Posted: August 23rd, 2013

Practical Application

Your dissertation research must contribute to theory. Your research and the theory to which it contributes may or may not have a practical benefit or application. There is no doubt, however, that there is a theory in your dissertation topic area that does have a practical application.

Part 1
Referencing at least five peer-reviewed journal articles or scholarly books, discuss views on the relationship between theory and application or practice. How can a theory guide or inform practice? What are the issues involved in translating theory into practice? Be sure to keep in mind the various conceptions of theory you discussed in Question 1.

Part 2
Referencing at least five peer-reviewed journal articles, fully describe a theory of current interest in your topic area. A theory is currently of interest if there are articles published on it in the past five years. This theory may or may not be the same as the one you examined in Question 1, Part 3. Describe a current view of the theory, not the founder’s view or a classic view. Your answer should be no more than three pages long.

Part 3
Identify at least five scholarly articles (published in the last 5 years) that address how the theory you discussed in Part 2 has actually been applied. (Draw on your response to Part 1 in order to define what you mean by an application of a theory to an actual problem or situation.) Critically evaluate the appropriateness of the uses to which the theory has been applied. Consider, for example: Are the applications premised upon an accurate understanding of the theory and its scope? Do the applications “go beyond” what the theory claims? Is the reasoning linking application and theory sound?

The structure of your paper should be as follows:
Title page
Body (10-15 pages, no more or less; APA Style; use appropriate headings for organization of the paper)
References (APA Style)
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Introductory Title
(This is not the question number or question title)
(This title should relate directly to your paper)
In one succinct paragraph (less than one-half page), introduce the topic and provide a general overviewtelling the reader what your paper is about.  Example: (Introduction comments) this paper will address…
Literature Review
This is your critical analysis of scholarly peer-reviewed sourcesin your interest area and this section is where you establish your theoretical foundation by synthesizing theoretical frameworks from scholarly peer-reviewed studies followed by a critical analysis of each study.  (See theoretical framework strategies in the Tips for Success)
In essence this section should typically include 12-14 succinct synthesis of the theoretical frameworks and critical analysis of the peer-reviewed studies written in a doctoral level narrative form with smooth transition between studies.  Each study should be synthesized in one succinct paragraph (about one-half page or less per study).  DO NOT summarize or give a historical report.  DO NOT use bullet points (and preferably no subheadings unless absolutely needed) in the literature review.  The literature review in a doctoral level scholarly paper is where you should synthesize the study to provide the reader with a snapshot of the study. Your literature review should be six to seven pages in length for a 10-15 page Comprehensive Questions paper.
Discussion/Findings
The discussion section should be about the same length as your literature review.  This is where you will discuss what you found out based upon your literature review.  In other words, this section is where you should discuss what the findings mean from the studies that you synthesized and critically analyzed in your literature review.
After a brief two or three sentence introduction to this section, if you have an examination question with multiple parts, use the key words and concepts from each part as a subheading section of the discussion section.  Furthermore, if your exam question has required readings that need to be incorporated into your exam response, this is the section to address the readings and analysis requirement.  For example:
Sub-heading One (Create a title from the exam question part one)
Discuss the findings from the required amount of studies in this subpart.  As you are discussing what the findings mean in relation to theory, practical application, building a theoretical foundation for your study, or ethics (depending upon your exam question); correlate, contrast, and use the required readings, seminal work, experiences, other scholarly sources to frame your argument.
Sub-heading Two (Create a title from the exam question part two)
Discuss the findings from the required amount of studies in this subpart.  As you are discussing what the findings mean in relation to theory, practical application, building a theoretical foundation for your study, or ethics (depending upon your exam question); correlate, contrast,

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