Category Archives: research project

writing from a research project – find the point

It’s often tricky to work out how to turn a piece of finished research into a journal article. Or two. Or even three. This trickiness is in part because it’s hard to get your head out of the whole that … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, journal article, research project, the point | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

#readingforwriting: being specific in qualitative research

Every now and then patter offers a close-up of research writing. This near-sighted exercise is intended to illustrate how ‘reading for the writing’ can be helpful. This particular ‘reading for writing’ post looks at writing qualitative methods in a journal … Continue reading

Posted in research methods, research plan, research project, research question, vagueness | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

starting the PhD – anticipate tasks and timings

It’s little tricky to write generic advice about the PhD. That’s because every PhD is unique, as is every doctoral researcher. Not only are there clear disciplinary differences in the ways in which PhDs are accomplished, but the methodological choices … Continue reading

Posted in PhD, PhD by publication, planning, research project, thesis | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

after the field work – what next?

It’s summer in the UK and we are officially on leave. Well, only sort of. Most academics manage to squeeze in a bit of time off, but I had my week in France a few weeks ago because I knew … Continue reading

Posted in data, reflection, research project, Tate Summer School | Tagged , | 2 Comments

research collaboration – do we need research pre-nups?

I’ve recently heard some stories about research collaborations that have gone wrong. I can’t give away too many details, but suffice it to say that at least some of the difficulty appeared to be caused by conflicting expectations and miscommunications. … Continue reading

Posted in authorship, CoI, collaborative research, PI, research, research pre-nup, research project | Tagged , , , | 19 Comments

PhD by publication or PhD and publication – part two

After my first post about the changing nature of the PhD and the move to PhD by publication I was contacted by a number of people who were doing the by-publication doctorate. They were enthusiastic about it. One group were … Continue reading

Posted in Big Book, dissertation, doctoral education, doctoral research, equity, Europe, PhD, PhD by publication, publishing, research education, research project | Tagged , , | 19 Comments

thirteen reasons researchers get asked to write their methods chapter again

Dissertation examiners always check the methods chapter or methodological writings carefully. And the more the doctorate is seen as research training, the more important it will be for examiners to make sure that the relevant writings in the thesis really … Continue reading

Posted in dissertation, doctoral research, epistemology, methods chapter, research methods, research project, theory, thesis | Tagged , , , | 31 Comments

blank and blind spots in empirical research

It is important when writing about research to get clear about the difference between research that is inadequate and research that is partial. There are two concepts that are helpful in deciding which of these is the case. They are: … Continue reading

Posted in blank spot, blind spot, claims, Jon Wagner, knowledge production, last chapter, research project, thesis | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

doctoral training and the messiness of research

This post is written by Simon Bailey, a Research Fellow in the Business School at the University of Manchester. As a unique contribution to knowledge, doctorates are by definition very individual things. Though planning is very important, plans must be … Continue reading

Posted in doctoral education, learning, mess, PhD, research methods, research project, scholarly identity | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

why mess in a PhD can be a good thing

This guest post is by Dr Ben Kraal, who is a Research Fellow in the School of Design at Queensland University of Technology. At the moment he mostly works on the Human Systems part of the Airports of the Future … Continue reading

Posted in Human Computer Interaction, mess, PhD, research plan, research project, voice recognition software | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments