Interrogating Your Own PhD Proposal

I'm a sponsored student. This means that my PhD proposal has been scrutinised at a variety of different levels: by my supervisors, my funder and by the admissions panel of my institution. Guess what though? This does not mean that my research is'good to go'. 

It seems rather obvious now, but my experience as a newbie PhD researcher has taught me one key thing about the nature of social research. It is an entirely ITERATIVE PROCESS. Yes, of course all of the 'Writing Effective Research Proposals' books I read at the very start did warn me of this, but there's nothing quite like experience to really reaffirm the truth of those statements you stumble upon whilst browsing through the yellowing and slightly moth eaten texts the library houses. Indeed, sometimes you have to go backwards, in order to move forwards.

In preparation for my Annual Progress Review in May, I have been continuously revisiting and reworking my research plan in the hope that I can produce a thing of out right beauty before the panel. As you may already be aware, I have a rather startling image of what APR will be like, and so, in light of this, I am endeavouring to be as prepared as humanly possible for any questions or concerns raised as by my research. The faculty training session I attended on what to expect from APR did make the entire process seem like it would resemble a traumatising interrogation scene. 

'What is your justification for the number of participants you have outlined? 20- 25, this is a specific figure, why have you forecast this quantity? What will you endeavour to do to gain this amount? What will happen if you do not achieve this amount? Have you comprised a recruitment strategy Plan B? What are the consequences of said Plan B for the outcomes of your research? Will your aims be compromised?'

...(trying not to hyper ventilate)...so many questions about just one aspect of my design...and breathe...

I have responded to this in the following way: 
Prior self interrogation.

I am aware that this may seem slightly masochistic, but I have now annotated my research plan with a rather extensive list of possible queries, questions and concerns raised by my research, and I am now in the process of writing well-researched and rigorous answers to said questions, and formulating Plan Bs, Cs and (potentially even) Ds simultaneously.

It's a little bit like pulling apart a cake you carefully constructed and very nicely decorated yourself, that or its like, well..I haven't actually resorted to shining lamps in my own eyes and dunking my head in the bath YET. 

I probably could have titled this post 'Deconstructing your PhD Proposal', but it really doesn't have the air of violence and evasiveness I associate with APR...

Kath

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Research Round Up #1

I went back to basics this week and literally researched research questions; how to narrow them down, how to structure them, how to embed concepts and just generally how to tighten everything up just that bit more. 

It's a tedious process, and I can't help but feel like a child with yet another drawing each time my supervision meetings roll around. There really is no dignity in it. In I go, month in, month out, offering up the fruits of my labour in cupped hands, eager eyes looking up at them, blinking expectantly. 

Each time, my supervisors openly play 'devils advocate' with my research/life/pride. I know one day I will probably appreciate their doing this more than I can put into words, because I do sort of feel like I am already undergoing some form of personal and academic transformation. At the moment however, such techniques can feel like the cruellest of tripwires. Funny how this never seems to put us off though... * <are all PhD students intellectual sadomasochists..?> *

I diverge. Getting back to basics with research questions:

Nicholas Walliman, 2011. Your Research Project: Designingand Planning Your Work, 3rd Edition, London: Sage.

Most research problems are difficult, or even impossible to solve without breaking them down into smaller problems. Does one aspect have to be researched before another aspect can be begun? The sub-problems should delineate the scope of the work, and, taken together, should define the entire problem to be tackled as summarized in the main problem (P.36-7).  

Anselm Strauss and Juliet Corbin, 1998. Basics ofQualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory,London: Sage.

Formulating Research Questions in Qualitative Research.

Underlying this approach to qualitative research is the assumption that all of the concepts pertaining to a given phenomenon have not yet been identified, at least not in this population or place. Or, if so, then the relationships between the concepts are poorly understood or conceptually undeveloped. Or perhaps there is the assumption that nobody ever asked this particular question in quite the same way… (P40).

 Keith Punch, 2006. DevelopingEffective Research Proposals, 2nd Edition,London: Sage.

General research questions are more general, more abstract, and (usually) not themselves directly answerable. Specific research questions are more specific, detailed and concrete. They are directly answerable because they point directly at the data they need to answer them(p24).

 At the heart of this discussion is the process of making a general concept more specific by showing it’s dimensions, aspects, factors, components or indicators (p24).

In empirical research, it is necessary that data be linked to concepts, and concepts to data, and that the links between concepts and data be tight, logical and consistent. Concepts are embedded in research questions, General questions use general concepts, and specific questions use specific concepts(p25).

Translating general concepts down to specific concepts means specifying what the researcher will take to be the indicators, the empirical data of these concepts (p25).

For each question, is it clear what data will be required to answer the question? If the research questions do not give clear indications of the data needed to answer them, we will not know how to proceed in the research when it comes to the data collection and analysis stages(p25).

If you're dealing with a lot of abstract concepts, or find yourself getting that little bit too immersed in the endless flows of "absolutely relevant and interesting literature" your word searches are returning, sometimes going back to basics can really help to bring your research back to reality. 

Kath

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