كتابة الأبحاث العلمية

1. كتابة الأبحاث العلمية الاستاذ الدكتور خالد حسينى

2. Common Structure • Introduction[overview; research objectives; research questions; research motivations; research importance; potential contributions; key findings; the structure of the thesis]. • Theoretical framework [which theory and why?]. • Literature review [critically survey prior studies; identify gaps; explain how your thesis fills at least 2/3 gaps]. • Research method [context; sample selection criteria; sample period selection; research hypotheses; the justification of the research method; data collection; variables definitions and measurement; source of data…etc.]. • Empirical analysis [descriptive analysis; research findings; accepting/rejecting hypotheses; answering research questions]. • Discussion [the link between the findings and both theory and literature] • Conclusion [summary of the key findings; implications; research limitation and suggestions for future research].

3. The Title of the paper • The research title is the essential part of a research paper that is read the most, and it is usually read first.  • The aim of a title is to capture the reader’s attention and to draw attention to the research problem being investigated and to summarise the main ideas of your thesis. • A good research title should contain the fewest possible words needed to adequately describe the contents and/or purpose of the thesis.

4. *شروط العنوان الجيد • “العنوان الجيد هو الذي يراعي الأمور التالية : • أولاً : أن يكون مفصحاً عن موضوعه. • ثانياً : أن تتبين منه حدود الموضوع، وأبعاده. • ثالثاً : أن لا يتضمن ما ليس داخلاً في موضوعه. • رابعاً : إيحاؤه بالأفكار الرئيسة بصورة ذكية”. • د. عبد الوهاب بن إبراهيم أبو سليمان

5. Characteristics of an Effective Final Title* • Indicate accurately the subject and scope of the study, • Avoid using abbreviations, • Use words that create a positive impression and stimulate reader interest, • Use current terminology from the field of study, • Reveal the contribution of the paper, • Suggest a relationship between variables which supports the major hypothesis, • Is limited to 8 to 15 substantive words,

6. Characteristics of an Effective Final Title • Does not include unnecessary words like “a study of," “an analysis of“, • Titles are usually in the form of a phrase, but can also be in the form of a question, • If you use a quote as part of the title, the source of the quote is cited [usually using an asterisk and footnote], • Use correct grammar and capitalization (i.e. the first letter of the first word in the title should be capitalized). Sometimes, all nouns,  pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs that appear between the first and last words of the title are also capitalized. * Source: http://libguides.usc.edu/content.php?pid=83009&sid=801403

7. Examples of research titles • Good titles: • Capital structure around the world: The roles of firm- and country-specific determinants. (JBF, 2008) • Aggregated, voluntary and mandatory risk disclosure incentives: Evidence from UK FTSE all share companies (IRFA, 2013). • What drives mandatory and voluntary risk disclosure variations across German, UK and US? (BAR, 2014). • 20 years of studies on the balanced scorecard: Trends, accomplishments, gaps and opportunities for future research (BAR, 2014).

8. Examples of research titles • (NOT) Good titles: • Tone Management (AR, 2014). • Corporate Ownership Around the World (JF, 1999) • Islamic Banking (Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, 1988)

9. Article Title:A title of not more than eight words should be provided

10. المؤلفين • يذكرالأسماء الشخصية والعائلية كاملةللباحثين. • يذكرالانتماءات الأكاديمية للباحثين كاملة تحت الأسماءمثل اسم الجامعة أو المؤسسة التي يعمل فيها، والقسم الذي يعمل فيه. • يذكر العناوين الكاملة لانتماءات الباحثين، بالإضافة للبريد الالكتروني لكل باحث. • الكاتب المراسل: هوالكاتب الذي يود التكلف بجميع المراسلات في كل مراحلها: التقييم، النشر ومرحلة ما بعد النشر.

11. ترتيب أسماء المؤلفين* • The first author contributes most to the paper and, in some cases, receives most of the credit. • The position of subsequent authors is usually decided by • Contribution • Alphabetical order • Seniority. * Tscharntke et al (2007).

