Challenges of Writing Theses and Dissertations among Postgraduate Students: A Case Study of a Private University in Kenya

Abstract

The writing of both theses and dissertations remains a challenge to many postgraduate students at the Masters as well as at the PhD levels. The aim of this qualitative case study was to explore the academic challenges that Masters and Doctorate students in private Universities face while writing their theses and dissertations and to propose the remedies for mitigation. Ten postgraduate students (seven Masters and three Doctorate) in the university who had either completed or were at the stage of writing their thesis and dissertations were targeted. Data were collected using an open-ended questionnaire supplemented with semi-structured interviews. The study was grounded on an interpretivist research paradigm which formed the basis for interpreting the results of the data. The results of the thematic analysis of data revealed that students faced challenges in navigating through the following areas of the thesis/dissertation writing: the identification of a research problem, development of a research topic, disagreement between supervisors, and getting responses from supervisors. The study recommends for the intensification of mentoring and supervision, postgraduate research writing courses, and practical involvement of students in practical research.