Steve Tippins Ph.D.Helping doctoral students get their dissertation accepted, succeed in their careers, & change the world | Academic Career Advisor | Dissertation Chair & Founder, Beyond PhD Coaching | 35 + years of experience.

Is Your Dissertation One Study?

9 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief instructional monologue, the speaker emphasizes that a dissertation's problem statement, purpose, and research questions must all point to the same study, even if phrased differently. Using the example of a lack of mentorship for first‑generation doctoral students, they illustrate how the purpose should address the problem and the research questions should investigate it. The speaker warns that these sections often drift during writing, and recommends reading them sequentially to confirm they form a single, coherent study. The video concludes with an invitation to join a free dissertation help community for further support.

Chapters

Your problem statement, purpose, and research questions should all point to the same thing. You don't need to use the same words, but the reader needs to be able to make the connection between them all. For example, if your problem is lack of mentorship for first-generation doctoral students, your purpose should address the problem, and your research question should help you investigate it. Same study, same general focus, but different jobs. The purpose explains what the study is going to do. The research questions explain what you want to find out. But where students run into trouble is that these sections change during the writing process. So read your problem statement, purpose, and research questions one after the other, and then ask yourself, does this sound like one study? Comment help and we will send you the link to our free dissertation help community. You've got this.