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EXAMPLE OF TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR PROJECT

Table of contents for project.

INTRODUCTION: In response to question from clients and numerous young researchers especially at the undergraduate level that what “constitute a research project outline”. i.e what each chapter entails.

The table of contents otherwise called TOC which is a roadmap to each part of the project/ thesis chapters. A table of contents often come before the full thesis/project to give insight into the research project. It allows readers to locate specific information or visit their favourite parts/chapter within the research project. A table of contents helps readers to decide what part of the project they want to read first, in short, it offers an opportunity where to start. For instance, one may jump to research methodology if the reader is interested in the method (s) used in carrying out the study and so on.

CHAPTER ONE: Introduction

General description of the area of study
Problem analysis (Problem Statement)
Purpose of study (Objectives of the Study)
Relevant research questions
Statement of the hypothesis
Delimitation (scope) of the study
Significance of the research problem and the justification for investigating it.
Definition of (Unfamiliar) terms.
References, Chapter 1

CHAPTER TWO: Literature Review

Historical background
Models (s) and or theories relevant to research questions & hypothesis
Current literature based on each of the relevant variables of the model
Empirical studies
Summary of chapter
Reference chapter 2

CHAPTER THREE: Methodology

A brief outline of the chapter
Restatement of the research questions and hypothesis (optional)
Research design and Method (s)
Study population
Sampling design and Technique
Simple size
Data collection instrument
A pilot study, a test of validity and reliability of the study instrument
Administration of the data collection instrument
Procedures analyzing data
References for the chapter 3

CHAPTER FOUR: Presentation and analysis of data

A brief introduction of the chapter
Criterion group returns; respondents’ characteristics
Presentation and analysis of data according to research questions
Presentation and analysis of data according to test questions
Analysis of other data

CHAPTER FIVE: Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

Summary of the study including a comprehensive summary of the findings
The conclusion is drawn from the finding including how the study has answered the research questions and tested the hypothesis
Recommendations based on the conclusion
Suggestions for their studies
References Chapter 5

Below is an example of how a table of content of a typical project or thesis should look like, though, it differs from school to school and level to level, yet this is a framework for students.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certification/ consent

Dedication

Acknowledgement

T able of Contents

A bstract

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

1.2 Statement of the Problem/ Problem Statement

1.3 Objectives of the Study/ Aim of the Research

1.4 Research Questions

1.5 Scope of the Study

1.6 Significance of the Study

1.7 Operational Definition of Terms

References

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Conceptual Review

2.2 Empirical Studies

2.3 Theoretical Framework

2.4 Summary

References

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 Research Methodology

3.1 Research Design

3.2. Research Method(s)

3.2 Population of the Study

3.3 Sampling Technique

3.4 Sample Size

3.5 Data Collection Instrument (s)

3.6 Validity and Reliability of the Instrument (s)

3.7 Data Collection Method(s)

3.8 Data Analysis Method (s)

References

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

4.1 Data Presentation and Analysis

4.2 Answer to Research Questions (Optional)

4.2 Discussion of Findings

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND LIMITATION (S)

5.1 Summary

5.2 Conclusion

5.3 Recommendations

5.4 Limitations for Further Studies

References

Appendix

DOWNLOAD THE PRELIMINARY PAGES INCLUDING TABLE OF CONTENTS (DOC)

DOWNLOAD THE PRELIMINARY PAGES INCLUDING TABLE OF CONTENTS (PDF)

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Dissertation Table of Contents in Word | Instructions & Examples

Dissertation Table of Contents in Word | Instructions & Examples

Published on May 15, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on July 18, 2023.

The table of contents is where you list the chapters and major sections of your thesis, dissertation , or research paper, alongside their page numbers. A clear and well-formatted table of contents is essential, as it demonstrates to your reader that a quality paper will follow.

The table of contents (TOC) should be placed between the abstract and the introduction . The maximum length should be two pages. Depending on the nature of your thesis , paper, or dissertation topic , there are a few formatting options you can choose from.

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What to include in your table of contents, what not to include in your table of contents, creating a table of contents in microsoft word, table of contents examples, updating a table of contents in microsoft word, other lists in your thesis, dissertation, or research paper, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about the table of contents.

Depending on the length of your document, you can choose between a single-level, subdivided, or multi-level table of contents.

A single-level table of contents only includes “level 1” headings , or chapters. This is the simplest option, but it may be too broad for a long document like a dissertation.
A subdivided table of contents includes chapters as well as “level 2” headings, or sections. These show your reader what each chapter contains.
A multi-level table of contents also further divides sections into “level 3” headings. This option can get messy quickly, so proceed with caution. Remember your table of contents should not be longer than 2 pages. A multi-level table is often a good choice for a shorter document like a research paper .

Examples of level 1 headings are Introduction, Literature Review , Methodology , and Bibliography. Subsections of each of these would be level 2 headings, further describing the contents of each chapter or large section. Any further subsections would be level 3.

In these introductory sections, less is often more. As you decide which sections to include, narrow it down to only the most essential.

Including appendices and tables

You should include all appendices in your table of contents. Whether or not you include tables and figures depends largely on how many there are in your document.

If there are more than three figures and tables, you might consider listing them on a separate page. Otherwise, you can include each one in the table of contents.

Theses and dissertations often have a separate list of figures and tables.
Research papers generally don’t have a separate list of figures and tables.

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All level 1 and level 2 headings should be included in your table of contents, with level 3 headings used very sparingly.

The following things should never be included in a table of contents:

Your acknowledgements page
Your abstract
The table of contents itself

The acknowledgements and abstract always precede the table of contents, so there’s no need to include them. This goes for any sections that precede the table of contents.

To automatically insert a table of contents in Microsoft Word, be sure to first apply the correct heading styles throughout the document, as shown below.

Choose which headings are heading 1 and which are heading 2 (or 3)!
For example, if all level 1 headings should be Times New Roman, 12-point font, and bold, add this formatting to the first level 1 heading.
Highlight the level 1 heading.
Right-click the style that says “Heading 1.”
Select “Update Heading 1 to Match Selection.”
Allocate the formatting for each heading throughout your document by highlighting the heading in question and clicking the style you wish to apply.

Once that’s all set, follow these steps:

Add a title to your table of contents. Be sure to check if your citation style or university has guidelines for this.
Place your cursor where you would like your table of contents to go.
In the “References” section at the top, locate the Table of Contents group.
Here, you can select which levels of headings you would like to include. You can also make manual adjustments to each level by clicking the Modify button.
When you are ready to insert the table of contents, click “OK” and it will be automatically generated, as shown below.

The key features of a table of contents are:

Clear headings and subheadings
Corresponding page numbers

Check with your educational institution to see if they have any specific formatting or design requirements.

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research project table of contents example

Write yourself a reminder to update your table of contents as one of your final tasks before submitting your dissertation or paper. It’s normal for your text to shift a bit as you input your final edits, and it’s crucial that your page numbers correspond correctly.

It’s easy to update your page numbers automatically in Microsoft Word. Simply right-click the table of contents and select “Update Field.” You can choose either to update page numbers only or to update all information in your table of contents.

In addition to a table of contents, you might also want to include a list of figures and tables, a list of abbreviations, and a glossary in your thesis or dissertation. You can use the following guides to do so:

List of figures and tables
List of abbreviations

It is less common to include these lists in a research paper.

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All level 1 and 2 headings should be included in your table of contents . That means the titles of your chapters and the main sections within them.

The contents should also include all appendices and the lists of tables and figures, if applicable, as well as your reference list .

Do not include the acknowledgements or abstract in the table of contents.

To automatically insert a table of contents in Microsoft Word, follow these steps:

Apply heading styles throughout the document.
In the references section in the ribbon, locate the Table of Contents group.
Click the arrow next to the Table of Contents icon and select Custom Table of Contents.
Select which levels of headings you would like to include in the table of contents.

Make sure to update your table of contents if you move text or change headings. To update, simply right click and select Update Field.

The table of contents in a thesis or dissertation always goes between your abstract and your introduction .

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Home » Blog » Table of Contents - Definition, Types, Formats & Examples

Table of Contents – Definition, Types, Formats & Examples

Table of contents.

The Table of Contents (TOC) is very important in the academic world, especially for research projects and final year dissertations. The Table of Contents can be considered the map of your research paper, a tool that helps readers find their way through your ideas.

Readers, from peers and professors to experts in your field, can find specific areas of your study without having to look through the whole document. This makes the structure of your work easier to navigate and understand. This can help them understand your work better and help them understand it better overall.

Table of Contents in a Research Paper

While the student is writing their final year project, the Table of Content helps them keep track of everything. With the Table of Content, students can create a structured framework, or skeleton, for their work. This helps them stay focused on their research’s main goals and sub-questions. This methodical order also forces them to put their ideas in a way that makes sense so that their arguments make sense from one section to the next.

Table of Contents Definition

The Table of Contents is an important part of any extensive written book, research paper, report, or dissertation . The Table of Content gives a detailed list of a document’s sections and important subsections. This list is usually set up in a hierarchy.

Each entry in the TOCs refers to a different part of the work and gives the page numbers where readers can find it. Usually, the Table of Contents is at the beginning of the document. It acts as a navigational guide and gives a quick overview of the structure and layout of the paper.

The Table of Contents is carefully structured with different levels of headings and subheadings that match how the main body of the work is organized. These levels show how the content is organized, with the main headings representing broad categories and the subheadings representing more specific details within these categories.

Some TOCs also has a list of figures, tables, and appendices, which makes it easier for readers to find these parts. So, the TOC acts as a map, giving readers a quick idea of how the document is put together and helping them move quickly through the work.

The Importance of Table of Contents

Easy navigation for readers.

The Table of Contents is an important tool that helps readers find their way around. Whether it’s a novel, a research paper , or a business report, the reader may want to go straight to a specific part of the text without reading the whole document. This is made easy by the Table of Contents, which has a detailed list of sections, subsections, and the page numbers that go with them.

With a TOCs, Readers can quickly find the content they want, which saves them time and makes reading more enjoyable and effective. This feature of the TOC can’t be overstated, especially when it comes to academic research or business documentation, where readers often need to refer back to the same sections.

Provides an Overview of the Content

The Table of Contents is also very important because it gives an overview of the content. Before getting into the details of a document, a reader might want to get a sense of its scope and depth. As a small version of the whole document, the TOCs gives the reader just that. It tells what the document is about, the main points, and how the whole paper is put together. The reader can understand how the information flows, guess what will come next, and see how the different parts fit together. By giving this overview, the TOC makes reading a more interesting and informative experience.

Content Organization

The Table of Contents is important in putting the work together and showing where to go next. Creating a TOC can help the author plan and organize their thoughts and ideas in a way that makes sense. This order becomes the document’s backbone. It guides the writing process and ensures the work stays on track and makes sense. Also, the clear divisions between sections and subsections in the TOC help readers follow the author’s train of thought. They can easily find where they are in the document and see how each part fits into the whole. So, the TOC is important for making a structured, well-organized document and making it easier for the reader to understand and remember the content.

Types of Table of Contents

Short-form vs. long-form table of contents.

There are different kinds of Tables of Contents in the documentation and content creation. Each is made for a different kind of document and a different set of needs. Most of the time, people use short-form and long-form TOCs. As its name suggests, the short-form Table of Contents gives a quick document overview.

It mostly lists the main sections and main subheadings, which makes it perfect for short documents or ones where a general overview is enough. On the other hand, the long-form TOC goes into much more detail, listing not only the main headings but also all the different subheadings and sub-subheadings. This type of Table of Contents is best for long, complicated documents where each piece of content adds something different to the story.

Descriptive Table of Contents

The descriptive Table of Contents is another interesting type. In contrast to the short and long-form Table of Contents, which are mostly just lists of headings, the descriptive TOCs also includes a short summary or synopsis of each section. This method gives the reader a better idea of what each section is about and helps them understand the structure and content of the document better. A descriptive Table of Contents is very helpful when each chapter or section can stand independently, like in anthologies, edited books, or collections of essays.

Hierarchical Table of Contents

A hierarchical Table of Contents shows the structure of the document. It shows the order of sections, sub-sections, and lower-level headings with indentation, typography, and sometimes even pictures. This kind of TOCs is useful for complicated documents because it lets the reader see how the content is organized and how the different parts relate.

The Figure-centric and Table-centric Table of Contents

The figure-centric and table-centric Table of Contents is made for documents like scientific research papers or technical manuals with many figures or tables. A table-centric TOCs does the same thing for tables as a figure-centric TOCs does for figures.

These specialized Table of Contents make it easy for readers to find and refer to the visual or tabular information that may be important for them to understand the text. So, the type of TOCs chosen will depend on what the document is about and what the reader needs.

Table of Contents Formats: The Classic Method

Traditional book format.

A traditional book format, Table of Contents, is usually a detailed and hierarchical list of chapters or sections at the beginning of a book. It lists the title of each chapter or section and the page number where it begins. When a book has more than one part or volume, the TOCs often lists the titles of these larger sections.

Traditional Book Format Table of Contents Example

A fiction book table of contents:.

Acknowledgments…………………………………..iii Introduction………………………………………..v

PART ONE: THE BEGINNING

Chapter 1: The Mysterious Stranger……………………1 Chapter 2: An Unexpected Journey…………………..15 Chapter 3: Friends and Foes……………………………32

PART TWO: THE MIDDLE

Chapter 4: The Hidden World…………………………51 Chapter 5: Secrets Revealed………………………….68 Chapter 6: Battles and Betrayals…………………….84

PART THREE: THE END

Chapter 7: The Final Stand…………………………..100 Chapter 8: Homecoming……………………………..118 Epilogue…………………………………………..131

A Non-Fiction Book Table of Contents:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface…………………………………………..vii Introduction…………………………………….xiii

PART I: FOUNDATIONS

Chapter 1: Introduction to The Topic………………..1 Chapter 2: Historical Overview……………………..20 Chapter 3: Key Concepts……………………………36

PART II: CASE STUDIES

Chapter 4: Case Study One………………………….55 Chapter 5: Case Study Two………………………….72 Chapter 6: Case Study Three………………………..90

PART III: CONCLUSIONS

Chapter 7: Analysis and Interpretations……………110 Chapter 8: Future Directions………………………128 Bibliography…………………………………….140 Index…………………………………………..150

Digital Formats

In digital formats like e-books, websites, and digital reports, the main purpose of the Table of Contents is to help you find your way around. But it usually comes with extra features that use the benefits of digital technology.

The Table of Contents in a digital report or a PDF document often works the same way, with links to the relevant sections. Some PDF viewers even have a navigation pane where the TOCs stays visible and accessible as you read the document. This feature makes it easy to move around, especially in long and complex documents.

Digital Formats Example

Introduction…………………………………Link to Section Chapter 1: Basics of Digital Marketing………….Link to Section 1.1 Definition and Scope………………….Link to Section 1.2 Types of Digital Marketing…………….Link to Section Chapter 2: Social Media Marketing………………Link to Section 2.1 Platforms…………………………..Link to Section 2.2 Strategy and Planning…………………Link to Section Chapter 3: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)……..Link to Section 3.1 Basics of SEO……………………….Link to Section 3.2 Keyword Research…………………….Link to Section Chapter 4: Email Marketing…………………….Link to Section 4.1 Building an Email List……………….Link to Section 4.2 Crafting Effective Emails…………….Link to Section Conclusion………………………………….Link to Section References………………………………….Link to Section

Table of Contents Format for Academic Research Papers

The academic format of a Table of Contents serves as a road map for research papers, dissertations, theses, or any other scholarly documents, giving a detailed hierarchical structure of the content. Like other TOCs, an academic Table of Contents lists the document’s main sections and the page numbers where they begin. But academic TOCs often goes into more detail, showing not only the main chapters but also different levels of subheadings. This ensures that a scholarly work’s complex structure is shown accurately. This is especially important for long research projects involving complex arguments and looking into many different topics.

In this academic format, Table of Contents, each entry has a page number, and main sections and subsections are separated by indentation. Remember that the TOC’s structure can change depending on your institution’s rules or the academic style you’re using (like APA, MLA, or Chicago Style).

