Don't repeat the same material at great length within and between chapters. If you are worried that you have to repeat material for the reader to understand the full significance of the new point you are making, be assured that most readers remember what they have already read, even several chapters before, and a brief reference back will usually suffice to refresh their memory. Don't set up your theoretical claims in such a way that it is hard to imagine how the empirical evidence you set out to collect could ever disprove them. Don't fall into the trap of believing that you have to develop a highly elaborate or complex theory for your work to be of significance. All dissertations need some theoretical angle.
Some good dissertations develop highly complex theories.
Most equally fine ones actually rest on a few fairly simple theoretical claims. If you don't believe me, look at a few books written out of dissertations. In conclusion, I should say that my only hesitation about compiling these lists derives from the concern that they might make the task of successfully completing a dissertation seem even more daunting than it already is. No one would want that. There are various ways of perceiving the task that help to offset the strain.