12. Example Voluntary Forward-looking Statements Driven by Corporate Governance and Their Value Relevance Mingzhu Wang* King’s College London Khaled Hussainey** Stirling University * Dr. Mingzhu Wang, Department of Management, King’s College, London, SE1 9NH, UK. Email: mingzhu.wang@kcl.ac.uk. ** The correspondence author. Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Khaled Hussainey, Accounting & Finance Division, Stirling Management School, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK. Email: khaled.hussainey@stir.ac.uk.

13. I would like to thank the editor of …..Journal (Professor ………..) and an anonymous referee for their helpful comments on my paper. I would like to thanks the conference participants of …….. for their valuable comments abd feedback. Many thanks to Professor………..for comments on earlier drafts of my work.

14. Abstract should contain no more than 250 words. Write briefly and clearly. It covers the following points: • Purpose: What are the aims of writing this thesis? • Design/methodology/approach: How are the objectives achieved? Include the main method(s) used for the research. What is the approach to the topic and what is the theoretical or subject scope of the thesis? • Findings: What was found in the course of the work? This will refer to analysis, discussion, or results. • Research implicationsHow will the research impact upon the business? What changes to practice should be made as a result of this research? What is the commercial or economic impact? What will be the impact on society of this research? How will it influence public attitudes? How could it inform public or industry policy? How might it affect quality of life? • Originality/valueWhat is new in the paper? State the value of the paper and to whom.

15. 1. خلفية البحث • 2. الهدف من إجراء البحث • 3. مشكلة البحث • 4. أهمية موضوع البحث • 5. دوافع البحث • 6. المساهمات البحثية • 7. ملخص النتائج الرئيسية • 8. هيكل الرسالة

16. المقدمة • هي الباب الرئيسي الذي ندخل منه إلى صلب الموضوع • تحتوى على جوابا للسؤال الاتى: لماذا اجرى الباحث هذه الدراسة؟ • و يجب ان تشمل الأجابة اهم المعلومات التى تعين القارئ على فهم هدف البحث و أسباب إختيار الباحث لمشكلة البحث و أهمية موضوع البحث و الأضافة العلمية للبحث و أهم النتائج التى توصل إليها الباحث و هيكل البحث.

17. خلفية البحث • Background information identifies and describes the history and nature of a well-defined research problem with reference to the existing literature. • The background information should indicate the root of the problem being studied, its scope, and the extent to which previous studies have successfully investigated the problem, noting, in particular, where gaps exist that your study attempts to address. • Introductory background information differs from a literature review in that it places the research problem in proper context rather than provide a thorough examining related literature. Source: http://libguides.usc.edu/

18. Example • Article title The board’s role in risk disclosure: An exploratory study of Italian listed state-owned enterprises (SOEs)* Background • What is the definition of risk disclosure? • Why firms should disclose risk? • What are risk disclosure regulations? • What is the role of SOEs? • What are the characteristics of SOEs corporate governance system? • *Allini et al., 2015

19. أهداف البحث Research objectives • في هذا الجزء يذكر الباحث الغاية التي من اجلها قام ببحثه • The aim of the thesis ….. • The goal of the thesis … • The main purpose of this thesis …. • The main objective of the thesis is … • This thesis has two main objectives…. • The thesis examines • The thesis explores • The thesis investigates….

20. “The purpose of this paper is to review the recent UK contribution to the field of financial accounting research, set against the backdrop of the global (mainly US) research effort”. (Beattie, 2005). “The primary aim of the present study is to contribute to improving measurement of financial reporting quality”. (van Beest et al, 2012). “In this paper, we aim to answer the important questions of whether corporate governance affects firms’ decisions to voluntarily disclose forward-looking statements in the narratives of their annual reports and, if so, whether the forward-looking statements that are driven by governance contain value-relevant information for investors”. (Wang and Hussainey, 2013).