Academic Format Example

Abstract…………………………………………. ii Acknowledgments………………………………. iii List of Tables…………………………………… iv List of Figures………………………………….. v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………. 1 Problem Statement………………………….. 2 Research Questions………………………….. 3 Significance of the Study……………………. 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW………………… 8 Theoretical Framework………………………. 9 Review of Related Literature………………… 11

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY……………………… 20 Research Design……………………………. 21 Participants……………………………….. 24 Data Collection……………………………. 25 Data Analysis……………………………… 27

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS……………………………. 30

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION……………………….. 40 Implications……………………………….. 41 Recommendations for Future Research………… 43

References……………………………………… 50 Appendices……………………………………… 54

How to Create Table of Contents: A Step-by-Step Guide

Creating table of contents manually.

A Table of Contents (TOC) can be created in different ways, such as manually or by using a software such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs that creates TOCs automatically.

If you are working with a small document and want full control over the details of your Table of Contents, making one manually might be the best option. With this method, you just type out the title of each section and the page number that goes with it in your document. Make sure that your formatting and indentation are consistent so that your sections and subsections show the correct order.

Remember that creating a TOCs manually can take a long time for long documents, and you’ll have to update it manually if you add, remove, or change the order of sections.

Creating Table of Contents in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word has a great tool for automatically making a Table of Contents, which can save you a lot of time and work, especially for longer documents.

To make a Table of Contents in Word, you must first give the text you want to include in the Table of Contents heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.). Word’s “Home” tab is where you’ll find these heading styles. Once you’ve added these styles, you can add a Table of Contents by going to the “References” tab and clicking “Table of Contents.” Based on the heading styles you used and the page numbers, MS Word will automatically make a TOCs. When you make changes to your document, you can update the Table of Contents by right-clicking on it and choosing “Update Field.”

Creating Table of Contents in Google Docs

Google Docs also lets you make an automatic Table of Contents in a similar way. To do this, use the toolbar at the top to add heading styles to your text. Once you’ve done this, click where you want your Table of Contents to be, then go to “Insert,” choose “Table of Contents,” and you’ll see two options: one with links and one with page numbers. If your document is meant to be used online, links are the way to go. Choose page numbers if you want to print the document. If you make changes to your document, you can update the Table of Contents by clicking on it and then clicking the “Refresh” icon that appears.

Table of Contents Best Practices

No matter what method you use, the best thing you can do is make sure your Table of Content is clear, correct, and easy to navigate. It should give a quick summary of your document’s content and structure, making it easy for people to find the information they need. Check your Table of Content often to make sure it matches the content of your document, especially after making major changes.

The Bottom Line

In conclusion, the importance of a Table of Contents in any document – whether it’s a book, an academic paper, an eBook, or a report. It helps readers find their way around the document by giving them an organized overview of the content and showing them how the document is structured. A well-written TOCs tells readers right away what the document is about and how it is organized, making it easy for them to find specific sections.

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Table of Contents Templates

21 table of contents templates & examples [word, ppt].

A table of contents, often abbreviated as a TOC, is found at the beginning of a book or long document, listing all of the chapters or section titles. A table of contents template helps to guide the reader through a long, complex book or essay with the name of the chapter and the page number they need to find it.

Table of Contents

1 Table of Contents Templates
2 What is a Table of Contents?
3 What is included in a Table of Contents template?
4 Table of Contents Examples
5.1 Keep the layout simple
6.1 Using a Table of Contents template (Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages)
6.2 Creating a manual table of contents
7 Table of Contents Desings
8 How to create a Table of Contents in Microsoft Word
9 How to create a Table of Contents in Google Docs
10 What is the purpose of a table of contents template?

With this in mind, it is essential that the table of contents template looks visually appealing whilst being easy to use. You can download one of our blank table of contents templates to begin designing your table of contents to be efficient and simple for readers. You can then edit this on MS Word, Google Docs or Apple Pages.

What is a Table of Contents?

A table of contents template is used at the beginning of a lengthy document, such as a dissertation or research paper , or at the beginning of a textbook. The table is a critical part of any extensive research, as it helps the reader to navigate their way through.

A table of contents serves several purposes, with the main purpose being to help the reader easily find information using the correct page number.

Without it, readers can become overwhelmed and thus lose interest in the text itself. When completing research, it can be demotivating to have to sift through pages and pages of irrelevant text before finding what you actually need. That’s why a table of contents template is so essential when writing a long essay, or creating a textbook.

What is included in a Table of Contents template?

A table of contents essentially informs the reader of the book or document’s outline. It tells the reader how many chapters there are, what each section of the book is about, how long the book or document is, and where they can find specific sections or chapters using page numbers.

Here are the three key things you need to include:

Chapter names
Specific sections within each chapter
Page numbers

Additional features to include

Of course, there are many other features you can include to customize your table of contents. These include:

Different heading levels and indentations
A brief description of each chapter
Create hyperlinks to take the reader directly to the page they need

A table of contents no longer needs to be a simple list of chapters and page numbers. There are many ways to make the content templates more engaging for readers.

Table of Contents Examples

What makes a good table of contents template?

It sounds quite simple to just write a list of all the chapters in a book or essay, along with their page numbers along dotted lines.

However, a good table of contents is more than just that. A good table of contents must be perfectly precise, ensuring that each page number is accurate. It must be formatted in a clear and concise way so that readers are not confused visually. This can be done using simple a heading style, to prevent overwhelming the reader from the first page.

Keep the layout simple

It can be tempting to squash each line on the table of contents together to fit it all on one page. However, a good table of contents template for a long document will use indents to keep information clear and organized. It may even take up more than one page to keep things easy to read.

A good table of contents template is also visually engaging. Using a colorful table of contents may help your document to stand out from other, similar documents, and can help researchers to choose your writing over another’s. Using a unique heading format, along with a pleasing color, can be a great way to design and customize your table of contents template.

How to create a table of contents

There are many types of table of contents and table of contents templates to use. Whether you use MS Word, Google Docs or Apple Pages to write your online document, you can edit a table of contents template using any of these word processors.

The Basic Format

Depending on your preference, you may opt for a classic, basic table of contents template. This will simply list both the heading of each section or chapter of the document, along with the corresponding page numbers along dotted lines. This table of contents format is both easy to create and use.

Adding Detail

However, for your table of contents template, you may choose to name individual sections and then write the chapters included within that section underneath, using different heading levels.

This style is still a very simple design for a title page, and I recommend using one of these formats when creating your table of contents and using a table of contents template. MS Word, Google Docs and Apple Pages all offer these format options.

Using a Table of Contents template (Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages)

Using a table of content template helps to eliminate the standard, boring look of a table of contents. With a table of contents template, you can simply download and input your data using MS Word, Google Docs or Apple Pages.

Remember, the table of contents is likely the first page that readers will see, so you can engage them further by using a unique design for your table of contents page.

It is likely that many academics have looked at many articles or documents before yours, so using an accessible and user-friendly table of contents template will help to keep them engaged in their research and your document.

Creating a manual table of contents

However, you can create a table of contents manually using a word processor, such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs or Apple Pages.

This is an efficient way to create your table of contents, but you are more limited in terms of how visually appealing the table will look. The overall table of contents layout is more restricted by what MS Word, Google Docs or Apple Pages offers.

Table of Contents Desings

Free Dissertation Table Of Contents Template

How to create a Table of Contents in Microsoft Word

Many people choose to use MS Word to create their table of contents pages. This word processor offers a lot of features to help create the perfect table of contents.

Although I recommend using a table of contents template to format your document, using a word processor such as MS Word or Google Docs is also a simple way to present the table of contents.

MS Word in particular offers built-in heading styles, as well as a range of options for the table of contents layout. You can also download a Microsoft Word table of contents template to input your data using MS Word.

Apply the desired heading styles group. In MS Word, you can use one of the built-in ‘heading styles’ from the ‘home’ tab for your table of contents. Using a heading style is a great way to get started with a table of contents. However, using custom styles can help your table of contents to stand out, and using a table of contents template can make your title page look more unique. To find a heading style in MS Word, simply select the text that you want to format, and choose a heading from the ‘ Styles’ section on the ‘ Home ’ tab.
Insert your table of contents. This step only takes a few simple clicks with MS Word. Click the ‘ References’ tab, and then select ‘ Table of Contents .’ From here, you can choose one of the layouts from the menu. This will create a table of contents in your document. You can edit the font style and size to your desired preference. The built-in styles offered by MS Word are great, and often suit a classic TOC style. An excellent feature that MS Word uses are clickable links within the table of contents. It essentially helps to create hyperlinks for you. Once the table of contents appears in your document, you can hover over each section with your cursor, press CTRL and click , and it will take you to the correct place in the document.
Update the table of contents. If you create the table of contents whilst the document is still unfinished, then you will need to edit and update your table of contents. To do this, simply click on the ‘ References ’ tab. From here, you can choose to update the page numbers only, or update the entire table, by selecting either option.

How to create a Table of Contents in Google Docs

The most popular word processors to create a table of contents are MS Word, Google Docs and Apple Pages. If you prefer to use Google Docs for your writing, the process of creating a table of contents here is even easier.

Google Docs is a great place to write and edit academic work as an online document, as the work saves automatically if you have an internet connection.

Personally, I use Google Docs for all of my academic writing, and I did so throughout university. MS Word is equally as useful, but creating a table of contents in Google Docs is a really straightforward process.

Choose your preferred location for your table of contents on the document.
Click ‘Insert’ and choose ‘Table of contents.’
Decide on your chosen table of contents format.

And that’s it! Google Docs makes creating a table of contents a really simple process. A benefit of using Google Docs is that it will automatically update the entire table for you once you add additional headings. All you have to do is ‘refresh’ the page.

What is the purpose of a table of contents template?

If you are writing a long document, such as a thesis or any kind of research paper, or if you’re planning on writing a non-fiction book of your own, then you will definitely benefit from using a table of contents template.

Accessible for the reader. A table of contents template provides the reader with structure and organization when they are reading your work. It helps them to access specific information easily using the correct page number, saving them time and making your document organized and helpful for them. A table of contents template provides a greater user experience for the reader than if they were to read a document without one.
Reflects the quality of your work. A table of contents is an essential part of any piece of non-fiction writing, so it is important that your table of contents reflects the rest of your document. If the table is messy and difficult to read, users will immediately be put off by the rest of your work. Using a table of contents template helps to eliminate this issue.
An important tool for students to navigate. In university, students must become familiar with using a table of contents. Research can be daunting, especially when students first begin university. They must learn not only how to create a table of contents in their own work, but also how to use a table of contents when researching the work of others.

Using a table of contents template in class is a great resource to help students understand and navigate longer pieces of writing or difficult textbooks. You can download our templates, choose to ‘ print ‘ document, and use these as table of contents examples in class for your students.

Whether you’re an academic, a student, or a writer, a table of contents template is a crucial part of the formatting process. It can be easy to forget about, but this simple page at the beginning of your document or book can make all the difference to a reader’s experience.

You can download one of our free table of contents templates to save time manually creating a table of contents yourself. You can then input your data using MS Word, Google Docs or Apple Pages. Make your work accessible, appealing, and clear by selecting the best table of contents template for you.

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HOW TO DEVELOP A TABLE OF CONTENT FOR A RESEARCH PROJECT WORK | ResearchWap Blog

Posted: Thursday, 12 March 2020
By: ResearchWap Admin

A table of content in project composing is essentially the reflection of the project. A table of content can be characterized as the nitty-gritty review of a project by which a writer layout the various headings, subheadings of conversation on project work and where or pages every one of this information can be gotten. So for the simple route of pages on project work, it is prudent for research writers to outfit its readers with a table of content.

A table of content is a guide for the readers and all things considered, it ought to be valuable, blunder free and directly to the focuses. In the event that you simply set out as a beginner recorded as a hard copy your final year project as an undergrad and you are stressing over, how to build up a decent table of content for your project. Indeed, stress no more since I am x-raying how one can build up a table of content for research project work.

Develop the research project work first:

To get a mistake free table of content, it is convenient that you work out the research project work first, to make certain of the final headings for each research review and furthermore the right numbering. So one need to complete the research project work before composing the table of content.

Put finishing touches to the review:

Put the fundamental editing work to the write up like legitimate numbering the pages and having suitable headings and revising every single vital mistake, so that on the off chance that you are physically making the table out of content, you wouldn’t omit or include what was already deleted or omitted

Check Sketch how the table of content will resemble:

It is important to have a review of your table of content before including it on your main project work, so feel free to have a sketch of your table of contents and make all the vital redresses and contributions before moving or utilizing it for the research project work.

Editing the table of content:

A decent table of content needs legitimate editing. So it is relevant that following rules are adjusted *Create two sections on the page to demonstrate the headings on one side and the figures of pages where the headings are situated on the opposite side. The title of the headings ought to be on the left while the quantity of the pages where the headings are situated on the right. Compose subheadings underneath the featuring of each laid out heading. *Use single line dispersing when composing and the text dimension ought to be '12'

Check for completeness:

The table of content when done ought to be reconsidering to be certain that all that should finish it is set up. Verify the spellings of each heading, subheading and that each heading or subheading compares with relating page or segment numbers in the correct section.

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WTO / Personal / Lists / Free Table of Contents Templates (for Microsoft Word)

Free Table of Contents Templates (for Microsoft Word)

Whether you are writing a book, large essay, dissertation, or other longer academic papers, you will have to include a table of contents. It will act as a roadmap for the reader to each portion of your writing. It helps the reader to locate specific information in a document or revisit their favorite parts easily within the text. A well-structured TOC should simplify the way the reader finds what they are looking for and should always be placed on a separate page, just after the first page of an academic paper and after the abstract.

Depending on the type of writing , you may find that different documents require different styles of a TOC. Some may require numbers, while others may require a non-numbered TOC. It is, therefore, the writer’s duty to check the type of TOC they are required to include in their writing.

Free Table of Contents Templates

Free Table of Content Template 01 for Illustrator and Word File

Simple templates

Free Simple Table of Contents Template 01 for Word File

What is a Table of Contents?

A Table of Contents (TOC) is an organized list of all the parts of a document or book organized in the order in which the parts appear.

The TOC usually contains the titles, chapters, figures, and major sections of a document clearly labeled by their page number. It should be added last or updated after completing the whole document or book to capture all the contents accurately.

The Purpose of table of contents

If a book, business proposal, business report , or publication is long enough to include chapters, then a TOC will likely be included at the beginning of the book, report, or publication.

The TOC provides a sequential list of the book’s organizational structure, most commonly denoting the title, chapter number, and the starting page location. The chapter, page number, and title will help guide the reader in finding specific sections.

Basically, it serves two main purposes; one is to provide the reader with a general overview of what is contained in the document and how the content is organized, and the other is to enable the reader to go directly to the specific section of an on-line document.

Key Elements of a Table of Contents

The TOC is where one lists the chapters and major sections of their document, together with their page numbers. A clear and well-out table is very important as it indicates a quality paper is structured.

The key elements that should be included in the TOC are:

The page titles
Clear headings and subheadings
The page numbers that show where in the document each section can be found

When creating your table, make sure to include all level one and two headings. You may also decide to include level three headings, although they are optional to include and should not be included in the TOC has reached its maximum length of two pages.

Level One: CHAPTER 2: Literature Review

Level Two: 2.1 Overview of Information

Level Three: 2.1.1 Discipline of Knowledge

Ensure that you use clear headings throughout your document to make your table easy to understand. Keep in mind that the reader will see the table first before reading through your document.

Other things to include in your table include the appendices and tables. Including these two, however, depend largely on how many there are in your document.

If there are more than three tables and figures, you might consider listing them on a separate page. Else, you can include them in your table.

Steps to Create a Table of Contents in MS Word

For you to create a TOC in Microsoft Word, you must first define what you’d like to include in this part. First, start off by applying the different heading styles throughout your document.

Once you’ve done that, follow these steps to insert a TOC in MS Word automatically:

Add a title on the TOC page. Ensure that you follow the standard format specific to your document or as per your department’s guidelines.

Put your cursor where you want the table to go. The table is usually included between the abstract and the introduction.

In the ribbon, find the reference section and locate the TOC section. Use the search tab on the ribbon to search for the table.

Click the arrow that is next to the TOC icon and select Custom Table of Contents. Here, select the level of heading that you would like to include in your table and also make the necessary adjustments to each level by clicking the modify button.

Click on Custom table of contents.

After you’ve made sure that everything is OK. Click OK, and your TOC will be automatically generated.

