In this instructional excerpt, Steve Tippins, Ph.D., guides students on how to prepare for a research defense by clearly articulating the entire research process. He emphasizes starting with a well‑defined purpose and research questions, then choosing an appropriate methodology—qualitative (e.g., interviews and transcription) or quantitative (e.g., existing datasets). He walks through data acquisition, cleaning, and the critical step of selecting statistical tests, highlighting the need to check assumptions such as normality. When assumptions are violated, he advises applying transformations (e.g., log‑transform) or opting for a more powerful alternative test. Throughout, he stresses that being able to explain each step demonstrates mastery of the research process, which is what examiners look for in a defense.
