All You Need To Know About Assumptions In A Science Dissertation

Creating a decent science dissertation is a challenging task. Apart from the burden of writing the theoretical framework, most science dissertations have to include detailed descriptions of laboratory tests and their results. Depending on the area of research, those results have to be proved by all kinds of graphs, pie charts and calculations. Besides, the whole paper has to be formatted in accordance with the requirements of this particular educational establishment.

3 Things Most Commonly Forgotten

Although there are many instructions, manuals and guidelines on how to write a dissertation, they sometimes use the vocabulary that is hard to understand. For example, there are a lot of misinterpretation of such terms as delimitations, limitations, and assumptions in a thesis.

To avoid any misunderstandings, here are the definitions of each of these words.

• Delimitations

Delimitations are the boundaries set to turn a vast topic into a narrow one, for example, the area and object of research, the purpose of the study, the questions the study is going to answer.

• Limitations

Limitations are the thing and facts affecting the study and limiting it in a number of ways. (For example, the researcher might have to use outdated equipment due to financial limitations).

• Assumptions

Assumptions are facts believed to be true and accepted as plausible (although there is no clear evidence of that). In some cases, the terms “assumptions” and “hypothesis” may be used interchangeably.

Some educational establishments want their students to enlist all of them at the beginning of their thesis. However, even if yours doesn’t, you need to know what assumptions are as you’re definitely going to use a lot of them in your paper (even without acknowledging it).

What You Need to Know about Assumptions

Of course, there is no way to help you define the assumptions for your dissertation, as they depend on your discipline and your area of study. However, there is nothing to fear here. Here are some examples to help you understand what assumptions are about.

If a researcher needs some statistics for the study and makes a survey, he or she may have the following assumptions:

• All participants of the survey give clear and honest answers;
• All participants are selected based on the criteria appropriate for this very kind of research.

If a researcher is conducting an experiment in a lab, he/she might have the assumption that:

• No unpredictable factors affect the course of the experiment;
• The equipment is functioning well and no technical/equipment problems occur.