Tips on Preparing Table of Contents

It is recommended that you use your TOC template last after to make sure that it provides a clear overview of your document. You can still draw up a mock TOC in your early stages of writing to help you formulate a structure and think through your topics and how you are going to research.

Make sure that all the heading levels are properly defined in your document before inserting the template.

Remember that the reader will most likely go through your table first before diving into the document to get an overview of what to expect. Make sure that your TOC is clear and that it captures your entire document.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, the TOC is basically a snapshot of the headings, tables, and page numbers in a document and does not automatically update itself as you make changes. Anytime you make changes to your document, you can update it by simply right-clicking on it and selecting the update field.

No, the TOC is usually included between the abstract and the introduction.

Yes, the maximum length of a TOC should be two pages, regardless of the type of document you are writing.

Regardless of your document’s type or size, using a TOC can help direct the readers to exactly where they want to be. Other than making your document more reader-friendly , the table also makes it easier for the author to go back and change or update contents throughout their document if necessary. By default, MS Word generates a TOC when you use the first three built-in heading styles, i.e., Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3. To apply the different heading styles, simply select the style from the “Home” tab, or you can use a TOC template. Once you’ve properly defined the heading styles, follow the procedure given above to insert your table automatically.

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24 Free Table of Contents Templates and Examples (Word | PDF)

When working on extremely long Microsoft Word documents such as a huge report or academic paper, it most likely will extend for hundreds of pages. Due to the large nature of this document, it can be quite challenging to know exactly a page that has particular information. This can be very frustrating, and you’ll need to go over the hundreds of pages searching for the content you want. However, you don’t have to deal with this issue when working with Microsoft Word, as you can create a table of content that makes it simple to plan and navigate through the document.

Table of Contents Templates & Examples

What Is a Table of Contents?

The Table of content, or as it’s commonly referred to as the TOC, acts as the list of chapters you’ll see at the start of a book stating the document’s different sections and page numbers that these sections start. There’s a common misconception that the Table of content should only be used for huge novels, dense reports, but this is far from the truth. You can also use the Table of content for something simple as a school assignment or a daily journal. Therefore, you shouldn’t feel shy about creating a table of content any time you feel that having one is appropriate.

How to create a Table of Content

When looking to create a table of content, you need to follow a couple of steps. Fortunately, Microsoft Word makes this a lot easier for you by automatically building the TOC. After that, your work will be outlining the content and later stating the heading styles by observing basic formatting. Here are the steps you should follow when creating a table of content.

To do this, head to Ribbon > Home > Styles . Consequently, choose the text and apply headings for every text which should be included in the TOCs.
With help from the heading styles, you can design a hierarchy in the main chapters. For example, using Heading 1 for the new chapters or sections and subsequently making use of Heading 2 for the subsections in each particular section and Heading 3 for the smaller topics or units in them.
Microsoft Word will then scan the document for all the text formatted as Heading 1, 2, or 3 and use these when creating the Table of content format.
Place the TOC on the page: You should then position the cursor on the exact spot you want the Table of content to show on your Word document. This typically is at the start of your document.
Click on the TOC command: Head over to Ribbon > References > Table of Contents and pick either of the two automatic kinds you see there. These two only differ in the heading of “Table of Contents” or “Contents” at the top.
The TOC update is added automatically: Your document is scanned by MS Word, which then uses the heading styles in building the sections and subsections order as well as their page numbers. This is the Table of content’s skeleton, and you can work on it further to make it look appealing to the eye.
Update the TOC anytime you want: Feel free to further update the TOC that was created automatically. Update the TOC by changing the styles, changing the text, or rearranging the content. You must also update the Table of Content after making changes to the content affecting the page numbers. When updating the TOC created automatically, you should click on Reference > Update Table.
You can also select to Update entire Table or Update page numbers only when looking to update the text and page numbers.
Manually create the TOC: With the automatic method of creating the TOC so effortless, why bother creating one manually? There are two reasons why this may be so including;
The document doesn’t have any styles that Microsoft Word can identify
The document has numerous varieties, thereby making an automatic table of content challenges.

When creating a manual TOC, head to Reference > Table of Contents, > Click on the dropdown to show the option for the Manual Table.

The Table of Content on MS Word is usually inserted with placeholders making it easier to edit. You can adjust this using your colors and fonts. In addition, remember to add the page numbers manually.

You can’t automatically update the Table of Contents when it’s created manually. However, you shouldn’t settle for this basic TOC created by Microsoft Word. Instead, you can alter the TOC and even build a personalized TOC by yourself.

How to customize the Table of Contents

Do you want to give your Table of Contents a customized look? If so, here are the steps you need to follow.

Select A Different Format for Your Table of Content. It’s possible to change the whole Table by simply selecting a different format. To do this, head to the General section and then expand the Formats dropdown and select the appearance.
Change How Items on The Table of Content Look. The style definitions usually determine the final look of your Table of Content. You can also change the TOC’s overall appearance by making custom styles for the headings. These improved styles can be saved together with in-built ones and implemented throughout the document to give it a consistent appearance.

Here are the steps to follow when doing this;

Click on Modify: If the Modify button has been grayed out, adjust the Formats to From Template.
In the Styles list: Click on the level you’re hoping to change and consequently click on Modify . You’ll see TOC1, which usually corresponds to your document’s heading level 1, TOC2 to heading 2, TOC3 to heading level 3, and the same is replicated across the different TOCs and headings.
You can alter the color or font by going to the Modify Style dialog box. You can also put in place other formatting changes such as text indentation, and after that, click OK.
Before clicking OK, there’s the option to choose if the style changes should be applied only to the current document or across every other future document. To save this for future use, go to Add to Styles gallery and click on the checkbox.
Change The Style Headings Level Being Displayed. You can include major sections or itemize the Table of Contents. Using the Show levels number, you can adjust the number of levels shown on the TOC. The “Levels” refers to the headings style applied to the different sections. For example, H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and so on. By setting it on 2, the Heading 2 style is shown, or every text that’s got the Heading 1 style.
Add or Change The Dot Leaders In The Table of Content. The dots or lines connecting the items showing on the index to page numbers are referred to as dot leaders. These leader lines are stated in different style guides as vital sections of thesis documents. In the TOC dialog box, click the Tab leader list’s dropdown and choose the dotted line option. You can also pick the leader line that you wish or choose “none” to take it out from the Table of Content.
Add A Non-Heading Style. After inserting an automatic Table of Content, Microsoft Word doesn’t include a non-heading style. This is because Word, by default, only adds headings 1 to 9 and then provides techniques of adding another style created in the index. For instance, if you want to add a different heading, “An In-Depth Guide,” at the Table of Content and content top. To do this, click on the Options button in the TOC dialog box, and a screen will pop up. This will display the styles being used only to the Table of Content levels. These are typically three styles, Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3, and they’re charted as levels 1, 2, and 3. Head down to the box until you see Title, which doesn’t have a mapped Table of Content level. To map the Title, enter one at the Table of the Content top level. Consequently, click twice on OK to leave the dialogs. Word will then request you to replace these contents, and you should click Yes for the TOC to be replaced.
Make A Clickable TOC. In today’s digital age, it’s expected that you create a hyperlinked TOC as it makes navigation a lot quicker. In addition, it’s a condition when submitting a dissertation or thesis. To add these hyperlinks, you should click the checkbox Use hyperlinks instead of page numbers. In addition, make sure to uncheck the Show page numbers box when looking only to use hyperlinks.
Put A Simple Border Surrounding the TOC. Using the Microsft Word feature Shapes, add a border around your Table of Contents. Set Shape Fill to “No Fill” and then use Format Shape or add Shape Styles when designing the pseudo-border surrounding the Table.

Final Thoughts

The Table of Content helps ensure your large documents be it a thesis or dissertation, are a lot easier to navigate when searching for content. In this guide, you’ve been taken through the steps to follow when a TOC. And if you didn’t know how to do this, reading this guide has no doubt provided you with great insights.

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How to write table of contents for a project research work

Table of content serves as a compass that provides quick guide to a book’s content. It is mostly arranged following a particular sequence usually from the first to the last page. It basically contains the significant chapters or pages in a book with the page number in which they appear. In this piece, you will learn how to write a table of content for your project work.

Arrange your work and number all pages

Type the table of content in a word document

Number according to the pages

Follow a particular order

Each section follows a numbering pattern, capitalize the head chapters, use case distinction for the subheads, first, arrange your work and number all pages.

· Be sure to arrange your project work in chapters and subheads. Make your work easily comprehensible by segmenting it into chapters, headings and subheadings.

· Number all the pages and insert roman numerals where necessary. Be sure to number the headings and subheads with like 1.1, 1.2, 1.2.1 etc. for easy identification.

· Use the tab key in your keyboard to separate alphabets from numbers and dots. This is applicable if there is a large space between the last word and the page number you need to insert.

· Number according to the pages.

The page numbering should follow each other consecutively. Number the subheads and research procedures as directed by your institution

· Begin your numbering from the title page. The title page is that page where you write your full name, your project topic, the department or faculty you are submitting to and the date to the table of contents.

· The main chapters; this includes from chapter one to five.

· And the appendix

· The preliminary pages takes the Roman numeral numbering (i – x…)

· The main pages takes numbers (1- 100…)

· Each chapter head should be written in capital letters.

· The title page head should be written in capital letters

· The first letter of each relevant word in the subhead should be written in capital letter. For every subhead, the first letter of every word that is about four letter words or more should be written in capital letters.

Writing table of contents could vary with institution, be sure to follow the guides provided by your supervisor for better grades.

HOW TO DEVELOP A TABLE OF CONTENT ON ANY RESEARCH WORK

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ACCOUNTING 3693
ACCOUNTING EDUCATION 6
ADULT EDUCATION 7
ACTUARIAL SCIENCE 6
AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION 187
ARCHITECTURE 41
AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE 294
ANIMAL SCIENCE 49
AFRICAN LANGUAGES 7
BANKING AND FINANCE 1200
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 1301
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 23
BUSINESS EDUCATION 17
BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGY 36
BIOCHEMISTRY 173
BREWING SCIENCE 5
BUILDING AND TECHNOLOGY 114
COMPUTER SCIENCE 1590
CHEMISTRY 36
COMMERCE 25
COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION 19
CURRICULUM STUDIES 4
CIVIL ENGINEERING 84
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING 211
ECONOMICS 1229
EDUCATION 4028
ENGLISH 368
ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONICS 231
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 272
ESTATE MANAGEMENT 213
ENTREPRENEURSHIP 179
FOOD SCIENCE & TECH. 137
FINE & APPLIED ARTS 42
FISHERY & AQUACULTURE 62
FORESTRY & WILDLIFE 5
GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING 197
GEOGRAPHY 60
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 317
HEALTH & SEX EDUCATION 23
HOME ECONOMICS 50
HUMAN KINETICS 25
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 34
INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY 36
INSURANCE 141
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 117
ISLAMIC & ARABIC STUDIES 4
LIBRARY SCIENCE 214
MARKETING 1001
MASS COMMUNICATION 1475
MATHEMATICS EDUCATION 9
MICRO BIOLOGY 162
MARINE AND TRANSPORT 6
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 152
NURSING 115
OFFICE TECHNOLOGY 301
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 984
POLITICAL SCIENCE 592
PSYCHOLOGY 91
PHILOSOPHY 164
PROJECT MANAGEMENT 11
PHARMACY 21
PURCHASING & SUPPLY 300
PRODUCTION & OPERATIONS MGT. 22
PETROLEUM ENGINEERING 51
QUANTITY & SURVEYING 74
RELIGIOUS & CULTURAL STUDIES 19
SOCIAL STUDIES 10
SCIENCE LABOURATORY 253
SOIL SCIENCE 12
SOCIOLOGY 284
STATISTICS 126
THEATRE ARTS 15
TOURISM & HOSPITALITY 34
URBAN & REGIONAL PLANING 64
VOCATIONAL STUDIES 43
VETERINARY 2
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 5
APPLIED SCIENCE 15
CRIMINOLOGY 70
COMPUTER ENGINEERING 51
HISTORY 124
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 150
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Home » Thesis Format – Templates and Samples

Thesis Format – Templates and Samples

Table of contents.

Thesis Format

Thesis format refers to the structure and layout of a research thesis or dissertation. It typically includes several chapters, each of which focuses on a particular aspect of the research topic .

The exact format of a thesis can vary depending on the academic discipline and the institution, but some common elements include:

Introduction

Literature review, methodology.

The title page is the first page of a thesis that provides essential information about the document, such as the title, author’s name, degree program, university, and the date of submission. It is considered as an important component of a thesis as it gives the reader an initial impression of the document’s content and quality.

The typical contents of a title page in a thesis include:

The title of the thesis: It should be concise, informative, and accurately represent the main topic of the research.
Author’s name: This should be written in full and should be the same as it appears on official university records.
Degree program and department: This should specify the type of degree (e.g., Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctoral) and the field of study (e.g., Computer Science, Psychology, etc.).
University: The name of the university where the thesis is being submitted.
Date of submission : The month and year of submission of the thesis.
Other details that can be included on the title page include the name of the advisor, the name of the committee members, and any acknowledgments.

In terms of formatting, the title page should be centered horizontally and vertically on the page, with a consistent font size and style. The page margin for the title page should be at least 1 inch (2.54 cm) on all sides. Additionally, it is common practice to include the university logo or crest on the title page, and this should be placed appropriately.

Title of the Thesis in Title Case by Author’s Full Name in Title Case

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Department Name at the University Name

Month Year of Submission

An abstract is a brief summary of a thesis or research paper that provides an overview of the main points, methodology, and findings of the study. It is typically placed at the beginning of the document, after the title page and before the introduction.

The purpose of an abstract is to provide readers with a quick and concise overview of the research paper or thesis. It should be written in a clear and concise language, and should not contain any jargon or technical terms that are not easily understood by the general public.

Here’s an example of an abstract for a thesis:

Title: The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health among Adolescents

This study examines the impact of social media on mental health among adolescents. The research utilized a survey methodology and collected data from a sample of 500 adolescents aged between 13 and 18 years. The findings reveal that social media has a significant impact on mental health among adolescents, with frequent use of social media associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. The study concludes that there is a need for increased awareness and education on the risks associated with excessive use of social media, and recommends strategies for promoting healthy social media habits among adolescents.

In this example, the abstract provides a concise summary of the thesis by highlighting the main points, methodology, and findings of the study. It also provides a clear indication of the significance of the study and its implications for future research and practice.

A table of contents is an essential part of a thesis as it provides the reader with an overview of the entire document’s structure and organization.

Here’s an example of how a table of contents might look in a thesis:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………..1

A. Background of the Study………………………………………..1

B. Statement of the Problem……………………………………….2

C. Objectives of the Study………………………………………..3

D. Research Questions…………………………………………….4

E. Significance of the Study………………………………………5

F. Scope and Limitations………………………………………….6

G. Definition of Terms……………………………………………7

II. LITERATURE REVIEW. ………………………………………………8

A. Overview of the Literature……………………………………..8

B. Key Themes and Concepts………………………………………..9

C. Gaps in the Literature………………………………………..10

D. Theoretical Framework………………………………………….11

III. METHODOLOGY ……………………………………………………12

A. Research Design………………………………………………12

B. Participants and Sampling……………………………………..13

C. Data Collection Procedures…………………………………….14

D. Data Analysis Procedures………………………………………15

IV. RESULTS …………………………………………………………16

A. Descriptive Statistics…………………………………………16

B. Inferential Statistics…………………………………………17

V. DISCUSSION ………………………………………………………18

A. Interpretation of Results………………………………………18

B. Discussion of Finding s …………………………………………19

C. Implications of the Study………………………………………20

VI. CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………21

A. Summary of the Study…………………………………………..21

B. Limitations of the Study……………………………………….22

C. Recommendations for Future Research……………………………..23

REFERENCES …………………………………………………………….24

APPENDICES …………………………………………………………….26

As you can see, the table of contents is organized by chapters and sections. Each chapter and section is listed with its corresponding page number, making it easy for the reader to navigate the thesis.

The introduction is a critical part of a thesis as it provides an overview of the research problem, sets the context for the study, and outlines the research objectives and questions. The introduction is typically the first chapter of a thesis and serves as a roadmap for the reader.