21. Our objective in this study is to advance the understanding of the determinants of risk disclosure by conducting a meta-analysis of the findings of 42 empirical disclosure studies that examine specifically this topic. We also aim to determine whether the variability of findings across studies is moderated by differences in the definitions of explanatory variables, differences in research settings (civil vs. common law countries and the level of uncertainty avoidance), differences in disclosure regime, differences in industry types, and differences the definition of explanatory variables. (Khlif & Hussainey, forthcoming)

22. مشكلة البحث Research problem • مشكلة البحث : موقف غامض يثير اهتمام اوقلق الباحث لايجد له تفسيراً محدداً • مشكلة الدراسةهي المحور الرئيسي الذي تدور حوله الدراسة ، وهي عبارة عن تساؤلات تدور في ذهن الباحث أو إحساسه بوجود خلل ما أو قصور أو ضعف أو ربما غموض في جانب معين يريد الباحثدراسته • يجب تحديد مشكلة البحث بعبارات واضحة ومفهومة تعبر عن مضمون المشكلة ومجالها

23. مصادر الحصول على مشكلة البحث • 1- الخبرة العلمية : قد يواجه الباحث الكثير من المواقف في بيئته التي لايجد لها تفسيراً وان خبرته العلمية قد تمكنه من تحديد المشاكل المتعلقة بهذه المواقف ودراستها. 2- الدراسات السابقة : • ان هذه الدراسات تحتوي على توصيات ومقترحات من الممكن ان تكون عناوين لمشكلات تستحق الدراسة .

24. “Despite an extensive prior literature, there is little research on how risk levels influence firms in providing risk disclosures in corporate annual reports” (Elshandidy et al, 2013). “In an early survey of the literature, Jones and Shoemaker (1994) find mixed empirical evidence on whether certain sections of the 10-K differ in terms of readability”. (Loughran and McDonald, 2014). During the last decade, the determinants of risk reporting practices have attracted major interests in accounting and finance literature (Oliveira et al., 2013). However, results reported are mixed. (Khlif and Hussainey, forthcoming).

25. “ Considerable attention has been given to examining the association between corporate disclosure and share price anticipation of earnings (e.g. Schleicher and Walker, 1999; Lundholm and Myers, 2002; Gelb and Zarowin, 2002; Hussainey et al., 2003 and Schleicher et al., 2007). These papers find that the stock market’s ability to anticipate future earnings changes is significantly improved when firms voluntarily provide higher levels of disclosure. However, these studies do not take into account the possibility that dividend policy may provide an alternative device for conveying value-relevant information to the stock market that might act as a substitute or complement for narrative disclosure in the financial communication process”. (Hussainey and Walker, 2009)

26. أهمية موضوع البحث Research importance • لأبراز أهمية البحث يجب الأجابة على التساؤل التالى: • لماذا اخترت هذا الموضوع؟ “Investigating the economic consequences of increased voluntary disclosure has become an established part of mainstream accounting research over the last 10 years. The reason behind the increased attention is that this research has potential policy implications. It helps to inform regulators (and managers) about the benefits of increased disclosure to investors and the disclosing firm. In this way it provides part of the information that is needed for a more informed cost-benefit analysis of increased disclosure (requirements)”.(Hussainey et al, 2003)

27. “……., the main objective of this study is to empirically analyze the findings of prior empirical risk disclosure studies using the meta-analysis technique. This should help in achieving a quantitative generalization of these findings which is not possible by a narrative literature review”. (Khlif and Hussainey, forthcoming)”. Elzahar et al (2014) develop a new measure for KPIs disclosure quality and study the economic consequences of disclosure. Their research is important because of the inherent problem in previous disclosure measures as follows: Kothari et al. (2009:1640) argue that “Evidence is mixed in the few studies that examine the issue (e.g., Botosan 1997; Botosan and Plumlee 2002; Francis et al. 2005; Core et al. 2008). Conclusions from previous research on the effect of disclosures in the annual report (e.g., Botosan 1997) on the cost of capital are unconvincing because disclosures analysed in previous research are far from comprehensive and the measurement of disclosure proxies is generally subjective, not objective”.

