Postgraduate Research Handbook Succeed with your MA, MPhil, EdD and PhD

by Wisker, Gina

Edition: 2nd

ISBN13: 9780230521308

ISBN10: 0230521304

Format: Paperback

Pub. Date: 2007-12-15

Publisher(s): SPRINGER - VERLAG

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Summary

This lively, rigorous and research-informed book is essential reading on any postgraduate course. Providing you with invaluable guidance on how to plan and conduct your research, The Postgraduate Research Handbook helps keep your momentum going, shows how you can enjoy the research process itself and ultimately ensures you are able to produce a high-quality dissertation or thesis. Revised and updated throughout, the second edition includes additional material on methodology and theorising, as well as content on the skills needed to succeed after your study is completed.

Author Biography

GINA WISKER is Head of the Centre of Learning and Teaching at the University of Brighton. In 2005, she was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship for her work in learning support. She is the author of The Good Supervisor.

List of Figures and Tables	p. x
Acknowledgements	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
What the book does not do	p. 3
What the book does and how it is structured	p. 4
Starting Research
Starting Your Postgraduate Research	p. 9
Why do an MA, MPhil, PhD or other Doctorate?	p. 9
Planning, key issues and suggestions	p. 12
Starting to think about developing a hypothesis and/or research questions	p. 14
Choosing the Right Research Degree	p. 23
Types of degree	p. 23
Varieties of research degree	p. 25
Choosing your university and supervisor	p. 27
Choosing Your Supervisor(s)	p. 32
Introduction	p. 32
Choosing your supervisor, and internal regulations	p. 33
Working with your supervisors: initial contracts and contacts	p. 34
Managing your supervisor	p. 35
Things to ask/not to ask your supervisor(s)	p. 38
Planning to get the most from your supervisor	p. 39
What research students can expect of supervisors - a brief summary	p. 39
Stages of supervisions - what you might expect at different stages	p. 42
Planning work and supervisions	p. 44
Research Questions and Hypotheses	p. 48
Developing research questions or hypotheses for research proposals and the research	p. 49
The research process	p. 51
Stating your title	p. 52
Research questions	p. 54
Key stages - developing a hypothesis or research questions	p. 54
'Operationalising' a concept	p. 55
Boundaries and gaps	p. 58
What kind of research is yours going to be?	p. 61
Stages of asking the research question	p. 62
Research Methodologies	p. 65
Choosing research methodologies	p. 65
Methodology	p. 66
Research approaches	p. 70
Methodology, worldview, methods, data and research	p. 74
Using qualitative and quantitative research methods together	p. 75
Conceptual Frameworks	p. 78
Research paradigms and perspectives	p. 78
Some examples of areas	p. 80
Ethics and Confidentiality	p. 86
Typical procedures and their history	p. 86
Writing a Research Proposal	p. 95
What do you want to research? How you can draw up a good proposal	p. 97
Getting Going - Supervisors, Time and Community
Managing Your Supervisor(s)	p. 107
Planning work and supervisions	p. 107
Learning contracts	p. 109
Managing the Balancing Act	p. 123
Balancing what?	p. 124
Varieties of roles and activities - an audit	p. 125
What kind of balancing act suits you?	p. 126
Managing Your Time and Tasks	p. 130
Good planning: long-, medium- and short-term management of time	p. 131
Overall planning and the cycle of research	p. 131
Learning as a Research Student - Learning Approaches, Styles and Pitfalls	p. 140
Learning styles: deep, surface and strategic learning	p. 141
Disciplines	p. 142
What kind of learner are you?	p. 144
Developing a Supportive Research Culture Locally and at a Distance	p. 157
Group/project team supervisions	p. 158
Self-managed groups and networks	p. 159
Peer pairing	p. 160
Peer support systems over a distance	p. 161
Using electronic and video links to support research students in their work	p. 162
Different modes of contact explored	p. 163
Other peer-support systems - establishing a research culture	p. 164
Carrying Out the Research and Starting to Write
Carrying out a Literature Review - Developing the Theoretical Perspectives Chapter	p. 169
A literature review/theoretical perspectives chapter	p. 170
International students - some particular issues	p. 172
Carrying out the literature review	p. 174
Writing the theoretical perspectives chapter	p. 180
Methods in Brief	p. 186
Quantitative research methods - designing and using questionnaires	p. 187
Qualitative research methods - interviews, focus groups and observation	p. 191
	p. 210
	p. 211
Using Grounded Theory, Case Studies, Journals and Synectics	p. 213
Grounded theory	p. 213
Case studies	p. 216
	p. 218
	p. 219
Journals	p. 221
Synectics	p. 222
Action Research and Practitioner-based Research	p. 227
Benefits of practitioner-based research	p. 227
Possible pitfalls or problems	p. 228
Action research	p. 229
Phenomenography	p. 238
Problem-based or Enquiry-based Research and Problem Solving	p. 242
Stages of problem-based or enquiry-based research	p. 243
Case study	p. 245
Research Methods for the Arts and Humanities	p. 251
The documenting, critiquing and creative continuum	p. 252
The form and shape of arts and humanities theses	p. 262
	p. 264
	p. 264
Researching your own creative work/using the creative in your research work	p. 265
Support, Progress, Analysis, Writing Up, The Viva, Presentations and Afterwards
Being Organised, Keeping Records, Writing Up, Stage-by-Stage	p. 271
Time and task plan - key stages and obvious potentially difficult moments	p. 272
Writing the Thesis or Dissertation	p. 278
Developing the framework of different chapters	p. 278
The shape of the thesis as it develops	p. 280
Models	p. 281
Elements of the structure of the thesis explained - and variants discussed	p. 283
Overcoming Writing Blocks and Learning from Feedback	p. 292
Writing	p. 292
Analysis of narratives, interviews, interactions, cases	p. 294
Some ideas about the writing habit	p. 299
Developing writing	p. 305
Analysing Data and Thinking about Findings	p. 313
Making sense of your data - interpretation and findings	p. 314
Managing data, both quantitative and qualitative	p. 315
Annotating	p. 315
Summarising and generalising	p. 316
Qualitative data activity	p. 319
Documentary analysis	p. 320
Findings	p. 321
Learning from Feedback	p. 326
Working with supervisor and other feedback	p. 326
Writing Transfer Documents and Progress Reports for MPhil, EdD and PhD Theses	p. 336
Open University (OU) EdD	p. 336
Transfer to a PhD	p. 338
MPhil, PhD and EdD - scope and differences	p. 344
Presentation issues to bear in mind as you carry on with your work	p. 347
Writing Up: Definitions and Qualities of a Good MA, MPhil, EdD and PhD Thesis	p. 349
The Master's dissertation or thesis	p. 349
The EdD	p. 350
Definitions of a good dissertation or thesis	p. 351
Positive features in a successful MPhil and PhD	p. 352
Writing up	p. 357
Preparing Your Thesis and Dissertation - Coherence, Conclusions and Conceptual Level Work	p. 370
The proposal - revisited	p. 371
Preparing for and Undertaking Your Viva	p. 376
Being prepared	p. 377
Postgraduate viva	p. 379
Generic questions	p. 381
Stress management	p. 384
The viva voce - a brief outline	p. 384
Dealing with Corrections - Life after the Viva...	p. 388
What next?	p. 389
Celebrate	p. 391
Presentations, Conferences and Publishing	p. 392
Plan	p. 394
Prepare	p. 395
Practise	p. 400
Presentation	p. 400
Publications	p. 403
Life After the Research	p. 410
'Is there life after the research?'	p. 410
Bibliography	p. 414
Index	p. 425
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