Here’s an example of how an introduction in a thesis might look:

Introduction:

The prevalence of obesity has increased rapidly in recent decades, with more than one-third of adults in the United States being classified as obese. Obesity is associated with numerous adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. Despite significant efforts to address this issue, the rates of obesity continue to rise. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between lifestyle behaviors and obesity in young adults.

The study will be conducted using a mixed-methods approach, with both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. The research objectives are to:

Examine the relationship between lifestyle behaviors and obesity in young adults.
Identify the key lifestyle factors that contribute to obesity in young adults.
Evaluate the effectiveness of current interventions aimed at preventing and reducing obesity in young adults.

The research questions that will guide this study are:

What is the relationship between lifestyle behaviors and obesity in young adults?
Which lifestyle factors are most strongly associated with obesity in young adults?
How effective are current interventions aimed at preventing and reducing obesity in young adults?

By addressing these research questions, this study aims to contribute to the understanding of the factors that contribute to obesity in young adults and to inform the development of effective interventions to prevent and reduce obesity in this population.

A literature review is a critical analysis and evaluation of existing literature on a specific topic or research question. It is an essential part of any thesis, as it provides a comprehensive overview of the existing research on the topic and helps to establish the theoretical framework for the study. The literature review allows the researcher to identify gaps in the current research, highlight areas that need further exploration, and demonstrate the importance of their research question.

April 9, 2023:

A search on Google Scholar for “Effectiveness of Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic” yielded 1,540 results. Upon reviewing the first few pages of results, it is evident that there is a significant amount of literature on the topic. A majority of the studies focus on the experiences and perspectives of students and educators during the transition to online learning due to the pandemic.

One recent study published in the Journal of Educational Technology & Society (Liu et al., 2023) found that students who were already familiar with online learning tools and platforms had an easier time adapting to online learning than those who were not. However, the study also found that students who were not familiar with online learning tools were able to adapt with proper support from their teachers and institutions.

Another study published in Computers & Education (Tang et al., 2023) compared the academic performance of students in online and traditional classroom settings during the pandemic. The study found that while there were no significant differences in the grades of students in the two settings, students in online classes reported higher levels of stress and lower levels of satisfaction with their learning experience.

Methodology in a thesis refers to the overall approach and systematic process that a researcher follows to collect and analyze data in order to answer their research question(s) or achieve their research objectives. It includes the research design, data collection methods, sampling techniques, data analysis procedures, and any other relevant procedures that the researcher uses to conduct their research.

For example, let’s consider a thesis on the impact of social media on mental health among teenagers. The methodology for this thesis might involve the following steps:

Research Design:

The researcher may choose to conduct a quantitative study using a survey questionnaire to collect data on social media usage and mental health among teenagers. Alternatively, they may conduct a qualitative study using focus group discussions or interviews to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences and perspectives of teenagers regarding social media and mental health.

Sampling Techniques:

The researcher may use random sampling to select a representative sample of teenagers from a specific geographic location or demographic group, or they may use purposive sampling to select participants who meet specific criteria such as age, gender, or mental health status.

Data Collection Methods:

The researcher may use an online survey tool to collect data on social media usage and mental health, or they may conduct face-to-face interviews or focus group discussions to gather qualitative data. They may also use existing data sources such as medical records or social media posts.

Data Analysis Procedures:

The researcher may use statistical analysis techniques such as regression analysis to examine the relationship between social media usage and mental health, or they may use thematic analysis to identify key themes and patterns in the qualitative data.

Ethical Considerations: The researcher must ensure that their research is conducted in an ethical manner, which may involve obtaining informed consent from participants, protecting their confidentiality, and ensuring that their rights and welfare are respected.

In a thesis, the “Results” section typically presents the findings of the research conducted by the author. This section typically includes both quantitative and qualitative data, such as statistical analyses, tables, figures, and other relevant data.

Here are some examples of how the “Results” section of a thesis might look:

Example 1: A quantitative study on the effects of exercise on cardiovascular health

In this study, the author conducts a randomized controlled trial to investigate the effects of exercise on cardiovascular health in a group of sedentary adults. The “Results” section might include tables showing the changes in blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and other relevant indicators in the exercise and control groups over the course of the study. The section might also include statistical analyses, such as t-tests or ANOVA, to demonstrate the significance of the results.

Example 2: A qualitative study on the experiences of immigrant families in a new country

In this study, the author conducts in-depth interviews with immigrant families to explore their experiences of adapting to a new country. The “Results” section might include quotes from the interviews that illustrate the participants’ experiences, as well as a thematic analysis that identifies common themes and patterns in the data. The section might also include a discussion of the implications of the findings for policy and practice.

A thesis discussion section is an opportunity for the author to present their interpretation and analysis of the research results. In this section, the author can provide their opinion on the findings, compare them with other literature, and suggest future research directions.

For example, let’s say the thesis topic is about the impact of social media on mental health. The author has conducted a survey among 500 individuals and has found that there is a significant correlation between excessive social media use and poor mental health.

In the discussion section, the author can start by summarizing the main findings and stating their interpretation of the results. For instance, the author may argue that excessive social media use is likely to cause mental health problems due to the pressure of constantly comparing oneself to others, fear of missing out, and cyberbullying.

Next, the author can compare their results with other studies and point out similarities and differences. They can also identify any limitations in their research design and suggest future directions for research.

For example, the author may point out that their study only measured social media use and mental health at one point in time, and it is unclear whether one caused the other or whether there are other confounding factors. Therefore, they may suggest longitudinal studies that follow individuals over time to better understand the causal relationship.

Writing a conclusion for a thesis is an essential part of the overall writing process. The conclusion should summarize the main points of the thesis and provide a sense of closure to the reader. It is also an opportunity to reflect on the research process and offer suggestions for further study.

Here is an example of a conclusion for a thesis:

After an extensive analysis of the data collected, it is evident that the implementation of a new curriculum has had a significant impact on student achievement. The findings suggest that the new curriculum has improved student performance in all subject areas, and this improvement is particularly notable in math and science. The results of this study provide empirical evidence to support the notion that curriculum reform can positively impact student learning outcomes.

In addition to the positive results, this study has also identified areas for future research. One limitation of the current study is that it only examines the short-term effects of the new curriculum. Future studies should explore the long-term effects of the new curriculum on student performance, as well as investigate the impact of the curriculum on students with different learning styles and abilities.

Overall, the findings of this study have important implications for educators and policymakers who are interested in improving student outcomes. The results of this study suggest that the implementation of a new curriculum can have a positive impact on student achievement, and it is recommended that schools and districts consider curriculum reform as a means of improving student learning outcomes.

References in a thesis typically follow a specific format depending on the citation style required by your academic institution or publisher.

Below are some examples of different citation styles and how to reference different types of sources in your thesis:

In-text citation format: (Author, Year)

Reference list format for a book: Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher.

Example: In-text citation: (Smith, 2010) Reference list entry: Smith, J. D. (2010). The art of writing a thesis. Cambridge University Press.

Reference list format for a journal article: Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), page range.

Example: In-text citation: (Brown, 2015) Reference list entry: Brown, E., Smith, J., & Johnson, L. (2015). The impact of social media on academic performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(3), 393-407.

In-text citation format: (Author page number)

Works Cited list format for a book: Author. Title of Book. Publisher, Year of publication.

Example: In-text citation: (Smith 75) Works Cited entry: Smith, John D. The Art of Writing a Thesis. Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Works Cited list format for a journal article: Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, volume number, issue number, date, pages.

Example: In-text citation: (Brown 394) Works Cited entry: Brown, Elizabeth, et al. “The Impact of Social Media on Academic Performance.” Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 108, no. 3, 2015, pp. 393-407.

Chicago Style

In-text citation format: (Author year, page number)

Bibliography list format for a book: Author. Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.

Example: In-text citation: (Smith 2010, 75) Bibliography entry: Smith, John D. The Art of Writing a Thesis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Bibliography list format for a journal article: Author. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal volume number, no. issue number (date): page numbers.

Example: In-text citation: (Brown 2015, 394) Bibliography entry: Brown, Elizabeth, John Smith, and Laura Johnson. “The Impact of Social Media on Academic Performance.” Journal of Educational Psychology 108, no. 3 (2015): 393-407.

Reference list format for a book: [1] A. A. Author, Title of Book. City of Publisher, Abbrev. of State: Publisher, year.

Example: In-text citation: [1] Reference list entry: A. J. Smith, The Art of Writing a Thesis. New York, NY: Academic Press, 2010.

Reference list format for a journal article: [1] A. A. Author, “Title of Article,” Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, pp. xxx-xxx, Month year.

Example: In-text citation: [1] Reference list entry: E. Brown, J. D. Smith, and L. Johnson, “The Impact of Social Media on Academic Performance,” Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 108, no. 3, pp. 393-407, Mar. 2015.

An appendix in a thesis is a section that contains additional information that is not included in the main body of the document but is still relevant to the topic being discussed. It can include figures, tables, graphs, data sets, sample questionnaires, or any other supplementary material that supports your thesis.

Here is an example of how you can format appendices in your thesis:

Title page: The appendix should have a separate title page that lists the title, author’s name, the date, and the document type (i.e., thesis or dissertation). The title page should be numbered as the first page of the appendix section.
Table of contents: If you have more than one appendix, you should include a separate table of contents that lists each appendix and its page number. The table of contents should come after the title page.
Appendix sections: Each appendix should have its own section with a clear and concise title that describes the contents of the appendix. Each section should be numbered with Arabic numerals (e.g., Appendix 1, Appendix 2, etc.). The sections should be listed in the table of contents.
Formatting: The formatting of the appendices should be consistent with the rest of the thesis. This includes font size, font style, line spacing, and margins.
Example: Here is an example of what an appendix might look like in a thesis on the topic of climate change:

Appendix 1: Data Sources

This appendix includes a list of the primary data sources used in this thesis, including their URLs and a brief description of the data they provide.

Appendix 2: Survey Questionnaire

This appendix includes the survey questionnaire used to collect data from participants in the study.

Appendix 3: Additional Figures

This appendix includes additional figures that were not included in the main body of the thesis due to space limitations. These figures provide additional support for the findings presented in the thesis.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

Limitations in Research – Types, Examples and...

Significance of the Study – Examples and Writing...

Thesis Outline – Example, Template and Writing...

Dissertation – Format, Example and Template

Implications in Research – Types, Examples and...

Figures in Research Paper – Examples and Guide

How to Write a Good Table of Content for Your Project or Seminar

Writing an excellent project work (whether for your degree or diploma programme) starts with creating a very straight forward and easy table of content. The table of content serves as a map for the project work as it helps you streamline your search for materials.

A well written project Table of Content makes it easier for the student to write his or her project work. It also guides the reviewer or supervisor in going through the project work.

What a Good Table of Content Should Contain;

For project works there is no hard and fast rule to creating a good table of content. In fact table of contents vary for various courses. The format for table of content for a project work in engineering will vary from a table of content for project topic in accounting.

Aside from these variances in table of content based on the discipline or course there are generally tips that will help every student or scholar develop a formidable table of content.

Tips to Creating a Good Table of Content

1. Make the Chapter One Your Introduction : In most project work the first chapter is used to introduce basic concepts, issues and scope to be discussed in the main project work. There is no fixed sequence for the writing the sub chapters of your Chapter One however (in case of research projects) it mostly contains; – Statement of problem – Scope of Work – Methodology – Definition of Key or Significant Terms – Scope and Challenges of Study or Work

2. Most Times Chapter Two is for Review of Related Literature : You use your second chapter to review all the basic issues and concepts up for discussion. You will review these concepts exhaustively to make your supervisor and any other person that will read your work have an easy understanding of what the project topic you are writing on is all about. The content of your chapter two will depend on the project topic you are working on.

3. Chapters Three and Four are the Main Body of Your Project Work : In Chapter 3, You are expected to discuss your project topic within the context of your Case study. In other words, You are expected to go fully into discussion and analysis of your project work and case study. The data for analysis in Chapter 4 should be generated from your experimental results, Questionnaires, general observations, facts from old records and comparative studies. You also discuss the methodology used and give any theoretical framework involved in the project work. Many times (depending on how sophisticated your project is) your Chapter Four might be the results discussion and analysis chapter that will seek to deduce results from the work done in the previous chapter.

4. Chapter Five, Close with Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations To make sure you are right on track with creating your table check for table of content of past project works from your school library on similar courses or go online and look for clues of past project reports in the same discipline as yours.

Free Research Proposal Table Of Contents Template

Free Download this Research Proposal Table Of Contents Template Design in Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages, Publisher Format. Easily Editable, Printable, Downloadable.

Our Research Proposal Table Of Contents Template helps you organize and structure your research proposal. Our template includes all the necessary sections for a comprehensive proposal outline, so you can focus on writing and researching your proposal. Simplify your research proposal process with our Research Proposal Table Of Contents Template.

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80 Impactful Research Topics for High School Students

By Rebekah Pierce

Educational writer and former teacher

3 minute read

Choosing the right research topic can be the secret ingredient to making your high school student paper not only impressive but also fun to write. Let's face it - no one wants to slog through a boring topic that has been done a million times before.

A good research topic is like the foundation of a strong building. It sets the stage for everything else - not to mention that it helps you develop critical thinking and analytical skills that you’ll need as you move into college and beyond.

Here are some of the best research paper ideas (and some tips to help you get started with writing about these fun research topics for high school projects).

How to Choose the Right Research Paper Topic

Begin by identifying what interests you most. What do you want to learn more about? These don’t necessarily have to be controversial topics. Just think about what might be a good research topic for your interests.

Once you have a few ideas for a good topic, start the research process to hunt down resources and relevant literature. Aim for the best research paper topics that will allow for a comparative study, such as analyzing different perspectives on a social issue or contrasting historical events.

Make sure your chosen topic is neither too broad nor too narrow. Finding the right balance is incredibly important if you want to produce a focused and impactful paper.

Do your own research through Polygence!

Polygence pairs you with an expert mentor in your area of passion. Together, you work to create a high quality research project that is uniquely your own.

How to Get Started with Your Research Paper Writing

First up, do a thorough literature review to gather existing research and insights relevant to your topic. This may even inspire new angles for you to explore!

Organize your findings and outline the structure of your paper to keep things clear, tight, and tidy. Write an abstract to break down your intentions.

As you write a research paper , critically analyze the information and present your arguments coherently, allowing your voice to shine through (objectively) while incorporating scholarly evidence. In the introduction , grab the reader with an enticing bit of information, like a hook, quote, or stat.

Edit, edit, and edit some more - then, get ready to publish!

Need some inspiration to get the creative juices flowing? Keep reading to discover the best research topics for high school students.

Technology Research Paper Topics

The Influence of Artificial Intelligence on Modern Society: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer just a concept from sci-fi movies. What are the ethical considerations?

Cybersecurity Threats and Measures in the Digital Age: With the rise of digital technology, cybersecurity is more important than ever.

The Future of Renewable Energy Technologies: Solar panels, wind turbines, and electric cars are just the beginning.

Impact of Social Media on Youth Behavior: Social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat dominate the lives of teenagers - for better or worse.

The Role of Technology in Modern Education : How are digital tools and online platforms enhancing learning experiences?

Health and Medicine Topics

The Effects of Diet and Nutrition on Mental Health: What we eat doesn't just affect our physical health.

Advances in Cancer Research and Treatment: Explore the latest advances in cancer research.

The Impact of Vaccines on Public Health: Are vaccines safe? What does the future hold?

Mental Health Issues Among Teenagers: For these psychology research paper topics for high schoolers, explore the many factors leading to an increased incidence of mental health issues in teens, from academics to Snapchat and everything in between.

The Role of Genetics in Personalized Medicine: Take a closer look at how genetic studies are being used to create personalized, in-depth treatment plans for patients.

Making a difference starts with you

Interested in Environmental Science? We'll match you with an expert mentor who will help you explore your next project.

Environment Topics

Climate Change and Its Impact on Global Ecosystems: Climate change is affecting us all. Take a look at how melting ice caps and rising temperatures are impacting ecosystems around the world.

Sustainable Practices in Urban Development: To minimize our environmental impact, we need to think green. But what does this mean for urban development?

The Effects of Pollution on Marine Life: How can we reduce the impact of pollution on marine life?

