
In the early stages of preparing for your dissertation, objectives and research questions can still be rather vague and open-ended. When embarking on primary research, however, you must begin by clarifying your guiding questions, or risk losing all focus. Word your questions precisely, write them down, know them back to front.

Do not blindly follow the data you have collected; make sure your original research objectives inform which data does and does not make it into your analysis. All data presented should be relevant and appropriate to your aims. Irrelevant data will indicate a lack of focus and incoherence of thought.