2
.
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Causes of Delay of
a Student Completing a Thesis
According to a brief survey of some of the
literature on this issue, the most common
causes of not completing the thesis or
comple
ting it late are: distractions from thesis
research; difficult data
-
related processes; lack
of understanding of the thesis writing process;
students and supervisors’ personal qualities
(Ho, Wong and Wong, 2010); changing the
direction of the studies; and f
inancial
difficulties (Anon, 2013).
The relevant literature further goes on to
identify two other causes of delay:
unfamiliarity with the thesis process; and
difficulty in rescheduling activities to include
the thesis process (Burton & Steane, 2004; and
M
orton & Worthley, 1995).
In terms of familiarizing the student with
the thesis process, this is not currently
included in the Research methods or other
coursework of most MBA programs. For the
most part, there is no formal introduction to
the academic wri
ting process until the student
begins working with his/her thesis adviser
other than reading the occasional journal
article as part of assignment work for other
classes. We might agree that one’s first
encounter with academic English is a daunting
one, eve
n for a native English language
speaker, let alone a student whose first
language is not English.
All TRM MBA students are provided
with a copy of the Graduate Student’s
Handbook on the first day of attending their
orientation at the university. They are
also
urged to read it thoroughly and ask questions
to faculty members, where they do
not
understand
it.