Renewable Energy Sources: Benefits and Challenges: Renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and hydroelectric power offer numerous benefits but also come with challenges. Explore these.

The Importance of Biodiversity Conservation: How can we incorporate strategies to protect endangered habitats?

Social Issues and Sociology Research Topics

The Impact of Social Media on Interpersonal Relationships: Social media is shaking up the way we interact with others.

The Role of Education in Reducing Inequality: Education is the number one way to reduce inequality. Explore strategies and policies that can help with this.

Gender Equality in the Workplace: Gender equality remains a significant issue in workplaces worldwide - talk about why and how to address this.

The Effects of Poverty on Community Health: Explore how poverty has far-reaching impacts on nutrition, healthcare access, and overall health and well-being.

Immigration Policies and Their Social Implications: Immigration policies are far-reaching, impacting more than just immigrant communities.

History Argumentative Essay Topics

The Causes and Effects of World War II: Research the causes and ripple effects of the Second World War.

The Impact of the Civil Rights Movement on Modern Society: Ask how the Civil Rights Movement impacted racial equality today - and look at the continuing challenges.

Ancient Civilizations and Their Contributions to the Modern World: How do these ancient achievements influence us today?

The History of Space Exploration: Space exploration has captivated humanity for decades - but what’s the background?

The Evolution of Democracy Throughout History: Democracy has evolved significantly over the centuries - detail this evolution.

Science Research Topics

The Exploration of Space: Past, Present, and Future: What are the scientific and societal benefits of exploring space?

Genetic Engineering and Its Ethical Implications: Are there ethical considerations (or risks) of genetic engineering? Take a look at them.

The Impact of Climate Change on Natural Disasters: Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of natural disasters.

Advances in Renewable Energy Technology: Renewable energy technology is advancing rapidly - what innovations hold the most promise?

The Role of Science in Solving Global Problems: How can science help solve problems related to disease, poverty, and climate change?

Literature Research Topics

The Influence of Classic Literature on Modern Writing: Ever wondered how Shakespeare still affects today's bestsellers? A research paper on how classic literature influences modern writing can uncover fascinating parallels and divergences.

Themes of Dystopia in Contemporary Literature: From "The Hunger Games" to "1984," dystopian themes have captivated readers for ages.

The Role of Literature in Social Change: Literature has the power to inspire revolutions. Explore books like "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" and how they created societal shifts.

Comparative Analysis of Major Literary Movements: Compare the themes, styles, and impacts on society of different literary movements like Romanticism, Realism, and Modernism.

The Impact of Digital Media on Reading Habits: Is the Kindle killing books? If so, research how and why in this essay topic.

Economics Topics

The Effects of Globalization on Local Economies: Globalization is reshaping economies worldwide -explore its impacts on local businesses and job markets.

The Role of Technology in Transforming the Job Market: From AI to automation, technology is revolutionizing jobs.

Economic Impacts of Climate Change: Climate change isn't just an environmental issue; it's an economic one too.

The Influence of Consumer Behavior on Market Trends: Ever bought something because it was trending? Study how consumer behavior shapes market trends.

The Future of Cryptocurrencies in the Global Economy: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin - what's the deal?

Education Research Paper Topics

The Impact of Online Learning on Student Performance: Online learning is more relevant now than ever, which you’ll explore in this education research topic.

The Role of Technology in Modern Education: How are smart boards and tablets changing classrooms for public schools? How can they improve academic achievement?

Comparative Analysis of Education Systems Around the World: Why do some countries excel in education while others lag? Compare different education systems to see what works and doesn’t.

The Effects of Standardized Testing on Student Learning: Standardized tests are controversial; research their impacts on student learning and whether they accurately measure academic performance and predict academic success, particularly related to special education, elementary school, and early childhood education.

Innovations in Educational Methodologies: From flipped classrooms in elementary education to gamification for middle school, explore different teaching methods with this research question.

Arts Research Project Ideas

The Evolution of Visual Arts Through Different Periods: Study how visual arts have evolved from the Renaissance to Postmodernism.

The Influence of Digital Media on Traditional Arts: Analyze how digital media is affecting traditional arts like painting and sculpture.

The Role of Art in Cultural Preservation: Art isn’t just for aesthetics; it preserves culture too.

Comparative Study of Art Movements: Compare movements like Impressionism and Cubism.

The Impact of Public Art on Community Identity: Murals, sculptures, and public installations - how do they shape community identity and pride?

Athletics Topics

The Impact of Sports on Academic Performance: Do athletes perform better academically?

The Role of Athletics in College Admissions: Sports can be a ticket to higher education. Research how athletics influence college admissions and scholarships for current college students.

The Effects of Physical Activity on Mental Health: Exercise isn’t just for the body; it’s also for the mind. Explore that in these research ideas.

The Influence of Sports on Leadership Skills

Sports teach more than physical skills. Analyze how participation in sports cultivates leadership qualities.

The Future of Technology in Sports Training: From wearable tech to virtual reality, technology is revolutionizing sports training.

Music Research Paper Topics

The Influence of Classical Music on Modern Genres: Ever heard classical elements in pop songs? Explore how classical music influences modern genres.

The Role of Music in Cultural Identity: Music defines cultures. Study how different genres contribute to cultural identity.

The Effects of Music Therapy on Mental Health: Music heals. Research why that is.

Evolution of Music Technology: From vinyl to Spotify, music tech has come a long way.

The Impact of Music Education on Academic Performance: Does music make you smarter?

Government and Politics Persuasive Essay Topics

The Impact of Government Policies on Economic Growth: Government policies can make or break economies.

Comparative Analysis of Political Systems: Democracy, autocracy, and everything in between - compare different political systems and their effectiveness.

The Role of Youth in Political Movements: Young people are powerful when it comes to historical and current political movements.

Government Response to Climate Change: How are governments tackling climate change?

The Influence of Lobbying on Legislation: Lobbying shapes laws. Investigate how.

Writing and Communication Topics

The Evolution of Writing Styles Over the Centuries: Writing styles have changed dramatically. Study their evolution and what influenced these changes.

The Impact of Digital Media on Writing and Communication: Digital media is reshaping communication.

Creative Writing Techniques for Young Authors: Explore techniques and tips to enhance creative writing.

The Role of Writing in Personal Expression: Research how writing can be a powerful tool for self-expression.

The Importance of Effective Communication Skills: Study why effective communication skills are crucial in various aspects of life.

Society, Culture, and Social Science Topics

The Effects of Social Media on Cultural Norms: Social media is changing culture. Research its impacts on cultural norms and behaviors.

The Role of Tradition in Modern Society: Traditions persist in modern times. Study the role of ancient traditions in contemporary society.

Comparative Analysis of Cultural Practices Around the World: Different cultures, different practices. Compare cultural practices and their meanings worldwide.

The Influence of Media on Public Perception: Media shapes how we see the world.

The Impact of Globalization on Cultural Identity: Globalization is blending cultures. Research its effects on cultural identities.

Business and Entrepreneurship Topics

The Impact of Startups on the Economy: Startups are economic powerhouses. Study their impacts on local and global economies.

The Role of Innovation in Business Success: Research how innovation influences business achievements.

Ethical Considerations in Business Practices: Investigate ethical considerations and their impacts on business practices.

The Influence of Digital Marketing on Consumer Behavior: Analyze the effects of digital marketing on consumer behavior and purchasing decisions.

Strategies for Successful Entrepreneurship: Want to start a business? Explore strategies.

Polygence Scholars Are Also Passionate About

Engaging in research with polygence's core program.

Picking the right research topic can set the tone for your entire project. It's not just about getting a good grade—it’s about developing critical thinking and enhancing your analytical skills. Your high school research paper topics can even set the stage for future academic pursuits or careers.

Polygence’s Core Program offers a variety of resources to help you nail every aspect of your research paper. Sign up today!

By selecting an impactful research topic , you're not just writing a paper - you're developing research skills that will serve you for a lifetime. These skills can enhance your understanding of your current school curriculum and prepare you for the rigorous demands of higher education, setting a strong foundation for your academic future.

Style and Grammar Guidelines

APA Style provides a foundation for effective scholarly communication because it helps writers present their ideas in a clear, concise, and inclusive manner. When style works best, ideas flow logically, sources are credited appropriately, and papers are organized predictably. People are described using language that affirms their worth and dignity. Authors plan for ethical compliance and report critical details of their research protocol to allow readers to evaluate findings and other researchers to potentially replicate the studies. Tables and figures present information in an engaging, readable manner.

The style and grammar guidelines pages present information about APA Style as described in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition and the Concise Guide to APA Style, Seventh Edition . Any updates to APA Style are noted on the applicable topic pages. If you are still using the sixth edition, helpful resources are available in the sixth edition archive .

Looking for more style?

Accessibility of APA Style
Line Spacing
Order of Pages
Page Header
Paragraph Alignment and Indentation
Sample Papers
Title Page Setup
Appropriate Level of Citation
Basic Principles of Citation
Classroom or Intranet Sources
Paraphrasing
Personal Communications
Quotations From Research Participants
Secondary Sources
Abbreviations
Capitalization
Italics and Quotation Marks
Punctuation
Spelling and Hyphenation
General Principles for Reducing Bias
Historical Context
Intersectionality
Participation in Research
Racial and Ethnic Identity
Sexual Orientation
Socioeconomic Status
Accessible Use of Color in Figures
Figure Setup
Sample Figures
Sample Tables
Table Setup
Archival Documents and Collections
Basic Principles of Reference List Entries
Database Information in References
DOIs and URLs
Elements of Reference List Entries
Missing Reference Information
Reference Examples
References in a Meta-Analysis
Reference Lists Versus Bibliographies
Works Included in a Reference List
Active and Passive Voice
Anthropomorphism
First-Person Pronouns
Logical Comparisons
Plural Nouns
Possessive Adjectives
Possessive Nouns
Singular “They”
Adapting a Dissertation or Thesis Into a Journal Article
Correction Notices
Cover Letters
Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS)
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9 Business Ideas For Teens In 2024

Published: Aug 27, 2024, 8:40am

9 business ideas for teens, benefits of starting a business as a teen, factors to consider when starting a business as a teen, bottom line, frequently asked questions (faqs).

Starting a business as a teenager can help you explore your skills and interests, gain professional experience and earn money. Plus, the process can be fun, and you might even discover what you want to spend your life doing—or you’ll discover what you don’t like.

There are countless options for teen entrepreneurs to explore, from tutoring to online content creation. Below, we cover a few options and how you can get started.

If there is an academic subject (or multiple subjects) you are particularly talented in and the idea of sharing your knowledge sounds appealing to you, consider tutoring. As an academic tutor, you could focus on math, writing, science, music or other topics students may need extra help with or offer tutoring in more than one. You could also specialize in standardized tests such as the ACT and SAT.

Many people start tutoring by joining an agency or platform, such as Tutorpeers. If you start on your own, you’ll want to think about how to advertise so you can reach clients, how much you’ll charge and whether you’ll be meeting people in a set location or going to their homes.

Childcare is another reliable teen business idea to try. Childcare can come with a flexible schedule, and you’ll learn if you like working with children and gain important skills such as negotiating in people-facing roles. Childcare providers typically charge per hour, so you’ll want to find an appropriate starting rate for your area. If you start working with an agency, you can expect to pay an agency fee. You can also start by advertising in online and local forums or build a client base through word of mouth.

Handmade Products

If you are crafty, consider developing a personal or home care product. Many people appreciate handmade products and there are plenty of options to consider. Once you find a product you like, you can look into selling it locally or online.

Though these projects start small, you never know where they will lead or what you’ll learn along the way. Visual storyteller Annalisa van den Bergh developed an all-natural cat repellent spray and potpourri made from citrus and citronella in high school. The idea started as an eighth-grade science fair project:

“My family’s two cats kept scratching our furniture and I wanted to create a nontoxic way to deter them from it. It was eventually sold at two pet stores in the East Village of NYC and became a very popular item, as it was especially appealing to that market. It was my first experience creating and branding a product and it was interesting to see how the sprays sold well despite—though probably because of—their homemade, DIY look,” van den Bergh shared.

Photography

There are lots of ways to start a photography business . To start, you’ll want to develop a portfolio of work if you don’t have one already. Then, think about the different types of commercial photography that people typically pay for, such as wedding photography and portraits, and develop a portfolio specifically tailored to the service that you want to provide. While the first gigs you do may only be to gain experience, eventually, when people see your work and know you can deliver what they want, they will feel confident hiring you.

Photography can open the door to exploring lots of skills and interests beyond the medium itself. Taking photographs of people requires knowing how to make someone feel comfortable. You learn a lot of social skills on the job that can translate well to other professions. Photoshoots at high-stakes events, such as weddings, will give you experience working in a high-pressure environment and an opportunity to see if you are well-suited for it. You’ll also develop your photography and editing skills with each gig you take on.

“At 16, I started a photography and videography business on my own, putting my interests in cameras and architecture into a way to make money,” California-based photographer and videographer Jackson McKinney told Forbes Advisor. “From taking pictures of homes for sale to high school athletes getting endorsements, I quickly learned that I could make more money doing what I love. The experience not only made me feel better about myself, but it also led to real estate jobs that made me want to study business more in college and start my own businesses,” he shared.

If the idea of developing a product from scratch seems overwhelming, you can experiment with selling products online by listing items you no longer need. You’ll have to think through whether any items you no longer need, such as clothes, will make a good product to list online and find the right platform or app to sell it . You’ll also need to photograph your item, give it a title, write a description, answer any questions customers ask you and properly wrap and ship the product to the buyer.

This whole process will help you become more comfortable selling online. If you want to continue, you could turn it into an ongoing business by buying and reselling products or developing your own.

Selling Artwork

If you love to make art, selling your own work could be a great way to learn about what people like and build a business out of something you already love to do. Depending on your skill set and interests, there are many different directions to explore, including selling your work online or locally. You could decide to sell custom-made work or the work you already have. If you decide to sell locally, think about the different ways to connect with people or partnering with businesses in your neighborhood. For example, cafes often display artwork for sale.

Online Content Creation

If you enjoy being in front of a camera and want to explore a public-facing media profession, content creation could be a good online business idea to consider. Before you start, spend some time coming up with a focus for the content you want to share. Maybe you have a special skill and can share information about it online. Or maybe you want to talk about a hobby you are invested in and know a lot about. Your content can be short-form for platforms like TikTok and Instagram or long-form content on YouTube. Doing your research can help you learn about and brainstorm the different possibilities for your own channel. Or, you can just jump right in and learn as you go.

Neighborhood Services

Offering lawn mowing or other services that are needed locally could be a great way to start a business. Think about your current skills or which ones you want to learn—painting houses, repairs and landscaping, for example. If you end up receiving a lot of work, you might think about scaling, adding more services to your business or even adding someone else to your team. You’ll develop your customer service skills, people skills and business management skills.

House-Sitting or Pet Care

In the realm of caretaking and people-facing professions, house-sitting is another job to explore. Different online platforms can help you connect with people looking for house sitters or pet sitters, such as Rover and TrustedHousesitters. Some people will need someone to take care of their plants or will have special instructions about how to take care of their homes while they are gone. Since people will be trusting you with their pets and homes, you’ll want to make sure you understand what they need and have a plan if you need to contact them with any questions that come up or if anything unexpected happens.

Starting a business as a teen can bring unexpected benefits in addition to earning money. Trying out different ideas can help you learn about your interests, skills and talents and gain a better sense of direction. Plus, for some people, the jobs they take on or businesses they start as teenagers end up becoming their long-term work as adults. For other people, early work experience teaches them what they like and don’t like.

For example, babysitting experience can help you determine whether you like working with young children and working with people in general. As a babysitter, you’ll be responsible for taking care of someone else’s child or children—a huge responsibility. You might love the process, which could inspire exploration in other professions such as teaching or healthcare. On the other hand, you might find you can’t stand working with people in such an interpersonal way and would much rather do work on a computer. Whatever you discover will be valuable information you can use for your next job or business idea.

The other benefit of starting a business as a teenager is that you’ll be in a better position to change course as you learn. There’s less at stake when you haven’t invested four years or more in an education for this specific role.

Regardless of the work you do, you’ll learn invaluable skills and business experience that you can transfer over to your next job. For example, you’ll learn how to communicate professionally, how to keep track of your income, how to think strategically about billing and, depending on what business you decide to take on, you might learn about marketing, branding and sales, which are concepts you’ll likely be exposed to in any business or job.

