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List of Figures and Tables | |
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Acknowledgements | |
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Introduction | |
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What the book does not do | |
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What the book does and how it is structured | |
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Starting Research | |
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Starting Your Postgraduate Research | |
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Why do an MA, MPhil, PhD or other Doctorate? | |
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Planning, key issues and suggestions | |
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Starting to think about developing a hypothesis and/or research questions | |
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Choosing the Right Research Degree | |
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Types of degree | |
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Varieties of research degree | |
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Choosing your university and supervisor | |
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Choosing Your Supervisor(s) | |
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Introduction | |
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Choosing your supervisor, and internal regulations | |
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Working with your supervisors: initial contracts and contacts | |
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Managing your supervisor | |
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Things to ask/not to ask your supervisor(s) | |
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Planning to get the most from your supervisor | |
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What research students can expect of supervisors - a brief summary | |
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Stages of supervisions - what you might expect at different stages | |
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Planning work and supervisions | |
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Research Questions and Hypotheses | |
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Developing research questions or hypotheses for research proposals and the research | |
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The research process | |
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Stating your title | |
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Research questions | |
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Key stages - developing a hypothesis or research questions | |
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'Operationalising' a concept | |
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Boundaries and gaps | |
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What kind of research is yours going to be? | |
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Stages of asking the research question | |
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Research Methodologies | |
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Choosing research methodologies | |
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Methodology | |
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Research approaches | |
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Methodology, worldview, methods, data and research | |
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Using qualitative and quantitative research methods together | |
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Conceptual Frameworks | |
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Research paradigms and perspectives | |
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Some examples of areas | |
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Ethics and Confidentiality | |
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Typical procedures and their history | |
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Writing a Research Proposal | |
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What do you want to research? How you can draw up a good proposal | |
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Getting Going - Supervisors, Time and Community | |
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Managing Your Supervisor(s) | |
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Planning work and supervisions | |
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Learning contracts | |
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Managing the Balancing Act | |
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Balancing what? | |
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Varieties of roles and activities - an audit | |
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What kind of balancing act suits you? | |
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Managing Your Time and Tasks | |
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Good planning: long-, medium- and short-term management of time | |
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Overall planning and the cycle of research | |
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Learning as a Research Student - Learning Approaches, Styles and Pitfalls | |
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Learning styles: deep, surface and strategic learning | |
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Disciplines | |
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What kind of learner are you? | |
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Developing a Supportive Research Culture Locally and at a Distance | |
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Group/project team supervisions | |
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Self-managed groups and networks | |
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Peer pairing | |
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Peer support systems over a distance | |
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Using electronic and video links to support research students in their work | |
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Different modes of contact explored | |
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Other peer-support systems - establishing a research culture | |
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Carrying Out the Research and Starting to Write | |
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Carrying out a Literature Review - Developing the Theoretical Perspectives Chapter | |
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A literature review/theoretical perspectives chapter | |
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International students - some particular issues | |
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Carrying out the literature review | |
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Writing the theoretical perspectives chapter | |
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Methods in Brief | |
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Quantitative research methods - designing and using questionnaires | |
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Qualitative research methods - interviews, focus groups and observation | |
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Using Grounded Theory, Case Studies, Journals and Synectics | |
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Grounded theory | |
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Case studies | |
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Journals | |
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Synectics | |
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Action Research and Practitioner-based Research | |
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Benefits of practitioner-based research | |
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Possible pitfalls or problems | |
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Action research | |
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Phenomenography | |
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Problem-based or Enquiry-based Research and Problem Solving | |
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Stages of problem-based or enquiry-based research | |
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Case study | |
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Research Methods for the Arts and Humanities | |
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The documenting, critiquing and creative continuum | |
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The form and shape of arts and humanities theses | |
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Researching your own creative work/using the creative in your research work | |
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Support, Progress, Analysis, Writing Up, The Viva, Presentations and Afterwards | |
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Being Organised, Keeping Records, Writing Up, Stage-by-Stage | |
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Time and task plan - key stages and obvious potentially difficult moments | |
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Writing the Thesis or Dissertation | |
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Developing the framework of different chapters | |
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The shape of the thesis as it develops | |
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Models | |
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Elements of the structure of the thesis explained - and variants discussed | |
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Overcoming Writing Blocks and Learning from Feedback | |
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Writing | |
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Analysis of narratives, interviews, interactions, cases | |
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Some ideas about the writing habit | |
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Developing writing | |
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Analysing Data and Thinking about Findings | |
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Making sense of your data - interpretation and findings | |
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Managing data, both quantitative and qualitative | |
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Annotating | |
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Summarising and generalising | |
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Qualitative data activity | |
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Documentary analysis | |
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Findings | |
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Learning from Feedback | |
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Working with supervisor and other feedback | |
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Writing Transfer Documents and Progress Reports for MPhil, EdD and PhD Theses | |
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Open University (OU) EdD | |
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Transfer to a PhD | |
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MPhil, PhD and EdD - scope and differences | |
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Presentation issues to bear in mind as you carry on with your work | |
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Writing Up: Definitions and Qualities of a Good MA, MPhil, EdD and PhD Thesis | |
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The Master's dissertation or thesis | |
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The EdD | |
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Definitions of a good dissertation or thesis | |
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Positive features in a successful MPhil and PhD | |
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Writing up | |
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Preparing Your Thesis and Dissertation - Coherence, Conclusions and Conceptual Level Work | |
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The proposal - revisited | |
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Preparing for and Undertaking Your Viva | |
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Being prepared | |
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Postgraduate viva | |
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Generic questions | |
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Stress management | |
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The viva voce - a brief outline | |
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Dealing with Corrections - Life after the Viva... | |
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What next? | |
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Celebrate | |
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Presentations, Conferences and Publishing | |
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Plan | |
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Prepare | |
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Practise | |
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Presentation | |
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Publications | |
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Life After the Research | |
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'Is there life after the research?' | |
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Bibliography | |
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Index | |