the sections of the thesis lacked clarity. The structure of the paper is organized and coherent. The language is simple even though there are grammatical errors in the language used.

15.The strong points of the thesis are that it is highly organized, detailed and does not lack clarity. Additionally, the fact that the results are highly relevant to the aim and the research questions is another strong point of the paper. However, a weak point of the paper is that the authors could have provided a little more information on the background of the study. Another weak point of the paper is the grammar that is improper and full of errors.

16.There is not much news value of the thesis since the topic has been discussed multiple times on broader level. However, on a specific level the news value must be higher since few or no people have researched on the Swedish Generation Y people on the chosen topic.

17. In conclusion, the thesis has been very well written in a detailed and organized manner after careful research of the topic. Moreover, the results and conclusions are relevant and credible since the method of research is reliable and valid. Hence, the thesis is understandable and trustworthy.

18.The grammar and sentence structures can be improved by following a proper grammatical framework. Additionally, a little more research could be done on the background of the topic providing a more firm foundation to the research findings and results.