The age requirements for starting a business vary by state, so you’ll want to make sure you understand and follow them before you start a business venture, especially as they relate to taxes, permits and any industry-specific requirements. A parent or guardian can help navigate the legal aspects of starting a business.

You’ll also want to make sure you fully consider the amount of time you have to run a business so that you don’t overcommit yourself or overpromise clients or customers something you end up not being able to deliver. Having a good sense of the number of hours you can commit to your business per week will help make sure that you don’t overstretch yourself.

As an excited and motivated teen wanting to start a business, there are so many potential avenues to explore. Start by thinking about your passions and interests and then research ways your skills could be used to create a product or service others will want to pay for. You won’t have all the answers right away but everyone starts somewhere and you never know where the first step towards creating a business will take you.

What is the easiest business for a teen to start from home?

Starting a business is not easy, but the highest chances of success will come from following an idea where your talent and motivations intersect. Some ideas for starting a business at home include creating online content, selling items online and doing pet setting.

What are some part-time business ideas for teenagers?

Most businesses are flexible regarding time commitment. It’s a matter of what you want to accomplish, your long-term goals and how much money you want to earn. Apart from these factors, any of the business ideas in this article can be part time.

How can I turn my hobby into a business?

The first step to turning your hobby into a business is to consider where your interests and talents overlap with potential customers’ needs. For example, if you’re a talented photographer interested in developing your photography skills and learning how to work with people, exploring wedding photography could be a good fit.

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Leeron is a New York-based writer with experience covering technology and politics. Her work has appeared in publications such as Quartz, the Village Voice, Gothamist, and Slate.

This paper is in the following e-collection/theme issue:

Published on 26.8.2024 in Vol 26 (2024)

Sociotechnical Cross-Country Analysis of Contextual Factors That Impact Patients’ Access to Electronic Health Records in 4 European Countries: Framework Evaluation Study

Authors of this article:

Original Paper

Jonas Moll 1 , PhD ;
Isabella Scandurra 1 † , PhD ;
Annika Bärkås 2, 3 , PhD ;
Charlotte Blease 2, 4 , PhD ;
Maria Hägglund 2, 3 , PhD ;
Iiris Hörhammer 5 , DSC ;
Bridget Kane 2, 6 , PhD ;
Eli Kristiansen 7 , ME ;
Peeter Ross 8, 9 , MD, PhD ;
Rose-Mharie Åhlfeldt 10 , PhD ;
Gunnar O Klein 1 , MD, PhD

1 Centre for Empirical Research on Information systems, School of Business, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden

2 Participatory eHealth and Health Data Research Group, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

3 Medtech Science & Innovation Centre, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden

4 Digital Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States

5 Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

6 Karlstad University Business School, Karlstad, Sweden

7 Norwegian Centre for E-health Research, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway

8 E-Medicine Centre, Department of Health Technologies, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

9 Research Department, East Tallinn Central Hospital, Tallinn, Estonia

10 School of Informatics, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden

Corresponding Author:

Jonas Moll, PhD

Centre for Empirical Research on Information systems

School of Business

Örebro University

Nova building, 4th floor

Fakultetsgatan 1

Örebro, 70182

Phone: 46 0703174383

Email: [email protected]

Background: The NORDeHEALTH project studies patient-accessible electronic health records (PAEHRs) in Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Such country comparisons require an analysis of the sociotechnical context of these services. Although sociotechnical analyses of PAEHR services have been carried out in the past, a framework specifically tailored to in-depth cross-country analysis has not been developed.

Objective: This study aims to develop and evaluate a method for a sociotechnical analysis of PAEHRs that advances a framework for sociotechnical analysis of eHealth solutions first presented by Sittig and Singh. This first article in a series presents the development of the method and a cross-country comparison of the contextual factors that enable PAEHR access and use.

Methods: The dimensions of the framework for sociotechnical analysis were thoroughly discussed and extended in a series of workshops with international stakeholders, all being eHealth researchers focusing on PAEHRs. All countries were represented in the working group to make sure that important national perspectives were covered. A spreadsheet with relevant questions related to the studied services and the various dimensions of the sociotechnical framework was constructed and distributed to the 4 participating countries, and the project participants researched various national sources to provide the relevant data for the comparisons in the 10 sociotechnical dimensions.

Results: In total, 3 dimensions were added to the methodology of Sittig and Singh to separate clinical content from features and functions of PAEHRs and demonstrate basic characteristics of the different countries regarding national and regional steering of health care and information and communications technology developments. The final framework contained the following dimensions: metadata; hardware and software computing infrastructure; features and functions; clinical content shared with patients; human-computer interface; people; workflow and communication; the health care organization’s internal policies, procedures, and culture; national rules, regulations, and incentives; system measurement and monitoring; and health care system context. The dimensions added during the study mostly concerned background information needed for cross-country comparisons in particular. Several similarities were identified among the compared countries, especially regarding hardware and software computing infrastructure. All countries had, for example, one national access point, and patients are provided a PAEHR automatically. Most of the differences could be identified in the health care system context dimension. One important difference concerned the governing of information and communications technology development, where different levels (state, region, and municipality) were responsible in different countries.

Conclusions: This is the first large-scale international sociotechnical analysis of services for patients to access their electronic health records; this study compared services in Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. A methodology for such an analysis was developed and is presented to enable comparison studies in other national contexts to enable future implementations and evaluations of PAEHRs.

Introduction

Patients’ web-based access to their electronic health records (EHRs) is increasingly being implemented internationally [ 1 - 3 ], and a growing body of literature indicates strong benefits to patients, including understanding their care plans better [ 4 ], feeling more in control of their care [ 4 , 5 ], being better informed about their medication [ 6 ], improved communication with and trust in their clinicians [ 5 , 7 ], and improved patient safety [ 8 ].

Patient-accessible EHRs (PAEHRs) are web-based services providing patients with secure access to view and sometimes edit or comment on their EHRs made available by their health care providers [ 9 ]. A PAEHR is directly linked to the EHRs, which are shared patient records entered and maintained by health care service providers and contain historical data about a patient [ 10 ]. Medical and health data and information in the EHR are created and managed by authorized providers in a digital format capable of being shared with other providers across more than one health care organization [ 11 ]. In addition, a PAEHR may include access to the services supporting a person’s access to health care services (eg, e-booking and e-consultation) and to evidence-based tools (eg, patient guidelines, educational materials, and reimbursement information). It is important to distinguish between PAEHRs and personal health records—the latter being a health record that the patients themselves control and maintain to track their own health, for example, on paper; in Microsoft Excel sheets; or, predominantly, in health care apps. Personal health records are external applications that can potentially be linked with EHRs to enable sharing [ 10 ].

In this study, we focused on national services in the 4 countries of Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden and excluded web-based services designed to provide access to the services of only 1 health care provider. Among the studied countries, Estonia was the first to offer citizens web-based access to their EHR through the service Digilugu that was launched nationwide in 2008 [ 12 ]. The Finnish counterpart, Omakanta, was launched nationwide in 2010 with only limited functionality and reached full functionality in 2015 after a step-by-step adoption of functions [ 13 ]. In Sweden, the national PAEHR service Journalen was launched in the Region Uppsala in 2012 and has been accessible to all citizens since 2018 [ 14 ]. In Norway, the national PAEHR service Helsenorge was first launched in 1 of 4 regions in 2015, and as of 2023, citizens in 3 out of 4 regions can use the service to access their PAEHRs [ 15 ].

Despite the reported benefits of PAEHRs and patients’ web-based record access, implementation is often slow and challenging, and the complexity of health care systems and technical infrastructure leads to great diversity in, for example, the information to which patients are given access and when they can access it across regions and health care settings. Similarly, patients’ adoption and use of PAEHRs also varies across contexts. To understand why these differences exist and better adapt the design and implementation of PAEHRs to a specific context, there is a need for a more fine-grained understanding of the social and technical underpinnings of this innovation.

Sociotechnical Systems

As described by Baxter and Sommerville [ 16 ], the problems that arise when designing and implementing complex IT systems are not just technical, engineering problems. These systems are developed and operated by people working in organizations that inevitably have different, often conflicting goals and views on the role and design of the system. The IT system is part of a broader “sociotechnical” system, and to understand success factors and barriers to implementing web-based record access and identify best practices and guidelines, there is a need to approach these eHealth services as complex sociotechnical systems.

Sittig and Singh [ 17 ] have proposed a multidimensional sociotechnical framework in which any health IT innovation, intervention, application, or device implemented within a complex adaptive health care system can be studied. The sociotechnical framework by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ] identifies eight dimensions of sociotechnical systems in health care that need to be considered in both development and evaluation: (1) hardware and software computing infrastructure; (2) clinical content; (3) human-computer interface; (4) people; (5) workflow and communication; (6) internal organizational policies, procedures, and culture; (7) external rules, regulations, and pressures; and (8) system measurement and monitoring [ 17 ]. The framework breaks down components of the technology to enable researchers to identify specific problems with implementation. It also includes monitoring processes and government structures that need to be in place for the system to achieve its goals. The interrelatedness of the components makes the framework pertinent when eHealth technologies and users are at the core of the investigation.

In 2017, Hägglund and Scandurra [ 18 ] began analyzing the Swedish PAEHR system from a sociotechnical perspective using the framework by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ], and their results laid the foundation for continued work within the NORDeHEALTH research project [ 19 ] involving partners from Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. These countries were deemed appropriate for the development and first test of the cross-country sociotechnical analysis method derived in this study as they have comparable government and health care structures. In addition, they have all reached maturity in the use of their respective PAEHR systems—these countries are all among the early adopters of this specific type of eHealth service for patients. In a 2021 workshop, a first draft of an extended version of the framework by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ] as a sociotechnical template for analyzing PAEHR implementations was introduced and discussed [ 20 ]. However, the original framework by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ] needed to be more specifically adapted to PAEHRs and their contexts to enable useful cross-country comparisons, a process that will be described further in this paper.

The full results of the sociotechnical analysis of the 4 countries involved in the NORDeHEALTH project are being published in an article series; it is intended for each publication to offer results related to specific and related framework dimensions and, thereby, focus on different themes. This paper is intended to offer a detailed description of the overarching research method as well as a sociotechnical analysis of dimensions providing the context for other articles of the series.

Aims and Research Questions

The aims of this study were to (1) develop a detailed collaborative method suitable for cross-country sociotechnical analyses of PAEHRs and (2) use the data collection to compare contextual factors that enable PAEHR access and use.

Although the proposed work process, including the production of an extensive sociotechnical analysis template, is described in the context of comparing PAEHRs in 4 specific countries, it can be adjusted to cover other eHealth services for patients across other nations. The comparison and discussion regarding the national contexts will provide a robust foundation and understanding of other parts of the sociotechnical analysis, such as included features and national and regional incentives for the use and promotion of PAEHRs. The following research questions (RQs) guided the work presented in this paper:

RQ 1: how can a sociotechnical framework for health IT be adapted and a collaborative method be developed that is suitable for cross-country sociotechnical analyses of PAEHR services?
RQ 2: how can the method be used to compare the PAEHRs in Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden?

Research Method

This study has 2 main parts inspired by different phases in the design science methodology [ 21 ]. In the first part, a collaborative method, including a data collection template, for sociotechnical cross-country analysis of PAEHRs was derived: (1) problem identification and motivation; that is, based on earlier experiences with the framework by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ] and the fact that the framework is not adapted for comparisons across contexts, the following problem was defined, how can we conduct fruitful comparative analysis among PAEHRs in different regions and health care settings? (2) objectives of a solution; that is, due to the identified need to perform a complete sociotechnical comparison among health care contexts, the main objective of the new artifact (being a method for collecting data, including a refined framework and a data collection instrument) is to enable a comparison that would consider the sociotechnical contexts of PAEHRs; and (3) design and development; that is, a dedicated collaborative method was developed with a focus on adjusting the framework for cross-country comparisons and deriving a data collection template enabling the collection of all relevant data from the specific countries involved.

The second part of our study (in this paper referred to as data collection ) consists of the collection and comparison of the sociotechnical characteristics of the 4 countries participating in the NORDeHEALTH project: Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. This can be seen as case studies of the more general questions regarding the availability and use of the PAEHR in a country. However, it is also an evaluation of the method as an artifact in the design science paradigm: (1) demonstration—the data collection template derived from the first part of the study was used to conduct a cross-country comparison among 4 Nordic countries—and (2) evaluation—finally, the results from the comparison were analyzed to evaluate whether the approach provides an understanding that explains differences among countries in the adoption of PAEHRs by regions and providers and patients.

In the remaining sections, the different points of the process are elaborated on, with emphasis on the design and development, demonstration, and evaluation steps. The work was led by a core analysis team (JM, IS, GK, and AB) of health informatics researchers.

Development of the Collaborative Method

The development of the data collection instrument based on the sociotechnical framework proposed by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ] started before the NORDeHEALTH project had begun.

In 2017, a first sociotechnical analysis of the Swedish PAEHR service Journalen was conducted with the aim of increasing the understanding of factors that influence the design, implementation, adoption, and use of the service [ 18 ]. However, the analysis did not go into the details of each dimension of the framework but, rather, highlighted some overall challenges. The results of this early analysis were used as input to an international workshop held in 2021, for which a more detailed template specifically adapted to PAEHRs was developed ( Textbox 1 ). In addition to including specific PAEHR-related questions to each dimension, a new dimension, Features and functions , was added. Some other dimensions were renamed. During the workshop, international experts provided feedback on the template that was incorporated into further refinements, leading to the data collection form presented in this study.

Dimension and description

Hardware and software computing infrastructure: focuses only on the hardware and software required to run the applications.
Features and functions: important features and functions in the patient-accessible electronic health record (PAEHR) service or in related services. As there is not yet a strict definition of what functionality is included in a PAEHR or not, we included functions that may be considered external to a PAEHR in some contexts.
Clinical content shared with patients: includes everything on the data-information-knowledge continuum that is stored in the PAEHR service and made accessible to patients.
Human-computer interface: focuses on the usability of the PAEHR service.
People: represents the humans involved in all aspects of the implementation and use of the eHealth application and how they experience the use.
Workflow and communication: focuses on collaboration and communication among different users and assessing how well the eHealth application supports the current clinical workflow.
The health care organization’s internal policies, procedures, and culture: affects every other dimension in this model as it includes any internal IT policy documents and managerial procedures that may influence the implementation and use of eHealth.
National rules, regulations, and incentives: focuses on external forces that facilitate or place constraints on the design, development, implementation, use, and evaluation of eHealth in the respective clinical settings.
System measurement and monitoring: focuses on the need for an effective system measurement and monitoring program to identify the availability of features and functions and how they are used as well as expected outcomes and unintended consequences of the PAEHR service.

The resulting Microsoft Excel template was then used as a basis for developing a complete data collection form within the scope of the NORDeHEALTH project, including questions, response options, and comment sections for all the dimensions in the sociotechnical analysis framework used. The first version of the form was developed by the core analysis team. The sociotechnical dimensions were not changed by the team, but the added “Features and functions” dimension was retained, and the questions used in the Microsoft Excel template were clarified in many cases. The work process followed a weekly workshop format in which different framework dimensions were in focus and that lasted between February 2021 and April 2021. The draft template took form within a shared Google document, enabling collaborators in the participating countries to continuously offer feedback on the ongoing work. This format ensured that the items in the data collection form were relevant in the context of all involved countries. Finally, an analysis dimension called metadata was added during this iterative process, whereby information about the data collection itself—including the name of the system, the name of the researcher responsible for data collection, and information sources—could be noted.

After the first complete draft had been developed, a digital workshop was held in early May 2021 in which the core analysis team from Sweden (n=4) as well as representatives from Estonia (n=1), Finland (n=1), and Norway (n=2) participated. All participants are coauthors of this paper and are health informatics researchers with several years of experience following the implementation and subsequent use of the PAEHR system in their respective countries. The focus of the workshop was to discuss how to interpret the framework dimensions and uppermost to elaborate on and resolve some of the question formulations that had elicited many comments from other project partners in the shared document. After the 1-hour workshop, the template was refined, after which input was again sought from other project partners through email. After the last questions had been resolved, in October 2021, data collection could start based on the finalized template.

