STAR POINTS

1a Supervisor Tracking

AsterWrite can track 5 levels of Supervision for student progress:

1. AsterWrite tracks how well a student is performing against his/her own Work Schedule.

2. Supervisors can see student performance dynamically.

3. Head of Departments (HODs) can see the performance of several Supervisors.

4. Deans of Faculties can see the performance of several HODs.

5. Director of Studies can see all levels.

1b Student-Supervisor

Student-Supervisor dialogue can be traced.

1. Supervisor logs in to Student Tracker.

2. Supervisor studies student progress.

3. Supervisor request information.

4. Student sends information.

5. Supervisor checks requirements.

6. Student sends update information.

7. Supervisor accepts or rejects transaction.

2 Master / Doctorate Journey

A Master or Doctorate program is a significant aspect of one's life.

1. It costs a lot of money and time.

2. It also takes several years of committed endeavor to reach the Masters or Doctorate.

3. It is just like any journey in life.

4. Many students know their destination but have no idea of the journey.

With AsterWrite, realize what it takes to complete your Master's or Doctorate program. Prepare for your journey, and reach your destination.

3 Schema for Research Questions

AsterWrite is not just a text editor.  AsterWrite

1. Identifies Topics, Issues and Scopes and translates them to Variables

2. The Variables are then used to create the thesis title,

3. Synthesize the Research Questions,

4. Select Qualitative and Quantitative methods,

5. and continue to Data Analysis

4 Digital Threading of Research

AsterWrite enables research in novel ways.

1. Literature Review is objective

2. Excerpts are tied to supporting data

3. Gap Analysis is objective

The literature review is objective and arguments are tied to supporting data with Gap Analysis. Code can be evaluated (and re-evaluated) and classified into Independent Variables (IV), Dependent Variables (DV), etc. With the Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworks, testable IV-DV pairs can be collected. Research Questions are constructed based on the IV-DV pairs:

1. Test Selection to see what test activity the researcher needs

2. Test Design to see the general test pattern

3. Test Method to see the test details and statistical handling

4. Sample Size to ensure the researcher is using the right sample size

If there is a logical error in the research, AsterWrite enables the researcher to address all affected threads and make very quick corrections in a cascading way.

5 Qualitative Research

This block diagram shows how AsterWrite has a simple way of conducting qualitative analysis. Grounded Theory is a robust procedure for many types of studies. AsterWrite has an intuitive method for conducting Grounded Theory featuring rigorous procedures leading to the emergence of conceptual categories.

6 Grounded Theory

AsterWrite handles Qualitative Analysis unlike any other software. The researcher is taken step-by-step through the various processes:

1. Various information and data are collected.

2. Excerpts are transcripted.

3. Demography data may be linked.

4. Excerpts are extracted.

5. Codes are created.

6. Code Map is developed.

7. Demography data is analyzed.

8. Report is written.

AsterWrite is built to arrive at a conceptual theory. And since comments can be written for each Code, Concept, or Category, the report can be outlined to show only the Category, Concept, or the full Code level.

7 Statistical Analysis

AsterWrite has a wide range of statistical tests. All tests are laid out neatly with definitive conclusions. AsterWrite does not require Syntax unlike some other software. Graphs are presented in the most likely usage form.

8 Statistical Decision

Depending on the {modifier} in the research question, AsterWrite determines the test pertinent to the hypothesis. Thus, the hypothesis tests follow almost automatically from the research questions. When the data is entered, the calculations are rolled out with clear results.

9 Creating Questionnaire

AsterWrite has a full suite of applets to create a Questionnaire and conduct most Validity and Reliability tests. Once a Questionnaire is drafted, the researcher can establish Face Validity:

• Essential Questions and

• Relevant Questions.

Following the Internal Review Board, the researcher can establish:

• Concurrent Validity, 

• Predictive Validity, 

• Convergent Validity and 

• Divergent Validity tests.

The researcher can also establish 

• Inter-Item Reliability, 

• Item-Total Reliability or 

• Cronbach Reliability.

Following the Field Test, the researcher can conduct 

• Internal Consistency Reliability, 

• Equivalence Reliability and 

• Stability Reliability.

All test templates are available with sample data.

10 Theory Formation to Theory Testing

AsterWrite has an extraordinary way of handling research. Often, a researcher has to develop a theory and prove that theory. To do this the researchers have to:

1. Conduct interviews, focus-groups, etc. 

2. Extract excerpts using Grounded Theory

3. Develop a conceptual model, i.e. build a theory

4. Construct a Questionnaire

5. Collect data for this theory

6. Test the theory using Structural Equation Modeling

Researchers can use multiple software to achieve all these or use just use AsterWrite.

11 AsterWrite Software

Here is an outline of AsterWrite for a research program in terms of a process. Almost every step of research can be completed by a suitable applet. AsterWrite allows a researcher to conduct research in many ways:

1. Managing References

2. Conducting a Literature Review

3. Performing a Gap Analysis

4. Creating a Conceptual or Theoretical Framework

5. Developing Research Questions

6. Conducting Grounded Theory

7. Developing Questionnaire

8. Analyzing using Structural Equation Modeling

9. Conducting other Quantitative Analyses

10. Performing Statistical Tests

11. Synthesizing the Thesis.

Completing the tasks collates the material for a dissertation or thesis. Of course, more and more applets are added regularly.

12 AsterWrite Integrated Software

Although students can use several other software, only AsterWrite brings it all together. AsterWrite provides not only the functions of other software, it gives continuity of data. In particular, AsterWrite cascades information from one step to the next.

AsterWrite is a new paradigm in research and thesis writing. Many different functionalities are integrated into custom-built AsterWrite.

13 Contribution to Knowledge

AsterWrite has a unique way of helping students identify Contribution to Knowledge. The student can then clearly relate the achievements in the thesis.

14 Conventional Software

There are numerous software for many aspects of research and thesis writing. It has become usual for research students to spend undue amounts of time learning software after software, at the expense of real research. And every software has its own styles and features. This  results in:

1. Many standalone, very specialized, software for different functions.

2. Collection of software needed one for qualitative analysis, one for quantitative analysis, one for reference, etc.

3. Styles are different. Formats are different. Data structures are different.

4. No continuity from one software to the next.

5. No flow of information - no traceability of what went wrong where.

6. Researcher spends more time learning software after software.

With AsterWrite  Integrated Software, all essential features are built together and integrated to function in a complementary way. The result is:

1. Step 1 cascades to Step 2, which cascades to Step 3, etc.

2. The researcher spends more time on actual research.