28. Beattie et al. (2004: 233) argue that: “Researchers investigating the determinants and consequences of disclosure quality could be wasting thier effort if the primary variable of interest is not being measured with a sufficient degree of accuracy”. • Beyer et al. (2010:311) argue that “a sensible economic definition of voluntary disclosure/ financial reporting quality and direct derivation of measures from that definition is missing from the literature. This lack of an underlying economic definition hinders our ability to draw inferences from this work, and we recommend that future research address this issue”.

29. دوافع البحث Research motivations • هنا نحاول الأجابة على التساؤل التالى: • ما هى دوافع الباحث لأختيار هذا الموضوع؟ • يجب على الباحث تحديد الدوافع التي دفعته للتركيز على بعض المسائل محدداً المواضيع التي تدخل بالذات داخل إطار موضوعه. • Why it is interest to look at the relationship between ‘x’ and ‘y’? • Why is it of interest look at this research topic ‘again’? Does it potentially tell us something different from what we learnt before? What are the uniqueness of your context?

30. دوافع البحث • Article title The board’s role in risk disclosure: An exploratory study of Italian listed state-owned enterprises (SOEs)* Motivations • Why is it of interest to look at an Italian context? Does it potentially tell us something different from other contexts? • Why is it of interest to focus on government-owned companies? Why risk disclosures in particular are more important in this setting? • Do the incentives of managers and shareholders of Italian government-owned firms differ from other firms? • How these differences could lead to different results with regard to risk disclosure? * Allini et al, 2015

31. دوافع البحث • “The UK, therefore, provides a unique country context in which to analyze the linkage between the voluntary disclosure of forward-looking statements and corporate governance. The UK and the United States (US) share a similarity in diverse corporate ownership structures and generally high quality corporate governance. Forward-looking statements in the UK, however, are very different in nature from corporate voluntary disclosures in the US as they are not immediately verifiable or auditable. Furthermore, forward-looking statements in the UK allow for a fuller and more powerful approach to analysis because of their unique nature of these statements. The statements are qualitative in nature and usually dominated by good news (Athanasakou and Hussainey, 2012)”. (Wang and Hussainey, 2013)

32. دوافع البحث “Each of these countries exhibits a distinctive approach to risk reporting. The first approach (Germany's) is underpinned by a significant emphasis on MRR. The second (the UK's) emphasises voluntary rather than mandatory risk reporting. The third approach (that of the US) represents a compromise between the UK and German approaches”. (Elshandidy et al, forthcoming). “The paper considers factors influencing one type of disclosure practice (oil and gas reserves) within a single industrial context (the oil and gas sector). By focusing on only one sector, this study avoids the danger of generalisation inherent in cross-sectoral studies. The oil and gas sector is worthy of investigation as it is a distinctive industry with the future success of companies dependent upon a steady stream of new mineral discoveries with corporate reserve quantum a key indicator of future potential. The sector is also unique being characterised by complex contractual arrangements, a dependency upon specialist geological advice and a need for specific and unique accounting standards for the sector” (McChlery and Hussainey, 2015)

33. دوافع البحث “Our paper is motivated by two considerations. First, there are rare of literature that investigates the association between CSRD and firm and country-specific characteristics (See for instance; Farook et al., 2006 and Farag et al., 2014). Secondly; most of the previous studies that explore CSRD as illustrated in appendix (1) conducted before 2010 or before AAOIFI issued its governance standard No.7 which is represent a benchmark of CSR for any IFI. So, we motivated by exploring the compliance level with AAOIFI best practice model for CSR”. (El-halaby and Hussainey, 2015.

34. المساهمات البحثية Research contributions • PhD theses, by definition, should involve novel contributions. Contributions: • To knowledge. This is the first paper about ….. Or the first paper to examine …….. • To theory: The paper shows that agency theory is applicable to …………context. • To methodology: The paper uses a new measure for ….