Data Collection

Data collection was undertaken in 2 different phases. The first, longer phase started in October 2021 and ended in November 2021. One representative from each country, who also took part in the workshop where the data collection template was discussed, was assigned to be the main responsible data collector from their country, and communication among these representatives occurred continuously during the data collection period. Project participants from each country filled out a copy of the data collection form ( Multimedia Appendix 1 ) for their main PAEHR systems and with the systems shown in Table 1 in focus.

Country	System
Sweden	1177.se and Journalen [ ]
Estonia	Digilugu [ ]
Finland	Omakanta [ ]
Norway	Helsenorge [ ]

Some ambiguities were identified during the data collection, and these were handled through communication among the responsible researchers. When needed, the data collection master file was updated in accordance with agreed-upon solutions while making sure that everyone always used the question formulations in the latest version. After completion, all main responsible researchers from each country shared their filled-out forms in a shared folder for everyone to access.

After a preliminary walk-through of the collected data performed by the core analysis team, a need for further clarification was identified. In some cases, a few questions remained unanswered, and in other cases, the level of detail varied, requiring follow-up questions. When questions that the researchers from each country needed to elaborate on had been compiled, an additional and final data collection took place in December 2021. This shorter phase of data collection took place through email exchange between the leader of the core analysis team (JM) and the researchers responsible for data collection in each country. Multimedia Appendix 2 summarizes the sources of information that were used during the data collection in each country.

As a last step of data collection for this particular paper, a project representative from each involved country was tasked with collecting and summarizing information to enable a broader overview of national contexts than the developed data collection form could provide. In this final stage, information related to government structure, overall health care system, digital care organization, and steering of health information and communications technology (ICT) developments was gathered from each country. Information was gathered from national statistics, agency web pages, and local contacts within each health care system. Data collection for this study ended in November 2022.

When data collection was completed, the core analysis team began the analysis work. The first step was to copy all answers from the completed data collection forms into a shared analysis document. In this document, each dimension had its own sheet to simplify comparisons within each dimension. In each sheet, the questions from the data collection form were added as rows, and each PAEHR system was added as a column to create a matrix where each column included the answers related to a specific PAEHR system. Each answer, possibly in combination with an additional comment, was added to the corresponding cells in the matrix. Some examples are shown in the Results section. The content of the sheets was then compared across columns (countries) for all questions (rows) to identify similarities as well as aspects that are unique to the specific countries involved. In this step, representatives from Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden were once again invited to discuss the identified similarities and differences.

Ethical Considerations

The study presented in this paper is part of the larger NORDeHEALTH project, which received ethics approval from the appropriate national ethical bodies. This particular study did not involve human participants or sensitive personal data and only focused on contextual and technical details of PAEHRs; there were no specific ethical requirements that needed to be addressed.

Final Data Collection Instrument

The final data collection form inspired by the sociotechnical dimensions in the framework developed by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ], including all updates made during the initial data collection round, can be found in Multimedia Appendix 1 . Table 2 describes the overall content and structure of the form. The data collection form is the end result of the method development and is intended to enable sociotechnical comparisons of eHealth services for patients across countries, with a specific aim to compare PAEHR systems. It is important to note here that the form derived for this study is specifically aimed at comparison of PAEHR systems. For other types of eHealth services for patients, such as self-tracking applications, a different form may have to be derived through the process suggested in the Methods section.

Framework dimension	General description	Questions
Metadata	Information related to the data collection itself, such as the organizations and persons that are responsible for the data collection in the other dimensions, as well as the geographical and organizational context of the providers of PAEHRs in the country	1.1-1.6
Hardware and software computing infrastructure	The hardware and software required to run the applications; this also includes issues regarding information security, access control, and standards used	2.1-2.8
Features and functions	Important features and functions in the PAEHR service or in related services; some functions that may be considered external to a PAEHR in some contexts have been included, such as appointment booking, requesting renewal of prescriptions, and access to logs	3.1-3.14
Clinical content shared with patients	An inventory of which parts of a professional record are shared with the patients; examples are medications, laboratory test results of various kinds, images, and text notes	4.1-4.21
Human-computer interface	The “Human-computer interface” dimension captures information on studies conducted on the usability of the PAEHR service; it includes both the variables that have been measured and the results of measures from different stakeholders’ perspectives	5.1-5.10
People	“People” includes an overview of various characteristics of the population in the country, including language groups, educational levels, and internet use; it also includes user demographics of the PAEHR system	6.1-6.6
Workflow and communication	This dimension captures information focusing on collaboration and communication between health care professionals and patients and the explicit role of the PAEHR if identified and promoted in the country, possibly for distinct patient groups	7.1-7.11
The health care organization’s internal policies, procedures, and culture	An inventory of internal IT policy documents and managerial procedures that may influence the implementation and use of the PAEHR	8.1-8.6
National rules, regulations, and incentives	An inventory of national regulations that may facilitate or place constraints on the design, development, and implementation of the PAEHR	9.1-9.9
System measurement and monitoring	Collection of information on existing system measurement and monitoring programs to identify the use of the PAEHR system as well as individual functions; this also includes unintended consequences of the PAEHR service and other feedback to the national systems	10.1-10.5
Health care system context	The general context information about the health care system in the specific country where data are collected is recorded in this dimension; information about governance structure and EU membership as well as primary care organization and financing of health care is included in this dimension, and it is especially important if one performs comparisons across several countries	11.1-11.4

a The questions refer to the numbering in Multimedia Appendix 1 .

b PAEHR: patient-accessible electronic health record.

c EU: European Union.

During the work process, some of the dimensions by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ] were adjusted, and some dimensions were added in response to identified needs that were not fulfilled by the original framework. The following dimensions were either updated or added ( Table 2 ):

Metadata: this dimension was added during the work process to enable collection of information related to the data collection process itself. It stores general information that is important for keeping track, especially in large-scale projects.
Features and functions: we decided to use the existing framework dimension Clinical content (after renaming it—see the following item on this list) to describe the information to which patients or citizens are given access through the PAEHR (eg, laboratory test results, medications, and clinical notes). However, there is also variation in the functions that PAEHRs provide (eg, whether patients can comment or fill out forms). Considering the importance of these types of differences, we determined that a new dimension was warranted. Thus, this dimension ensured that the focus was not only on the clinical information that patients have access to in the PAEHR but also on the other important functions or features that they can use.
Clinical content shared with patients: in the original framework, this dimension was called “Clinical content.” The dimension was renamed to make it more PAEHR specific.
The health care organization’s internal policies, procedures, and culture: in the original framework, this dimension was more generally about policies, procedures, and culture. The decision was made to add “Health care organizations” as a specification of this dimension. This made it better suited for PAEHR analysis.
National rules, regulations, and incentives: in the original framework, this dimension was named “External rules, regulations, and pressures.” The redefined dimension puts the focus more on the national context in relation to rules and regulations, again to make it more suitable for PAEHR analysis.
Health care system context: this dimension was also added during the work process to understand the basics of the countries involved in the comparison. This understanding is needed when analyzing the data in the other dimensions as the national context, including health care system financing and steering of health ICT system development, has an effect on all the other dimensions. It is especially important to gather general data about the national context when comparing across several countries. This dimension was added to the final data collection form after the information had been collected in each country, and hence, it was added in response to a need that the data collection form used did not fulfill.

Identified Clusters of Dimensions

As the collected material is extensive, the dimensions were clustered to enable more manageable partitions of the data set. Dimensions that had similar focuses were grouped together. Textbox 2 presents the 4 resulting clusters. The Contextual factors enabling PAEHR access and use cluster gathers dimensions focusing on the user base as well as technical and governmental prerequisites for PAEHR access and use. The added Metadata dimension is also included in this cluster as it is a prerequisite for the type of comparative studies that we have conducted, and it also includes contextual information. The Features and content cluster includes dimensions focusing on what is actually offered to patients in the PAEHR, that is, the content (eg, clinical notes, test results, and images) and functions (eg, secure messaging and prescription renewal) that are provided to patients. The Evaluations of human-computer interaction and use cluster includes the dimensions focusing on how one measures and evaluates PAEHR use, as well as the results of such evaluations. Both internal service provider evaluations and external evaluations are included to provide a broad coverage. Finally, the National and local policies, regulations for use, promotion, workflow, and communication cluster includes dimensions focusing on laws and regulations; the focus in this cluster is also more on health care professionals and their relationship to PAEHRs than on the patients.

Contextual factors enabling patient-accessible electronic health record access and use

Hardware and software computing infrastructure
Health care system context

Features and content

Features and functions
Clinical content shared with patients

Evaluations of human-computer interaction and use

Human-computer interface
System measurement and monitoring

National and local policies, regulations for use, promotion, workflow, and communication

Workflow and communication
The health care organization’s internal policies, procedures, and culture
National rules, regulations, and incentives

In the article series about the results of the sociotechnical analysis, each article focuses on different clusters from Textbox 2 . This paper has the Contextual factors enabling PAEHR access and use cluster in focus; hence, the dimensions belonging to this cluster were considered in detail, and the results of the data collection in relation to those dimensions are presented in the following sections.

Results From the Sociotechnical Comparison of the “Contextual Factors Enabling PAEHR Access and Use” Cluster

In this section, the results gathered by means of the derived sociotechnical data collection form, with a focus on contextual factors, are presented.

The metadata dimension, which was not part of the original sociotechnical framework presented by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ], includes basic information related to the data collection process itself and the system in question. Collected information about the PAEHR systems is presented in Table 3 . Differences can be observed regarding the type of provider responsible for sharing EHR services in each country. In Sweden, the responsible provider is a publicly owned company, Inera AB, whereas the responsible providers in the other countries are institutions or ministries. In Sweden, Finland, and Estonia, the PAEHR service is national; however, in Norway, the studied service, Helsenorge, is only used for PAEHRs in 3 of 4 regions. All countries only provide 1 national PAEHR service ( Table 3 ); however, local PAEHRs can exist in parallel with the national PAEHR. In all studied countries, health information from different sources is collected in a single PAEHR.

	Sweden	Norway	Finland	Estonia
Name of the national PAEHR service	1177 Journalen	Helsenorge	Omakanta	Digilugu
Responsible provider	The Swedish eHealth organization Inera AB	The Norwegian Directorate of eHealth and Norwegian Health Network	The Finnish Social Insurance Institution (Kela)	The Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs (and the Health and Welfare Information Systems Centre and the National Institute for Health Development)
Geographic area	National	3 of 4 health regions in Norway	National	National
Number of national PAEHRs that 1 patient can have	1	1	1	1

a The items shown in the table correspond to questions 1.1 to 1.4 in the data collection form ( Multimedia Appendix 1 ). Question 1.6 regarding information sources is answered in Multimedia Appendix 2 .

c A total of 2 different Swedish systems (1177 and Journalen) were analyzed. As 1177 includes Journalen (which presents most of the PAEHR information) as well as some other related features, the results from the 2 systems are merged here. In cases in which, for example, the setup of Journalen differs from that of the rest of 1177, the differences will be highlighted.

People and Demographics

This dimension was more complex than the others covered in this paper as demographic data were not available from the same time intervals and age intervals in the different countries. In addition, some of the countries did not have user group statistics of the PAEHR available. Hence, a complete comparison across all countries cannot be made, and as a consequence, results will only be summarized at an overall level in this section.

Sweden has the highest number of inhabitants (10.2 million) of the countries compared, and Estonia has the smallest (1.3 million). Norway and Finland have 5.4 and 5.5 million inhabitants, respectively. Thus, there are large differences in population size among the countries. In addition, there are large differences regarding the proportion of immigrants in the countries, with the lowest proportion (9%) in Finland and the highest proportion (31% non-Estonians) in Estonia. In Norway and Sweden, the proportion is approximately 20%. Data on internet use among the populations of the 4 countries were available from 2019 in Finland and 2020 in Estonia, Norway, and Sweden. The data showed that a high proportion of the populations were internet users, with the highest number in Norway (98%) and the lowest in Estonia (89%). Data from all countries showed a general trend of increasing internet use. Estonia and Norway lack statistics on the use of PAEHRs in different user groups (such as age, gender, and profession). In Finland, statistics on PAEHR use in different age groups are collected, with the highest number of users being aged 36 to 50 years (94%) and 18 to 35 years (93%). In Sweden, data are collected for the PAEHR service Journalen when it comes to age intervals and gender. The service is used most frequently by individuals aged 20 to 29 years and 30 to 39 years, and slightly more female (53%) than male (47%) individuals use it. Educational levels are comparable across countries, with the vast majority of the population reaching upper secondary education. The highest proportion with at least 3 years of higher education can be found in Sweden (37%), and the lowest proportion can be found in Finland and Estonia (23%). No statistics from any of the countries could be found regarding the proportion of the population that prefers an interpreter in their contacts with health care.

Hardware and Software Computing Infrastructure

This dimension includes several important contextual factors that are presented in Table 4 . Among the compared countries, 2 different ways of storing data are represented. In Norway, Finland, and Sweden, data are stored in local EHRs and then extracted and presented in the PAEHRs at runtime. For Digilugu in Estonia, centralized storage is used. In most of the studied countries, data are provided to the PAEHR from both private and public providers and from both primary and secondary care. The exception is Helsenorge in Norway, where only secondary care provides data to the PAEHR. Although all health care personnel in Norway are obliged to provide data to the EHR, it is decided on a regional level whether these data should be electronically accessible in the PAEHR. There are clear similarities among the compared countries when it comes to access points, enrollment, and authentication—all countries use 1 national access point, and each patient of a connected provider automatically receives a PAEHR. Authentication in all countries is made possible through a national electronic ID. Web browsers as well as mobile-adapted web browsers can be used by patients in all studied countries to access the PAEHR. In Norway and Sweden, there is also the possibility of using apps for iOS or Android. There are also some differences regarding how data are provided to the PAEHR. In the case of 1177, Omakanta, and Helsenorge, data are automatically linked to the source EHRs at runtime when a patient logs in to the system. In Digilugu, on the other hand, data are either automatically uploaded from source EHRs to a central server or manually uploaded from the EHR by a health care professional. Hence, in Estonia but not in the other studied countries, it is possible for a health care professional to add content to the PAEHR specifically.

	Sweden (Vårdguiden 1177)	Norway (Helsenorge)	Finland (Omakanta)	Estonia (Digilugu)
Centralized or distributed data storage?	Data stored in local EHRs	Data stored in local EHRs	Centralized storage	Centralized storage
Who provides data to the PAEHR ?	Private and public providers and primary and secondary care	Public providers and secondary care	Private and public providers and primary and secondary care	Private and public providers and primary and secondary care
One national access point per patient portal to the PAEHR?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
How is enrollment done?	Each patient of a provider automatically receives a PAEHR	Each patient of a provider automatically receives a PAEHR	Each patient of a provider automatically receives a PAEHR	Each patient of a provider automatically receives a PAEHR
How are users authenticated?	Patients use a national electronic ID of some type	Patients use a national electronic ID of some type	Patients use a national electronic ID of some type	Patients use a national electronic ID of some type
What technical platform can the patients use for access?	Web browser, mobile-adapted web browser, app for iOS, and app for Android	Web browser, mobile-adapted web browser, app for iOS, and app for Android	Web browser and mobile-adapted web browser	Web browser and mobile-adapted web browser
How are data provided to the PAEHR?	Automatically linked to source EHRs at runtime	Automatically linked to source EHRs at runtime	Automatically linked to source EHRs at runtime	Automatically uploaded from source EHRs to a central server and manually uploaded from EHRs by a health professional
Are international standards (eg, FHIR , openEHR, and ISO 13606) used in the interface between local EHRs and the PAEHR?	A national architecture for information services exists that defines information content that is not expressed in any international standard. However, many standards are used to build the integration. International terminologies are used for some aspects, such as for diagnosis and ATC for class of medicinal product.	IHE XDS and IHE plus national information structure standards	National profiles of information content expressed in various HL7 syntaxes—(HL7 version 3: CDA R2 and HL7 FHIR) plus a number of modern web-based service standards for exchange and information security	National profile of old-type HL7 standards, such as HL7 version 3 and HL7 CDA R2 combined with international terminologies such as , ATC, and LOINC

a The questions correspond to questions 2.1 to 2.8 in the data collection template ( Multimedia Appendix 1 , where all response options can also be found).

b EHR: electronic health record.

c PAEHR: patient-accessible EHR.

d FHIR: Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources.

e ISO: International Organization for Standardization.

f ICD-10: International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision.

g ATC: The Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System.

h IHE: Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise.

i XDS: Cross Enterprise Document Sharing.

j HL7: Health Level Seven.

k CDA R2: Clinical Document Architecture Release 2.

l LOINC: Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes.

