It's time of the year again. Yes it's when our final year students start thinking about their major undergraduate projects... where we at the QS Department, IIUM call it the final year dissertation (AQS 4270).
Preparing for an undergraduate dissertation in quantity surveying at IIUM involves research that is different from a normal coursework. It is different in many ways including:
- The way the subject is defined and approached
- Size
- Duration
- Presentation, and
- Assessment (see KAED / IIUM’s rules and regulations)
Research is about making inquiry, understanding and finding answers to the world’s phenomena, etc. in an un-biased manner.
In my opinion, modern research in quantity surveying should adopt the scientific (positivism) approach and should not be speculative, philosophical or theological in nature, although one or a combination of these elements may be present / involved.
An undergraduate dissertation in quantity surveying involves inquiry, analysis and synthesis, discussion of conclusions and referencing of source material.
On the one hand, doing the dissertation is not to be taken lightly; sufficient time and effort must be allocated for its accomplishment but on the other hand, is not a task that is highly complicated as if doing it would drive one to many sleepless nights or intolerable stress.
One should select a subject that is of interest to him/her and read journal articles, proceedings, books, past years' projects, newspapers, etc in order to learn more about the subject. Talk to your lecturers, friends and seniors. Learn how to focus on specific areas of the subject.
Remember to start as early as possible and to start with reading... undergraduate dissertation is not about preparing questionnaires for a survey or complicated statistical analysis; although a questionnaire survey may become the main tool to be used in the collection of primary data and/or a form of statistical analysis may be employed to give meanings to the data collected.
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