Blog
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Your Results Are Done and the Discussion Chapter Is Blank (South Africa, 2026)
The results chapter is finished, the discussion is an empty heading, and registration for another year is closer than submission. The discussion stalls because it is the only chapter with no template — but it does have a shape. A…
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SPSS vs R vs Jamovi vs JASP for a South African Dissertation (2026)
Before you pay for anything, check what your university already licenses — UCT, Wits, Stellenbosch, Unisa and UP all provide statistical software to postgraduates on very different terms. Then the honest comparison of SPSS, R, jamovi and JASP for dissertation…
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How to Do Thematic Analysis for a South African Dissertation, Step by Step (2026)
The six phases of thematic analysis worked through for a South African master’s dissertation — transcription conventions, coding, building themes that are not just topic summaries, and the multilingual and POPIA questions generic guides never mention.
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How Many Sources Should a Master’s Dissertation Cite? We Counted 25 South African Ones (2026)
No South African university prescribes a number of sources. We counted the reference lists of 25 South African master’s dissertations: the median held 75 sources, with half between 42 and 170. Full method, limitations and five checks that matter more…
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Best Online Survey Tools for a South African Dissertation (2026): Free, Institutional and Offline Compared
Before you pay anything, check what your university already runs — most South African institutions provide Microsoft Forms, and many host REDCap or license Qualtrics. Then the honest comparison: KoboToolbox’s free Community Plan covers educational institutions at 5 000 submissions…
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How Do I Prove My Questionnaire Is Valid? (South Africa, 2026)
A high Cronbach’s alpha does not make an instrument valid — it only says the items agree with each other. Validity is a separate argument built from four kinds of evidence, each with a published threshold: I-CVI 0,78 for expert…
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Your Data Failed the Normality Test: What to Do Next (South Africa, 2026)
Shapiro-Wilk came back significant and the t-test you planned for months looks dead. It almost certainly is not. Five things to check before you change anything, the four legitimate routes forward, and how to write the decision up so an…
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How to Analyse Your Questionnaire Data in SPSS, Step by Step (2026)
Ten steps from a pile of completed questionnaires to a defensible analysis: the codebook, Variable View, cleaning, reverse-scoring, scale computation, reliability, descriptives and the inferential test — each with its expected output and a syntax trail your examiner can check.
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How Many Academics Are There to Supervise You? South Africa’s University Staff in 2024
South Africa’s 26 public universities employed 20 887 permanent instruction and research staff in 2024, against 1 115 580 enrolled students and 90 010 master’s and doctoral candidates. The staffing figures almost nobody quotes, with the two definitions that decide…
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How Many South African Students Use AI? What the Data Actually Shows (2026)
There is no national survey of AI use among South African students. The figures circulating — 80%, 90%, “almost all” — come from surveys of other countries. What South Africa has instead is a handful of single-institution studies with samples…