35. المساهمات البحثية “Our paper provides three contributions to the literature in terms of the determinants and the value relevance of forward-looking statements”. (Wang and Hussainey, 2013). “This paper makes a major contribution to the literature on risk disclosure”. (Elshandidy et al, 2013). “Our paper makes several contributions”. (Loughran and McDonald, 2014). “This paper makes several contributions to research on risk reporting. We contribute to disclosure studies by not only presenting an overview discussion on the determinants of risk disclosure, but also by using a meta-analysis of the reported findings on these determinants. Our paper is the first study that …..” (Khlif and Hussainey, forthcoming)

36. المساهمات البحثية “Thus the paper makes an important and novel contribution to the literature on corporate financial communication. So far as we are aware, it is the only paper to examine the joint role of narrative disclosure and dividend propensity on prices leading earnings. Moreover, it is the first paper to show that the predictive value of dividend propensity and narrative disclosure is sensitive to the growth characteristics of the firm”. (Hussainey and Walker, 2009)

37. ملخص النتائج الرئيسية Findings • فى هذا الجزء يتم عرض أبرز النتائج التى توصل إليها الباحثفى فقرة واحدة • Our results show .............. • Our analysis shows that …… • We provide evidence that ….. • We find ……. • THIS SECTION CAN BE MERGED WITH THE CONTRIBITONS.

38. Thesis’ structure هيكل البحث • فى هذا الجزء يتم عرض تنظيم الرسالة من خلال فصول مترابطة Chapter 2 discusses …………….Chapter 3 reviews the academic literature concerning …….Chapter 4 describes the methodology that is adopted in the present study …………………..Chapter 5 extends the work of Chapter 4 by using the disclosure topics ………………………Chapter 6 uses the cross-sectional regression analysis to examine ……………………..Chapter 7 examines the association between ……………………Chapter 8 summarises the main findings, the implication of the results, the limitations of the study and the suggestions for future research.

39. مفهوم الدراسات السابقة Literature review An academic literature review is defined as • ”The selection of available documents (both published and unpublished) on the topic, which contain information, ideas, data and evidence written from a particular standpoint to fulfil certain aims or express certain views on the nature of the topic and how it is to be investigated, and the effective evaluation of these documents in relation to the research being proposed” (Hart, 2001, p. 13). • Hart, C. (2001). Doing a literature search. London: Sage.

40. مفهوم الدراسات السابقة الدراسات السابقة هي إحدى أهم مفردات البحث الحالىتبرز الفجوات البحثية .. وعليه الجديد هذا البحث • مفهوم الدراسات السابقة* : •   تشمل الدراسات السابقة كل الدراسات المتصلة بالموضوع ، مما تم نشرها بأي شكل من الأشكال ، بشرط أن تكون مساهمة ذات قيمةللبحث. وقد يكون النشر بالطباعة أو بواسطة المحاضرات أو الأحاديث المذاعة صوتا فقط ، أو صوتا و صورتا ، أو تم تقديمها لمؤسسة علمية للحصول على درجة علمية أو على مقابل مادي أو لمجرد الرغبة في المساهمة العلمية . • وقد يقيد البعض هذه الدراسات باشتراط كونها أبحاثا علمية . فلا يندرج فيها ما يعد كتبا دراسية. ولكن هذا الشرط يصعب توفيره في بعض المجالات . أساسيات البحث العلمي بين النظرية والتطبيق للدكتور حنان عيسى سلطان، و غانم سعيد شريف العبيدي*

41. مفهوم الدراسات السابقة A Literature Review surveys scholarly articles, books, and other sources (e.g., dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a topic for your paper. Its purpose is to demonstrate that: [1] the researcher has insightfully and critically surveyed relevant literature on his/her topic to convince an intended reader that the topic is worth addressing. [2] the researcher has understood the key issues around his/her topic. [3] the researcher identified gaps in prior research [4] the researcher aims to fill at least one of these gaps.