Health Care System Contexts

During the analysis of the collected data, it became clear that it is necessary to provide basic descriptions of the health care system contexts for readers who are unfamiliar with them. Therefore, a summary of the most essential information for understanding the PAEHR context is provided in Textbox 3 . The full data are provided in Multimedia Appendix 3 .

Governance structure

A parliamentary republic, which is a member of the European Union (EU)
There are 3 levels of government: state, regions (19), and municipalities (310)
A parliamentary republic, which is a member of the EU
There are 3 levels of government: state, counties (15), and municipalities (79)
A constitutional monarchy, which is not a member of the EU (but a member of the European Economic Area)
There are 3 levels of government: state, counties (11), and municipalities (356)
A constitutional monarchy, which is a member of the EU
There are 3 levels of government: state, regions (21), and municipalities (296)

General health care system financing

Municipalities are responsible for providing health care that is financed through local tax.
Every resident in the country is entitled to health care services from the tax-funded system (funds from the 3 levels of government and a small private sector). Municipal authority hospitals provide specialist care, and privately owned hospitals supplement with, for example, day surgery.
The health care is organized in 3 levels—primary or family care, specialist care, and nursing care
Payroll tax covers 78% of all expenditures. The Estonian Health Insurance Fund (EHIF) is the sole provider of universal health coverage. The EHIF covers approximately 95% of the population; the rest is covered by the Ministry of Social Affairs. The ministry also has a main responsibility.
All health care providers are independent entities; family physicians are local entrepreneurs in private companies.
The health care is organized in 2 levels—primary care (municipalities) and specialist care (the state). Specialist care is divided into 4 health regions and provides specialist care (mainly hospital based) and ambulance service. The state financing is channeled through the health regions.
The tax-funded system covers health care for all citizens.
The health care is organized on 3 levels—the state, regions, and municipalities. The regions with their own elected parliaments decide on regional tax, which provides the major financing for health care. National tax funds also constitute large parts of regions’ and municipalities’ health care budgets. Home care is funded through local municipality taxes.
The tax-funded system covers everyone, including recent immigrants. It is free for inpatient care, and outpatient care has a low cost. Most of the care is operated by regions, but especially primary care and some specialist services are performed by private companies under contracts with the regions. The private share varies a lot among regions, with the largest private providership in the capital region where also a small private part exists independent of the public system that is financed mainly through optional insurance.

Primary care

These are municipality-arranged services at municipal health centers.
They include population health monitoring and the promotion of well-being and health as well as prevention, diagnostic services, and treatment.
Every EHIF-insured individual (and every Estonian resident) is assigned to a personal general practitioner (GP), who is the first level of contact. The insured individual can choose the GP. Approximately 70% of GPs are in solo practices. Practice lists cover the entire population. There are no copayment fees for primary care services in the EHIF package.
The GP is the main point of contact for health benefits; they are expected to manage most patient pathways and to refer patients to specialist care or long-term nursing care and rehabilitation.
Provides >50% of ambulatory care visits.
Services are arranged by the municipalities based on the GP scheme. All citizens have the right to register with a GP of their choice. There are approximately 5000 GPs in total.
The GPs are the first line of contact; they coordinate care, are gatekeepers for welfare goods, and manage referrals to specialist care.
Municipalities also offer, for example, emergency care, home care, and rehabilitation services.
Services are arranged by the regions. Each citizen is connected to a primary care team (often physicians, nurses, psychologists, and physiotherapists), which is the first line of contact. There are approximately 900 primary care centers, between 10% and 50% private depending on the region. Primary care is never provided by single physicians. Care centers are relatively large, with 2 to 10 physicians and a total staff of 20 to 80 people. Organization differs somewhat among regions.
Primary care handles many issues directly but may also refer to specialist inpatient or outpatient clinics. They also work with health promotion and preventive care (eg, vaccination) and maternity and child care and are the direct clinical contact of the municipalities’ home health care.

Steering of health information and communications technology (ICT) development

The national solution (Omakanta) is provided by the Social Insurance Institution (Kela). Private and public providers often also provide local portals with no connection to Omakanta.
Decisions on regional health ICT systems are often made by municipalities or hospital districts. Health Village (portal implemented by all university hospitals) and Omaolo (municipality collaborative) are national initiatives.
There are 2 main domains: Central databases, services, and applications: the National Health Information System (central database and services governed by the Ministry of Social Affairs) and the database of the EHIF are the major components. Databases and applications of health care stakeholders: electronic medical records (EMRs) and health information systems (HISs) of care facilities, as well as applications provided and maintained through private companies, are the major components. EMRs and HISs need to comply with central systems and legal regulations on, for example, data sharing.
The Directorate of eHealth was established in 2016 and is responsible for implementing national policy and steering and coordinating eHealth initiatives with stakeholders. They are generally responsible for the work in national eHealth programs, including the national portal Helsenorge. Since 2020, the Norwegian Health Network has had the responsibility to develop and operate the portal. It is the health regions’ decision whether to use the national offered health portal for patient-accessible electronic health records (PAEHRs) in their region.
Major decisions are made by the 21 autonomous regions; hence, there is not much national coordination. However, collaborations on common procurement of electronic health record (EHR) systems among regions, as well as among secondary care, primary care, and municipalities in some larger regions, have happened recently (Cambio COSMIC is procured by 17 of 21 regions).
Inera (subsidiary of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions) supports regions with ICT development and interoperability issues. Inera manages the 1177 patient portal, where Journalen resides.
The eHealth authority (under the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs) manages electronic prescriptions of medicinal products. They hold the prescription database and link together all pharmacies.

Aims and Motivation

The study presented in this paper had two main aims: (1) to develop a detailed collaborative method suitable for cross-country sociotechnical analyses of eHealth services for patients’ access to their records and (2) to illustrate the data collection method by comparing results regarding contextual factors enabling PAEHR access and use in 4 European countries. Starting from a sociotechnical analysis framework developed by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ] with an intention to produce a detailed data collection template for cross-country sociotechnical comparisons, a collaboration method was developed and implemented. The resulting data collection instrument was then used in a case study where a cross-country analysis was conducted based on collected data from Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.

This sociotechnical analysis is valuable because, while innovation in PAEHRs is important, there must be a concomitant, ongoing focus on how these tools are integrated into health systems. Digital innovations can fragment care or risk not being used, and examining the social and technical factors pertaining to PAEHRs in different settings is crucial. This will help us understand potential nonadoption; abandonment; and the effects of using such tools in health care on a wide range of stakeholders, including patients and clinicians.

Method Development

Developing a method that involved collaboration among knowledgeable representatives from all countries involved was a necessity for arriving at the desired result—a data collection instrument that enabled a detailed cross-country sociotechnical system comparison. Earlier research based on more limited sociotechnical comparisons has shown that PAEHR systems differ greatly across countries, mostly due to differences in health care policy, underlying care structures, and health ICT initiatives [ 3 ]. To be able to develop a data collection instrument that both covers important aspects of the investigated countries and systems and is relevant in the respective health care system contexts, it was deemed of high importance to involve experts from each country.

The NORDeHEALTH project participants were not experts on every aspect covered, but they had established connections with relevant health authorities and development companies that could provide necessary information through documents or in-person communication. These contacts were necessary for the success of the study, and hence, the continuous contact with these external national agencies and companies was a vital part of the developed collaboration method. On the basis of the experience with the method development, we argue that these external connections need to be established before doing similar research in the future.

The sociotechnical analysis framework by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ] on which this work was based was general and theoretical in the sense that dimensions but not any specific data collection items were presented. The framework was also aimed toward sociotechnical health systems in general and not PAEHR systems or even eHealth services for patients in particular. Hence, a big part of the method was devoted to developing a data collection instrument that would work in this specific context—a cross-country analysis of PAEHR systems in the 4 involved countries. An inevitable consequence of this is that the data collection instrument developed in this study cannot be used to enable sociotechnical analysis of other kinds of health care systems. This being said, a similar method can be used to develop other data collection instruments that include items for the different framework dimensions that are better suited to other kinds of health care systems.

The framework by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ] has indeed been adapted for sociotechnical analysis of health care technology systems but not for cross-country comparisons. As a consequence, an important part of this work was to amend it for the purpose of comparing health care systems across countries. In total, 2 dimensions were added to the framework for this purpose—metadata and health care system context. It is beneficial to include the Metadata dimension in any kind of sociotechnical analysis, but we argue that it is especially important to include this dimension when comparing data from different countries with their own systems, responsible data collectors, and information sources.

The collection of data for the Health care system context dimension occurred after the data collection that was based on the developed data collection instrument. After data collection, this dimension was added as a last step of the iterative development of the method and the data collection instrument in line with the design science research approach followed in this study. As earlier research has shown that PAEHR systems vary across countries due to contextual factors [ 3 ], this dimension is of high importance to consider in a cross-country comparison of the kind carried out in this study. The national setup of primary and specialist care, as well as general digital care infrastructure and steering of health ICT development, can affect the results of all other framework dimensions. Hence, we argue that this dimension is necessary to include in these kinds of studies.

Country Comparison

The sociotechnical cross-country comparisons regarding contextual factors brought to light several differences and similarities among the involved countries. Hardware and software computing infrastructure was the dimension in which most of the similarities could be found. However, it is noteworthy that the use of standards differs considerably across countries, which could potentially give rise to interoperability issues in case, for example, the Nordic countries were to move toward a joint service. It is also of interest to note that physicians in Estonia manually upload some content to the PAEHR, whereas Sweden and Norway only use the automatic link to EHRs at runtime. In Finland, content is also uploaded to the centralized PAEHR but by technical or administrative staff rather than clinicians. This means that health professionals in Estonia can be said to be active users of the PAEHR services. There are some risks associated with being an active user. Aside from the fact that the workload of health care professionals increases, there is also a risk that the personal opinions of health care professionals may affect their willingness to share information and, consequently, the patients’ potential to access their information. Overall, the level of engagement of health care professionals affects whether patients will be able to access some information. In Norway and in some regions in Sweden, patients can only see notes that are signed by a health care professional. Some regions in these countries also have a default delay in publishing notes to patients regardless of whether they are signed. This makes it possible to hide information from patients for some time, for example, by not signing a note.

When it comes to user demographic information, similarities could also be found, but it was difficult to compare data due to differences among the statistical information that the countries provide and how these data are presented. In these kinds of analyses, it is important to be able to compare user statistics on how different groups use the PAEHR services, and this comparison was not possible as the statistics covered different user groups in Sweden and Finland. Estonia and Norway did not (at the time of data collection) collect statistics on individual PAEHR use. The difference in available national statistics on demographic use clearly shows the need to collect user statistics preferably based on comparable user groups and age intervals. This would aid future comparisons as well as evaluations of PAEHR services within countries.

In the Health care system context dimension, several differences could be found regarding health care system setup and financing. While all involved countries have 3 levels of government (state, regions or counties, and municipalities), there are differences in which levels provide most of the funding and are responsible for different levels of care. While the regions are responsible for most health care services in Sweden, the responsibility is more divided in the other countries. Differences are also found regarding steering of health ICT development. While, in most countries, the national PAEHR solution is managed by government-owned companies or insurance institutions, there are differences in other areas of health ICT.

Strengths and Limitations

To our knowledge, this kind of detailed comparison among PAEHR systems in different countries is novel. While Essén et al [ 3 ] compared PAEHR systems in 10 different countries, including Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, their comparison focused on the effect of differences in regulations on a few aspects of PAEHRs. Our study expands this research by using a complete sociotechnical framework as a base, enabling more detailed comparisons and a more in-depth analysis of similarities and differences across countries. This kind of comparison is important if we want to understand the effects of contextual factors on the realization of PAEHR systems and will also make it possible for systems to learn from each other. This learning takes place not only when analyzing the results from the data collection but also when carrying out the developed collaboration method.

This study used a specific sociotechnical framework as a base, and even though the framework by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ] is tailored toward health systems, it risks constraining the focus to certain dimensions. There are other sociotechnical frameworks that could have been used instead. This being said, the involved researchers did add and change some dimensions to better fit PAEHR systems in particular and the cross-country comparison. Hence, even though a specific framework was used as an important base, it did not completely constrain the focus.

The number of countries involved—and, hence, the number of compared systems—was fairly limited, especially considering the fact that there are several clear similarities among the Nordic countries when it comes to national contexts. Comparisons involving more diverse countries should be conducted when validating the method.

Future Work

This paper presented the results of a sociotechnical cross-country comparison among PAEHR systems in Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden related to contextual factors. The dimensions that were in focus in this paper cover 4/11 of the total dimensions in the data collection instrument. Thus, there are more in-depth comparisons being made based on the data collected in this study. In future work, more dimensions will be included, and the results will be published in subsequent papers.

In future research, it would also be beneficial to increase the number of countries to be compared. The next step in this direction could be to extend the analysis conducted by Essén et al [ 3 ] by using the framework by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ] and the collaboration method presented in this paper. This would not only include a comparison of PAEHR systems from more countries with larger differences in national contexts, but it would also validate the method in a more complex study. These kinds of more expanded comparisons could also use other frameworks as their base. It is also important to note here that digital forms were not developed in this study as the number of systems to be included in the data collection in the 4 involved countries was fairly limited and, hence, the statistical analysis made possible in many digital tools would not add any value. Instead, the data collection was prepared as a Word template to be filled out digitally. In future research including more countries and systems, it would be well worth introducing digital forms and statistical analyses.

The study presented in this paper only focused on PAEHR systems. Even though these systems are in increasing focus in research nowadays, there are many more types of eHealth services for patients as well as other types of health care systems. In future research, we would like to see this collaboration method used for developing data collection instruments related to other kinds of health care systems, such as apps for self-tracking or systems for video visits.

Future research could also usefully focus in greater depth on particular sociotechnical dimensions of PAEHRs in different countries. For example, regarding human-computer interfaces, investigators might explore the highly specific design features of portals, which may augment psychological dispositions to access health information, or (possibly more importantly) offer feedback to providers.

Conclusions

In this work, we aimed to develop and test a method that would enable cross-country sociotechnical analysis of PAEHRs in 4 countries where PAEHR use has reached maturity: Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The main artifact produced during this work was a sociotechnical data collection template that was based on a sociotechnical framework for studying eHealth services derived by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ]. The data collection template not only considers the dimensions in the framework by Sittig and Singh [ 17 ] tailored for single-system analysis but also includes parts deemed necessary for cross-country comparisons of several systems. Close collaboration during the process among researchers from all involved countries ensured relevance in all settings.

The data collection template was tested through data collection in the 4 countries and a sociotechnical analysis. Results indicated several important similarities and differences among the 4 countries, clarifying that the process followed and the data collection template enabled an in-depth cross-country sociotechnical analysis of PAEHR systems. This paper presents the first part of the results from the sociotechnical analysis—similarities and differences among contextual factors—and companion articles will delve deeper into the remaining parts.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by NordForsk through the funding to the Nordic eHealth for Patients: Benchmarking and Developing for the Future (NORDeHEALTH project 100477); by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland (grants 352501 and 352503); and by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare through the funding to Beyond Implementation of eHealth (project 2020-01229).

Data Availability

The data sets generated and analyzed during this study are not publicly available due to the fact that additional publications based on this data set are being produced, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Conflicts of Interest

CB is the Associate Editor of JMIR Mental Health .

Final data collection instrument.

Information sources.

Descriptions of health care system contexts.

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Abbreviations

electronic health record

information and communications technology

patient-accessible electronic health record

research question

Edited by A Mavragani; submitted 22.12.23; peer-reviewed by A Mahmud, P Pohl; comments to author 29.02.24; revised version received 05.04.24; accepted 08.04.24; published 26.08.24.

©Jonas Moll, Isabella Scandurra, Annika Bärkås, Charlotte Blease, Maria Hägglund, Iiris Hörhammer, Bridget Kane, Eli Kristiansen, Peeter Ross, Rose-Mharie Åhlfeldt, Gunnar O Klein. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 26.08.2024.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (ISSN 1438-8871), is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.

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