42. A literature review is NOT . . . • Background information or explanations of concepts • Arguments for the research importance • A list of seemingly unrelated sources • A summary of other people’s work

43. Why undertake a literature review? • The aim of doing a literature review is to find out what is already known about a specific topic? Why is this important? • The objectives of a literature review may therefore be: • To summarise current knowledge. • To generate and refine your own research ideas. • To provide a critical review which demonstrates: 1. awareness of the current state of knowledge in the subject area (description skills); 2. a synthesis of resources showing the strengths and limitations, omissions and bias (critical skills); and 3. how the research fits into this wider context (analytical skills).

44. أهمية تحديد ومراجعة الدراسات السابقة* • 1- توفير الخلفية العلمية والمناخ المناسب والمصادر اللازمة لإجراء البحث الجديد . • 2- تكشف عن جذور المشكلة وتودي إلى فهم ما تم بخصوصها في الفترات السابقة. • 3- تبرز الجوانب التي تم دراستها من قبل وهذا يؤدي إلى بحوث جديدة . • 4- توضع مناهج الباحثين السابقين في مجال البحث والدراسات . • 5- تكشف عن أي تداخلات بين البحوث وتوارد أفكار الباحثين . • 6- تساعد الباحث على إجراء مقارنات بين نتائجه ونتائج الدراسات السابقة . • 7- تساعد الباحث على التوصل إلى صياغة دقيقة ومحدودة لأهداف و طبيعة بحثه . • * البحث العلمي أسسه، مناهجه ، أساليبه ، إجرآته للركتور ربحي مصطفى ص :70

45. What is a critical review? • Good critical literature reviews tell a story and help to advance our understanding of what is already know (JESSON and LACEY, 2006). • A critical review of a journal article evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of an article's ideas and content. • It provides description, analysis and interpretation that allow readers to assess the thesis's value. • It is NOT to provide a summary of everything written on a research topic.

46. Saunders et al. (2012)

47. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH QUESTIONS أسئلة البحث • In a qualitative study, inquirers state research questions, not hypotheses (i.e., predictions that involve variables and statistical tests). • Researchers might ask one or two central questions followed by some subquestions. • Several subquestions follow each general central question; the subquestions narrow the focus of the study.

48. “The research questions addressed in the study were shaped by the gaps identified in extant literature and can be broadly categorised as follows: • Are conventional analysis techniques employed similarly in the analysis of strategic and non-strategic (operational) capital investment projects, and which techniques are • used? • What non-financial (strategic) criteria are considered important in the evaluation of strategic investment projects? • Are recently developed analysis tools (i.e. those that aim to integrate strategic and financial analyses) being employed to evaluate strategic investment projects? • Do practitioners perceive real benefits in the use of strategic analysis tools?” • (Alkaraan and Northcott, 2006)

49. Research hypotheses فروض البحث: ماهيتها ومصادرها • Quantitative research questions inquire about the relationships among variables that researchers seek to know. • «وتتم صياغتها في شكل علاقة بين المتغير المستقل والمتغيرالتابع • توضع الفروض بعد تحديد مشكلة البحث أو الظاهرة المراد دراستها، وبعد الدراسات السابقة والتعليق • عليها؛ لأنها في الأساس معتمدة عليها، وعلى نتائجها، ومستمدة منها. • تتم صياغة الفروض بغرض اختبارها، وهي مرشحة للقبول أو الرفض على حدٍّ سواء،ومن ثَم فإنه ليس من الضروري أن تكون جميع الفروض صحيحة. • هناك دراسات تتكون من فرض رئيس ودراسات أخرى لها أكثر من فرض، ومن الأفضل أن يستخدم الباحث عدة فروض» • د. أحمد إبراهيم خضر

50. المصادر التي تساعد الباحث على وضع الفروض • «أقوى الفروض هي تلك التي يستخلصها الباحث من خبرته المتخصصة في ميدان معرفي معين، ومن اطلاعاته وقراءاته في النظريات والدراسات السابقة المتعلقة بموضوع دراسته، وعلى الباحث أن يتأكد في حالة تبنيه لنظرية ما يشتق منهافروضه، أن هذه الفروض تعبر عن بعض مضامين تلك النظرية». • The hypotheses should base on relevant theories (sometimes base on relevant empirical results of previous studies or rather reliable arguments).